APRIL 3, 2006

REPORT TO GENERAL COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: Consultant Selection RFP # 006-R-06

Woodbine Bypass and Hwy 404 Employment Lands Sanitary Sewer

CONTACT/AUTHOR: Alan Brown/Allan Arbuckle extension 3120

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report entitled “Consultant Selection RFP # 006-R-06, Woodbine Bypass and Hwy 404 Employment Lands Sanitary Sewer” be received;

AND THAT the Request for Proposal # 006-R-06 be awarded to the highest ranked qualified firm, Earth Tech Canada Inc;

AND THAT this award be subject to the receipt of funding from the West Cathedral Developers Group or Region of York in accordance with the Markham Council’s January 31, 2006 approved principles for the terms and conditions of the draft Development Charge Credit Agreement;

AND THAT Purchase Orders for the various items of work for the project be issued to Earth Tech Canada Inc. in stages based on receipt of funds from the Cathedral Group and Region of York and the satisfaction of other conditions set out in this report.

Woodbine By-pass

AND THAT Engineering staff be authorized to retain the firm of Earth Tech Canada Inc. for the completion of the detailed design of Phases 1 & 2 of the Woodbine Bypass for an upset fee of $386,077.40 inclusive of 7% GST and disbursements ($360,820.00 exclusive of GST);

AND THAT Engineering staff be authorized to retain the firm of Earth Tech Canada Inc. for the construction inspection and contract administration of Phases 1 & 2 of the Woodbine Bypass for an upset fee of $215,070.00 inclusive of 7% GST and disbursements ($201,000.00 exclusive of GST) subject to the satisfactory completion of the detailed design phase of the project as described in the RFP document;

AND THAT a contingency amount of $ 50,000 exclusive of GST be established to cover any additional design costs for Phases 1 & 2 of the Woodbine Bypass and that the Director of Engineering be authorized to approve expenditure of this contingency amount up to the specified limit;

AND THAT Engineering staff be authorized to retain the firm of Earth Tech Canada Inc. for the completion of the detailed design of Phase 3 of the Woodbine Bypass for an upset fee of $101,897.17 inclusive of 7% GST and disbursements ($95,231.00 exclusive of GST) subject to the receipt of property access agreements with the landowners;

AND THAT a contingency amount of $ 14,500 exclusive of GST be established to cover any additional design costs for Phase 3 of the Woodbine Bypass and that the Director of Engineering be authorized to approve expenditure of this contingency amount up to the specified limit;

AND THAT the Engineering Department 2006 Capital Budget be amended to increase the value of the detailed design work for Phase 1, 2 & 3 of the Woodbine Bypass by a total of $455,201.

Hwy 404 Employment Land Sanitary Sewer

AND THAT Engineering staff be authorized to retain the firm of Earth Tech Canada Inc. for the completion of the detailed design for the 404 North trunk sanitary sewer for an upset fee of $257,067.50 inclusive of 7% GST and disbursements ($240,250.00 exclusive of GST) subject to the amendment of the Engineering Department 2006 Capital Budget and receipt of West Cathedral assessed share of such work;

AND THAT Engineering staff be authorized to retain the firm of Earth Tech Canada Inc. for the construction inspection and contract administration for the 404 North trunk sanitary sewer for an upset fee of $132,883.30 inclusive of 7% GST and disbursements ($124,190.00 exclusive of GST) subject to the satisfactory completion of the detailed design phase of the project as described in the RFP document and the amendment of the Engineering Department 2006 Capital Budget and receipt of West Cathedral assessed share of such work;

AND THAT a contingency amount of $ 40,000 exclusive of GST be established to cover any additional design costs for the 404 North Employment Lands trunk sewer and that the Director of Engineering be authorized to approve expenditure of this contingency amount up to the specified limit;

AND THAT the draft cost sharing for the detailed design, construction inspection and contract administration of the 404 North trunk sanitary between the Cathedral Developers Group (27%) and the Hwy 404 North Employment Lands (73%) as set out in this report be endorsed;

AND THAT the Director of Engineering be authorized to finalize the cost sharing agreement with the Cathedral Group for the Hwy 404 North trunk sewer;

AND THAT the Major and Clerk be authorized to execute the Cost Sharing Agreement with the Cathedral Group for the 404 North trunk sewer to the satisfaction of the Town Solicitor.

