Newport Beach rejects bid for Grand Canal dredging

NEWPORT BEACH — Dredging Newport Beach’s Grand Canal will certainly cost a fistful of dollars, but a bid to complete the maintenance project for a few dollars more has the city reconsidering it plans. The Newport Beach City Council rejected the sole bid submitted to complete the second phase of a planned dredging of the Grand Canal, Aug. 14. Rejecting the bid means city officials won’t be in a standoff with the sole bidder. The city will instead review and re-advertise its bid for dredging vendors at a later date. Newport Beach split the Grand Canal dredging project into two phases, with the first segment completed in February 2017. The city began the process for phase two, but only one bidder responded to the project and proposed a contract amount outside of Newport Beach’s budget. “Staff only received one responsive bid, which was substantially higher than the Engineer’s Estimate of $990,000.00,” city staff stated in a report to council members. Associated Pacific Constructors, the sole bidder, submitted a bid amount of $1,389,000. Dredging the Grand Canal, according to a city staff conversation with the bidder, is logistically challenging, hence the higher bid amount. “[City] staff’s follow-up phone call to the low bidder indicated that the...