Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Procurement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves ITT for Southeast Brainerd materials testing after large bid gap
Summary
The Safety and Public Works Committee approved staff’s recommendation to award materials testing for the Southeast Brainerd Reconstruction project to ITT after staff noted a large price gap between two proposals; councilmembers asked for clearer RFP unit pricing in future solicitations.
The Brainerd City Safety and Public Works Committee voted to approve staff’s recommendation to award materials testing services for the Southeast Brainerd Reconstruction project to ITT.
Public works director (introduced in the meeting as 'Sandy') told the committee staff solicited two proposals for materials testing and that the bids differed substantially; the lower proposal from ITT was described in the transcript in two places as $20,915 and $20,009.15, while Braun Intertek’s estimate was roughly $70,000. The director said staff recommended ITT because the higher cost for Braun did not show sufficient added value for a local project that does not require the more rigorous testing and documentation of state-aid or federal work.
Councilmember Yeager asked whether the city should change how it writes future requests so respondents must list unit prices for specific tests (for example slump tests and compaction tests) and thereby make direct comparisons easier. The director responded the city’s consultant pool and task-order approach will allow staff to drive scopes and capture unit prices for each test, reducing vague proposal language and enabling clearer comparisons.
A motion to approve staff’s recommendation was offered and carried on a voice vote; the chair recorded two “aye” responses and declared the motion carried. The committee moved the contract award forward as recommended; contract execution and the bid-award item appear later on the council agenda.
