Fort Smith authorizes $612,000 agreement for city pump station

FORT SMITH — The Board of Directors on Tuesday authorized an agreement with Hawkins-Weir Engineers for providing construction services for wastewater pump station flood damage repairs and mitigation.

The amount for the agreement is not to exceed $612,000.

Lance McAvoy, city utility director, wrote in a memo the 2019 Arkansas River flood, the utility department hired Hawkins-Weir to assess the damage to water and wastewater infrastructure. The Van Buren-based firm was awarded the design contract for the flood damage repair and the mitigation work to restore and protect the city’s assets from future flooding.

This work, McAvoy said, included collaborating with the construction management company Van Horn Construction of Russellville to value engineer and expedite the work by using “construction management at risk” to deliver the project in a way both efficient and financially responsible.

At the meeting Tuesday, McAvoy said construction management at risk in this case essentially means Van Horn takes on a certain amount of risk with the project.

“When the bids are put in, if something is found, if there’s an overrun, they end up eating that,” McAvoy said. “It doesn’t come back to the city. The only time that the city would amend the contract would be if we ask for something additional that wasn’t in the original contract.”

McAvoy wrote the city also hired Witt Global Partners to help with documenting and receiving reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency associated with the recovery and mitigation. However, Witt Global discovered several flood damage repair items hadn’t originally been brought to Hawkins-Weir’s attention and weren’t in the scope of design outlined in the original agreement.

“When the bids are put in, if something is found, if there’s an overrun, they end up eating that. It doesn’t come back to the city.” — Lance McAvoy, Fort Smith utility director

At this point, McAvoy wrote the board has approved three of the five phases of the construction management at risk project. The parts to begin the repairs, which are scheduled to begin in May, have been ordered. Utility Department staff recommended hiring Hawkins-Weir for construction inspection and observation. The additional design work will also be added to the new agreement to cover the items Witt Global discovered.

The additional design work, according to McAvoy, is estimated to cost $35,800. The associated construction inspection and observation for the entire project, which includes all five phases, is estimated to cost $576,200. This total amount is in the 2020 capital improvement plan budget, with the expenses being considered a reimbursable item by FEMA.