Board approves $23M construction amendment for animal shelter, places liens and renews several contracts

The Indianapolis Board of Business and Neighborhood Services on Jan. 23 approved a $23,001,545 amendment to its construction-manager contract for the new Animal Care Services (ACS) shelter and authorized property liens and several professional-service agreements.

Board members voted to increase the guaranteed maximum price for FA Wilhelm Construction Company Inc. by $23,001,545, bringing the contract’s not-to-exceed amount to $31,437,092, a staff presentation said.

The amendment drew discussion on the project’s outreach to minority- and women-owned firms. A staff member said the project has yielded commitments of more than $2,000,000 with minority-owned business enterprises (MBE), more than $1,000,000 with women-owned business enterprises (WBE) and “over half a $1,000,000” with a disadvantaged business enterprise (DOBE), yielding a total XBE commitment of about $3,800,000 or 9.7% for construction and related soft costs. The staff member provided a breakdown of the 9.7% as 5.14% MBE, 3% WBE, 0.17% veteran-owned (VBE) and 1.34% DOBE and said the department and contractor will continue outreach to raise that share as construction proceeds.

Earlier on the agenda the board certified liens under city code for unpaid…