A city staff member said the Riverwalk spur project — described as the largest implementation to date of the Riverwalk master plan — is now at bid stage and the lowest responsible bidder is Accord Contractors of the Bellevue/Arlington region. "We got a range of different proposed costs... 3,145,000 on the high end, And then the low end, we got 1,890,000," the staff member said during presentation to the council.

The staff member told council the bids were submitted without tax and that the city applied taxes on its end, producing a construction contract figure of $2,064,031 for the recommended bid. The staff member said the lifetime project cost is about $3.6 million and that the city’s current available budget for the contract is about $2.2 million; the recommended contract value was described as roughly $2.1 million, which would leave about $150,000 remaining in the project fund before additional inspection services.

Why it matters: the Riverwalk spur is part of a long-running master plan and carries earlier commerce funding from 2015, staff said. The council will consider whether to proceed with the construction contract; staff said in-house engineering will perform most construction management but that a separate contract will be needed for structural bridge inspection because the project includes bridge spans. The staff member said an additional contract amendment for inspection and designer services is expected and could reduce the remaining balance to roughly $128,000.

Supporting details: staff described a public bid process that drew eight bidders and said the low bid was "actually just slightly below our engineers' estimate for the construction cost." They said the city reviewed the low bidder’s past projects and bid documents to confirm there were no anomalies and to ensure responsiveness to addenda and contract requirements.

Budget and next steps: staff said the project has seen multiple major redesigns over the past decade and that those revisions account for the larger lifetime cost. The staff member asked for permission to move forward with the construction contract; the council moved the item forward to the council agenda (non-consent) for further action.

Ending: if the council approves the construction contract at a future meeting, staff said construction management will be performed primarily by city engineering and that the city will bring a separate amendment for bridge inspection and designer services before construction begins.