AND THAT the 2006 Capital Budget be amended to include the detailed design, construction inspection, contract administration and construction of the 404 North trunk sanitary sewer in the amount of $2,633,710;

AND THAT the Hwy 404 North Employment Lands final share of the Hwy 404 Sanitary Sewer be included in an Area Specific Development Charges for the area;

AND THAT the Town of Markham upfront the Hwy 404 North Employment Lands share of the design and construction of the Hwy 404 Sanitary Sewer in the amount of $1,922,608 to be funded from Development Charges Reserves.

AND THAT the upfronted sanitary sewer costs plus interest be included in the Area Specific Development Charge Bylaw for the Hwy 404 North Employment lands.

AND THAT the Town of Markham be reimbursed the upfront Hwy 404 sanitary sewer cost plus interest from the Area Specific By-law for the Hwy 404 North Employment Lands;

AND THAT staff continue to pursue with the Hwy 404 North Employment landowners upfront financing of the Hwy 404 Sanitary Sewer;

AND THAT Bruce McGregor, Commissioner of Transportation and Works for the Regional Municipality of York be advised of this decision.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Woodbine By-pass

In 2001 the Cathedral Secondary Plan was amended to include a Woodbine By-pass of Victoria Square from Major Mackenzie Drive to 19^th Avenue. The Region of York undertook an Environmental Assessment Study for the by-pass which was filed with the Minister of Environment in September 2003. The Environmental Assessment included a provision that the section of existing Woodbine Avenue between the new by-pass connection points to Woodbine Avenue would be transferred to the Town when the by-pass was completed. This was to be scheduled for construction in 2011/2012.

The construction of the by-pass has been divided in 3 phases, Phase 1 extending from Major Mackenzie Drive to Elgin Mills Road, Phase 2 from Elgin Mills Road to the north limit of the Cathedral community and Phase 3 from the north limit of the community through the 404 North Employment Lands to connect to Woodbine Avenue south of 19^th Avenue. To advance the construction schedule the Region of York and Town of Markham staff commenced discussions with the Cathedral Developers Group to develop a series of principles leading to an Agreement which would advance the delivery of the by-pass which staff are currently reviewing. In January of this year a report was endorsed by Council which set out terms of this Agreement including the provision that the Town of Markham would be a proponent for the design, approval, tender and construction of the Phase 1 and 2 by-pass construction to commence in 2007.

Once the Credit Agreement was approved by Town of Markham and Regional Councils, the Engineering and Purchasing Department staff began the process of selecting a consultant to carry out the design, construction inspection and contract administration of the by-pass for the Town.

404 Sanitary Sewer

The Hwy 404 North Planning District (404 Lands) is located immediately north of the Cathedral Community. The Town is undertaking several initiatives to increase the supply of land to accommodate growth in office and industrial employment. Municipal sanitary servicing for the 404 North Employment Lands will be provided by the extensions of the Cathedral Community sanitary infrastructure system.

A total of 4 sanitary sewer servicing alternatives were identified including:

· A gravity trunk sewer to be constructed within the proposed road allowance of the Woodbine By-pass through Cathedral Community. The depth of the sewer would range from 8 metres at Elgin Mills Road to a maximum of 17 metres at the north limit of the Cathedral lands. This sewer would provide service to the 404 North Employment lands and it would also serve as an outlet for local sewers with the West Cathedral Development. The cost of construction is estimated at $2.63 million.

