The City Council this week unanimously approved an amendment to the contract with Jordahl Construction, Inc. for the Cabrillo Mole Rehabilitation project. The increase would be for a maximum of $110,000 and would bring the total contract to $1.36 million
The council also made a formal finding that the city would not gain an advantage by seeking bids for part of the project.
Background
“On October 22, 2024 the City Council approved the Stage 0 Cabrillo Mole Rehabilitation Project, including the Cabrillo Mole Temporary Facility Plan and four step procurement process,” according to the staff report by Senior Management Analyst Devin Hart and City Engineer Robert Greenlaw.
“The Cabrillo Mole Ferry Terminal is a multimodal transportation hub used by cross-channel carrier passengers traveling between the City and the mainland, cruise ship disembarkment/embarkment, and serves as the primary entry point to the City of Avalon . In 2020, the City completed Phase 1 of the Cabrillo Mole Rehabilitation Project which included the rehabilitation and reinforcement of the existing concrete members, replacement of the steel grates, and repaired the concrete deck and railing- for a total project cost of $5.10 million,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.
“The Phase II Project, budgeted at $20 million, will replace and reconfigure the existing building and structures to improve passenger queuing and adjacent transportation circulation,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.
The project has been broken into stages for bidders and to keep Mole operations mostly uninterrupted, according to their report.
Phase zero, also known as the pre-construction stage, has four steps: Purchase of equipment,, purchase of temporary facilities, installing grates at the old steamer ramp, and installing infrastructure to support the future facility and temporary facilities.
“The scope of work for installation of upgraded utility systems to support the new facility as well as utilities to support temporary facilities that will be used during the construction project was awarded to Jordahl Construction, Inc. on February 16, 2026 for a not to exceed sum of $1,250,000. The contractor will also raise the planter areas adjacent to Floats 4 and Floats 5 and install decking to provide a space for queuing and for commercial businesses relocated during construction,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.
“In order to save time and begin construction as soon as possible, the scope of work awarded to Jordahl Construction, Inc. did not include the necessary installation of a transformer. At the time the work was advertised and awarded, City staff were awaiting responses from Southern California Edison regarding the necessary size of the transformer and associated sizing of the required slab box and associated infrastructure,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.
“In late July, Southern California Edison provided their energy requirements to serve the new Cabrillo Mole facility,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.
“After review of the plan, Jordahl Construction, Inc. submitted a request for a construction change order for $102,835,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.
According to their report, staff determined the price was reasonable and that seeking a bid would delay the project and increase the costs.
“AMC Section 3-4.111 (c) allows the City to dispense from public bidding or other competitive procedures if a finding is made that a competitive market does not exist, or the City will not gain a competitive advantage by using the formal contract bid or other competitive procedure,” Hart and Greenlaw wrote.