- Id
- 6ab15fab6472cc4dd40767f0
- User Id
- 10cf9d37-e809-41a2-81b3-be02123afdff
- Content
- SCA-RFI-26-0921-001 - REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION No. 1
Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion to 1.2 MGD
City of Aledo | Freese and Nichols, Inc. | FNI Project No. ALO24063
TWDB Project No. 73946 | EPA Project No. CG-03F00501-0
Submitted by: SCA Consultants, a registered assumed name of Skyhawk Controls and Automation Solutions LLC
Twelve items. All citations are to the Issued for Bid Specifications, Volumes I and II.
GROUP A - BID STRUCTURE AND A MISSING SPECIFICATION SECTION
QUESTION 1 - Which Bid Item pays for the electrical and instrumentation work at each area?
Section 00 41 16 "Bid Form Exhibit A" Item A-13, ELECTRICAL AND INSTRUMENTATION, reads "Bid for the construction and operational completion of the Electrical and Instrumentation improvements inclusive of all items indicated on the drawings and specifications set."
Items A-03 through A-11 each read, for their own area, "inclusive of all items indicated on the drawings and specifications set" - Headworks, Plant Lift Station, Sequencing Batch Reactors, Filters, Ultraviolet Disinfection, Solids Holding Tanks, Solids Building, Electrical Building and Admin Building. Item A-02 reads "inclusive of all items with the exception of the specific Bid Items listed below."
Read together, the electrical and instrumentation work at each area is claimed both by that area's own Bid Item and by Item A-13. Please confirm by Addendum that all Division 26 work and all Division 40 61 through 40 77 work at every area is measured and paid under Item A-13 and is excluded from Items A-02 through A-11; or, if that is not the intent, identify precisely which electrical and instrumentation work is paid under which area Item.
As the Bid Form now reads, two Offerors may allocate the same work to different Items in good faith, and the Owner cannot compare Item A-13 prices across Bids.
QUESTION 2 - Section 26 05 73 is required by three sections and is not issued.
Three provisions make a short circuit, protective device coordination and arc flash study a governing requirement:
(a) Section 26 05 33 paragraph O.2 requires arc flash warning labels to "Comply with Section 26 05 73 'Overcurrent Protective Device Arc-Flash Study' requirements for arc-flash warning labels."
(b) Section 26 24 19 paragraph 3 requires "Set field-adjustable circuit-breaker trip ranges as specified in Section 26 05 73 'Overcurrent Protective Device Coordination Study.'"
(c) Section 26 01 26 conditions acceptance on protective relays and breakers "have been set per the Short Circuit and Protective Device Study and the arc flash labels have been installed on the equipment. NO EXCEPTIONS."
Section 26 05 73 does not appear in the Table of Contents at Section 00 01 10, and no page of either volume carries its running header, under either of the two titles cited above.
Please confirm whether the study is required and, if it is, issue Section 26 05 73 by Addendum stating its scope, the credentials required of the engineer performing and sealing it, the deliverables, the arc flash label standard, format and quantity, and the Bid Item under which it is paid. At present a cost-bearing obligation that is an express precondition to energizing the plant has no specification section, no Bid Item and no allowance.
QUESTION 3 - Two sections carry the same section number.
The Table of Contents assigns 26 05 33 to "Raceways and Boxes for Electrical Systems" and 26 05 53 to "Identification for Electrical Systems." The issued Identification section carries the running header "Identification for Electrical Systems 26 05 33" on every page. Please confirm the governing number for each section, so that submittals required to be made under a single Specification Section can be correctly identified.
GROUP B - THE PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM INTEGRATOR ROLE
QUESTION 4 - The "Owner Approved PCSI" route, and how and by when it is obtained.
Section 40 61 13 paragraph 1.06.A.2 states "The following PCSIs are pre-qualified with the City of Aledo," and lists (a) Supertech Automation, (b) Prime Controls, LP, (c) RLC Controls, Inc. and (d) Owner Approved PCSI.
Please confirm that route (d) is available on this Project and state, by Addendum, the procedure for obtaining Owner approval of an additional PCSI: what is submitted, to whom it is submitted, and the date by which it must be submitted and acted upon so that an Offeror may rely on the result before Bids are due.
We note that this Project is funded through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and that Section 00 74 00 makes the Funding Agency requirements governing in the event of conflict. The federal procurement standards bound into the Contract Documents require that prequalified lists of firms be current and include enough qualified sources to ensure maximum open and free competition.
Please also confirm whether Section 00 21 13 Article 7.02, which requires any offer of alternate terms or of Work not in strict compliance to be submitted no later than 10 days after the date the Project is advertised, applies to a request for Owner approval of an additional PCSI. If it does, please state the advertisement date from which the 10 days runs. See Question 12.
QUESTION 5 - "Located in the project area."
Section 40 61 13 paragraph 1.06.A.1 requires that "The system installer shall have employees who are qualified technicians for the duration of the contract located in the project area."
Please define "project area" - whether it is a stated radius, a county, a metropolitan area, or a required on-site response time - and confirm whether the requirement may be satisfied by the combined capability of the Contractor's team, including a licensed electrical contractor engaged local to the Project, rather than by a single firm.
QUESTION 6 - When PCSI qualification is evaluated.
Section 40 61 13 paragraph 1.06.A.1 requires the Contractor to submit the instrumentation installer's qualifications "for evaluation within one week of Notice to Proceed," and states "Installers not meeting these qualifications shall not be accepted."
Please confirm that PCSI qualification is evaluated after award, so that the identity of the proposed PCSI does not render a Bid non-responsive; and state what adjustment to the Contract Price or Contract Times, if any, is available where an installer is rejected after the Contract Price has been fixed.