· The construction of the sewage pumping station located between Elgin Mills Road and 19^th Avenue and a forcemain discharging to a shallow gravity sewer near the Elgin Mills Road and the Woodbine By-pass intersection. This option requires an initial capital expenditure estimated at $3.6 million and has long-term operational and maintenance costs of $120,000 per year.

· The third and fourth alternatives involve the construction of shallow gravity trunk sewers on lands located east of Woodbine Avenue outside the existing urban area. This would require acquisition of easements from private landowners and Hydro One and would require the preparation of a Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) to justify the construction of municipal services in areas outside the approved urban boundary of the Cathedral subdivisions. This type of EA would require at least 12 to 18 months to complete and cost approximately $100,000 to $150,000. The cost of constructing each of these options is approximately $2.3 million including property acquisition.

Engineering staff evaluated the four alternatives and identified the gravity trunk sewer along the Woodbine By-pass alignment as the preferred option for the following reasons:

· The sewer can be constructed as a part of the Woodbine By-pass project;

· The sewer will be constructed entirely within the existing urban area and will therefore not require the disruption of lands outside the urban boundary or lands within the environmentally sensitive areas adjacent to Berczy Creek

· The sewer will serve as an outlet for a number of subdivisions within the West Cathedral area

· The sewer is the lowest overall cost alternative.

This option requires funding of the sewer in 2006 to meet Cathedral’s servicing schedule, however, front-end financing from the Hwy 404 Employment Land owners is not available.

The Cathedral Developers Group will be responsible for the funding of a portion of the costs for the design and construction of this sewer. The Developers Group contribution has been determined as the equivalent cost of constructing the local sewer whose function has been replaced by the trunk sewer and is estimated as approximately 27% ($711,120) of the total trunk sewer costs ($2,633,710). The final proportionate share of the sewer costs attributable to the Developers Group will be determined in consultation with the Cathedral Developer’s Group during the detailed design phase of the project. The award of the design and contract administration to Earth Tech Canada Inc. is subject to receipt of the Cathedral Group’s share of the costs.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The 2006 Capital Budget includes funding for the design of Phases 1 & 2 of the Woodbine Bypass in the amount of $300,000 to be provided by the West Cathedral Development Group (Account # 083-5350-7275-005). It is recommended that the budget for the expanded project be increased by $455,201 to a total of $755,201 to cover the additional costs for this project (Phase 1, 2 & 3) in the following amounts;

	Phase 1 & 2	Phase 3	Total
Design	360,820	95,231	456,051
Design Contingency	50,000	14,500	64,500
Engineering Fee	24,650	9,000	33,650
Construction inspection & Contract Administration	201,000	Not included In this award	201,000
Total	636,470	118,731	755,201	*(A)*

2006 Capital Project (083-5350-7275-005)			300,000	*(B)*

Shortfall			455,201	*(A) - (B)*

These costs are to be funded by the Cathedral Group and/or the Region of York. Markham will be responsible for the sidewalk and illumination design and contract administration component of this project which will be included in the Engineering 2007 Capital Budget.

The 2006 Capital Budget does not include funding for the design or construction of the 404 North Employment Lands trunk sewer as it was previously scheduled for design and construction in 2007. It is recommended that the 2006 Budget be amended to include a total of $2,633,710 for this work in the following amounts;

	Sanitary Sewer
Design Fee	240,250
Design Contingency	40,000
Engineering Fee	129,270
Construction Cost	2,100,000
Construction inspection & Contract Administration Fee	124,190
Total	2,633,710

It is proposed that the design and construction of this sewer will be shared by the two parties who will benefit from the sewer construction, the 404 North Employment landowners and the West Cathedral Developers Group. The proportional share attributable to each party is still

under discussion but has been estimated as 27% to the West Cathedral Developers Group and 73% to the land owners in the 404 North Employment area. Typically, the 404 North Lands land owners would be required to front-end finance their portion of the sewer construction costs, however, the majority of lands within the 404 Employment area are owned by private individuals who have not formed a developers group and are not in a position at the present time to provide financing for the sewer construction. Staff will continue to hold discussions with the land owners however, given the need to coordinate the construction of the sewer with accelerated schedule for the Bypass construction, it is recommended that the Town provide up-front financing for the 404 Employment land’s portion of the sewer cost in the amount of approximately $1.9 million. The Town’s costs plus interest will be recovered from the future Area Specific Development Charge for the 404 North Employment Lands (Area 49).

