FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Assembly Rejects Appeal on Dock Bid Award
By ABIGAIL BLISS
Sentinel Staff Writer
Acting as a quasi-judicial body, the Assembly voted 5-0 at a special meeting Thursday to deny the appeal by Tamico Inc., whose bid on the O’Connell Bridge Lightering Facility Pile Replacement Project was rejected as non-responsive.
Assembly members Aaron Bean and Bob Potrzuski were absent.
The O'Connell Bridge lightering dock is pictured today. Pilings on the structure will be replaced. (Sentinel Photo)
The invitation to bid, released March 28, 2018, said the project would include “various quantities of mobilization, demolition, salvage, disposal, steel pipe piles, pile sockets, gangway pile frame removal/re installation, permitting, anodes, and other miscellaneous work.”
The City announced intent to award the project to Turnagain Marine Construction in Anchorage on April 30, after determining that Tamico’s bid was “non-responsive” to the terms of the offering.
Turnagain is based in Anchorage, and their bid came in at $483,800. Tamico, based in Petersburg, submitted a bid of $243,000.
APPELLANT’S CASE
Joining via phone, Tamico President Jim Martinsen contended that the City had not disclosed all of the information it had about the necessary permitting, namely, that it had not specified in the bid request that an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) permit would be necessary.
The IHA permit is new as of the past few years, and pertains to the injury or disturbance of marine mammals in non-commercial fishing activities.
Martinson said that he had spoken with representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service who had said the IHA permit would not be needed for this project. When asked, Martinsen said he had no documentation of the representatives’ comments.
Martinsen suggested that the City reject all bids on the project and rebid with the specification that an IHA permit would be needed.
CITY’S SIDE
City Attorney Brian Hanson said the City’s bid process was fair to all bidders, and the city was correct in finding Tamico’s bid was “non-responsive” to the terms the City set in the invitation to bidders.
First, he said, Tamico’s bid failed to meet multiple specifications of the bid request, beginning with the qualifications of their permitting specialist.
He clarified that the City does not know that an IHA permit will be required in this project. The bid specifications called for all bidders to include a permitting specialist who had secured two IHA permits within the last five years in their bid, in order for this expertise to be available in the likely case the IHA permit would be necessary. Tamico’s bid failed to meet this specification, Hanson said.
Additionally, all bidders had been verbally notified at a pre-bid meeting on April 2 that an IHA permit probably would be needed. At the same meeting, the City’s engineers issued a reminder that the selected contractor would be responsible for “determining, coordinating, and acquiring all authorizations required,” Hanson said; it was not the City’s role to outline how to navigate the project, he said.
“It’s their responsibility to outline the means and methods,” said city public works director Michael Harmon.
Harmon noted that he, too, disliked the extra administrative hurdles and cost an IHA permit would mandate – “It’s horrible,” he said. “I hate it.” – but that it is important to comply with federal standards.
Hanson said that the City had not been contacted by anyone from Tamico with questions about the necessary permits.
When the City saw that Tamico’s bid did not include enough funding for the IHA permit, he said, it asked Tamico about the omission and requested to speak with the company’s permitting specialist, who lacked the necessary experience.
Hanson said Tamico’s response implied that “permitting restrictions or issues would result in a change condition,” with the City responsible.
Second, Tamico’s bid also failed to provide proof that they had or could obtain the insurance necessary for the project, Hanson said.
Finally, Hanson and Harmon also noted that the City had previously found that Tamico failed to comply with permits on another project, the Sitka transient float, leading the City to find them “non-responsible.”
Hanson said that, while separate from the O’Connell Bridge Lightering Facility Pile Replacement Project, the transient float project was relevant because it showed a bidder’s track record.
“The only issue for us to look at here is that, is there a non-responsibility of the bidder because, in the past, they’ve had permit violations, and we’re giving out a contract where they need to comply with that, with bidding requirements,” he said. “When you have someone who has had permitting violations in the past, are they going to be able to follow permits in the future?”
ASSEMBLY ACTION
The Assembly decided that the City’s “non-responsive” conclusion was justified, based on the failure of Tamico’s bid to include the necessary permitting expertise, and denied the appeal.
Noting the bid’s shortcomings, Mayor Matt Hunter said, “To me, these are clearcut.”
THE PROJECT
The project being bid is for replacement of the piling and making other upgrades at the O’Connell Bridge dock that are needed to make it suitable for mooring large yachts. The City plans to cover the cost of the project and derive income from catering to ocean-going private yachts at the downtown dock, which is no longer needed for cruise ship lightering.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....