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TO: Eric Charest <br />Natural Resources Administrator, Indian River County, <br />FROM: Nicole S. Sharp, P.E. <br />Coastal Restoration & Modeling Program Manager, APTIM <br />DATE: September 15, 2020 <br />RE: Sector 3 Beach and. Dune Restoration Project <br />The following summarizes the bid results for the Sector 3 Beach and Dune Restoration Project and <br />probable causes for unanticipated bid prices. <br />Apparent Low Bidder: <br />The low bidder, Ahtna Marine & Construction Company, LLC, has marine experience with cutterhead <br />dredging projects within the state of Florida through its recent acquisition of Cavache, Inc.; however, <br />the company bid as truck haul and does not have direct experience with truck haul projects of any <br />magnitude and could not provide a reference for large earthmoving/hauling projects. Also, based upon <br />communications with the company and as a result of their internal after -the -fact review of their bid <br />package, Ahtna's bid for $17.1 M contained an error which increased the total cost for placement of <br />sand by $13M. Due to this material error within Ahtna's bid package, the company has withdrawn their <br />bid for the County's consideration. <br />The second lowest bidder, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD), LLC, does meet the technical <br />qualifications of the project; however, their bid amount totaled $29M for the project. GLDD is a dredge <br />contractor that has completed several recent and similar projects, and based upon their bid submittal, is <br />capable of constructing the project within the requirements of the specifications. <br />Bid Results: <br />Four potential contractors submitted bid packages, and the bid results for the Sector 3 Beach and Dune <br />Restoration Project ranged from $17.1 M (Ahtna) to $42.4M (CERES), which exceeded the County's <br />cost estimate for the project. After further review, several factors may have attributed to higher unit <br />prices for the cost of sand for the project. These include a highly competitive market, availability of <br />sand suppliers, environmental restrictions imposed by the resource agencies, bid schedule, and status <br />of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) permit. <br />Currently, the USACE and other governmental entities have multiple post -storm recovery projects out <br />to bid or pending bid to repair losses from hurricanes which have impacted the state since 2017. Two <br />large truck haul projects within Broward County (approximately 1.5M cubic yards) and Miami Dade <br />County (1 M cubic yards) are expected to be bid for construction in 2020/2021. Additionally, there are <br />active dredging projects on the West Coast of Florida in addition to a post -storm recovery project <br />currently out to bid in the Florida Panhandle. These projects have the ability to limit resources (trucks, <br />sand, and dredges) available to the County within their rigid construction window due to sea turtle <br />nesting season and could have attributed to lack of bid or higher costs. <br />232 <br />