BRADENTON BEACH – Sarasota-based Duncan Seawall, Dock and Boat Lifts is the Community Redevelopment Agency’s (CRA) first choice to install finger piers to the floating dock next to the Bridge Street Pier.
Tampa Bay Marine also submitted a proposal in response to the CRA’s request for proposals (RFP) that also calls for the selected firm to extend the existing floating dock and replace the city-owned dinghy dock near the Bridge Tender Inn.
The selection took place during the special CRA meeting on Wednesday, May 19. Prior to the meeting, Bradenton Beach Police Lt. John Cosby, Building Official Steve Gilbert and City Attorney Ricinda Perry individually ranked the two bid proposals received. All three city staff members ranked Duncan higher than Tampa Bay Marine.
According to handwritten notes included on Perry’s evaluation sheet, Duncan’s bid came in at a total of approximately $616,000 to $624,000, depending on some options included in the proposal. The Tampa Bay Marine bid came in at approximately $495,000, with some additional unknown costs pertaining to potential engineering services.
Perry is now authorized to attempt to negotiate a contract with Duncan Seawall, Dock and Boat Lifts. The finger docks and additional floating dock sections to be installed by Duncan if a contract is successfully negotiated would be pre-manufactured by the Fort Myers-based Golden Marine Systems.
The CRA members believe working with Duncan and Golden – two firms the CRA has past experience with – would prevent the cost overages and installation delays that plagued the floating dock project originally contracted with Technomarine in 2017 and later installed by the Hecker Construction Company in 2019. Duncan was later contracted to make final repairs and renovations to the floating dock and Golden Marine provided some of the needed materials.
Duncan proposal
Duncan’s proposal includes $248,675 to provide and install nine finger piers that would be 4 feet wide and 31 feet long. The finger piers would be attached perpendicular to the floating dock.
The Duncan proposal includes an additional $39,190 to include two support pilings for each finger pier. The pilings would provide additional stability and security to the floating finger piers that would be attached perpendicular to the floating dock. The CRA members suggested the possible use of just one piling on some of the finger piers in order to provide dock space for larger boats. It was also noted that the pilings would provide additional protection from the nearby liveaboard vessels south of the pier that frequently break loose during storms and rough seas.
The Duncan proposal also includes an additional $205,565 to provide and install an 80-foot extension of the existing floating dock, with two additional finger piers that would bring the total number of finger piers to 11. The dock extension would be installed at the east end of the existing floating dock.
The CRA members discussed potentially designating the far eastern end of the expanded floating dock as an area for commercial vessels to load and unload passengers – with no commercial docking allowed elsewhere on the dock or finger piers.
The Duncan proposal includes $40,821 to replace the existing dinghy dock with a new dock made of Trex decking, or $38,815 to replace the dinghy dock with an alternative decking material.
County funds
In April, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) members unanimously recommended that the county commission provide the CRA with up to $850,000 in matching funds for the finger dock/dock extension/dinghy dock project. That funding request is expected to be presented to the county commission on Tuesday, June 8.
The county commission previously provided matching funds for the installation of the floating dock project that was originally contracted for $119,000 and wound up costing approximately $283,000 when finally completed.
The CRA members voted 5-1 in favor of authorizing Perry to negotiate a contract with Duncan. Member David Bell cast the only opposition vote. He said he was not comfortable entering into a contract with Duncan until the final status of the matching county funds is known.