SUBJECT: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR TO AWARD A CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT TO RAY'S ELECTRIC FOR THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL PROJECTS AT THE INTERSECTIONS OF FRANKLIN STREET AT 7TH STREET, INTERNATIONAL BOULEVARD AT 103RD/104TH AVENUES, MOUNTAIN BOULEVARD AT THE VILLAGE SQUARE DRIVEWAY (CITY PROJECT NOS. C222210, C160110, AND C64630) IN THE AMOUNT OF FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED THIRTY DOLLARS ($423,730)

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

In accordance with the Measure H Charter Amendment, which was passed by the voters at the General election of November 5, 1996, we have made an impartial financial analysis of the accompanying Proposed Resolution and Agenda Report. In making our analysis, we also asked for and obtained additional information and clarification from City staff.

The City Auditor is elected by the citizens of Oakland to serve as an officer in charge of an independent department auditing City government activities. The independence of the City Auditor is established by the City Charter.

Since the Measure H Charter Amendment specifies that our impartial financial analysis is for informational purposes only, we did not apply Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards as issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Moreover, the scope of our analysis was impaired by Administrative Instruction Number 137, effective May 21, 1997, which provides only one (1) week for us to plan, perform and report on our analysis.

SUMMARY

Staff proposes to have new traffic signal installations constructed in the City of Oakland. The locations will at:

1. Franklin Street and 7th Street
2. International Boulevard and 103rd/104th Avenues
3. Mountain Boulevard at the Village Square driveway

According to the Agenda Report, staff recommends the traffic signal installation projects be awarded to Ray's Electric.

CONTRACTOR SELECTION PROCESS

According to the Agenda Report, bids were received from Ray's Electric and W. Bradley Electric. The bid amounts submitted are as follows:

Contractor Name:	Ray's Electric	W. Bradley Electric

Bid Amount:	$423,730	$582,453

OUTSTANDING ISSUES

On July 14, 2004, we requested copies of the following documents from staff:

1. The Request for Proposal
2. The advertisement in the newspaper and any other distributional medium for this project
3. Distribution list of firms the City staff informed regarding the availability to bid for this project
4. Clearance from Contract Compliance Division
5. Engineer's estimate

These items are essential to our analysis. However, we did not receive any of the items as of our report completion date of July 20, 2004. Our report is due to the Office of the City Administrator by July 21, 2004. The information was requested from Public Works on July 14, 2004 and, even though they had six days, was not provided to us.

We cannot evaluate this proposal without the information that was requested.

CONCLUSION

Due to the absence of the information requested, we strongly urge the Mayor and the City Council to:

1. delay approval of the Proposed Resolution until we receive and analyze the requested information; or

2. reject the Proposed Resolution.

Prepared by:

Philip Lim
Deputy City Auditor

Issued by:

Roland E. Smith, CPA, CFS
City Auditor

Report completion date:
July 20, 2004

Report Number:05-001