The City of Apache Junction presented a new job order contracting (JOC) program intended to speed delivery of small and mid-size capital and maintenance projects and to expand opportunities for regional contractors.

Liz Lingenbach, parks and recreation director, explained the city issued two separate requests for qualifications: one for trade services (projects roughly $2,500 to $500,000) and one for general building construction (projects roughly $500,000 to $5,000,000). Trade-services master agreements would be capped at $1,000,000 per contractor per year in the documents presented and would initially run one year with up to two one-year renewal options; the building JOC uses the same 1-year-plus-renewals structure. Staff said the ARS/state job order contracting statute and city code authorize the delivery method and that the program is intended to attract local and regional firms that might be excluded by piggybacking on larger cities’ JOCs.

For trade services the city received eight statements of qualifications across 13 categories and recommended awards to the top-ranked firms in each category; staff noted some categories had only a single submittal and that staff plans outreach and training to attract more local firms in future rounds. For the larger building JOC, staff reviewed 18 submittals and recommended the five highest-ranked firms for the master list.

Staff said typical projects for the trade-services JOC include drainage, masonry and fence replacement, lighting projects in parks and buildings, and PD range improvements. Building JOC projects noted in the staff presentation included finishing the city’s pickleball courts (estimated $1.0–$1.5M) and Phase 1 of the rodeo grounds, plus future park and library amenities.

Council members asked about procurement, budgeting and risk. Staff and legal said all work orders would be for budgeted projects and that being on a master list does not guarantee work; project-specific work orders would still require price agreement and budget availability. Council asked about insurance and bonds: the draft master agreement required general liability insurance with a $1–2 million aggregate limit and allowed for payment and performance bonds on a project-by-project basis; staff said bonds are commonly used on larger construction projects and could be required where appropriate. Council members emphasized outreach to local, long-standing contractors and said contractors currently used by the city should be given clear guidance if they want to participate in future JOC rounds.

Staff intends to return the JOC master-agreement awards on the July 15 consent agenda and to follow up with education sessions for local contractors to improve participation in future solicitations.