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SFPUC updates commissioners on complex Headworks project, warns bids running above estimates
Summary
Project manager Jignesh Desai told commissioners the Headworks upgrade is in active construction but recent bids are running roughly 20% above the May 2018 95% estimates; the design will increase grit and screening removal from roughly 50% to about 90% and staff described geotechnical piling that does not go to bedrock.
Project manager Jignesh Desai told the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission that the Headworks facility upgrade has moved multiple packages into construction but faces higher-than-expected bids that will affect the remaining work. “The current headworks doesn't do a good job in removing the grit and screening,” Desai said, adding that the new design should raise removal “up to 90%” compared with roughly 50% today.
The commission was reminded that the delivery method in use — construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) — lets designers and contractors work together early to reduce risk and sequencing problems. Desai said Scope 1 (site preparation) is roughly 75% complete, Scope 2B has moved into advertisement and Scope 3 into construction, and about 54 bid packages remain, representing the bulk of the project dollar value.
Desai walked the commission through cost-estimating milestones. At the 95% design milestone in May 2018 the conceptual estimate for certain major bid packages was about $102 million; when bids were received this year the lowest responsive proposals for the concrete package arrived at $61 million versus a $41 million estimate. “This kind of tells in summary that current bidding is trending above estimates,” Desai said, and attributed increases to material-price movement, tariffs and regional labor shortages.
The presentation explained one geotechnical choice that drew commissioner questions: the project uses large-diameter, friction-type drilled piers about 100–120 feet long rather than driving piles all the way to bedrock. Desai said the design is based on site-specific borings and soil friction calculations and that the pier lengths are chosen so the soil friction will carry loads without the added cost of bedrock-length piles.
Commissioners pressed staff on whether the remaining packages will follow the same cost increase pattern and what mitigation tools staff can use. Staff noted options available under CMGC — changing package size or sequencing, delaying or breaking up work, and working with the contractor on self-performance decisions — and said those options will be evaluated before future advertisements. The general manager and project team also identified roughly $28 million in local business (LBE) commitments allocated to date for Scopes 1 and 2A.
Public commenters urged the commission to consider material reuse, earlier procurement and community impacts including odors from digesters in the Southeast sector. Staff said the agency will return with additional presentations about Southeast community projects and biosolids procurement and will continue to share the project schedule and mitigation strategies.
The commission took no final project-approval vote at this presentation; staff said they will return with detailed package award recommendations as bids are evaluated.
Ending: The commission asked staff to continue reporting on bid results, mitigation options and any recommended re-baselining as additional package bids are evaluated.
