Vero Beach Council approves GMP 3 for new water reclamation facility, citing grant deadlines

The Vero Beach City Council approved a guaranteed maximum price (GMP 3) award for construction of a new water reclamation facility on May 27, voting 5-0 to move the project into its principal construction phase.

Rob, the city utilities official who presented the project, described the GMP as a turnkey contract intended to deliver a completed plant that staff can operate at turnover. "The GMP number that you see is a number that we believe will work for this project, which includes that contingency," he told the council, explaining that allowances and an 11,000,000‑dollar contingency are built into the GMP to cover bid variances and limited unforeseen conditions.

The presentation included a schedule, expenditure profile and an explanation of how allowances and contingency interact: if a line item comes in under estimate, the surplus flows back to contingency; if over, contingency covers the difference "however, such events shall not cause to increase the GMP," the staff presentation said.

Council members pressed staff on contingency use, the process for issuance of work change directives and the plan for a resident project representative to be on site during major work. Greg Williams of Wharton Smith, the construction manager, said he expected to be pouring concrete by July and that the contractor was prepared to lock in vendor pricing quickly.

Council voted to approve the GMP award after a motion and second. The roll call as recorded in the meeting: Mister Voss — yes; Mister Dingle — yes; Mister Carroll — yes; Vice Mayor Moore — yes; Mayor Catugno — yes.

Staff said the council action is intended to preserve grant funding and move construction forward; they will provide additional expenditure breakdowns and documentation of contingency management as work proceeds.