Board approves three public-private paving contracts; DPW says contractors will handle more design work

The Indianapolis Board of Public Works on Sept. 10 approved three contracts to develop and construct infrastructure preservation and improvement projects across multiple townships under a public-private partnership approach.

Jason Watt, Administrator of Construction for the Department of Public Works engineering division, told the board the three firms—EMB Paving Inc., Milestone Contractors LP and Reith Riley Construction Company—were selected as qualified offerors based on proposals received in July and an RFP evaluation of experience, financial capacity and project approach. Watt said the project (ST-25-600, infrastructure preservation improvements in various townships) will include milling and resurfacing, heavy HMA patching, concrete pavement patching, stripe and minor pedestrian-signal, sidewalk and crosswalk work.

“We selected all 3 contractors,” Watt said. He added that “the per the precise scope will be determined during a collaborative scoping period with the selected development team” and that substantial-completion timing and any liquidated damages will be set when the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) is established.

Board members raised questions about the city’s Complete Streets and Vision Zero policies and whether contractors’ designs will incorporate those standards. Mark St. John, chief engineer for the Department of Public Works, said the procurement “does shift a lot of the responsibility of design onto the contractors.” He added: “We do have a Complete Streets checklist, and I don't think in any way it would be inappropriate to require the contractors as part of this work to complete that Complete Streets checklist.” St. John said DPW staff will continue to review work and can make recommendations where Complete Streets elements apply.

Watt said the procurement model reduces the need for late change orders under a traditional design-bid-build approach because the agreement will include a guaranteed maximum price and a single point of contact from the project management/developer team.

The board voted to take the three contract items together and then approved each contract individually by voice vote with no recorded opposition.

Staff noted the contractors committed to XPE participation goals described in their proposals, which Watt summarized with the numbers “15, 8, 3, and 1”; Watt said exact participation amounts will be finalized during project scoping and that firms described past successes on similar city projects.