GLTC price-conscious in search for consultant

Greater Lynchburg Transit Company officials plan to move forward with choosing a consultant to conduct a facility study, but they want to rein in the price before awarding the contract.

The bus system’s planning committee on Thursday hashed through concerns about choosing the architectural company Wendel Duchscherer. It decided that the board should select the firm but try to lower the price by narrowing the scope of the project and decreasing the cost of subcontractors.

The full board of directors will meet Monday morning to vote on the matter.

GLTC is looking for a new site for its transfer station, which currently is located in the upper level of The Plaza shopping center in midtown Lynchburg. The Plaza owner, Liberty University, has suggested the lower level of The Plaza, and other sites such as Kemper Street Station have been suggested as well.

The company also is looking to relocate its crowded administrative offices and maintenance facilities on Kemper Street.

Although board members said that Wendel Duchscherer had the best proposal to select sites for GLTC’s new transfer station and offices, several of them were concerned with the firm’s price tag last week. The board kicked the issue back to the planning committee to discuss.

Wendel Duchscherer proposed to conduct the facility study for between $300,000 and $350,000, in the upper range of the project’s potential budget, GLTC General Manager Mike Carroll said Thursday.

“I would hope that there would be some agreement that there needs to be some pressure on them to lower that price,” said Lisa Dibble, board president.

However, she also stressed the importance of choosing the firm before focusing too much on its proposed cost. Because a federal grant will pay for the study, a federal law called the Brooks Act requires the board to choose a firm based on its qualifications and then negotiate a price with that firm.

Board member Lee Beaumont, who works with development at Liberty University, said that Wendel Duchscherer’s price struck him as too much. With negotiations and decreased payment for subcontractors, the price could get closer to $250,000, he said.

Bonnie Svrcek, a board member who is Lynchburg’s deputy city manager, suggested some portions of Wendel Duchscherer’s proposal could be cut. For example, the firm offered to choose three potential sites each for a transfer station and a main office/maintenance complex, and perform preliminary design work for all those sites. She said having design work for a total of six sites seems wasteful.

Board member Greg Daniels cautioned that some of Wendel Duchscherer’s steps that seem extraneous might be part of federal regulations.

Dibble said she wants GLTC to get as much done with this study as is feasible. She would like Wendel Duchscherer to study locations for hub transfer stations and routes because those would be important to the location of the main transfer station.

“When you get an opportunity to look at a bunch of things with an eye to the future, it’s a good idea to look at all of them at once,” Dibble said.