GROUP C - PREVAILING WAGE RATES
QUESTION 7 - No wage determination of any kind is in the Contract Documents, and the one clause that points to rates points at the wrong document.
Three provisions require payment of prevailing wage rates:
(a) Section 00 73 43 paragraph 1.01: "Contractor and Subcontractors employed on this Project must pay not less than the rates established by the Owner as required by Tex. Gov't Code Chapter 2258."
(b) Section 00 11 16 paragraph 9.04: Contractors "must pay no less than the prevailing wage rates for the area established by the Owner per section 513 of the FWPCA and included in the Contract Documents."
(c) Section 00 11 16 paragraph 9.06: all laborers and mechanics on work funded through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund "shall be paid wages as described in the section, Mandatory Davis-Bacon Act Contract Conditions."
No General Decision number, no modification number, no classification schedule and no wage rate for any classification appears anywhere in Volume I or Volume II.
Section 00 73 43 paragraph 1.02 directs bidders to "Section '00 74 08' Monthly Davis Bacon Wage Rate Certificate of Compliance Submittal by Owner (Sub-Recipient) (DB-0154) for minimum wage rates of various labor classifications." That reference cannot be followed. Section 00 74 00 Article 1.02 and the Table of Contents both assign 00 74 08 to the Debarment/Suspension Certification (SRF-404); the Monthly Davis Bacon Wage Rate Certificate (DB-0154) is Section 00 74 07; and a monthly certificate of compliance contains no classifications and no rates.
Please issue by Addendum:
(i) the prevailing wage scale adopted by the Owner under Chapter 2258, with the date of the governing determination;
(ii) the governing Davis-Bacon General Decision number, modification number and date applicable to Parker County for this type of construction; and
(iii) a correction to Section 00 73 43 paragraph 1.02.
The request is not administrative. Section 00 73 43 Article 2 attaches the Section 2258.023(b) penalty of $60 per worker per day, and Article 3 attaches the Section 2258.024 record-keeping obligation, to the Contractor and to every Subcontractor, whether or not the scale has been published. Electrician is the governing classification for the whole of the Item A-13 scope, and its rate cannot presently be determined from the Contract Documents.
GROUP D - THE PRE-BID CONFERENCE AND THE BIDDING PROCESS
QUESTION 8 - Is attendance at the pre-bid conference a condition of bidding?
Section 00 11 16 Article 3.01 states "A non-mandatory pre-bid conference for the Project will be held on October 2, 2026 at 9:00 A.M."
Section 00 21 13 Article 6.01 states "A mandatory pre-bid conference will be held at the time and location indicated in Section 00 11 16 'Invitation to Bid.' Bids will not be accepted from Offerors who do not attend the conference. It is the Offerors' responsibility to sign in at the pre-bid conference to verify their participation."
Section 00 11 16 paragraph 4.02 limits the 11:00 A.M. guided site tour to "prospective Offerors that are eligible to submit a Bid" and to "two representatives of each eligible Offeror," which presupposes that eligibility has already been determined.
Please confirm by Addendum whether attendance on October 2, 2026 is a condition of submitting a Bid. Until it is answered, Offerors and their Subcontractors must plan on the assumption that it is.
QUESTION 9 - What time is the site tour?
Section 00 11 16 paragraph 4.01 states that the tour "will be held the afternoon of the pre-bid conference." Paragraph 4.02 states that a guided tour "will be held on October 2, 2026 at 11:00 A.M." Please confirm the time.
QUESTION 10 - Please confirm the question deadline by Addendum, because the only stated date is on the procurement website and not in the Contract Documents.
The Questions tab of the procurement website displays "The deadline to ask questions is 10/15/2026 12:00 PM." Nothing in Volume I or Volume II states that date, or any date.
Section 00 11 16 paragraph 5.01 reads "A response will be posted for questions submitted until 12:00 p.m. 10 days later," and no antecedent is given for "10 days later." Read against an October 29 bid, "10 days" would give October 19; the posted date is October 15, which is 14 days before the bid. The two do not reconcile.
Please confirm by Addendum that 12:00 p.m. October 15, 2026 is the governing deadline for written questions, and state the date by which responses will be posted. A date displayed on the procurement website is not a Contract Document, and paragraph 5.01 as written does not produce it.
QUESTION 11 - Who is the Construction Manager?
Section 00 21 13 Article 7.01 directs all questions about the meaning or intent of the Contract Documents to the Construction Manager; Article 7.02 directs any offer of alternate terms to the Construction Manager; and paragraph 3.01.E makes the submission of a Bid a representation that the Offeror has given the Construction Manager written notice of all conflicts, errors, ambiguities and discrepancies, and that written resolutions provided by the Construction Manager are acceptable.
Neither volume names the Construction Manager or gives an address. Please identify the Construction Manager and confirm that submission through the procurement website satisfies Articles 7.01 and 7.02 and paragraph 3.01.E.
QUESTION 12 - What is the advertisement date?
Section 00 21 13 Article 7.02 requires any offer of alternate terms and conditions, or of Work not in strict compliance with the Contract Documents, to be submitted "no later than 10 days after the date Project is advertised," and provides that a Bid submitted with clarifications or exceptions will be considered non-responsive.
No advertisement date is printed in Section 00 11 16 or elsewhere in either volume. The Contract Documents were posted to the procurement website on September 21, 2026. Please state the advertisement date and the resulting deadline under Article 7.02.
Ray Edwards
Founder & Principal | SCA Consultants
281-725-1918
SCA Consultants is a registered assumed name of Skyhawk Controls and Automation Solutions LLC.
- Created At
- Sep 21, 2026
- Project Id
- 6aad603c1a0be96dfd9d8ec2
City of AledoIssuing agency·Aledo, TX·via CivCast, the bid board Texas civil engineers advertise on