Alan Brown, C.E.T.

Director of Engineering

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Commissioner of Development Services

A) Woodbine Bypass

In 2001 the Cathedral Secondary Plan was amended to include a Woodbine By-pass of Victoria Square from Major Mackenzie Drive to 19^th Avenue. The Region of York subsequently undertook an Environmental Assessment Study for the by-pass which was filed with the Minister of Environment in September 2003. The Environmental Assessment included the provision that the section of existing Woodbine Avenue between the new by-pass connection points to Woodbine Avenue would be transferred to the Town when the by-pass is completed. The construction of the Bypass was originally scheduled for construction by York Region in 2011/2012.

The construction of the Bypass has been divided into 3 phases, Phase 1 extending from Major Mackenzie Drive to Elgin Mills Road, Phase 2 from Elgin Mills Road to the north limit of the Cathedral community and Phase 3 from the north limit of the Cathedral community through the 404 North Employment lands to connect to Woodbine Avenue south of 19^th Avenue. In order to advance the schedule for the construction of the Woodbine By-pass from the original construction date to 2007/2009, Town of Markham and Region of York staff commenced discussions with the Cathedral Developers Group to develop a series of principles leading to an Agreement which would advance the delivery of the Bypass. In January of this year, a report was presented to and endorsed by Council which set out the terms of this Agreement including the provision that the Town of Markham would be the proponent for the design, approval, tender and construction of Stages 1 and 2 of the Bypass commencing in 2007. The construction of the third phase, through the employment lands, is dependent upon the Region acquiring the necessary property from landowners in the employment land area and financing and is currently scheduled for 2010.

The Region of York has prepared a Draft Credit Agreement for the Woodbine Bypass based on the principles agreed with the Town and the Cathedral Developers Group. Staff are currently reviewing this Draft Agreement and will be meeting with Regional staff and Developers Group representatives to finalize the terms and conditions of the Agreement.

Subsequent to the endorsement by Markham and Regional Councils of the Agreement to advance the delivery of the Bypass, Engineering Department staff in conjunction with Purchasing Department staff began the process of selecting a consultant to carry out the design, construction inspection and contract administration of the Bypass for the Town.

B) 404 North Sanitary Sewer

The Highway 404 North Planning District (404 Lands) is situated immediately north of the Cathedral Community. The development of these lands for employment purposes is one of several initiatives being undertaken by the Town is to increase the supply of land to accommodate growth in office and industrial employment. Municipal sanitary servicing for the 404 North employment lands will be provided by the extensions of the Cathedral Community sanitary infrastructure system. In order to assure that the construction of the Cathedral servicing accommodates the 404 Lands, engineering staff retained a consulting engineer to review sanitary servicing options.

A total of four (4) sanitary sewer servicing alternatives were identified including

· A gravity trunk sewer to be constructed within the proposed road allowance of the Woodbine Avenue By-Pass through the Cathedral Community. The depth of the sewer would range from approximately 8 metres at Elgin Mills Road to a maximum depth of 17 metres at the north limit of the Cathedral lands. In addition to providing service to the 404 North Employment lands, this trunk sewer will also serve as an outlet for local sewers within the West Cathedral development area thereby reducing the length of local sewers required to be constructed by the Cathedral developers Group. The cost of constructing this sewer is estimated as $2.63 million

· The construction of a sewage pumping station, located between Elgin Mills Road and 19^th Avenue and a forcemain discharging to a shallow gravity sewer near the Elgin Mills Road and Woodbine Avenue By-Pass intersection. This option avoids the need to construct a deep gravity trunk sewer through the Cathedral lands but requires an initial capital expenditure estimated at $3.6 million and has significant long-term operational and maintenance costs estimated as approximately $120,000.00 per year.

