VVWD Awards Bid On Airport Pipeline Project

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Virgin Valley Water District (VVWD) has made all of the necessary preparations for an upcoming fast-track project to replace a segment of pipeline at the Mesquite Airport, including a 400-foot stretch of pipe which will run beneath the airport runway. The project is set to coincide with a larger Mesquite City project to replace and upgrade the runway at the airport.

In a special call meeting held Thursday, August 19, the VVWD Board of Trustees voted to award the contract for the project to Trade West Construction in an amount not to exceed $471,000.
VVWD General Manager Kevin Brown explained to the board that the scope of the project included the installation of 2,200 feet of 16 inch ductile iron pipe; a 24-inch diameter, 400 foot long steel sleeve beneath the runway; 400 feet of fused PVC pipe; and all the necessary tie-ins at each end of the project.

One of the challenges in this project was acquiring the necessary materials, parts and supplies needed, Brown explained. The project presented a very tight deadline with a brief window of opportunity early next month to install the portion running beneath the runway.

At a July 20 meeting board members had ratified up to $260,000 in expenditures to purchase these materials as well as an additional $53,800 to complete engineering on the project.

“The board authorized us to pre-purchase a lot of the materials to make sure that we had it all here on time,” Brown said. “And I think just about everything is here now: either up at the airport or in our yard right now.”

Brown also explained that the district had received three competing bids for the project on August 13. The lowest responsive bid came from Trade West in the amount of $448,315. Brown said that staff was recommending that a 5 percent contingency amount be added to the bid to provide for any unforeseen scope changes. That would bring the amount to the $471,000 amount which was before the board for approval, he said.

Brown also pointed out that VVWD Chief Financial Officer Wes Anderson had had to do some shuffling in the budget to move this project forward in the schedule. The staff had originally budgeted the airport project for the 2022-23 fiscal year. They had been taken a bit by surprise early in July to learn that the project was set to start in September.

“Wes has been good to be able to find a few projects that we can delay into next fiscal year and he found a couple other places in our budget that we will be able to pull money from to make this happen,” Brown said.

VVWD Board Member Randy Laub asked if Trade West was also the contractor that had been hired by the city for the overall airport project. Brown confirmed that it was.

“I know that we talked about that if it was the same contractor it would make it a lot easier as far as the transition from our project to theirs,” Laub said. “But are they going to be able to finish that with doing all of it together, as far as manpower?”
“That is up to the contractor,” Brown responded.

Wes Anderson added that the contracts included “liquidated damages” for both the city and for the district to keep the contractor within the strict timeline.

“He is under both of those requirements,” Anderson said. “So he has a great incentive to make sure that it is completed on time.”

“I think that it worked out in the best beneift to everybody,” said VVWD Board Chairman Ben Davis. “There are less things to juggle when it is just the one entity and they have got control of all the pieces. So they don’t have to go to anybody else.”

Davis made the motion to issue a notice of award and enter into the contract. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.