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BACKGROUND The Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery Master Plan was adopted by City Council on November 18, 2014. The first phase of improvements identified in the master plan were completed in October 2016; the first phase consisted of installing the Veterans Memorial, repaving the main drive aisle, and installing trees and irrigation along the main drive aisle. In May 2018, the storage area improvements were completed, including installing/creating a storage area for cemetery equipment, adding a small parking area, and completing associated landscape and irrigation improvements. In February 2019, the City authorized its on-call landscape architecture consultant, Callander Associates, to prepare biddable construction documents for the third phase of the cemetery improvements, consisting of improving the cemetery entrance and installing wayfinding signage. The City Manager's Office along with the Library and Recreation, Operations Services, and Engineering Departments worked with the consultant on the design to improve the aesthetics of the cemetery and meet the wayfinding needs of cemetery visitors, while also providing accommodations for future cemetery improvements. As designed and bid, the project includes landscape and irrigation improvements along the frontage of Sunol Boulevard and in other areas of the cemetery, repaving the drive aisles that were not paved during the first phase of improvements, and installing an entry kiosk, wayfinding signage, decorative poles with hanging flower baskets along the main drive aisle, and various site furnishings. The project was advertised for construction bid in mid-July with a bid opening date established as August 8, 2019. DISCUSSION Seven contractors submitted bids for this project on August 8. The bid amounts ranged from the low bid of $394,240 to a high of $577,527. The Engineer's Estimate for the project is $476,000. The low bid of $394,240 is from Suarez & Munoz Construction, Inc., who have performed very well for the City on previous projects. On August 12, the second lowest bidder, Marina Landscape, Inc. ($408,992.50) submitted a bid protest. The bid protest letter pointed out that instead of listing a unit price and a total price for several line items that were lump sums in the bid table, SMC only listed the line item total for each of the lump sum items. While Marina is technically correct that SMC should have listed both the unit price and the total price for each lump sum bid item, the unit price and the total price for each item are identical since the total price for each lump sum item is equal to the unit price multiplied by the quantity of each lump sum item (or one). Engineering staff, along with staff from the City Attorneys' Office, reviewed the issue and determined the protest should be rejected as the bid form irregularity does not cause any ambiguity in determining the total amount bid by SMC, nor does it give SMC any competitive advantage over other contractors that submitted bids for the project. Staff believe the issue under protest, while technically correct, is so easily understood that it serves no public benefit to find the low bid non- responsive and award the project to a higher bidder. All other components of the SMC bid were found to be responsive to the bid solicitation, and references for SMC were also verified. Staff recommends awarding the Pioneer Page 2 of 3