North Region Construction - Project 01A6677
Construct Communication System
01-0P250
Contract
01A6677 Minor B
Bid Date
10/14/2026
County Route
MEN-020
Description
Construct Communication System
Bidder Inquiry / Response
Inquiry#2:
McKeever Energy & Electric, Inc. dba McKeever respectfully requests clarification of the following items for Contract 01A6677. These questions are being submitted to clarify scope, access, material-furnishing responsibilities, temporary traffic control, subcontracting, and other requirements that may affect our price quotation.
1. Road 830 / JDSF Access
The Special Provisions state that Road 830 is typically closed to motorized vehicles from October 1 through June 1.
a. Please provide the anticipated construction/start period for this project.
b. Please provide the Road Maintenance Agreement and/or Seasonal Access Agreement referenced in the Information Handout, or identify the requirements applicable to Contractor access.
c. Identify any restrictions applicable to contractor vehicles, drilling equipment, cranes, concrete trucks, material deliveries, hauling, parking, staging, or wet-weather access.
d. Who is responsible for obtaining access authorizations, gate keys/locks, permits, or other JDSF/MRC approvals?
e. Is the Contractor responsible for any Road 830 maintenance or restoration resulting from construction access?
2. Mobilization, Staging & Site Logistics
Please identify approved areas, if any, for contractor parking, material storage, equipment staging, drilling and concrete operations, temporary storage of excavated material, and overnight storage of equipment or materials.
3. Mendocino Redwood Company Lease Requirements
Please confirm that all Contractor obligations arising from the Mendocino Redwood Company lease are contained in the Contract Documents/Information Handout and that Caltrans will perform any owner/landlord coordination not expressly assigned to the Contractor.
Please identify any additional property-access, restoration, environmental, or insurance requirements applicable to the Prime Contractor or its subcontractors.
4. Contractor/Subcontractor Insurance
Please confirm whether the insurance requirements contained in the Mendocino Redwood Company lease apply individually to each subcontractor performing work at the site. If so, please identify the required limits, endorsements, additional-insured requirements, and required timing for submission.
5. Clearing, Grubbing & Site Preparation
The Special Provisions state that trees within the clearing and grubbing areas will be felled by others prior to contract award.
a. Confirm that required tree felling will be complete before Contractor mobilization.
b. Confirm whether felled trees, logs, stumps and slash will also be removed by others.
c. Confirm that all remaining Contractor clearing, grubbing, and site-preparation requirements are represented by the plans, specifications, and bid items.
6. CIDH Foundation – Existing Subsurface Information
Please provide any available geotechnical information, boring logs, groundwater information, rock observations, previous foundation information, or other subsurface information applicable to the proposed CIDH foundation.
If no subsurface information is available, please confirm.
7. CIDH Contractor Qualifications
Please confirm that the drilling-contractor and personnel qualification information required by the Contract is a post-award informational submittal and is not required with the price quotation.
8. Communication System Equipment – Furnishing & Installation Responsibilities
The Contract identifies the controller cabinet as Department-furnished. Please identify whether each of the following is Department-furnished or Contractor-furnished, and whether installation is by the Contractor or others:
a. 60-foot MOD HM Pole, including base plate, anchor bolts, and associated pole hardware.
b. Camera(s) and associated camera equipment.
c. Antenna(s).
d. Camera and antenna mounting brackets, arms, supports, and attachment hardware.
e. Radios and other communications/network equipment.
f. Pole-mounted cabinets, enclosures, junction boxes, surge-protection equipment, cabling, connectors, and miscellaneous pole-mounted equipment.
g. Controller cabinet and equipment/components contained within or associated with the cabinet.
h. Grounding and bonding equipment associated with the pole and pole-mounted equipment.
i. Any solar panels, batteries, charge controllers, power supplies, or other equipment required to provide permanent operating power.
For each Department-furnished component, please identify the manufacturer/model where known, quantity, pickup location, anticipated availability, and Contractor responsibilities for pickup, transportation, storage, protection, and installation.
For each Contractor-furnished component, please identify the applicable manufacturer/model, performance specification, approved-product requirement, material specification, or other information necessary to obtain a compliant quotation.
Please also identify responsibility for programming, configuration, camera aiming, antenna alignment, network integration, testing, commissioning, and final system startup.
9. Communication System Testing & Commissioning
The Contract requires conductor and operational testing. Please identify the required test procedure, acceptance criteria, required test equipment, parties required to participate, and whether Caltrans will perform any programming/configuration necessary for final system operation.
