BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 401
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Date of Hearing: May 15, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 401 (Daly) - As Amended: May 2, 2013
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:13-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the Orange County Transportation Authority
(OCTA), until January 1, 2018, to award a design-build contract
for design and construction of the Interstate 405 (I-405)
Improvement Project, subject to procedures and conditions that
mirror statutory authority currently provided to Caltrans for
use of design-build. These conditions:
1)Stipulate that Caltrans is responsible for construction
inspection services on the project, and prescribes a direct
reporting relationship between project inspectors and senior
Caltrans engineers, who are responsible for acceptance or
rejection of the construction work.
2)Stipulate that Caltrans retains authority to stop the
contractor's operations and take appropriate actions if public
safety is jeopardized, and requires the department to ensure
that public safety and convenience is maintained when work on
the project is performed within state highway right-of-way.
3)Provide that Caltrans may use employees or consultants to
perform prescribed services, consistent with the State
Constitution.
4)Require OCTA to comply with existing prevailing wage
monitoring and enforcement requirements, including providing
reimbursement to the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).
5)Require OCTA to report to the Legislature biennially on the
project's progress and on compliance with the above
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provisions.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)The responsibilities assigned in this bill to Caltrans
generally represent normal project-related oversight
activities, costs of which are included in the project budget.
Any costs to DIR will be reimbursed.
2)The OCTA estimates use of design-build on the project would
reduce the project duration by at least two years, at a
savings in project costs in the range of $30 million per year.
COMMENTS
1)Background and Purpose . The traditional public works
contracting method is known as design-bid-build, whereby
project design is done under contract by an
architectural/engineering firm, then upon completion of the
design phase, the construction phase is put out to bid and the
contract is awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.
In the last 10-15 years, contracting agencies have selectively
used an alternative contracting method known as design/build,
whereby entities with both design and construction management
capabilities compete for a single contract for both project
phases, typically for a fixed price. The intent of the
design/build alternative is to reduce the contracting agency's
risk with regard to project costs and schedule, expedite
project completion, and minimize change orders and claims.
SB 2X 4 (Cogdill)/Chapter 2 of 2009 authorized Caltrans to use
design-build for 10 projects on the state highway system and
five for projects on local streets. SB 2X 4 sets forth
processes and procedures by which design-build projects are
approved under the demonstration project, which sunsets
January 1, 2014. To date, CTC has authorized 10 state highway
projects. No approvals to use design-build on local streets
have been requested.
2)Purpose . This bill authorizes an additional design-build
project on I-405, beyond the 10 state highway projects
authorized in the demonstration program. The I-405 Improvement
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Project will provide one additional general purpose lane in
each direction of the 12-mile stretch of I-405, from Euclid
Street, at the border of Los Angeles County, and I-605. The
primary source of funding for this $1.3 billion project is
Orange County's sale tax measure for transportation. The bill
borrows heavily from the provisions of Caltrans' design-build
demonstration program.
3)Technical Amendment . Page 4, line 33 of the bill contains
language, included for purposes of Caltrans' demonstration
program, that requires the California Transportation
Commission (CTC) to develop guidelines for a standard
organization conflict-of-interest policy. Since these
guidelines have already been established, the bill should be
amended to say the OCTA shall apply the CTC's existing
guidelines in the authority's design-build proposal.
4)Prior Legislation . AB 2098 (Miller)/Chapter 250 of 2010
authorized the Riverside County Transportation Commission
(RCTC) to award a design-build contract for design and
construction of the State Highway Route 91 Corridor
Improvements Project.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081