Posted on May 13, 2021
UPDATE: At its May 10 meeting, the CEPD commission voted 4-0 to accept its staff and consultants’ recommendations and award the bid to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock.
The Captiva Erosion Prevention District’s engineering firm for the upcoming beach renourishment project presented its bid recommendation to the commission during a recent workshop meeting.
On May 6, APTIM Coastal Planning & Engineering’s Coastal Restoration and Modeling Program Manager Nicole Sharp and Coastal Protection Engineering’s Principal Engineer Thomas Pierro — a subcontractor for APTIM — recommended the bidder Great Lakes Dredge & Dock for the project.
“The bid from Great Lakes was excellent,” Sharp said.
During a working meeting on April 29, CEPD Technical Director Daniel Munt provided the commissioners with an overview of the bids received with the closing of the bid window. Three firms submitted four bids — one did two — ranging from about $15.63 million to $25.63 million.
Based on putting down 600,000 cubic yards of sand as suggested by APTIM, Great Lakes quoted $15,625,485; Weeks Marine submitted one for $15,764,750 and one for $18,238,750, based on either a June or December start date; and Manson Construction submitted the highest bid at $25,629,575.
To allow for flexibility, CEPD staff also obtained quotes for 450,000 and 750,000 cubic yards.
At last week’s workshop, Sharp explained that Great Lakes came in as the lowest bidder out of the three, offering “great” pricing for the cost of mobilizing the needed equipment and sand unit pricing. She added that the low bid provides wiggle room to work within that 25 percent more or less sand.
Sharp also noted that APTIM has worked with Great Lakes previously.
“They are a very organized and great company to work with,” she said.
Pierro reported that all three firms are domestic and can do the work within the specifications.
“These are the three major players,” he said. “We have really valid bids.”
Pierro gave an overview of the different methods proposed by the firms in terms of completing the project, to include using two hopper dredges working in tandem, to using a cutter dredge offshore, then ferrying the sand to the island using a barge and pumping it up to the shore, to only using a hopper.
He noted that unlike the other bids, Manson’s start date would be 2022 — and it is the highest.
“I don’t think they were a contender in this one,” Pierro said of the project this time.
He continued that Great Lakes and Weeks’ bid for June are comparable.
“They both have the equipment to do the work,” Pierro said.
He added that they both were the lowest bids and had an overlapping time frame as far as their start date and completion date, however, Great Lakes came in lower and is a known entity for APTIM.
During the following discussion, Treasurer Dick Pyle questioned if CEPD staff had heard from the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation for its feedback on a start date and moving sea turtle nests.
Executive Director Jennifer Nelson reported that she has been communications with Director of Coastal Wildlife Kelly Sloan and the SCCF’s only main concern is the proper advance notice.
“So the July date actually works well because that gives them ample time,” she said.
Sloan was present for the meeting and agreed.
“We just need the 65 days advance warning,” she said, explaining that the SCCF also still needs to apply for the permit to relocate any nests in the project area, but an exact start date is needed to apply.
“But I think we’re in good shape with the July 24 start date,” Sloan said.
The commission was expected to vote on its firm selection at its meeting on May 10.
