Recommend approval of Contract Modification No.1 for Lot Clearing with Beers Housing, Inc. in the amount of $200,000.

At the Jan. 16 meeting, Council requested additional information about the award of the annual Lot Clearing Annual Contract, and in particular about Local and DBE participation.  Besides posting the bid on the City of Savannah website and the Georgia Procurement Registry, staff sent an email notice in April 2019 to 646 registered vendors with relevant commodity codes.  In addition staff sent an email notice to all registered LDBE firms.  Bid documents included the 20% overall DBE goal and 10% LDBE goal.  In May 2019, staff included Addendum 1 to confirm the LDBE goal and posted the same on the website.  When the Purchasing Office received sealed bids, no LDBE participation was included.  The Office of Business Opportunity worked with bidders to identify opportunities to meet LDBE goals.  At June 20, 2019 meeting, City Council awarded the contract to Beers Housing with Venson Lawn and Landscaping as the LDBE subcontractor at 20%.

This contract is used by the Code Compliance Department to address overgrown lots when property owners fail to do so. This amendment is needed to approve anticipated funding for the 2020 fiscal year. When this contract service is used to address overgrown lots, the property owner of record is billed for the services provided. If the property owner does not provide payment, the City will assess a lien against the property.

The DBE goal for this project was 20%, including a 10% LDBE goal. The awarded contractor submitted DBE participation at the subcontractor level in the amount of 20% using Venson Lawn and Landscape. 

The original contract was awarded by Council on June 20, 2019 in the amount of $120,000. The total amount of the contract including this modification is $320,000.

Approval