EAST PROVIDENCE — Moving past the often tense talks about rates, the City Council at its meeting Tuesday night, Dec. 16, approved the credentials of several firms seeking to participate in the planned $19 million in improvements to East Providence’s water system.
Presented by Steve Coutu, Director of Public Works, to City Purchasing Agent Gerald Leach and subsequently through Acting City Manager Paul Lemont, the Council approved Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from companies capable of completing water distribution system improvements, water main cleaning and lining and water storage tank construction.
According to the documents submitted by Public Works, upon review of the qualification statements received by city staff and Pare Engineering, pre-qualification approval was given to the following seven companies seeking the water distribution system improvements contract: Boyle and Fogarty Construction, R. Zoppo Corporation, C.B. Utility Company, Inc., D’Ambra Construction Company, Inc., Parkside Utility Construction, LLC, Rosciti Construction Company and John Rocchio Corporation. An eighth company that submitted an RFQ, William Anthony Excavating, Inc., did not demonstrate that it had completed a project of similar size and scope, according to the consulting agents. The main part of this portion of the project is building a chlorination station in Kent Heights.
Six companies — J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, Inc, Mainlining Service, Inc., Biszko Contracting Corp., Dewcon, Inc., W.Walsh Company and Heitkamp, Inc — sought and were approved for consideration for the water main cleaning and lining portion of the project.
Contractors approved for the construction of a new 6.6 million gallon water storage tank at the current Kent Heights location were DN Tanks from Wakefield, Mass., and Preload, Inc from Hauppauge, N.Y. The consultants noted the two companies are the prominent concrete tank construction firms in this area of the country.
Each of the RFQs passed by unanimous 5-0 votes of the Council.
In another Public Works related note, both Mr. Coutu and Mr. Lemont, in response to a query from Councilman Helder Cunha, told the body the notion of city once again undertaking the paving of its roads was unrealistic.
The administrators noted few if any municipalities the size of East Providence perform their own road construction anymore, citing the overwhelming costs involved in terms equipment, manpower, materials, liability insurance, etc.
Undeterred, Mr. Cunha still asked for the administrators to look into the matter further, including producing a statistical analysis.