Harbor goes out for bids for rebuilding project

Crescent City Harbor District will go out to bid today with their plan for the inner boat basin rebuilding project.

The bid package will be sent to trade publications, allowing contractors to review details about the project, preparing them to put together bids for when the bidding opens on Feb. 22.

The harbor has pre-qualified 10 prime contractors so far, and there will be a pre-bid conference on Feb. 2 at the harbor office, when interested contractors can physically inspect the harbor and receive more information.  

“This is a major project on the West Coast, so everybody’s interested from Los Angeles to Seattle,” said Harbormaster Richard Young. “We expect a very competitive bidding environment.”

At Tuesday’s Harbor Commission meeting, Young said that Gov. Jerry Brown’s draft budget includes $4 million in loans available for tsunami repairs in Crescent City and Santa Cruz, which could help the harbor close their funding gap.

The harbor commission passed a resolution Tuesday that designates the inner boat basin rebuilding project as “substantially complex,” which allows the harbor to retain more than five percent of payment to contractors. On Jan. 1, the state Public Contract Code began limiting the amount a public entity can retain from a contractor to five percent — unless deemed “substantially complex.”