Post by ferryfast admin on Mar 9, 2006 1:38:03 GMT -5
Tacoma shipbuilder questions bill to change ferry bid criteria
Monday, March 6, 2006
By JASON MCBRIDE
P-I REPORTER
seattlepi.nwsource.com/
OLYMPIA -- As Puget Sound commuters wait for the state to replace an aging ferry fleet that doesn't meet current safety regulations, the Department of Transportation has introduced measures that could result in a legal battle and create further delays.
In its latest battle to construct ferries for the state, Tacoma-based J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. is fighting legislation it says will cost taxpayers more money and make contractors less accountable for cost and quality.
State Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald says the DOT-requested legislation would make quality, not cost, the first consideration in granting the contract. He also said it is not designed to edge out the Tacoma shipbuilder in favor of Seattle-based Todd Pacific Shipyard Corp., as Martinac contends.
"Martinac would like to draw me in and say this all about Martinac somehow," MacDonald said.
But Martinac, which had to appeal last February to the DOT to get back into the bidding process, says the state is stalling on building the vessels that would replace its aging fleet and wasting taxpayer dollars on studies.
Washington State Ferries estimates the total cost for four new 144-car vessels to be about $300 million.
The new legislation, Senate Bill 6853, which is being heard in the House, outlines a set of criteria the DOT could use to select a bid, including design specifications, price and contractor qualifications. It would replace a law passed in 2001 that allowed the DOT to take the lowest bid on ferry construction. Martinac wants to know why MacDonald would remove such language.
"Why would we remove the low bid, that the shipyard is responsible, and that taxpayers want a firm, fixed price?" Martinac spokesman Jonathan Platt asked.
The traditional route is for the state to design its projects in-house, then go with the lowest bidder. But in recent years it has shifted to the "design-build" approach, where the contractor designs the project and the state chooses the design, which doesn't always result in the lowest price.
The Senate passed a separate bill Wednesday that would extend and expand the DOT's design-build policy.
"This is supposed to get the creativity of the private sector ... their ideas of the best possible boat," MacDonald said. "You can't say, 'Give me el cheapo.' "
House Transportation Committee Chairman Ed Murray, D-Seattle, said he expects the bill to pass.
Martinac is concerned about what the state is already spending. Originally, the state request for a proposal called for four, 130-car vessels to replace the Quinault, Illahee, Klickitat and Nisqually. Now it looks like the department wants larger vessels, and possibly could ask for five of them.
"We're ready with a design. We're ready with a boat," Platt said. "We just don't know what they're going to do next."
Steve Welch, chief executive officer of Todd Pacific, which has already built five ferries for the state, has no qualms with the new legislation or the possible spec changes.
"I think the state should use the best information available to it, which is presumably the latest information available to it," Welch said.
House Transportation Committee member Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, said the longer it waits, the more money the state is going to spend.
"We're now behind the timetable and cost escalation is eating the funding that we have as we go along," he said. "You can't keep changing the stuff in the middle of the stream and expecting to have your costs work out properly."
Buck, who worked as a civil engineer, said it's better for the state to come up with the design and let the lowest bidder take the job.
"I'm not real excited about putting out a contract that doesn't have a firm set of specs," he said.
Bill sponsor Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, said Martinac's objection is just sour grapes. "There's nothing we can do to satisfy them," she said. "The only way they'd be happy (is) if we wrote a bill that Martinac is to build it."
P-I reporter Jason McBride can be reached at 360-943-8311 or jasonmcbride@seattlepi.com.
Monday, March 6, 2006
By JASON MCBRIDE
P-I REPORTER
seattlepi.nwsource.com/
OLYMPIA -- As Puget Sound commuters wait for the state to replace an aging ferry fleet that doesn't meet current safety regulations, the Department of Transportation has introduced measures that could result in a legal battle and create further delays.
In its latest battle to construct ferries for the state, Tacoma-based J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. is fighting legislation it says will cost taxpayers more money and make contractors less accountable for cost and quality.
State Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald says the DOT-requested legislation would make quality, not cost, the first consideration in granting the contract. He also said it is not designed to edge out the Tacoma shipbuilder in favor of Seattle-based Todd Pacific Shipyard Corp., as Martinac contends.
"Martinac would like to draw me in and say this all about Martinac somehow," MacDonald said.
But Martinac, which had to appeal last February to the DOT to get back into the bidding process, says the state is stalling on building the vessels that would replace its aging fleet and wasting taxpayer dollars on studies.
Washington State Ferries estimates the total cost for four new 144-car vessels to be about $300 million.
The new legislation, Senate Bill 6853, which is being heard in the House, outlines a set of criteria the DOT could use to select a bid, including design specifications, price and contractor qualifications. It would replace a law passed in 2001 that allowed the DOT to take the lowest bid on ferry construction. Martinac wants to know why MacDonald would remove such language.
"Why would we remove the low bid, that the shipyard is responsible, and that taxpayers want a firm, fixed price?" Martinac spokesman Jonathan Platt asked.
The traditional route is for the state to design its projects in-house, then go with the lowest bidder. But in recent years it has shifted to the "design-build" approach, where the contractor designs the project and the state chooses the design, which doesn't always result in the lowest price.
The Senate passed a separate bill Wednesday that would extend and expand the DOT's design-build policy.
"This is supposed to get the creativity of the private sector ... their ideas of the best possible boat," MacDonald said. "You can't say, 'Give me el cheapo.' "
House Transportation Committee Chairman Ed Murray, D-Seattle, said he expects the bill to pass.
Martinac is concerned about what the state is already spending. Originally, the state request for a proposal called for four, 130-car vessels to replace the Quinault, Illahee, Klickitat and Nisqually. Now it looks like the department wants larger vessels, and possibly could ask for five of them.
"We're ready with a design. We're ready with a boat," Platt said. "We just don't know what they're going to do next."
Steve Welch, chief executive officer of Todd Pacific, which has already built five ferries for the state, has no qualms with the new legislation or the possible spec changes.
"I think the state should use the best information available to it, which is presumably the latest information available to it," Welch said.
House Transportation Committee member Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, said the longer it waits, the more money the state is going to spend.
"We're now behind the timetable and cost escalation is eating the funding that we have as we go along," he said. "You can't keep changing the stuff in the middle of the stream and expecting to have your costs work out properly."
Buck, who worked as a civil engineer, said it's better for the state to come up with the design and let the lowest bidder take the job.
"I'm not real excited about putting out a contract that doesn't have a firm set of specs," he said.
Bill sponsor Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, said Martinac's objection is just sour grapes. "There's nothing we can do to satisfy them," she said. "The only way they'd be happy (is) if we wrote a bill that Martinac is to build it."
P-I reporter Jason McBride can be reached at 360-943-8311 or jasonmcbride@seattlepi.com.