Delayed Award of Systems Contract

Update 1/27/12:
This contract was awarded to Comstock/Skanska JV on 1/18/12.

Update 2/16/12:
The bid protest was was filed by Judlau Contracting.

Last-minute "protest" by non-winning bidder further delays award of Second Avenue Subway Systems Contract.

At last month's MTA Board meeting on December 21st, it was announced that the award of Contract C-26009 -- the Systems Contract for the project -- has been delayed due to a protest filed by one of the unselected bidders. The contract has been working its way through the MTA's procurement process since September 2010.

An official at the meeting informed the Board of this development with the following statement,

Regarding the Systems Contract for the Second Avenue subway, the committee was informed that a protest had been submitted by a bidder that was not selected for the contract award.

As a result, we will not award the contract to the proposed contractor, the highest [sic, recte lowest(?)] bidder, until the protest is resolved in a manner that permits such an award.

The MTA's selection committee had unanimously recommended that this contract be awarded to Comstock/Skanska JV (a Joint Venture of L. K. Comstock & Co., and Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc.) because, according the staff summary presented to the MTA Board, "their alternate proposal offered the best overall value to NYCT and MTACC, based on the selection criteria."

Comstock/Skanska's final bid was $261,900,000.

At this time it is not clear which of the bidders filed the protest or how long the issue will take to resolve.

A spokesperson for the MTA declined to comment on the matter.


Some background:

The work under the contract consists of:

• The supply and installation of track, which will be installed using a low vibration track system; aluminum third rail, to provide traction power; and train signaling, using the MTA's traditional relay-based block wayside signal system.

• The communication systems including public address, customer communications, closed-circuit television, emergency alarms, radio wireless systems, fire alarms, and an emergency booth communication system.

• The traction power system including power distribution, the conversion of alternating current (AC) power to direct current (DC) power, and three new power substations.

A total of seven bidders participated in Step 2 of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for this contract. The seven parties were:

• Halmar International
• Judlau/TAP JV
• Skanska USA Civil Northeast
• Railroad/Citnalta JV
• L. K. Comstock
• Daidone/Aldridge JV, and
• Kiewit Infrastructure Co.

After a lengthy review and negotiation process involving some firms dropping out and others forming joint ventures, four bidders were requested to submit their "Best and Final Offer".

The final offers received were:

• Comstock/Skanska JV - $264,462,000 (with an alternate final offer of $261,900,000)

• Judlau Contracting - $264,500,000

• Railroad/Citnalta JV - $279,925,000 (with an alternate final offer of $278,825,000)
  

• Halmar/Parsons JV - $284,907,299

(MTA Capital Construction's internal estimate for this contract was $276,480,064.)


Further details can be found on these links:

Staff Summary of Contract C-26009
MTA Capital Construction
12/21/11

Second Avenue Subway Phase I
Risk Assessment, Contract 6: Systems
McKissack+Delcan
Report to the MTA Capital Program Oversight Committee (CPOC)
12/19/11

(Note that these two documents are embedded within lengthy MTA Board reports. Because of their size they may take some time to open.)

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And now, a few recent images from some of the SAS work sites --



1/7/12
96th Street - looking S

Workers at this location, just south of 96th Street, are preparing to pour a permanent(?) cement surface over the newly installed deck beams that extend across the plaza at this location. (Note the rebar caging that is being assembled at the south end of the image.)



1/7/12
just south of 96th Street - looking E

Another shot, from a different angle, of the same work area.



1/7/12
95th Street - looking N

A view of the steel deck beams that will extend across Second Avenue at this location. The beams shown here appear to be between 18 and 24 inches high.



1/7/12
92nd Street, NE corner - looking S

A view of a very large billboard that has been set up on the building at this corner.



1/7/12

This is a close-up view of the top of a section of Jersey Barrier that is sitting on the work site. An unofficial piece of the design work, for a water line, can be seen.



1/7/12
86th Street, SE corner - looking NW

A shot of the future site of
86th Street Station Ancillary Building No. 2.



1/7/12
btw. 86th & 95th Streets

A set of wooden storage boxes. These boxes are used to transport cylindrical core samples of rock.



1/7/12
84th Street - looking S

A street level view of the work zone south of 84th Street.



1/7/12
75th Street, NE corner - looking SW

This shot appears here simply because I thought that the reflections of light, on the side of this building, were quite interesting.



1/7/12
72nd Street, SE corner - looking NW

A view of the building at 259 East 72nd Street. This building is being dismantled from the top down.

Entrance No. 2 and Ancillary No. 2 for the 72nd Street station will eventually be built at this location.


A copy of the demolition work plan for this location (a 6-page PDF-document) can be viewed by clicking on the image above.



1/7/12
63rd Street/Lexington Ave Station

Note the new steel beam that has been installed above the platform.



1/7/12

In this shot, you can see a cross-section of the light fixture above the platform. Who would have imagined how complex a seemingly simple metal light fixture could be.



1/7/12

A view from the existing stairway that connects the lower level platform with the upper level platform. If you look carefully, you can see the now-exposed curved ceiling of the station shell.

Here's a listing of the recent additions
to the right-hand column of The Launch Box

NIMBY suit opposing 86th St. entrances dismissed
By Benjamin Kabak
2nd. Ave. Sagas
12/27/11

"City Grinds Out a Market for Muck"
By Andrew Grossman
The Wall Street Journal - 12/22/11

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