Carol Stream awards 3 contracts

Some village-owned properties in Carol Stream will be getting new roofs and tuck-pointing, but the way the construction contracts will be awarded is by “piggybacking” off a contract signed two years ago by Naperville, officials said.

Naperville’s cooperative job order contract program is similar to a method governmental agencies use to jointly purchase products like vehicles and salt, in which one agency seeks bids, and other agencies take advantage of contract pricing, according to Phil Modaff, Carol Stream’s director of public works.

Job order contracting allows other governmental agencies to secure construction services under the contract Naperville awarded to Chicago-based F.H. Paschen in 2011. The deal can be renewed for six one-year extensions with the Naperville City Council’s consent.

The Carol Stream village board voted unanimously Monday to award three separate contracts to F.H. Paschen totaling $133,661.27. The work includes replacement of the salt dome roof at the village public works center at 124 Gerzevske Lane, replacement of the roof at the village’s water reclamation center sludge building at 245 Kuhn Road, and tuck-pointing at the public works center.

Officials said Carol Stream’s participation in the program frees up an already-lean village staff from having to develop bid specifications and documents of their own, advertising bids in the newspaper, hosting pre-bid site tours, reviewing bids and checking references.

“We’ve been working short-handed for a long time, and to not have to go through all that paperwork — I hope this works and it would be something to look at into the future,” said Village President Frank Saverino. “I thank Naperville for taking the lead.”

A total of 23 governmental entities have signed contracts with F.H. Paschen through the Naperville program, including Wheaton, Lisle, Aurora, Downers Grove and Elgin. Over $7 million worth of construction projects have been undertaken.

Carol Stream Village Manager Joe Breinig said the village isn’t tied to Naperville’s contract indefinitely. Every project any municipality wishes to pursue has its own contract documents and scope.

Trustee Matt McCarthy asked how the village could be assured it wasn’t paying more on a given job in the absence of competitive bidding.

Derek LaDuke, a program coordinator with The Gordian Group, a firm that coordinates the Naperville contract, said 23 general contractors were interviewed in Naperville who provided prices for 270 line item costs of typical construction projects. F.H. Paschen was the lowest responsible bidder in the process, and is bound by the prices agreed upon.

Similarly, Modaff said should there be a change in scope in any of the construction projects, Carol Stream will have the benefit of paying unit prices agreed upon in the original Naperville contract. Under the typical bid process, a general contractor could charge a premium to the village for last minute project additions, he said.

“There’s a much greater protection in the case of a change order,” he said.

Modaff said there’s other construction projects the village may consider for job order contracting.