Cuyahoga County’s Public Works Procurement and Contract Committee voted to approve Resolution 20250306, awarding requisition 16254 to United Survey in an amount not to exceed $3,642,859 for the 2025 sewer rehabilitation program.

The award was approved by voice vote after a staff presentation and a period of committee questions. Eric Mack, Public Works, described the contract as a recurring on-call sewer maintenance task-order program that covers roughly 31 types of sewer work, including relining and manhole repairs. "This is our contract that we typically do every couple years for sewer maintenance," Mack said.

Committee members pressed staff about the procurement details. Mack said the solicitation was sent to 62 companies and produced two bids. "The low bid was at 3,600,000, and the second bid was at 6,200,000," he said, noting the low figure was close to $3.64 million and that the 2023 contract totaled about $3.3 million. Mack and members attributed part of the change to inflation and the contract’s broad, on-call scope, which favors general contractors able to perform a wide range of tasks rather than single-discipline subcontractors.

Staff confirmed funding is 100% from the county sewer fund and that municipalities that use the service reimburse the county. Mack said United Survey is based in Oakwood Village. He reported Small Business Enterprise (SBE) participation at 10% and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) participation at 7%. The committee was told the Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) goal of 13% was not met; the transcript includes inconsistent statements about the precise MBE share reported to staff.

Committee members also asked about the procurement type, selection criteria and timeline. Staff said bids were due Sept. 8 after about a month on the market; the award in November followed two months of insurance, contract and legal reviews. The current contract term was described as three years, running through June 1, 2026, and staff said they plan some overlap so a contractor remains available if needed.

Vice President Conwell moved to approve the resolution; the motion was seconded by the council president and approved by voice vote. No individual roll-call vote totals were recorded in the transcript.

Committee members asked several follow-up questions that were not resolved at the meeting, including the contractor’s administrative fee and a precise breakdown of MBE participation; staff said those details are handled with the county fiscal and DEI offices.

The committee moved on to miscellaneous business and adjourned.