A late bid protest put a delay in the first step of the North Shore Levee Fry Creek Pump Station Project, which left city of Aberdeen staff feeling discouraged.

The bid protest, from Rognlin’s Inc., of Aberdeen, came in late Wednesday afternoon, July 13, according to Ward 6 Position 12 Council member Dee Anne Shaw, who shared the news with the City Council. Shaw is also the Public Works Committee chair.

“Out of an abundance of caution, staff is recommending that the city of Aberdeen should not award the project tonight,” said Shaw at the meeting. “Staff will work through the process. As such, we are recommending removing the award of the Fry Creek Pump Station Project from the agenda until the award can be legally considered. We are respecting their rights as the bidders, and there is a process to go through.”

When asked if Rognlin’s Inc. offered a reason, Shaw did not know why.

“It came in at the very last minute today,” she said. “They’ve known for a week that the recommendation was gonna be Quigg (Bros.) We weren’t expecting an appeal. They didn’t let us know until (the bid protest) came in.”

The Daily World attempted on Thursday morning, July 14, to find out from Rognlin’s Inc. why the company protested the bid.

“We have no comment,” company staff said.

A bid protest is a challenge to the award or proposed award of a contract for the procurement of goods and services, or a challenge to the terms of a solicitation for such a contract, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave wanted to wait to comment until the city’s legal staff goes through analyzing it. But, he did mention this bid has seen pushback before.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a protest on our bids, other than on this issue,” Schave said. “This is the second protest on this, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before, so this is new ground.”

Aberdeen’s Public Works Department staff advertised a request for bids on Wednesday, July 6, one day before a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project that saw Gov. Jay Inslee, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) and state Senator Steve Tharinger (D-24th District), according to The Daily World in its Tuesday, July 12 edition.

The two bids — one from Rognlin’s Inc. at $18,539,236.80, and Quigg Bros. Inc. at $17,905,482 — were received on the same day, according to the council’s July 13 agenda. The difference between the two bids — $633,754.80 — was 3.5 percent.

According to Shaw, this is not the first bid protest for this project. The work includes installing a new pump station building with vertical turbine pumps and electrical controls, new tide gate structure, on-site generator, bearing piles and sheet pile installation, along with mechanical, electrical, and civil work.

“We already went through this once,” Shaw said. “We had a bid protest. The first time it went out, we opted to go out to bid again, and so the bids came back. And now, there’s another appeal.”

According to Rick Sangder, Aberdeen’s public works director, the Fry Creek Pump Station was one of the main infrastructure projects identified in the TimberWorks comprehensive plan.

“It was singled out as the most important project to eliminating flooding in West Aberdeen,” said Sangder on July 12.

Then, a few hours before the council meeting started, Sangder said the project is the first substantial infrastructure construction project on the North Shore Levee, and that it’s 100 percent grant funded.

Sangder also added how the current Fry Creek Pump Station — 2700 Port Industrial Road, in Aberdeen — is “undersized.” Sangder explained why that’s bad.

“It does not meet the capacity requirements to carry the flows we frequently see,” Sangder said.

Then, if the intense rainfall combines with king tides, west Aberdeen is at “incredible risk.” The Harbor saw that risk six months ago when those two factors were also made worse by rapid snowmelt, and other weather factors.

On Jan. 6, the city of Hoquiam saw 5.78 inches of rain, which was the city’s wettest day on record, according to The Daily World on Jan. 10.

Aberdeen saw similar rainfall. Streets throughout Grays Harbor County were inundatded with floodwaters.

Brian Shay, city administrator for Hoquiam, said on Jan. 4 — two days before the record rainfall — that the weather predicament the area was in at that point was an “exact reminder why Aberdeen and Hoquiam are building the North Shore Levee project.”

The new pump station, according to Sangder, will address the capacity issue with an increase from approximately 20,000 gallons per minute to 135,000 gallons per minute — close to seven times more capacity.

The pump station would also add fish screening that is not part of the existing pump station.

Sangder, at the time, sounded confident the award authorization would go through at the council meeting.

“Once we have authorization, we will get a contract ratified with the intent of beginning work as soon as possible to meet the 2022 fish window,” said Sangder before explaining the project requires two fish windows to be completed.

This means even if the project’s first phase of “in-water” work gets done in 2022, the next phase of the project would have to wait until the 2023 fish window.

The project has 388 consecutive working days, which don’t include holidays, weekends and weather delays.

With Western Washington’s heavy rainfall from mid-fall through late spring, construction needs to happen during the summer months, when it’s dry.

Shaw pointed out the city is “well into construction season.” While that is the case, she also said the city respects the right of Rognlin’s Inc. to appeal the bid.

“But, staff also wants to avoid delays if we are to begin this project this year,” Shaw said. “With that said, public works is asking (City) Council to remain flexible in case there is a need for a special meeting next week.”

Nick Bird, city engineer for Aberdeen, noted how there are a variety of interpretations on the revision to the the protest statute — RCW 39.04.105 — and that city staff will take its time, review the protest thoroughly, and then determine how best to proceed.

“Our objective is to respect the bidding framework and make sure there is a fair and reasonable review,” Bird said.

As for the feelings about the late bid protest, Shaw exhibited poise in her attempt to explain what she thought about it.

“I’m trying to be respectful,” Shaw said. “I think I can say that city staff was a little discouraged today, but they’re also professional and we’re going to do what we need to do.”

Despite the bid protest, Shaw’s confidence level is high.

“I want to make certain that my confidence in this process comes through, because I have a lot of confidence in how we got this far,” Shaw said. “We would not be able to get the level of support we have for this if it wasn’t the real deal. I have a lot of confidence in our process, and a lot of respect for the guys who are going to go back and take another couple days and look at it.”

According to Shaw, it’s not just city staff who reviews this, but HDR Inc. — the “lead designer and engineer for both portions of the levee project,” according to HDR’s website — is on it too.

“We’re just trying to make certain that we dot Is and cross Ts, but we want to award it ASAP and get going,” Shaw said. “We don’t want to lose a year.”