PORT ANGELES — A City Council vote on a $13 million contract to begin stabilizing the city’s shuttered landfill before it allows garbage to fall into the Strait of Juan de Fuca has been pushed back a week.

The council had intended to vote on the contract Tuesday, but the city received a protest from a bidder.

City staff removed it from the meeting’s agenda soon after the meeting started.

Bellingham-based Strider Construction Co. Inc., the second-lowest bidder on the project, said the lowest-bidding contractor’s proposal was incomplete.

Process requirements

Per state bidding process requirements, city Public Works and Utilities Director Craig Fulton said council action on a contract that has been protested cannot happen until at least two days after a response letter has been sent.

City public works staff responded Tuesday to the protest letter, saying the city considers the $13,086,625 low bid put in by Magnus Pacific of Roseville, Calif., complete after reviewing it, Fulton said.

Strider bid $14,309,482 for the project, which would shift about 399,090 cubic yards of waste buried in the city’s shuttered landfill upland from the edge of a bluff to prevent it from falling into the Strait.

The work also would include augmenting the ends of the seawall at the end of the bluff to reduce erosion.

The total project is estimated at $19.9 million. In addition to the contractor work, this estimate covers design, construction management and project contingency.

City Clerk Janessa Hurd said Wednesday the Magnus Pacific contract is set to be considered at a special council meeting and work session starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.

In a letter to the city dated Monday, Strider Construction Vice President Kyle Gebhardt wrote that Magnus Pacific’s bid documents did not properly list subcontractors the company plans to use on the landfill project.

Seawall projects

Additionally, Gebhardt claimed Magnus Pacific did not supply information on past seawall projects its proposed subcontractor, Castle Walls LLC, has completed.

In the response letter, City Engineer Mike Puntenney wrote that Magnus Pacific’s bid did include, to the city’s satisfaction, the names of subcontractors the company intends to use.

Regarding the requisite information on past seawall projects, Puntenney wrote the city noted the missing information after all bids were opened and immediately received it from Magnus Pacific after being asked.

“In conclusion, the city finds that the issues raised in your protest letter are not sufficient to justify a finding that Magnus Pacific’s bid is non-responsive or that Magnus Pacific is not a responsible bidder,” Puntenney wrote.

Magnus Pacific’s bid was 18.7 percent lower than the city engineer’s estimate, according to the city.

IMCO General Construction of Ferndale; Waste Management of Minden, La.; and DelHur Industries of Port Angeles also submitted bids for the landfill project, with IMCO being the third lowest and DelHur being the highest of the five bids.

The city expects the landfill project to be completed by the end of this summer’s construction season or in early fall.

The state Department of Ecology has pledged $3.9 million in financial assistance to the city for the landfill project.

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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.