City awards management contract for Holland Overpass

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Menifee City Council last week approved a contract for engineering and consulting services regarding construction management of the Holland Road Overpass.

This is the first step in the construction phase of the 215 Freeway bridge, with work scheduled to begin next summer. The project has been on the books since design was first approved in 2014, and need for the east-west traffic route has increased as Menifee’s population has soared past the 100,000 mark.

The contract with Southstar Engineering & Consulting, Inc. is for an amount not exceed $3,248,237.43, according to City documents. Construction services to be provided include:

-- Construction Management services
-- Inspection services
-- Environmental Support
-- Materials Testing
-- Source Inspection
-- Electrical Inspections
-- Construction Surveying
-- Public Outreach Coordination

Southstar’s bid was the second least expensive of four bids considered, which prompted Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek to ask why the least expensive bid was not accepted, as is standard practice. The low bid was for $2,947,312.72 by Anser Advisory Management LLC.

“We go off a qualification first ranking system,” responded Nick Fidler, public works director. “It is not a requirement to go with the actual lowest bidder if they don’t have the appropriate staffing and resources for the project. And we did negotiate down the contract with Southstar.”