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BACKGROUND Bids were received on August 07, 2007. The apparent low bidder was N2 Electric Inc. of Livermore, California, in the amount of $244,330. On August 20, 2007, N2 Electric requested that they be excused from their bid due to inability to acquire the proper amount of bonding for this project (N2 Electric has been in business for only 5 months). Based upon their request and the circumstances regarding the lack of ability to bond the project, staff recommends that N2 Electric Inc. be relieved of their bid, that their bid bond be released, and the contract be awarded to the second low bidder, Dan Electric of Alameda, in the amount of $249,000. DISCUSSION The subject project consists of improvements providing for the replacement of marginal and aging dimmers and electrical distribution for theatrical lighting in the Amador Theatre. After the initial lighting upgrade design was completed in 2003, the consulting engineer prepared an estimate of the cost of constructing the required improvements. The estimated cost of the improvements was $405,683, or about twice what was budgeted for the project at that time. To address this budget issue, staff evaluated the condition of the existing dimmer circuits to determine if some of the old system could be utilized with the purchase of new dimmer racks. However, it was determined that the old wiring system was not compatible with the new state of the art dimmer racks. Additionally, this analysis found numerous code violations, including many splices in the old wiring system. Staff therefore determined that utilization of a part of the old lighting system was not a viable alternative and the project was put on hold pending additional funding. Additional funds for the dimmer system upgrade were approved in the 2007/2008 Operating Budget. In addition, staff met with Zeiger Engineering, Inc. to determine if there were any alternate lighting upgrade designs that might make the project more affordable to construct. Zeiger Engineering suggested an alternative method for wiring the dimmer racks that could be more cost effective than the method initially specified for the lighting system upgrade. Staff found it to be an acceptable alternate and contracted with Zeiger Engineering to revise the plans and specifications to incorporate this new wiring method. The revised lighting system upgrade plans and specifications were bid on August 7, 2007, with three bids received. The bids ranged from $244,330 to $499,000, as compared to the Engineer's estimate of $450,000 for the project. (See Attachment 2 for Bid Summary.) Due to the inability of the apparent low bidder to submit required bonding, the second low bidder, Dan Electric, was asked to submit the required bid documents. All bid documents were found to be in order and past work performed by said contractor was verified to be satisfactory. Since this project will be upgrading an existing system that is failing, staff recognizes the potential for additional unanticipated work. Therefore, it is requested that a project contingency of twenty percent of the cost of the construction contract ($48,870) be applied to the project cost. Page 2 of 3