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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNAES Contractors ONAES POWER CO T The energy expertise you need. How and when you need it. 1180 NW Maple Street,Suite#200 Issaquah,Washington 98027 (425)961-4700 FAX(425)961-4646 July 15, 2009 Board of Directors Truckee Donner Public Utility District P.O. Box 309 11570 Donner Pass Road Truckee, California 96160 Subject: July 15, 2009 Board Meeting Agenda Item #7: Consideration of the Award of a Construction Contract for the Tahoe Donner Substation Rebuild Project Dear Members of the Board of Directors: NAES Power Contractors, Inc. (NAES)provided the low bid for the subject project and remains willing and able to perform in accordance with that bid. Accepting that bid is in the best interests of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District and its ratepayers. I have reviewed the memorandum prepared by PUD Engineer Sanna Schlosser for the Board's consideration. The memorandum does not give details of the "mathematical errors" cited. I submit that this detail is critical to your decision. The first error is negligible: a difference of $3.10. The second error is better characterized as an "irregularity" rather than a "mathematical error." This error, like the first, arose during the transfer of data from NAES's internal bid preparation documents to the PUD's bid forms. A misplaced decimal point in bid item 1.1(B) resulted in the bid sheet showing a unit price ten times as high as intended by NAES. Because it was a scrivener's error, the transfer of NAES's subtotal for this line item was not affected, nor was the total bid amount. The District has reserved to itself the right to waive any "irregularities" in the bidding. The Board also has the right and the obligation to exercise its judgment in service of the best interests of the District. The errors in NAES's bid are "irregularities" that the District has the right to waive and indeed should waive. Even if the errors do not fall within the Board's understanding of the term "irregularities," the Board may still award the job to NAES. Neither NAES's error nor the Board's waiver of this error will confer on NAES any unfair advantage over PAR Electrical Contractors or the other bidders. To the contrary, awarding the project to PAR Electrical Contractors would result in a higher bidder unfairly benefiting from a typographical error, at the expense of both NAES and the District's ratepayers. It is in the best interest of the District to engage NAES, thereby saving over ten thousand dollars. bus AP oney to _V 14C)0! NEWS PRINT &n;ck to silo y States awash in stimulus money to APAVWGhWftM weatherize homes By PHILLIP RAWLS, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 40 mins ago MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Ready or not, states are getting a tenfold boost in federal money to weatherize drafty homes, an increase so huge it has raised fears of waste and fraud and set off a scramble to find workers and houses for them to repair. An obscure program that installs insulation in homes and makes them more energy-efficient is distributing $4.7 billion in stimulus funds — dwarfing the $447 million originally planned by Congress this year and the $227 million spent in 2008. That is enough to weatherize 1 million homes, instead of the 140,000 normally done each year. President Barack Obama said pouring money into the program would lower utility bills for cash-strapped families, provide jobs for construction workers idled by the housing slump, and make the nation more energy-efficient. "You're getting a three-fer," Obama said. "That's exactly the kind of program we should be funding." But some worry states won't be able to keep track of the money. Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, said the program is open to fraud because of the way oversight is divided. The federal government passes the money to states, then states pass it to community action agencies, and the agencies pass it to contractors who work with customers. "It's such a Rube Goldberg operation it should be setting off alarm bells," she said. Energy Department spokeswoman Christina Kielich defended the program, saying the federal government monitors state operations and does a thorough review at least every two years of the local organizations. In addition, states are getting their money in increments and must demonstrate quality control to get more. The program helps low-income families take steps to reduce their home energy expenses, from caulking leaky windows to replacing heating and cooling systems. The Energy Department says 6.2 million households have benefited since it began in 1976, saving the average household about $350 a year on energy bills. In addition to receiving an infusion of stimulus money, the program was expanded to cover families making up to twice the federal poverty level, or $44,100 for a family of four. Also, the average amount that can be spp-ort per house was more than doubled to $6,500. The funding for New York is going up from $20.1 million last year to $395 million. California's share is soaring from $6.3 million to $185.8 million. Virginia's is going up 23 1/2 times, from $4 million annually to $94.1 million. "I was stunned," said Shea Hollifield, Virginia's deputy director of housing. "Spending that much money will be a challenge." In Texas, the state's share is increasing nearly 60 times, from $5.6 million to $327 million. To spend the money efficiently and on time, state officials decided to go beyond the community organizations that normally distribute it and route $100 million to large cities. "They have experience in administering large, complicated programs," said Gordon Anderson, spokesman for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. States are hurrying to find qualified weatherization workers and caulk-ready homes. Wisconsin set up weatherization "boot camps" to train workers. West Virginia used to give new workers on- the-job training but is now looking to move to classrooms and online. Alabama plans to train home builders in how to bid for weatherization contracts. Russell Davis, vice president of the Alabama Home Builders Association, said builders who once had no interest in weatherization contracts now see them as a way to keep their crews busy. In many states, qualified homeowners are already on waiting lists. But some states don't have enough recipients signed up. "We are out of clients. We need clients bad," said Cade Gunnells, weatherization coordinator for three counties in central Alabama. To help find them, states are updating Web sites about the expanded program and working with nonprofit groups, churches and the news media to get the word out. Charles Uptain, a 73-year-old retiree, had his Montgomery home repaired in the weatherized program last year. His utility bills went down by about $60 a month after workers fixed leaky windows, replaced cracked panes, re-taped air-conditioning ducts and blew in new insulation. Uptain's house required 2 1/2 days of work and slightly more than $3,000. "This wasn't wasteful spending. This was well-spent money," Uptain said. Associated Press writers Vicki Smith in Morgantown, W.Va., and Sue Lindsey in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report. Copyright©2009 Yahoo! Inc. 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