A $5.9 million construction project bid was tabled by the El Camino College Board of Trustees and was replaced with a bid double in price which included a union-backed agreement.
The board approved the bid to construct the new Modular Village, which includes new academic facilities, in parking Lot L during the Oct. 16, Board of Trustees meeting.
The bid was submitted by Los Angeles-based Woodcliff Corporation, which came in at $11.4 million and was approved with a Project Labor Agreement (PLA).
The U.S. Department of Labor says a PLA is a pre-hire bargaining agreement between construction unions and general contractors that establishes the terms and conditions of employees for construction projects.
Woodcliff Project Manager Michael Fadullon said his company has worked with PLAs and without them. He said contracts with PLAs cost twice as much as those without them.
Kerri Webb, El Camino’s director of public information and government relations, explained the bidding process for the Modular Village.
“There were 12 possible companies who were interested in submitting bids, only two actually submitted,” Webb said.
The other bidder for the construction of the Modular Village was the Encino-based Nazerian Group, whose bid came in at $12.4 million.
Board of Trustees Vice President and Acting President Trisha Murakawa said the board went with the recommendation made by El Camino staff.
“Usually all we do is approve what the staff is recommending,” Trisha said.
Vice President of Administrative Services Robert Suppelsa said El Camino has to meet a certain requirement when approving a contract they work with.
“Woodcliff was the lowest responsive bid and California public contracting law says that’s what we have to go with,” Suppelsa said.
He said the cost of the PLA is embedded into Woodcliff’s bid.
Before approving the bid by Woodcliff, El Camino staff recommended the Board of Trustees to approve a $5.9 million bid by Tarzana-based NSA Construction Group Inc. on March 20. But then the board delayed formal approval three different times.
NSA’s bid did not include a PLA.
“We were listed with [NSA] and then it went to the board for approval and the board said we’re tabling this next month to the next meeting,” Chris Mouser, Mel Smith Electric project manager said.
Mouser said his company would have worked as an NSA subcontractor for the construction. He said PLAs make the bidding process uneven and exclusionary to non-union contractors.
“We’re a non-union contractor so we don’t like these PLAs because it basically puts us out of the market we’re not able to do work on,” Mouser said.
Mel Smith contacted Executive Director of Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction Eric Christen after El Camino decided to adopt a PLA in the construction of the Modular Village.
Christen said his organization fights PLAs and has fought over 500 of them since his company’s inception.
“It’s just insane [what] they did, did the building double in size? Why is there a 100% increase in costs,” Christen said. “This is the first time [El Camino has] ever done it. They have never done this before, which is too bad.”
Christen said he would make the board aware of the failure of this PLA.
“I’d be curious to hear from the elected officials who voted for this nonsense,” Christen said.
Murakawa explained why she voted for the contract which includes a PLA.
“I wanted to have a project labor agreement in place because included in the PLA is a commitment to workforce development,” Murakawa said.
Suppelsa said the Board of Trustees directed El Camino to adopt a PLA during the procurement process.
After the board approves Woodcliff’s bid, the company gets a copy of the PLA to read the requirements and will work with a trade council.
Murakawa said in a phone call with The Union that there was a PLA in place with the LA/OC construction trades council since early, July 2022, and that the first round of bidding was done without a PLA.
She said the fact that the El Camino staff had to rebid to include a PLA when the contract already had one makes it appear as if the rebid was the board’s fault when it was not. She wants to build a positive relationship with El Camino’s PLA partners.
LA/OC Building and Construction Trades Council Communications Director Anne-Marie Otey said her organization tries to hire from unions located near the construction site.
“We look for different ways of empowering the people who live closest to the site and the unions,” Otey said. “For example, in El Camino, we say that we want to target local people for hiring.”
Otey said there was a discussion and presentation with the Board of Trustees members about the benefits of a PLA, which led the board to decide to go ahead and implement a contract.
She said there are benefits to hiring companies with PLAs.
“When there is a PLA, it’s more efficient, it’s better for the project, getting done closer to being on budget and on time,” Otey said. “The union agreement definitely makes things smoother and you know, we all take public tax dollars very, very seriously.”
Suppelsa said he wants the construction of the Modular Village to be done on time, on cost and be a high-quality building.
“We build these things to try to get students and the community good learning environments,” Suppelsa said. “Good, safe, productive environments.”
The Union tried to speak with Suppelsa for further details on the bidding process, but he was not available and asked The Union to speak to El Camino’s Public Information Officer. Webb was not immediately available.
Editor’s Note: Article was updated with further information, headline was also updated to fit updated article on Dec. 12, at 3:47 p.m.