10. Permanent & Temporary Power
Please identify the intended permanent power source for the communication system and clarify whether solar, battery, utility service, service equipment, or other power-generation equipment is required as part of the Contractor's scope.
Please also confirm whether temporary construction power and water are available or must be provided by the Contractor.
11. Lead Compliance Plan
The Contract includes a separate bid item for Lead Compliance Plan.
a. Please identify the specific materials, locations, and activities anticipated to present potential lead exposure requiring implementation of the Lead Compliance Plan.
b. Please provide available lead sampling, soil characterization, analytical data, or reports.
c. Is roadway excavation, CIDH drilling, or other earthwork anticipated to encounter lead-containing material?
d. If so, please identify requirements for testing, handling, stockpiling, reuse, transportation, and/or disposal.
12. Concrete Washout, CIDH Spoils & Drilling Slurry
Please identify project-specific requirements for handling and disposal of CIDH spoils, drilling slurry, concrete washout water, concrete waste, and other drilling/concrete residuals. Please confirm whether these materials may remain onsite or must be transported offsite.
13. Fence/Gate Interface
Please confirm the limits and configuration of the Type CL-6 fence and two 5-foot gates and identify whether grounding/bonding of the fence or gates is required.
14. Fire Prevention Requirements
Please clarify whether the specified pickup truck/operator or other dedicated fire-control equipment must remain onsite continuously during all construction operations or only during operations specifically presenting a fire hazard.
Please also confirm that work suspended due to specified fire-danger restrictions will be treated as adverse-weather/non-working days.
15. 15-Working-Day Contract / Start of Work
Please identify the anticipated Notice to Proceed/start period.
Please also confirm that the Contractor will not be directed to begin job-site activities until required material procurement, fabrication, and approved submittals necessary to perform the work can reasonably be completed.
16. Prime Contractor 30% Self-Performance Requirement
Section 5-1.13 requires the Prime Contractor to perform work equaling at least 30 percent of the original total bid with its own organization.
a. Please confirm whether project management, construction management/supervision, scheduling, safety/QC administration, contract administration, WPCP administration, and other contract work performed by employees directly employed and paid by the Prime Contractor may be included in determining the Prime Contractor's 30-percent performance.
b. For a bid item that is only partially subcontracted, please clarify how the Department determines the subcontracted percentage.
c. Where the Prime Contractor purchases and furnishes materials or manufactured products directly from the manufacturer/supplier for incorporation into the project, and a first-tier subcontractor provides installation labor and equipment, please confirm whether the Prime-furnished material portion is allocated to the Prime Contractor when determining the subcontracted percentage.
d. Please confirm whether this allocation may be documented through Prime Contractor purchase orders, supplier invoices, delivery documentation, and the applicable subcontract scope/value.
17. 60' MOD HM Pole – Fabrication Requirements
If the 60-foot MOD HM Pole is Contractor-furnished, please confirm the applicable fabrication, galvanizing, certification, testing, submittal, and authorized-fabricator requirements, including the applicability of RSP ES-16C.
Please also confirm whether the pole is required to be hot-dip galvanized after fabrication and identify any project-specific coating requirements.
18. Buy America / BABA
Please confirm the applicable Buy America/Build America, Buy America certification and documentation requirements for Contractor-furnished communication-system materials, including the MOD HM Pole, antenna/camera mounting components, conduit, conductors, cabling, and other manufactured products or construction materials.
19. Temporary Crash Cushions, Type K Railing & Temporary Barrier Systems
The Contract Documents incorporate multiple Standard Plans for Temporary Crash Cushions, Temporary Railing (Type K), and Temporary Barrier Systems.
a. Are temporary crash cushions, Type K railing, and/or temporary barrier systems required for this project?
b. If required, please identify the locations, limits, and approximate quantities.
c. Please identify the specific crash-cushion and barrier/railing system or applicable Standard Plan required at each location.
d. If Type K railing is required, please identify whether it is to be free-standing, staked, anchored, or otherwise secured.
e. Please identify required end treatments/crash cushions and whether each installation is unidirectional, bidirectional, or a shoulder installation.
f. Is the Contractor responsible for developing a temporary traffic-control/barrier layout for Engineer approval, or will Caltrans provide the required layout?
g. If these systems are required but are not represented by separate bid items, please identify the bid item under which furnishing, installation, maintenance, relocation, and removal are to be included.
