ST9801-CS000912 (3)Doug Teter, Vice President
Ed Bell Construction
10605 Harry Hines Blvd.
P.O. Box 540787
Dallas, TX 75354-0787
September 12, 2000
Re: Coppell Road Project # ST 98-01
Dear Mr. Teter:
I have received and reviewed your letter in reference to my August 21'~ letter concerm'~g costs for
fittings associated with water line construction along Coppell Road.
Pay Item 1A 13 Fire Hydrant Assembly very specifically states that this item is full compensation
for all materials, equipment, tools, labor, incidentals necessary to complete the work and that the
work should be completed in accordance with City of Coppell Standard Construction Detail Sheet
SD16. SD16 very clearly shows that a Tee is required to connect the fire hydrant to the water
main. Therefore, the Tee should be considered as materials necessary to complete the work.
Pay Items 1A 16, 17, 18 & 19 Connections to Existing Water System very specifically states that
it should include all firings. These water lines cannot be connected to the main line without a
Tee. However, in various places a Cross was used. Therefore, I provided you compensation for
the difference in the fittings from a Tee to a Cross.
Additional compensation has not been provided for fittings necessary to connect the fire hydrants
to the main line or to connect the associated water lines to the main line. As the specifications and
details show, those are part of the bid costs for items 1A 13, 16, 17, 18 & 19.
The contract between the City and your firm states that you have carefully studied all reports,
drawings, etc. prior to bidding on the project and that you provided written notice of any
conflicts, errors or discrepancies that was discovered in the contract documents. Also, under
Contractor Representations, it again states that you provided written notice of any conflicts,
errors or discrepancies. This project had a bid quantity of 3.2 tons of ductile iron fittings for
water line construction. That number was based on ductile iron fittings necessary to transition
around any obstructions that might be encountered. That number did not include any fittings
necessary to make fire hydrant or water line connections. Those were separate pay items as
255 PARKWAY "~ PO.BOX 478 , COPPI;'LL TX 75Ot9 "It TEL 972/462 0022 'k FAX 972/304 3673
described in 1A 13, 16, 17, 18 & 19. If during your re~,iew of the plans, prior to bidding, you
were unsure of what the bid item for ductile iron fittings pertained to, that should have been
brought to the attention of the City and could have been clarified prior to bidding. If, during
your investigation of the project prior to bidding, it was your opinion that there should be 10.5
tons of fittings, then you should have brought that to our attention and clarification could have
been provided. Because you bid this project lwith only 3.2 tons of fittings, it was our opinion that
you understood that those fittings were only for the necessary trangitions around conflicts and that
it did not include any fittings associated with connections of fire hydrants or water lines. As my
previous letter stated, the tonnage to be provided for the fittings on this project is 5.25. Your last
estimate has been adjusted to reflect 5.25 tons of fittings.
I am again asking for clarification of why you are requesting additional time be added to your
contract. Your August 14, 2000 letter states ~Additionally, this additional work required
additional time to complete. Please add 14 calendar days to our contract to cover this time.~ As
I stated in my August 21~ letter, what does ~[hig additional work~ refer to? Nowhere in your
August 14'h or August 28~ letter do you indicate what ~this additional work~ means. Again,
please provide information concerning ~this additional work~. Please be aware that the contract
very clearly states ~No extension of contract time shall be allowed unless a contractor can
demonstrate delay costs and adverse impact to the critical path and that loss of time cannot be
made up by revising the sequence of the work on the project."
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Kenneth M. Griffin, P.E.
Director of Engineer/Public Works
cc: Alan Greer, Freese & Nichols