Confusion about the bidding process led to the Orinda City Council on March 17 rejecting all five bids received to renovate the Crossroads Plaza. The area is located at the entrance to Orinda at the end of the Highway 24 offramp and was formerly known as the Crossroads Mini Park. 

    The bids were received by the city on March 3. Upon opening the bids, the city found that the two lowest bidders were non-responsive to the request for construction bids. The non-responsiveness issues and bid protests all arose from apparent differing interpretations of the qualifications necessary to perform the work under the project.

    Under California public contracting law, the city must award the contract to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder, or it may reject all bids. After rejecting all the bids on this project, the city will reopen the request for bids soon. Rebidding will allow staff to clarify the license and experience requirements in the project bid documents to minimize bidder irregularities and ensure all bidders have appropriate qualifications to do the work. 

    After years of delay on the project to beautify the entrance to the city, the project picked up speed last year when the city council approved the project in June and then approved the design of the “Welcome to Orinda” sign that is a key element of the project in November.
 
    The project will completely renovate the landscaping and add walkway and tree lighting at the Crossroads Plaza. In January of this year, the project plans were approved by PG&E. The land is leased from PG&E under a long lease that currently extends to 2046.

    Construction bids were sought in January and received in March. The bids received were as follows: Synthetic Grass, Clovis, $230,000; Altor Construction, Walnut Creek, $254,000; Modernscapes Innovations, Oakley; $296,500; Bay Construction, Oakland, $358,000; and Lignum Mellis, San Francisco, $366,000. The engineer’s estimate for the bid was $240,000.