Evaluation committee ranks Western Construction top for Waters Avenue force main RFP

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY — The county’s procurement evaluation committee completed oral evaluations and finalized scores for RFP 2425029, the progressive design‑build contract for the Waters Avenue force main replacement project, and recommended the highest‑ranked firm for award pending a five‑day protest period.

“My name is Sybil Tucker,” said Sybil Tucker, the procurement buyer for the project, opening the meeting. Tucker told the committee the shortlisted firms had completed presentations and interviews and that the panel would finalize scores based on written proposals and oral presentations. She also said she would prepare and post a notice of intent to award and that a five‑day protest period would follow the posting.

The recommendation follows a line‑by‑line review of four evaluation criteria: team ability and professional personnel (30 points), experience on similar projects (35 points), project approach (25 points) and resources/ability to meet schedule (10 points). The county applied a 5‑point DMWBE bonus to each shortlisted firm that qualified.

Committee members debated small adjustments to individual criterion scores after the presentations. Discussion notes recorded in the meeting included: whether a firm’s longevity versus the experience of individual team members should influence the team‑ability score; how firms’ urban pipeline experience and past work in downtown corridors related to the project’s tight, high‑foot‑traffic setting; proposed construction approaches including open‑cut versus trenchless methods (HDD) and phased “short areas” to reduce impacts; and whether in‑house resources such as HDD crews, paving, survey and in‑house warranties should raise scores for approach and scheduling.

Final consensus scores announced by the procurement buyer were: - Amici Engineering Contractors LLC — criteria: 26, 25, 19, 8; DMWBE bonus 5; total 83 - Kimmins Contracting — criteria: 27, 28, 19, 9; DMWBE bonus 5; total 88 - Quality Enterprises USA Inc. — criteria: 23, 26, 21, 9; DMWBE bonus 5; total 84 - Western Construction (listed in the transcript under several similar names) — criteria: 26, 32, 22, 9; DMWBE bonus 5; total 94

The committee agreed by consensus to rank the Western Construction entry first. Tucker said she would post the notice of intent to award to the highest‑ranked firm and that, if no protest is filed during the five‑day protest period, procurement staff would forward a recommendation to the board for approval.

Tucker also reminded proposers that the cone of silence remained in effect and that they must not contact committee members about the procurement during the process. The meeting record shows the committee completed scoring and that the chair will prepare the recommendation summary for procurement to post.

The Waters Avenue Force Main Replacement Project is an urban pipeline replacement in the county; firms and committee members discussed public outreach and traffic/impacts mitigation as part of scoring deliberations. The procurement process now moves to the administrative posting of the notice of intent to award and the statutorily permitted protest window before any formal board award.

No formal motion or public roll‑call vote was recorded in the transcript; the committee appears to have reached consensus on the scores and the recommendation.