Site work for a water / sewer project in Chicago, Illinois. Completed plans call for site work for a water / sewer project.

The work for which tenders are invited consists of: 1. Construction of approximately 19,500 feet of 20-inch diameter force main primarily through use of the directional drilling method. 2. Construction of 21 structures (Air Relief and Clean-out Structures, Clean-out and Blow-off Structures and Connection Structure), 3. Construction of two (2) precast manholes, 4. Removing and replacing piping inside two (2) existing structures. 5. Abandonment of existing 16-inch force main and existing manholes. 6. Removal and replacement of existing piping and valves in the 43 existing structures. 7. Installation of new automatic air release and vacuum valves. 8. All other work collateral thereto as specified, and as shown on the Plans. The sites of construction are located in the Villages of Skokie, Lincolnwood, the City of Chicago, the Town of Cicero, and the Village of Stickney, in Niles and Cicero Townships, County of Cook, State of Illinois. The Contract 07-027-3S consist 14 items. The work shall be completed within 970 calendar days after approval of the contractor's bond. The Bidder must bid on all items for a bid to be considered responsive. The District intends to issue one Contract to one bidder for all the work to be performed. The estimated cost of the work under Contract 07-027-3S is between $16,752,500 and $20,279,300 THE BID DEPOSIT FOR THE PROPOSAL IS SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($600,000.00). Bidders are STRONGLY URGED to inspect all areas of the worksites prior to bidding, and shall familiarize themselves with the nature of the work and the method of accomplishing the same. Further, the District assumes no liability or responsibility for the failure or inability of any Bidder to successfully download any and all contract documents, including but not limited to specifications, proposal forms and/or plans, as a result of any type of technological computer and/or software system failure or breakdown that restricts, prohibits or prevents successful downloading of any and all District contract documents by the Bidder, whether caused by the District or other parties, directly or indirectly. If any potential Bidder contemplating to submit a proposal is in doubt as to the true meaning of any part of the specifications or other contract documents, such inquiry should be submitted online at the District's portal. The path is as follows: Doing Business Procurement and Materials Management Contract Announcements. The District will provide an online response to such inquiries, as the District deems appropriate. Strings of appropriate questions and answers regarding the bidding documents will be available online on the District's website until the bid opening date of the bidding documents. No questions will be accepted by telephone, fax, email, mail, or any other such form of delivery. The District will only respond to questions received online up to ONE WEEK prior to the bid opening date of the bidding documents. The District will not respond to questions received after this date. The District does not guarantee the timeliness of responses provided online, nor does the District guarantee that such responses will be provided in adequate time to affect the submission of bids. The District shall provide responses online ONLY if the responses do not interpret or otherwise change the bidding documents. The District's responses online are NOT official responses and, therefore, are not binding to the bidding documents. Any official interpretation or change to the bidding documents will be made only by addenda duly issued to all plan holders on record by the Director of Procurement and Materials Management. Bidding documents are only available online, and all addenda issued for this contract will be available online at the District's portal. The path is as follows: Doing Business Procurement and Materials Management Contract Announcements. A copy of such addenda will also be emailed/faxed to each person which downloads a set of such contract documents. Failure on the part of the prospective bidder to receive a written interpretation prior to the time of the opening of bids will not be grounds for withdrawal of proposal. Each proposal must be accompanied by a bid deposit in the form of a bid bond in the amount of six hundred thousand dollars $600,000.00. Each bid bond must be underwritten by a surety licensed to do business in the State of Illinois, listed in the latest copy of the Federal Register and approved by the Director of Procurement and Materials Management. The bid bond must contain signatures from the Bidder and Surety Company. Failure to provide signatures on the bid bond will result in the rejection of the bid. Photographic and/or stamped signatures are acceptable. Any proposal submitted without being accompanied by the required bid deposit, in the aforesaid form, will not be considered and will not be read after it is publicly opened. The contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible, responsive Bidder, unless all bids are rejected. Prior to award of the contract, the lowest responsible bidder must demonstrate compliance with the District's Multi-Project Labor Agreement (Cook County) by submitting to the Director of Procurement and Materials Management a signed Certification of Compliance with the Multi-Project Labor Agreement (MPLA). The Agreement and Certificate of Compliance are contained in the Contract Documents. Bidders on contracts in excess of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) will be required to comply with the President's Executive Order No. 11246 as amended to date regarding NONDISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT. The requirements for Bidders and Contractors under this Order are explained in Appendix C of the Contract Documents. The provisions of Appendix C also apply to each Subcontractor on the Contract in excess of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Bidder agrees to fulfill the Special Training Provisions for Apprentices as specified in the Appendix K (attached) Affirmative Action requirements and to provide training opportunities throughout the life of this contract. The requirements of the Special Training Provisions for Apprentices are 1210 Minority and 440 Female hours for the purposes of this contract. 1. Each Bidder must submit with their proposals a signed and completed MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan which lists each business intended to be used as a MBE, WBE, SBE on pages UP-2, UP-3 and UP-4 and supplemental pages as necessary. The Bidder must sign the Signature Section on page UP-5. Failure to submit a signed MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan will result in a bid being deemed non-responsive and the bid will be rejected. Also, if a Waiver is sought, the Bidder is required to sign pages UP-5 and UP-6, the Waiver Request Form; failure to do so will be viewed as non-responsive and the bid will be rejected. 