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Sarasota News Leader May 10, 2013 Page 65 SWIFT AWARDED CONTRACT FOR SIESTA BEACH PROJECT OVERSIGHT On May 7, the Sarasota County Commission unanimously approved a contract with Jon F. Swift Inc. of Sarasota to serve as the construction manager at risk for the Siesta Public Beach Park improvements. manager at risk with the hope of paring the project's costs. The estimated expense of the improvements has sparked controversy as a result of its escalation over the past couple of years. During the commission's most recent budget workshop, on April 30, three commisThe contract amount is not to exceed sioners — Nora Patterson, Charles Hines and $103,899, according to a May 7 memo providChristine Robinson — continued to voice wored to the commission. The board put a cap of ries about paying for the improvements. $16.7 million on the building costs of the project. It will be the Swift firm's responsibility to Nine firms put in bids to serve as construchandle design coordination and constructa- tion manager at risk, the memo notes. Swift, bility reviews, refinement of the schedule and which is located in Sarasota, won top ranking preparation of a Guaranteed Maximum Price from the county's Procurement Department, (GMP) agreement for all of the work, accord- the memo adds. ing to the memo. All four top firms in the scoring process are The memo notes that the County Commission located in Sarasota. In order after Swift they will be asked to consider the GMP at a later were Tandem Construction, Gilbane Builddate. ing Co. and Halfacre Construction Co., the memo notes. The commission agreed in December 2012 to hire a company to serve as construction Rachel Brown Hackney This week the County Commission approved the next step in the plan to improve the facilities at Siesta Public Beach. Photo by Rachel Hackney