Denver Council approves five-year parks contracts with $237.5 million ceiling
The contracts create pools of firms available for future park work, but do not guarantee jobs or commit the city to spend the full amount.
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Denver City Council approved 15 five-year, citywide on-call contracts Oct. 19, creating pools of firms available for future park projects with combined ceilings of $237.5 million. The motion passed en bloc with 11 ayes, no nays and Council Member Gilmore absent, the Council minutes record.
The contracts do not commit the city to spend the full amount, guarantee any firm work or authorize projects, the Parks and Recreation fact sheet says.
The approved capacity includes 10 contracts capped at $20 million each and five capped at $7.5 million each. Parks and Recreation selected 15 firms from 27 proposals: 10 for a prime-contractor pool with a 19% minority- and women-owned business participation requirement, and five for a Small Business Enterprise pool. Small Business Enterprise contractors must perform at least 30% of the work themselves. The department’s contract presentation describes the pools and selection process.
The 10 prime-pool firms are Colorado Designscapes, ECI Site Construction Management, Elite Industries, Fransen-Pittman Construction, Iron Woman Construction & Environmental Services, Krische Construction, Richdell Construction, Spectrum General Contractors, T2 Construction and Western States Reclamation. The five Small Business Enterprise firms are Bauen Studios, CPC Constructors, CTM, Halcyon Construction and Wilderness Construction.
The department would use the pools as projects and funding become available and designs are approved. Its presentation says bid requests would go to at least three firms for each project. A Parks Procurement Committee would review project scope and scale, monitor contractors’ workloads and seek to distribute opportunities equitably. Work orders would authorize specific jobs and set aside funding as needed. A contractor’s maximum work order would be $6 million in the prime pool and $1.5 million in the Small Business Enterprise pool.
Possible 2026 and 2027 work includes City Park irrigation and “Living Land” improvements, basketball courts at Bible and Golden Key parks, playgrounds, tennis courts, lighting, trails and accessibility improvements. The department cites rising construction costs and upcoming Vibrant Denver bond work as reasons for increasing contract capacity. Individual contract requests also list Parks capital-improvement funds, Legacy funds and bond funds, but do not assign those sources to specific projects.