Construction bids rejected for new Oceanside fire station

Oceanside has rejected all five construction bids submitted for the new Fire Station No. 1 and will re-advertise the project, which will be a larger, modern building to replace the one constructed in 1929.

“Most of the bids contained some type of clerical error,” City Engineer Brian Thomas told the Oceanside City Council. As a result, the engineering staff, in consultation with the city attorney, recommended the city reject all the bids and re-advertise the project.

The City Council voted unanimously at its meeting Wednesday to follow that recommendation. The new bids are expected to be opened May 12, and a contract could be presented for the council’s approval on June 8.

The bids opened on Feb. 24 ranged from $12.3 million to $15.5 million and were all below the city’s construction estimate of $16 million to $18.5 million, he said.

The additional time needed for new bids will allow the city to complete its application for a National Environmental Policy Act permit. An advantage to obtaining the permit is that once the bid is awarded the recipient will be able to proceed without delay, Thomas said.

Companies that submitted bids are: PCN3, Inc., of Los Alamitos, $12.4 million; Cox Construction of Vista, $13.7 million; Woodcliff Corporation of Los Angeles, $14.9 million; R.J. Daum Construction of Garden Grove, $15.44 million; and Macro-Z-Technology of Santa Ana, $15.48 million.

The new station will be built on Civic Center Drive, across the street from the present City Hall parking structure, on property the city purchased in 2004. Plans call for the old fire station on Pier View Way to be remodeled for an expansion of the adjacent Oceanside Museum of Art, which once housed Oceanside City Hall.

Last year, the fire station construction project qualified for a $3.5 million grant from the federal Defense Community Infrastructure Program because of the location 2.3 miles from the main entrance to the Marine Corps base, where Oceanside could provide firefighting assistance in an emergency.

Also funding the construction project is Measure X, a half-cent, seven-year sales tax city voters approved in November 2018 to pay for public safety, infrastructure projects, road repairs and programs to help the homeless.