The Metro Council at its meeting this afternoon will consider Stantec’s request for an additional $779,880 for project management software related to the MovEBR road improvement program.
The request by Stantec, one of the program management firms overseeing the $1 billion program, was initially taken up by the Metro Council in February but was deferred because of questions raised by several of the council members.
Stantech says the software will enable the city-parish to complete the road improvement projects with greater speed and efficiency. The firm is being paid $2.8 million to lead a team of six subcontractors working on enhancement improvements in the parish such as sidewalks and bike paths. But some council members in February asked why the firm didn’t factor the nearly $800,000 software costs into the original cost estimate.
As previously reported by Daily Report, Fred Raiford, city-parish director of transportation and drainage, says the costs were not included in the initial contract because the city-parish didn’t know what kind of software it needed when it issued its request for proposals last year and that the move by Stantec will reportedly save the city-parish some $240,000 by using a preferred contractor discount.
With the cash, Stantec plans to spend $187,600 to purchase three programs—eBuilder ($121,480), SharePoint ($60,000), and Oracle P6 ($6,120). Stantec plans to use the remaining $592,280 to install the software and train users.
The meeting will be at 4 p.m. via video conference available for viewing at www.brla.gov, on Metro 21 (Cox Channel 21) and on the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge Facebook page via Facebook Live. See the full agenda.
