Edinburg council ranks bidders, authorizes negotiations for downtown parking garage project

Edinburg City Council on March 18 authorized staff to begin negotiations with the top-ranked proposer for a downtown parking garage project with a not-to-exceed budget limitation of $6,200,000 and approved ranking five firms for sequential negotiation if the top-ranked team cannot reach agreement.

The decision follows a design–build procurement process in which council received proposals, interviewed shortlisted teams and asked staff to evaluate technical approach and fee methodology. City Engineer Marco Reynoso said the process included a design criteria package and a schematic prepared by the city’s consultant so proposers submitted a design intent rather than a full set of plans. “We did a design intent, but once it behooves them to bring it in under budget or else they don't have a project to construct,” Reynoso said during the council discussion.

Why it matters: The garage is intended to add roughly 256 parking spaces downtown and is among the city’s largest capital projects under consideration. Council members pressed staff to use contractual safeguards and a staged negotiation approach to protect the city’s $6.2 million budget limit and minimize the risk of change orders.

Council members asked how the city would ensure firms deliver a design that stays within the stated budget without a completed design. Reynoso said the procurement required proposers to describe a costing methodology and cost-control approach as one of nine scoring criteria. A city staff member identified two firms — Broadus Construction and Gerlach Builders — as the top two ranked proposers and said both committed to meeting the city's budget limitation during interviews. One firm provided a breakdown that put its expected cost above the budget, and another said it was unsure whether it could meet the limitation.

Gilbert (identified in the meeting as a contract specialist) told the council the procurement follows a two-step design–build statute: the council will authorize preconstruction services first to confirm costs and schedules, and construction-phase services will follow once parties agree on cost. He said contract language to limit change-order exposure and provide remedies could be added during negotiations.

Council member Dan Diaz moved to authorize negotiations with the top-ranked proposer and to rank the five respondents so staff may move in order to the next firm if negotiations with a higher-ranked firm fail. Council members amended the motion to record the ranking of all five firms and to direct staff to notify council if a top-ranked proposer “falls off” during negotiations. The motion passed by voice vote; the meeting did not record individual roll-call tallies.

The council also authorized a project-management amendment for the garage with Brownstone Consultants for phases 2 and 3 in an amount not to exceed $221,770 and directed staff to return with contracts as negotiations progress. Staff projected a project kickoff by the end of the month and said construction could begin as early as September if negotiations and design proceed on schedule.

Council members and staff recommended keeping the entire ranked list available so the city can proceed to alternative proposers without restarting procurement if negotiations stall. Staff emphasized that the preconstruction phase will confirm cost and schedule and that the city can move to the next ranked proposer under the design–build statute if necessary.