2. Each Bidder must submit with their proposal a signed and completed MBE, WBE, SBE Subcontractor's Letter of Intent, Page UP-7 for each subcontractor listed on their MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan. The submitted MBE, WBE, SBE Subcontractor's Letter of Intent must be completed and signed by the subcontractor and accompanied with a copy of the subcontractor's current Letter of Certification from a state, local government or agency or documentation demonstrating that the subcontractor is a MBE, WBE, or SBE within the meaning of the Affirmative Action Ordinance, Revised Appendix D. Failure to submit the MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan signed by the Bidder at the time of the bid opening and the MBE, WBE, SBE will be viewed as non-responsive and the bid will be rejected. 3. If the Bidder exceeds the allowable Supplier Utilization amount which is stated in the bid documents, the bid will be viewed as non-responsive. Therefore, the Bidder may not exceed the use of a MBE, WBE, SBE supplier for more than 25% of each respective MBE, WBE, SBE goal, unless the Director of Procurement and Materals has authorized a Supplier's Exception notated on page AU-1. 4. Each Bidder must submit with their proposal a completed VBE Commitment Form which lists each business intended to be used as a VBE. The Bidder must make a "Good Faith Effort" to identify eligible Veteran Owner-Businesses by completing the VBE Commitment Form. If the Bidder is unable to identify qualified VBE subcontractors capable of providing goods or services required by the Contract, the Bidder must write "no participation" on the VBE Commitment Form. Where a Bidder has failed to meet the VBE participation goal, the Administrator shall require the Contractor to submit a Veteran's Business Enterprise Good Faith Efforts Documentation Request Form and provide additional documentation of its good faith efforts in attempting to fulfil the VBE goal. 5. The bid money value of all materials purchased directly by the Contractor, together with the bid money value of all work performed by personnel and facilities provided directly by the Contractor, shall be not less than 35% of the money value of all work performed under this Contract. Any bid money value of work performed by the Subcontractors, for work on the job site utilizing the Subcontractors' materials, labor and facilities cannot be included in the percent of work to be completed by the Contractor. The MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan MUST be signed by the Bidder, even if the Bidder requests a waiver and/or offers itself to meet any of the Appendix D goals. If the bidder offer itself to satisfy any of the Appendix D goals, then its name shall be shown in the appropriate space(s) on the MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan. Where a Bidder is a business owned and controlled by a minority women (M/WBE) or where the Bidder utilized an M/WBE in a joint venture or as a subcontractor, the Bidder may count the M/WBE participation toward the achievement of either its MBE or WBE goal, but not both. If a waiver from Appendix D requirements is sought, the bidder should include with the bid package documentation of good-faith efforts to meet the Appendix D utilization goals. The documentation should be provided with the bid package on the Contractor's Information form; the form is included in the package containing the contract documents. Subsequent to the bid opening, and if it is determined by the Affirmative Action Administrator that a Contractor's Information form is required from the apparent low bidder, the bidder must complete and submit the form within (3) days of receiving the written request. The work under this contract is classified "General Construction" for the Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals utilization goals contained in the Affirmative Action Ordinance, Revised Appendix D. The associated goals are 20% Minority-owned Business Enterprises(MBE), 10% Women-owned Business Enterprises (WBE), 10% Small Business Enterprises (SBE) and 3% Veteran-owned Businesses (VBE). Should you have any questions, please contact the Diversity Office at 312-751-4035. It is required that the prospective bidder indicates participation by signing each applicable MBE, WBE, SBE Utilization Plan contained with the Contract Document. The Bidder to whom the Contract is awarded must be prepared to comply with the requirements of the Affirmative Action Ordinance during the life of the Contract. Each bidder must submit with their proposals a completed VBE Commitment Form which lists each business intended to be used as a VBE. The bidder must make a "Good Faith Effort" to identify eligible Veteran Owned-Businesses by completing the VBE Commitment Form. If the bidder is unable to identify qualified VBE subcontractors capable of providing goods and services required by the Contract, the bidder must write "no participation" on the VBE Commitment Form. Where a bidder has failed to meet the VBE participation goal, the Administrator shall require the Contractor to submit a Veteran's Business Enterprise Good Faith Efforts Documentation Request Form and provide additional documentation of its good faith efforts in attempting to fulfill the VBE goal. Bidders should read the bidding requirements set forth on pages R-1 through R-6, and in particular page R-2, Paragraph 6, in regards to questions on this Contract. The Project Manager for this contract is Joanna Jacobs. This Project Manager will provide online responses to online inquiries. All Contracts for the Construction of Public Works are subject to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act (820 ILCS 130/1 et.seq.) Any contract or contracts awarded under this invitation for bids are expected to be funded in part by a loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA). Neither the State of Illinois nor any of its departments, agencies, or employees is or will be a party to this invitation for bids or any resulting contract. The procurement is subject to regulations contained in the IEPA loan program rules, the Davis-Bacon Act (40 USC 276a through 276a-5), the Employment of Ill. Workers on Public Works Act and DBE Policy per 40 CFR Part 33, as amended, and the "Use of American Iron and Steel" requirements as contained in Section 436 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014. This procurement is also subject to the District's policy regarding the increased use of small, minority, and women's business. The District's policy requires all bidders to undertake specified affirmative efforts at least fifteen (15) days prior to the day of the bid opening. The policy is contained in the specifications. Bidders are also required to comply with the President's Executive Order No. 11246, as amended. The requirements for bidders and contractors under this order are explained in 41 CFR 60-4. Federal Regulations regarding labor standards, the Copeland Anti-Kickback Act, equal employment opportunity and access to work shall be in effect. These regulations appear in Appendices B and I in the Contract Documents and form a part thereof. The Bidder must execute Grant Forms Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the appropriate place in Appendix B as part of the Proposal. Any Proposal submitted without being accompanied by the executed Grant Forms Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be rejected as non-responsive. The Bidder shall specifically take note of Section 7, "Certification," of Appendix I regarding non-collusion requirements, and shall comply with same. The contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible, responsive bidder, unless all bids are rejected. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago reserves the right to reject any or all Proposals.