Lafayette City approves $3.715 million award for two Glick wells after single high bid

Lafayette City’s board voted to award Reynolds Construction a $3,715,000 contract to build two new wells at the Glick well field after staff said rebidding risked further delay and higher costs.

Steve Moore, superintendent for Lafayette Water Works, presented the engineering-certified bid tabulation and told the board the city would seek a notice of award. He said legal counsel and the controller determined the city’s bond ordinance tied to an upcoming water rate increase allows reimbursements for early project costs, which made moving forward feasible. "I recommend the notice of award for your approval," Moore said.

The award comes after a single bid that was about 70% higher than Wesler Engineering’s estimate of roughly $2.2 million. Andrew Gordon of Wesler Engineering told the board the discrepancy was driven in part by a high electrical subcontractor bid: "The number they got from their electrical sub was $800,000 higher," he said, and added that other shortfalls could reflect contractor profit or other line items the city could not precisely break down.

Gordon said several potential bidders withdrew after reviewing the scope or because they lacked workforce availability; one respondent later provided an estimate close to the engineer’s original figure, which staff said increased confidence the estimate was reasonable. Gordon also said the contractor will not discuss detailed value-engineering until after award but that cost reductions are likely to be in the "hundreds of thousands" rather than a full million.

Board members pressed staff on alternatives. The chair noted the risk of rebidding and asked whether the engineer’s estimate was too low; staff pointed to flood-plain complexity, metal fabrication and medium-voltage electrical work as drivers of higher costs. Moore and Gordon emphasized the need for redundancy in the well field because older wells have become less reliable and failures have been an annual occurrence.

City staff said the project has a timeline of about 270 days to substantial completion, meaning the wells could be pumping by around Thanksgiving. After discussion, the chair moved to approve the recommendation; the motion was seconded and the board approved the award by voice vote.

What’s next: staff said they will pursue post-award value-engineering discussions with the contractor and use bond-ordinance reimbursement mechanisms as needed. The board took no further related votes at the meeting.