Manassas Journal Messenger | City: Solo builder saves time
The Manassas City Council voted unanimously Monday to award a contract to Rector Construction Company to work on the Mosby Street and West Courthouse Street extension project.
The council approved a budget of $150,000 for the sole source contract, which Mike Moon, director of public works, said would be matched by Prince William County.
“This is not something we would normally sole-source,” Moon told the council, “but because of the nature of the construction, it would be difficult for one contractor to be building one half of the construction and another contractor, at the same time, to be building the other.”
Moon said “accountability and constructability issues” dictated that a single company could best perform the job to extend Mosby Street to the back of the county complex and Rector offered a lower bid than the city’s estimate.
Additionally the city staff determined that coordination between two companies at the West Courthouse Street right-of-way and the storm drainage and road work at the Judicial Place site might throw off timing and raise construction costs.
“Who’s accountable for compaction and so on of the roads, for that reason we thought it was worthwhile to have one accountable person who’s in charge of the project,” Moon said.
Ulysses X. White asked Moon if the City Council was “setting itself up for criticism” by offering the contract on a sole-source basis to Rector Construction, which is currently contracted for the work at Judicial Place.
White said to make sure that the issue had been discussed in finance committee meetings and agreed to before the resolution came before the council.
City Manager Larry Hughes answered for Moon.
“We discussed a reasonable agreement forward and moving in an expeditious fashion. Since the Rector Construction was on the site and we were negotiating with them to complete the work. I don’t recall the words ‘sole source’ being used, but we made it clear how we would proceed with the work,” Hughes said.