To: Board of Supervisors
From: Warren Lai, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Report Title: Authorization to Execute the Phase 2 Construction Contract and Establish the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center Cafeteria Building Upgrades Project
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE the project scope and establish the total budget of $142,000,000.00 for the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center Cafeteria Building Upgrades Project (CBU), which encompasses Phase 1 Preconstruction Services, Phase 2 Construction, and County soft costs.
SPECIFY that the Contra Costa County Public Works Department is the custodian of the documents and other material that constitute the record of proceedings upon which the Board’s decision is based, and that the record of proceedings is located at 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA.
DETERMINE that this activity is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15302(a) and 15303(d).
DIRECT the Director of Department of Conservation and Development (DCD), or designee, to cause a CEQA Notice of Exemption (NOE) to be filed with the County Clerk and State Clearinghouse, and AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director, or designee, to arrange for payment of a $50 fee to the County Clerk for filing the NOE.
AUTHORIZE and APPROVE the Public Works Director, or designee, to execute a Phase 2 Progressive Design-Build Construction contract, approved as to form by County Counsel, with Truebeck Construction, Inc., establishing the Phase 2 Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) in an amount not to exceed $105,113,697.
AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director, or designee, to manage and direct the use of the $3,066,936 Owner-Controlled Allowance embedded within the Phase 2 GMP to address unforeseen field conditions, HCAI regulatory requirements, and owner-directed scope enhancements, provided that such authorizations do not increase the total authorized Phase 2 GMP contract amount.
AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director, or designee, to execute changes or additions to the work that increase the total authorized Phase 2 GMP amount, up to the statutory limits set forth in California Public Contract Code Section 20142.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funding for this project is provided by 56% Measure X and 44% Hospital Enterprise Fund I.
Approval of this action establishes a total project budget of $142,000,000 and executes the Phase 2 Construction Contract to establish the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP).
Total Project Budget Breakdown:
• Phase 1 (Preconstruction/Design): $7,266,080 (Executed under a separate agreement)
• Phase 2 Base Construction Cost plus Owner Controlled Allowance: $105,113,697
• County Soft Costs: $29,620,223
• Total Authorized Project Budget: $142,000,000
BACKGROUND:
Regulatory Necessity (SB 1953 Compliance): The Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) is subject to the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act (SB 1953). Under this law, all acute care hospital buildings must achieve SPC-5 (Structural Performance Category) and NPC-5 (Non-Structural Performance Category) compliance by January 1, 2030. This mandates that critical support services-specifically dietary operations-remain fully operational for 72 hours following a major seismic event. The existing cafeteria does not meet these standards, putting the hospital's operating license at risk.
Located on the CCRMC campus in Martinez, the two-story Cafeteria Building, built in 1952, houses the dietary kitchen which provides 16,200 meals monthly to patients in the 166-bed main hospital.
The Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) classifies this building as a general acute care (GAC) structure due to its function of providing in-patient meals to the hospital, an essential component of the facility's acute care services. All GAC buildings must comply with certain seismic performance standards established by HCAI by January 1, 2030, with interim deadlines of January 1, 2026 for permit submittal, and January 1, 2028 for permit approval. Failure to comply puts the County at risk of incurring financial penalties, of being prevented from obtaining permits for other needed improvements at the facility, and ultimately puts the facility at potential risk of being taken out of service at the State's direction.
Basic hospital services were either found to be non-compliant during the Preconstruction Phase investigations or would be permanently interrupted by this project. Spaces to house the following basic services will be included in this project:
1. Clean Linen Storage
2. Materials Storage
3. Morgue
4. Loading dock for separate clean and soiled streams
5. Staff changing areas
The Dietary Kitchen, Cafeteria, and added Basic Services spaces noted above require two floors, and the connection to the main hospital building for delivery of patient meals must be made at the third floor to avoid the sterile area around the operating rooms on the second floor. A complete third floor will be built around the delivery corridors as an unfinished “shell” space for future expansion as revenue-generating patient services.
The generator supplying required emergency back-up power to the Cafeteria Building must also be brought up to current standards, as it is housed in a non-compliant essential service structure. This project will also resolve these deficiencies.
Solicitation:
In December of 2024, the County began the procurement process for a Design-Build team for this project through the release of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), resulting in the selection of Truebeck Construction, Inc., whose Phase 1 - Preconstruction/Design Contract for this project was approved by the Board on July 8, 2025.
The approval of this action, including the contract award to begin Phase 2 - Construction, will keep this project on schedule with an estimated completion date of April 2029.
CEQA Exemption: The California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) requires that all general acute hospital buildings must meet non-structural performance category (NPC) 5 standards by January 1, 2030. The purpose of this project is to comply with NPC-5 standards by replacing the existing two-story cafeteria with a new, more earthquake-resistant, three-story cafeteria at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) campus. The project is necessary because the existing Cafeteria and Ward E buildings were built in the early 1950s and do not meet current NPC standards mandated by HCAI. The project proposes to fully demolish the existing Ward E building and partially demolish the existing Cafeteria building, which would remove approximately 25,600 square feet of floor area. The new South Wing Cafeteria building will be constructed on the CCRMC campus, roughly within the footprint of the existing Ward E building and the demolished portion of the existing cafeteria and add approximately 38,200 square feet of floor area. Additional exterior features will include adding pedestrian walkways, landscaping, new specimen trees, bioretention planters, hardscaping, as well as furniture. Associated water, sewer, electrical, steam, storm drain, and telecommunication utility extensions are needed to connect existing utility lines located between the Martinez Health Center building and main CCRMC building to the new South Wing Cafeteria building. Natural gas lines will be omitted from this all-electric building. The project would comply with the current California Green Building Standards (CALGreen) Code as required by HCAI and is anticipated to be on the level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.
The proposed project is exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15302[a] because the proposed cafeteria replacement occurs at an existing hospital campus, on the same site as the existing cafeteria, and the new cafeteria would not result in a substantial increase in capacity (e.g. not more than 50 percent); and 15303(d) because the installation of new utility extensions (water, sewer, electrical, steam, storm drain, and telecommunication) are of reasonable length and only necessary to serve the proposed project. In accordance with CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2, no exception to the exemptions applies.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to approve this action would leave Public Works without adequate authority to execute the necessary contract required to complete the work necessary to meet State law. This would trigger non-compliance penalties against the County, potentially leading to:
1. Financial penalties assessed by the State;
2. Refusal by HCAI to issue future building permits; and
3. The potential closure of CCRMC's food service facilities, which could ultimately force the termination of general acute care services at the Medical Center.