Camas will rebid Crown Park project

Camas officials have agreed to reject two construction bids for a $5 million Crown Park improvement project and go out for bid again following an error on the City’s request for proposals.

Camas Parks and Recreation Director Trang Lam told Camas City Council members this week, during the Council’s regular meeting Monday, April 1, that a paperwork error listed an item in terms of per-unit cost instead of the total cost to demolish, remove and replace materials from the construction site.

The error caused the two bidders — Colf Construction, LLC out of Vancouver and the Kelso-based Advanced Excavating Specialists, LLC — to underestimate the cost for removing the material because they were calculating for per-cubic-yard costs instead of the lump-sum cost.

The City went out for bid on the project Feb. 29, and received two bids March 22.

“Staff has thoroughly reviewed the bid submittals, and have found a unit cost discrepancy for a bid item on the schedule,” Lam told the Council in her staff report. “Due to the discrepancy, staff finds that it would be more transparent to recommend that the bid packages be rejected and the City rebids the project.”

The city of Camas is embarking on a complete revamp of the City’s historic Crown Park in compliance with the City’s Crown Park Master Plan, adding an interactive splash pad, inclusive playground, bathroom and updated pathways and parking to the park.

Going out to bid again will set the project back six weeks, but should not derail the project’s groundbreaking this summer.

“We should still be able to meet that timeline,” Lam said Monday.

She added that the City anticipates it will receive bids from the same two bidders during the next round and could get bids from other contractors.

“We had about six or seven contractors sign up for packages, but only two submitted,” Lang said. “The project is really large and (several contractors who had shown interest) didn’t anticipate it being that large. Once they found out, they decided not to submit. We anticipate maybe having more bidders this time around.”

Councilman Tim Hein moved that the Council agree to reject the two bids and rebid the project. The rest of the Council — with the exception of Councilwoman Leslie Lewallen, who was absent from the April 1 Council workshop and meeting — agreed and the motion passed unanimously.

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