The tender for the construction of the Ross Street Underpass is expected to be issued in the next two weeks, so the work can begin this year.
Council unanimously approved an increase of $172,000 for engineering services at its Feb. 8 meeting.
Although the work is essentially an extension of services being done by RF Binnie & Associates Ltd., Rob Niewenhuizen, director of engineering and public works, said technically it is ‘sole sourcing’ and council must approve any expenditure over $100,000.
Niewenhuizen said the increase is because some of the numbers quoted by the firm were from 2014.
He said this is the next step in moving towards issuing a tender on Feb. 19. It is expected to go to six pre-qualified contractors.
The work will include getting the tender package ready and the designs for it completed, then reviewing and evaluating the tenders and moving forward with the contract.
He said the city is in the process of finalizing the agreement with CP Rail.
Niewenhuizen emphasized that the increase keeps the total well within the $1.52 million project budget for engineering services.
The 2020 budget listed $15.7 million for the underpass, which included $1 million from CP plus a grant of $500,000 that CP applied for on the city’s behalf.
Read more: Salmon Arm’s Ross Street underpass to go to tender but not without risk
Read more: Projected cost of Salmon Arm’s Ross Street underpass goes up by $3.5 million
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