20. Temporary Traffic Control & Roadside Signs
The Contract Documents incorporate Roadside Sign Standard Plans RS1, RS2, and RS4.
a. Please identify all temporary construction/traffic-control signs required, including sign designation/message, size, quantity, and location.
b. Is there a project-specific traffic-control/signing plan? If so, please provide it.
c. If no project-specific layout exists, please identify the applicable Standard Plan, typical application, or other criteria the Contractor is to use to determine required signs, placement distances, and traffic-control configuration.
d. Please identify whether flaggers, lane closures, shoulder closures, road closures, pilot vehicles, cones, channelizers, portable changeable message signs, temporary delineation, or other traffic-control devices are required.
e. Please confirm whether RS1, RS2, and RS4 are included solely as reference details or whether permanent roadside signs are required. If permanent signs are required, please identify sign types, quantities, and locations.
f. If temporary traffic control/signing is required but is not represented by a separate bid item, please identify the bid item under which these costs are to be included.
Thank you for your assistance. These clarifications will help us develop a complete and responsive quotation.
Response:
1a: See Standard Specifications and Special Provisions section 8-1.04B Standard Start for start of job site activities. Per the Notice to Bidders, complete work within 15 working days. See Standard Specifications section 8-1.05 Time for contract time.
1b, 1c: See Special Provisions section 10-1.03 Time Constraints.
1d: See Special Provisions section 5-1.20B(5) Lease Agreement and Information Handout for insurance requirements. Per Standard Specifications section 1-1.01 General (General Provisions), request access from the Resident Engineer.
1e: See Standard Specifications section 5-1.36 Property and Facility Preservation.
2: See Standard Specifications section 5-1.32 Areas For Use and Addendum #3.
3: Caltrans complies with the California Public Contract Code. Project information is included in the bid package and addenda if applicable.
4: See Standard Specifications section 5-1.13 Subcontracting.
5a, 5b, 5c: See Standard Specifications and Special Provisions section 17-2 Clearing And Grubbing and Addendum #3.
6: See Addendum #3.
7: See Special Provisions section 49-3.02A(3)(l) Experience Qualifications.
8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, 8e, 8f, 8g, 8h, 8i: See Standard Specifications and Special Provisions sections 6-1.02 Department-Furnished Materials, 86 General (Electrical Work), and 87-9 Communication Systems, Project Plans, and Addendum #3.
8 (paragraph 2): See Special Provisions section 6-1.02 Department-Furnished Materials, Plan Sheet E-1, and Standard Plan ES-3C.
8 (paragraph 3): See Standard Specifications and Special Provisions sections 86 General (Electrical Work) and 87 Electrical Systems and applicable Standard Plans.
8 (paragraph 4): See Addendum #3.
9: See Addendum #3.
10 (paragraph 1): See Standard Specifications and Special Provisions sections 6-1.02 Department-Furnished Materials, 86 General (Electrical Work), and 87-9 Communication Systems, Project Plans, and Addendum #3.
10 (paragraph 2): See Standard Specifications section 9-1.03 Payment Scope and Addendum #3. No existing utilities are shown on the project plans.
11a, 11b, 11c, 11d: See Addendum #3.
12: See Standard Specifications section 13-9 Temporary Concrete Washouts and Standard Specifications section 49 Piling.
13: See Plan Sheet C-1 for the location of the fence and gate. See Standard Specifications section 80 Fences.
14: See Standard Specifications section 8-1.06 Suspensions and Standard Specifications and Special Provisions section 7-1.02M(2) Fire Protection.
15: See Standard Specifications and Special Provisions section 8-1.04B Standard Start.
16a, 16b, 16c, 16d: See Standard Specifications section 5-1.13A General (Subcontracting) and Subcontracting Request Form. Per Standard Specifications and Special Provisions section 2-1.10 Subcontractor List, complete and submit Subcontractor List with bid.
17: See Standard Specifications section 86 General (Electrical Work) for specifications for furnishing electrical equipment and materials, Standard Plan ES-1C, Plan Sheet SES-1, and Addendum #3.
18: Working on a response at this time.
19a, 19b, 19c, 19d, 19e, 19f, 19g: Per Standard Specifications section 7-1.04 Public Safety, these items are included in all contracts. See Standard Specifications section 9-1.03 Payment Scope.
20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, 20e, 20f: Per Standard Specifications section 7-1.04 Public Safety, these items are included in all contracts. See Standard Specifications section 9-1.03 Payment Scope.