The Community Services Department has operated a kitchen at the Brea Senior Center to service a hot, nutritious lunch for primarily low-income seniors. While this kitchen was originally built nearly 100 years ago, there have been some minor upgrades and some of the equipment has been replaced due to normal wear and tear. However, the kitchen has been outdated and in need of being redesigned and upgraded for a number of years in order to remain an efficient, accessible, functional and safe environment for the increasing numbers of seniors it serves. The Center's nutrition program has grown tremendously over the past several years and there is a need to design a facility that will not only meet the current demands, but also prepare for future demands.
Recently, Brea was able to secure a series of Community Block Development Grants (CDBG) to redesign the kitchen, purchase new equipment, and hire a contractor to complete the redesign and installation work. The first phase grant contained two elements. One element was in the amount of $60,000 for the redesign work which was awarded under a separate contract by the City Council on June 5, 2018 to HACE, Inc. The other element was for $140,000 for the purchase of the kitchen equipment. Two additional grants will provide funding for the construction and installation work, which is expected to occur sometime after the beginning of the new fiscal year. The award recommendation will be presented to the City Council for the consideration at that time.
After staff received the kitchen equipment list and specifications from HACE, who also provided a short list of kitchen equipment suppliers, Purchasing solicited bids from them and other potential suppliers. Some of the key commercial items included n the request for bids were large refrigerator and freezer units, large range ovens, a microwave oven, hot and cold beverage dispensers and an ice machine.
Since funding from the two additional grant phases will not be available until after the beginning of the new fiscal year, and it will take some time to solicit bids for the construction and installation work and present an award recommendation to City Council, the equipment will need to be put into a controlled-environment storage facility to protect it from the elements. Since the City does not have such storage facilities, the request for bids included costs for delivery, storage, and redelivery of the equipment at the time construction calls for installation.
The City issued a Request for Bids (RFB) on January 4, 2019 requesting offers from a number of companies for the purchase of the new kitchen equipment. The RFB required that all items be delivered by March 31, 2019, which was the expiration of th grant. Unfortunately, no bids were received. As a result, staff consulted with the designer regarding the bid results. It was decided to reissue the RFB directly to the recommended suppliers, both TriMark and IFE Distribution submitted responsive bids in the amounts shown below.
| Bidders |
Bid Amount |
| 1. IFE Distribution |
$167,780.46 |
| 2. TriMark Raygal, LLC (dba TriMark) |
$170,898.80 |
TriMark's bid included all request line items while IFE's bid indicated that there were four no-bid items, which made it appear to be a lower bid. A comparison of the two bids resulted in TriMark having the lowest bid overall. The total of the no-bid items plus estimated freight charges and sales tax was $9,623.30, which would have made IFE's bid effectively $177,403.76.
One of the items, a refrigerated self-service case, had a delivery time of 56 calendar days after receipt of order, which would have exceeded the March 31, 2019 delivery deadline making it ineligible for grant reimbursement. Since the total of the bid was also more than the CDBG grant of $140,000, staff decided to forego the refrigerator unit, which brought the totald own from $170,898.80 to $156,991.99. After conferring with the CDBG representative, staff obtained permission to utilize the unused portion of the design element of the grant for the purchase of the equipment, As a result, the CDBG will provide complete funding of this purchase. |