The City is retendering the renovations at the Guelph Farmers’ Market building, located at 2 Gordon Street, in order to keep the project on budget.
Bids were received earlier this month from three of six pre-qualified general contractors. None of the bids, however, were within the City’s project budget of $500,000. To address this discrepancy, the City reduced the scope of work and retendered to the original six pre-qualified contractors with a closing date of June 17. Following the closing date, only one bid was received, with a proposed total budget significantly over the allocated project budget. City staff spent time working with the sole bidder in an effort to find cost savings, however, sufficient savings were not found and a contract for the work was not awarded.
To address the budgetary concerns, the City further reduced the scope of work, re-designed some of the systems, and re-specified some of the materials in an effort to bring the work in on budget. The new tender will be released to a broader group of general contractors today.
“Staff anticipate that by revising the tender documents and offering the tender to a larger group of general contractors, the City will receive a bid which is in line with the project budget,” explained Mario Petricevic, general manager of Corporate Building Maintenance. “It is the City’s intent to bring the project in on budget and ensure the Farmers’ Market vendors are able to move back to 2 Gordon Street as per the current schedule.”
“Staff opted to keep in the tender those items that need to be done while the vendors are relocated, and those which must move forward to ensure accessibility, and health and safety for the building. Items that have been removed will be pursued at a future date, and can all be done without impacting market operations, thus preventing a second relocation of the vendors,” explained Colleen Clack, interim executive director of Community and Social Services.
The City is renovating the Guelph Farmer’s Market venue on Gordon Street to improve accessibility, long-term maintenance and operations, and overall aesthetics.
During the renovations, the Farmers’ Market has been temporarily relocated to the Exhibition Arena, located at 70 Division Street. The Farmers’ Market will be operating at this venue every Saturday from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. until Saturday, August 31, 2013.