· The third and fourth alternatives both involve the construction of shallow gravity trunk sewers on lands located east of Woodbine Avenue outside of the existing urban area, one within the Hydro corridor and the second east of the Hydro corridor within the buffer zone of the Berczy Creek. Both alternatives would require the acquisition of easements from private land owners and Hydro One and would require the preparation of a Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) to justify the construction of municipal services in areas outside the approved urban boundary. It is anticipated that a Class EA of this type would require at least 12 to 18 months to complete and cost approximately $100,000.00 to $150,000. Obtaining approval of this Class EA may prove problematic given the environmental sensitivity of the Berczy Creek and the reluctance of Hydro One to commit to long term municipal uses within their corridor. The cost of constructing each of these options is estimated as approximately $ 2.3 million including the cost of property acquisition.

Each of the four sewer alternatives would involve connections at various locations to the Cathedral sanitary sewer system and all parts of this system which have been constructed todate within the Cathedral lands will accommodate each of the four sewer options.

Engineering staff evaluated the four alternatives and identified the gravity trunk sewer along the Woodbine Bypass alignment as the preferred option for the following reasons:

· The sewer can be constructed as a part of the Woodbine Bypass project thereby accelerating the servicing of the employment lands

· The sewer will be constructed entirely within the existing urban area and will therefore not require the disruption of lands outside of the urban boundary or lands within the environmentally sensitive areas adjacent to Berczy Creek, the preparation of an EA or the acquisition of external properties.

· The sewer will serve as an outlet for a number of subdivisions within the West Cathedral Area thereby reducing the duplication of sewer systems in the area.

· The sewer is the lowest overall cost alternative.

This option however requires funding of the sewer in 2006 to meet Cathedral’s servicing schedule, however, front-end financing from the Hwy 404 Employment Land owners is not available.

Since the preferred alternative option follows the alignment of the Woodbine Bypass through the Cathedral Community, the consultant assignment for the design, construction inspection and contract administration of the Bypass includes similar work for the 404 trunk sewer thereby realizing cost savings on both projects.

Sharing of Trunk Sewer Costs

Since the trunk sewer will also serve as an outlet for local sewers within the West Cathedral development area thereby reducing the length of local sewers required to be constructed by the Cathedral developers, the Cathedral Developers Group will be responsible for the funding of a portion of the costs for the design and construction of this sewer. The Developers Group contribution has been determined as the equivalent cost of constructing the local sewers whose function has been replaced by the trunk sewer and is estimated as approximately 27 % ($711,102) of the total trunk sewer costs ($2,633,710). The final proportionate share of the sewer costs attributable to the Developers Group will be determined in consultation with the Cathedral Developer’s Group during the detailed design phase of the project. The award of the design and contract adminsitration to Earth Tech Canada Inc. is subject to receipt of the Cathedral Groups share of such.

Bid Information

Given the size and complexity of the Woodbine Bypass and trunk sewer construction project, a two stage process was adopted to select a design consultant. The initial stage of this process involved the issuing of a Request for Prequalification , (RFQ 200-P-05) which closed on November 11^th 2005 . This request was publicly advertised and submissions were received from a total of 10 consulting firms. The RFQ was evaluated by an Evaluation Team consisting of staff from Engineering Department with Purchasing staff verifying for accuracy and compliance. The five firms who received the highest rankings in the evaluation of the prequalification submissions were invited to participate in the second phase of the process, the submission of detailed proposals for this assignment. The following five firms were invited to submit a detailed proposal for the project

· Delcan Corporation

· Earth Tech Canada Inc.

