The City Bond Board has approved the awarding of a $12,277,783 contract to Jake Marshall LLC at the Volkswagen plant. The bid also includes a contingency amount of $1,227,778 for a total bid of $13.5 million.
The contract was awarded, though the Marshall firm was the third low bidder.
Here are the minutes from the bond board meeting:
Mr. Mills then presented the next item on the Agenda for discussion: It was recommended that the Board award a contract to Jake Marshall, LLC relative to the Media Mechanical Package for the Volkswagen Assembly Plant in the amount of $12,277,783.99, plus a contingency amount of $1,227,778.40 for a total amount not to exceed $13,505,562.39, and authorizing inclusion of value engineering items approved by Volkswagen.
Mike McMahan stated that litigation has been threatened in this matter by one of these two parties if they are not awarded the bid. Under those circumstances, he advised the Board that it could have an attorney/client privileged confidential meeting after the presentations are heard for the sole purpose of asking any legal questions, but during that meeting but could not deliberate anything about which party the contract would be awarded to.
Bill Payne gave the recommendation of the City staff. This item has been under deliberation. This was a publicly advertised bid. It was sent out to multiple vendors and five bids were received. The lowest value of the bid came from Century Fire Protection, but was rejected as an incomplete bid. The next lowest bid was from W.J. O’Neill, but there were defects with the cover sheet for O’Neill’s bid and it is non-responsive and disqualified.
The third lowest bid was from Jake Marshall, LLC. Their bid amount met all specifications in the amount of $12,277,783.99. Approval has been requested for the total base bid amount including a contingency above that. This contract is being paid for by State funds.
James Williams on behalf of W.J. O’Neill admitted that there were two primary defects on the cover page of the envelope that was submitted on W.J. O’Neill’s bid. He respectfully disagreed with the recommendation that the asserted defects shall result in disqualification of W.J. O’Neill’s bid. The cover page is pre-printed which across the top says, “Mechanical Contractor Services”. The subcontractor license number and expiration date was duplicated the same as the contractor. This was a typographical or transcribed error. The electronic transmission was correct. He asserted that this information is not required to be on this form under the statute. He also explained that it was a technicality which was beyond form and that the T.C.A. 62-6-119(b) statute does not pertain to the subcontractor but only to the primary contractor information. This should not have caused a defect in the bid package. He also explained that W.J. O’Neill Company is duly qualified for the bidding, that this is a severe mistake for the Board to consider, the Board should take another look at the bid, and to consider substance before form.
Mr. Ebersole said he noticed that some pages were missing from the bid. He asked if this was a material omission. Artie Prichard stated the material she has is what was submitted from W.J. O’Neill. Missing information in the bid contained schedules of unit prices.
Cameron Hill on behalf of Jake Marshall, LLC addressed Richard Ebersole’s questions about technical and substantive violations. W.J. O’Neill’s bid itself actually lacked substantial information in the bid. There were a total of 2,700 separate items in the bid. W.J. O’Neill never responded to a substantial amount of these items, and that is clearly supported by other evidence that can be presented to the Board with permission.
Pages 6, 7, and 8 are parts of an e-mail from William Tucker (City Purchasing Department) to Jeff Daniels at Jake Marshall, LLC. Mr. Tucker explained to Mr. Daniels that during what was called a bid clarification process which Jake Marshall did not participate in, there were several questions submitted to W.J. O’Neill concerning its bid. Pages 7 and 8 are the attachment that the e-mail on page 6 refers to what Mr. Tucker said, “I am attaching a copy of the request for clarification that was sent to W.J. O’Neill as an example. Answers to these questions have not yet been provided. The questions appear on pages 7 and 8. There are a total of 17 questions identified on the spreadsheet. That is what is regarding the estimate already. Beyond that goes into substantial substantive questions of issues that were wrong and faulty with the nature of W.J. O’Neill’s bid. The bottom line is the remaining 16 questions clearly indicate that W.J. O’Neill fundamentally failed to provide sufficient data to accurately bid on the project. It did not provide that information. This e-mail to W.J. O’Neill was sent on May 5th. That is after the bid opening process took place. So not only is there a substantial, technical violation that is of a dispositive nature there are substantive problems involved in the bid. There is not enough information in the bid to evaluate it. This set of questions, at the time it was sent, an attempt to gain more information. Those pages are missing. They disqualified the bid further because they did not allow proper consideration of what that bid stands for.
Mr. Hill stated that Mr. Williams cited a portion of Tennessee Code Annotated Section 62-6-119, but he did not read all of it. The first part of 62-6-119 states, “that any person or entity involved in the preparation of invitation to bid or comparable bid documents shall direct that the name, license number, expiration date thereof, and license classification of the contractors applying to bid for the prime contract and for the electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning contracts appear on the outside of the envelope.” That is the basis of the recommendation. The bid envelope did not have all the necessary information on the face of the envelope. It should never have been opened. It should have been automatically disqualified. The remaining portion of Subsection (d) states, “the failure of any bidder to comply therewith shall void such bid and the envelope containing such bid shall not be opened or considered.” Later in the statute it says, “the failure of any bidder to comply with all of the provisions hereof shall automatically disqualify such bid.” That bid is disqualified automatically. It should not be considered at all and that is the basis of the City’s recommendation to the Board for why that particular bid should be rejected. Rejecting that bid leaves Jake Marshall as the lowest qualified responsive and responsible bidder which meets the City’s requirements.
Jake Marshall is capable of doing the work, Jake Marshall is prepared to do the work, and for those reasons Jake Marshall stands ready, willing, and able to start the project as soon as possible. Jake Marshall has 250-300 employees who live in Chattanooga. Jake Marshall’s commitment to Chattanooga is just as important as W.J. O’Neill’s commitment. Jake Marshall is arguing adherence to the rules to make sure that the rule provides for an even playing field. The rules exist so that all bidders who are interested in these projects can submit the same criteria subject to their determination of what the particular contract requires each bidder to submit the information as deemed appropriate, and a fair decision can be made.
Mr. Williams stated that he wants the facts and believes that his client was cut short in their meeting. Mayor Ron Littlefield stated that a recommendation to award the contract to Jake Marshall, LLC had been reached after discussion with Volkswagen.
Mr. Miller moved to approve this recommendation, seconded by Mr. Ebersole, and unanimously approved by all members present.