Denton board approves roughly $92 million CMAR contract to expand Pecan Creek plant

The Denton Public Utilities Board on Feb. 23 unanimously approved a construction-manager-at-risk (CMAR) contract for the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant expansion, a project staff described as "a strategic necessity to support Denton's continued growth." David Brown, water utilities project manager, presented the item and asked the board to recommend adoption of an ordinance authorizing the city manager to execute the agreement.

Brown told the board the project will replace the roughly 60-year-old Pecan Creek treatment facility with a modern membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant with a planned capacity of 30,000,000 gallons per day. The scope includes upgrades to solids handling and disinfection, construction of a new interceptor, a high-efficiency headworks facility and a new operations and control building.

Staff presented a detailed GMP package. Brown said the cost of construction work is $63,025,004.37; a CMAR contingency was listed at about $2,443,308; allowances were about $3,100,000; and a negotiated 7% construction fee ($5,839,532) plus general conditions ($14,792,438), bonds ($648,931) and insurance ($1,066,006.74) were included. Brown provided a total contract amount in the low $92 million range and asked the board to approve a contract not to exceed the figure shown in staff materials.

Board members asked for clarification about how the CMAR model allocates costs between the CMAR management fee, general conditions (on-site overhead) and contingency funds. Brown said the CMAR contingency covers unexpected site conditions so work can continue without immediate change orders; allowances cover tariff-driven escalation and other known contingencies; and the owner contingency is controlled by the city and used for owner-directed changes.

Board members also pressed staff on procurement and vendor history. Brown said SUNT (the selected CMAR) has worked on city street projects, Alliance Geotechnical Group received a testing and inspection award, and Hannah Engineering was listed for surveying; staff said they contacted 41 vendors and received eight bids across the packages. Staff described the selection as a best-value evaluation that considered safety, past performance, minority participation and price.

After questions, a motion to approve the contract was made, seconded and carried unanimously.

The board approved the recommendation and staff will proceed with next steps for notice to proceed and subsequent GMP packages and scheduling.

Details: staff projected a notice-to-proceed in April for initial earthwork and estimated construction completion in 2031. The contract and GMP materials provided to the board list multiple subcontract awards and specific line-item amounts as summarized above.

The board will receive future project updates as part of staff reports.