· McCormick Rankin Corporation

· Morrison Hershfield Limited

· SNC-Lavalin Engineers & Constructors Inc.

RFP #006-R-06 was issued in accordance with Purchasing By-law 2004-341. Staff has reviewed the bid documents and is satisfied that all terms and conditions comply with the Town’s requirements.

The RFP closed on February 16^th 2006 and proposals were received from the five invited firms. Consultants were required to submit separate price quotations for six components of the overall project including;

· Detailed design of Phase 1 & 2 of the Woodbine Bypass

· Construction Inspection & Contract Administration of Phase 1 & 2 of the Woodbine Bypass

· Detailed design of Phase 3 of the Woodbine Bypass (provisional item)

· Construction Inspection & Contract Administration of Phase 3 of the Woodbine Bypass (provisional item)

· Detailed design of the 404 North Sanitary Sewer

· Construction Inspection & Contract Administration of the trunk sanitary sewer

Summary pricing information for each proposal is included as Attachment “B”.

Proposal Evaluation:

The RFP was evaluated by an Evaluation Team consisting of staff from Engineering Department with Purchasing staff verifying for accuracy and compliance. Each proposal was evaluated based on pre-established evaluation criteria as listed in the RFP with resulting scores as per Table A.

Table A

	Consultants	Points	Earth Tech	McCormick Rankin Corp.	Delcan Corp	Morrison Hershfield	SNC Lavalin
1	Past experience of Consulting Firm	20	16	20	20	20	20
2	Qualification of Lead Consultant and Project Team	20	20	17	17	18	15
3	Project Delivery	30	26	22	26	19	21
	Subtotal of Technical Score, Criteria # 1 to 3	70	62	59	63	57	56
4	Project Costs (30% of Review)	30	30	28.73	25.19	18.93	13.45
	Total	100	92	87.73	88.19	75.93	69.45
	RANK		1	3	2	4	5

Based on the pre-established evaluation criteria, Attachment ‘C’, Earth Tech Canada achieved the overall highest total score. Earth Tech Canada has proposed a comprehensive proposal with a solid design and site supervision team and staff are confident that their project team will provide the design services that meet the requirements as outlined in the RFP. It is therefore recommended that Earth Tech Canada be awarded the contract subject to the following conditions:

1. that the award of the construction inspection and contract administration phase of both the Woodbine Bypass and trunk sanitary sewer be subject to the satisfactory completion of the detailed design phase of the projects as described in the RFP document

2. that the award of the design of Phase 3 of the Woodbine Bypass be subject to the receipt of funding for this portion of the work from the Region of York and access with the impacted landowners which will allow the design consultants access to the properties for the purposes of conducting topographic surveys and pre-design studies including archeological, environmental, geotechnical and hydrological investigations

Project Schedule

The schedule for the project has been developed in consultation with the Cathedral landowners to ensure that the construction of the Bypass and related services are coordinated with the servicing of the adjacent subdivision lands. The section of the trunk sewer located south of Elgin Mills Road originally anticipated for 2007 is now required to be in service by the end of 2006 to accommodate Cathedral’s Phase I development. The design and construction of this sewer therefore has to proceed in advance of the Bypass work. The following schedule has been established for the project:

Trunk Sanitary Sewer

· Detailed Design........................................................... April 2006 to August 2006

· Tender call.................................................................. August 2006

· Construction start........................................................ September 2006

· Construction complete to Elgin Mills Rd....................... December 2006

· Construction complete to north limit............................. March 2007

Woodbine By-pass (Phases 1 & 2)

· Detailed Design........................................................... April 2006 to October 2006

· Tender call.................................................................. October 2006

· Construction start........................................................ April 2007

· Construction complete................................................. June 2008

FINANCIAL TEMPLATE (Separate Attachment):

Currently not available