
Many people are unaware of what it takes to assemble a project like the new jail. This post is meant to be somewhat educational (it has been for me), and I hope it is viewed through that lens.
We have been working in the background for a long time to try and secure land and get the budget numbers correct. If you're a contractor in the current bid market, you understand how difficult it is to get pricing for anything. The market has been volatile at a minimum, and prices coupled with supply chain issues or considerations have seen dramatic cost increases in components (large and small), labor, and availability of contractors. All of this, while statistics bear out, we need a jail. We have watched as other large projects have spun out of control and we are guarding against that here.
The project needed a delivery method that provided the County's best outcome while giving us a realistic budget we could adhere to. This GCCM method provides this outcome; you can read about the process in previous posts.
We hired Lydig as our GCCM. That process in itself was lengthy beyond reason (thank your State), and with their advice (Lydig's, and due to the size and cost of both electrical and mechanical scopes), it was decided to also do this same method with Electrical (ECCM) and Mechanical (MCCM) Contractors. We subsequently performed the RFP for both and publicly opened the bids with their fee proposals last week, adding its score to the submission and interview processes scored earlier.
All the processes we have completed have strictly adhered to the RCWs that dictate precisely how this must be done.
Our team is now complete and includes the following:
The law firm of Perkins and Coie
Principal Architect: CRA (partnered with Brotnov Architecture and Planning), whose team includes:
Civil Engineer: Great West Engineering
Electrical Engineer: Coffman Engineers
Mechanical Engineer: Stantec Mech. Engineering
Structural Engineer: Lochsa Structural Engineers
Aviation Engineer: Century West
Turner Townsend & Heery Project Management
GCCM: Lydig Construction
MCCM: MacDonald Miller
ECCM: ARC Electric
With the MCCM/ECCM soon under contract, they will work hand in hand with the mechanical and electrical engineers to ensure the product selection, availability, pricing, system design, and lifecycle considerations are accounted for. They will develop with the engineers and Lydig the installation of all systems and components, their scheduling, and, otherwise, all required logistics needed to complete the project and to provide a GMP or "Guaranteed Maximum Price" to construct the facility. The County will either accept or reject this GMP and enter into a construction contract or make revisions based on the cost, reprice with a new GMP, and hopefully accept that price and enter into a construction contract.
In the past few months,
We completed a Phase One and Phase Two environmental assessment identifying some mitigation.
We are working with the City of Ephrata to facilitate water and sewer to the new site and the project once completed.
We are working with private landowners for access to the property, removal of easements, and the other logistical concerns of traversing private property with city utilities.
We are working with the DOT to address a scheduled Round-A-Bout near Wal-Mart
We are near completion with the bid documents for an early site package to clean and level the track site, remove any identified environmental hazards, and prepare the site for new construction, which we still hope to do in the fall of 2023.
All of this has been happening simultaneously, advancing at every possible opportunity.
Please understand that as much as I have tried to promote this blog, I haven't been able to update it regularly. I have tried to update it when needed to ensure transparency and to let the public know what we have been doing even though you are not seeing physical changes at the site.
With the completion of the team, we will most likely see movement faster, and the updates will begin to tick upward. It's a long and sometimes painful process, but we are doing everything we can to move quickly on this project but do it efficiently and end up with a facility that lasts long into the future.
As always, anyone can reach out anytime to ask more detailed questions if desired.