by James A. Bacon
Uh, oh, it looks like the bidding process for the Charlottesville Bypass is running into complications. Prospective bidders for the construction phase of the controversial project, estimated to cost $244 million, have lots of questions… and the Virginia Department of Transportation doesn’t have all the answers.
A document obtained by Charlottesville Tomorrow under the Freedom of Information Act responds to 220 questions submitted by firms formulating bids. Questions revolve around fundamental points such as traffic projections, noise analysis and bridge design. On 15 occasions in the 33-page document, writes Sean Tubbs, VDOT provides the following response:
The Department does not represent or warrant that the information contained in the supplemental information package is reliable or accurate or suitable for designing this project.
When VDOT does provide concrete answers, bidders may not always like them:
- The contractor will be responsible for designing and paying for any environmental mitigations that might be required as part of a Federal Highway Administration review not due to be complete until later this year.
- The contractor is responsible for acquiring any additional right-of-way that might be required to meet revised stormwater management requirements.
- The winning contractor must produce a traffic study showing that its design for the 6.2-mile bypass and two interchanges can maintain a level of service of “C” — continuous and free-flowing — by the year 2036.
- The builder must demonstrate to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that wetlands near the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir will not be impacted.
- The builder must confirm with the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office that its plan avoids cultural-resource sites.
- VDOT will not increase the $100,000 paid to each team for producing a qualified proposal.
- To keep the procurement process on schedule, VDOT will not take time to answer any more questions.
The bidding process shows every sign of being rushed in order to meet a schedule imposed from above. Here’s what taxpayers have to worry about: Uncertainty will heighten the perception of risk among bidders. Bidders may feel compelled to pad their bids to offset those risks — better to lose the job than to win a money loser — and some may drop out of the bidding entirely.
I’m not sure what happens if the low bid exceeds the $197 million allocated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board to cover the balance of the project’s costs. Presumably, the administration will have to go back to the CTB and ask for a supplemental allocation. Given the way the administration hid the cost and design controversies raging inside VDOT at the time (see “In the Dark,”), the McDonnell team may have some explaining to do.
