TCA Sweetens Pot for Bidders on Toll Road Design Work

What happens when your bid on a project is higher than the budget for it?

If you’re bidding for work on a certain toll road, the Transportation Corridor Agencies just raises the budget.

That happened Thursday when the TCA board voted to spend an extra $2.4 million for design work on the 15-mile stretch that will complete the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor toll road from Oso Parkway near Mission Viejo to Interstate 5 in San Clemente. The board took the action after one of the two construction companies that had intended to bid on the project threatened to drop out unless more money was allocated.

But what of the traditional bidding ethos--that the company offering the best deal gets the job? “We didn’t want it to appear noncompetitive,” explained board chairman Mike Ward, an Irvine city councilman. “We wanted to have two bidders.”

Not all the board members, however, were comfortable with Thursday’s action.

“I think we did everything within our ability to ensure that we had a competitive process,” said Helen Wilson, the mayor of Lake Forest and the only board member to vote against the additional funding. “We allowed everybody fair opportunity to come to the table and bid their best price.”

Board member Jim Potts, a Tustin councilman, also expressed reservations. “This is unheard of,” he said. “I don’t like being held hostage.”

Then he voted in favor of the proposal.

While the action appeared to be legal, Assistant County Counsel Jim Meade said he agreed it was also unusual. “You don’t see it very often,” he said.

The process leading to Thursday’s action began more than a year ago when the TCA called for bids on the project, expecting to begin construction in 2000. Included in the specifications was $14.1 million to partially design the project. The company that gets the first part of the project is likely to get the big payoff for the rest of the design and the construction work, which TCA officials expect to be worth about $500 million.

Last week one competing company, Foothill Corridor Constructors, sent a letter to the agency saying it would not submit a proposal unless the initial design budget was increased.

“They had always known the amount that was allocated,” said Jerry Bennett, the TCA’s chief engineer, “but they finally decided that it wouldn’t work for them. We thought it was adequate to do what is in the scope of the project, but it’s a matter of opinion; they have theirs and we have ours.”

A spokesman for the other construction company, Saddleback Constructors, which said it could meet the original budget specifications, said his company opposed the increase, which brings the cost to $16.5 million. Nonetheless, proposal manager Jim Maczko said, the firm can live with the change.

“We will certainly find good use for the $2.4 million,” he said.

The bids must be received by Thursday. The contract is expected to be awarded early next year.

Board member Todd Spitzer, a county supervisor, said he voted for the extra $2.4 million to assure competitive bidding. “We couldn’t afford to lose the competitive model for phase two,” he said. “Now both companies will be motivated.”

Most of the extra money, TCA officials said, will come from a settlement the agency received for its losses during the Orange County bankruptcy.

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More Money

The Transportation Corridor Agencies has allocated an additional $2.4 million for desig work on the section of toll road that will connect to Oso Parkway and the Interstate 5.