Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Finance and Management Director to modify a contract on behalf of the Office of Construction Management with the Design Group for professional services for the first phase of a planned multi-phase renovation of the Municipal Court Building (MCB), located at 375 South High Street.
To properly and efficiently implement a multi-phased capital improvement program for the MCB, the city engaged Design Group (Ordinances 1130-2010 and 1600-2011) to create a master space plan and phased construction plan to increase the energy efficiency of the building and to address security, functional and physical plant deficiencies and provide for the future space needs of the Municipal Court. Ordinance No. 1020-2013, passed by City Council on June 5, 2015, authorized a modification of the contract to address the significant capital needs required to complete the renovation of the MCB and to ensure that the daily operations of the Municipal Court and its related functions were maintained without significant interruption during the renovation.
A modification of the contract is necessary to include design fees, construction administration fees, and bidding and negotiation fees for Phase 1A - Cooling Tower Replacement and Phase 1B - Electrical Service Upgrade. Phase 1 will be broken down into three smaller phases, the first of which is the Cooling Tower Replacement then the electrical service upgrade. The cooling tower is nearing the end of its life expectancy and has continued to have operational issues. The electrical service will be upgraded with new switchgear for both AEP service and municipal power service.
Design Group has institutional knowledge of the project and produced the original design plans. It is practical and cost effective for the coordination and continuity of the project to use Design Group for these modifications. Selecting another engineer at this point would lead to duplicated work and slow the pro...
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