As a further illustration that the Information for Bidders should cover matters peculiar to the work in hand, there are many interesting features shown in the following form used in connection with the construction of the Hill View reservoir for the Water Supply of the City of New York, which it has seemed worth while to print in full without further comment:

CC.

INFORMATION FOR BIDDERS

This contract is for the construction of Hill View reservoir in the Hill View division of the Southern Aqueduct department, situated east of the Hudson river in the city of Yonkers, Westchester county, New York, about one-half mile north of the New York City line, and between the Harlem and Putnam divisions of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. The reservoir site extends from Central Park avenue to Kimball avenue, and from the Empire City race-track nearly to McLean avenue.

The reservoir is to be built of earth embankments lined with concrete, rubble paving and riprap, and will be roughly rectangular in shape, about 3000 feet long and 1500 feet wide, divided into two basins by a wall which will contain a by-pass aqueduct, connecting with the uptake chamber of the Yonkers siphon at one end, and with the downtake chamber of the Van Cortlandt siphon at the other. This contract also includes the construction of the uptake shaft and a portion of the tunnel of the Yonkers siphon and the downtake shaft and a portion of the tunnel of the Van Cortlandt siphon. Other appurtenances include a portion of a blow-off conduit and various roadways, paths and a fence around the reservoir.

The site of the reservoir is about 14 miles west of Mt. Vernon station on the Harlem division, about one mile east of Lincoln station on the Putnam division, and about 3 miles southeast of Yonkers station on the Hudson River division of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. There are electric railways in McLean, Central Park and Yonkers avenues, connecting Yonkers, Mt. Vernon and New York City with the reservoir site. The head of tide-water navigation on the East Chester river at Mt. Vernon is about 4 miles from the site of the work, and the Hudson river at Yonkers is about 4 miles distant by existing roads.

The principal geographic features adjacent to the site of this work are shown on the locality map, which is Sheet 2 of the contract drawings. Complete topography of this region may be found on the Harlem quadrangle of the United States Geological Survey. All the work included in this contract is described in the accompanying specifications and shown on a set of contract drawings.

Sealed bids or proposals for performing the work described herein will be received by the Board of Water Supply, in the office of the Board, Room 910, ninth floor, 299 Broadway, New York, until Wednesday, December 8, 1909, at 11 A.M., at which place and time they will be publicly opened by the Board and read; the award of the contract, if awarded, will be made by the Board as soon thereafter as practicable.

All bids must be made upon the blank form of proposal attached hereto and should give the price for each item of the work proposed, both in writing and in figures, and must be signed and sworn to by the bidder, in accordance with the directions in the form of bid. Each bid must be enclosed in the printed envelope provided for the purpose by the Board, and sealed.

No bid will be received and deposited unless accompanied by a certified check upon a National or State bank, drawn and made payable to the order of the Comptroller of The City of New York, for one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the proper execution of the contract. Such check must not be enclosed in the sealed envelope containing the bid, but shall be delivered to the Board, or its Secretary, who will give a proper voucher for the deposit. All such deposits, except that made by the bidder to whom the contract shall be awarded, will be returned to the person or persons making the same within 3 days after the decision as to who shall receive the contract.

If the bidder to whom the contract shall have been awarded shall refuse or neglect, within 10 days after due notice that the contract has been awarded to him, to execute the same and furnish the security required, the amount of the deposit made by him shall be forfeited to, and be retained by, the said City as liquidated damages for such neglect or refusal, and shall be paid into the general fund of said City, pursuant to the provisions of Section 30, of Chapter 724, of the Laws of 1905, but if the said bidder to whom the contract is awarded shall execute the contract and furnish the said security within the time aforesaid, the amount of his deposit will be returned to him.

Two or more bonds, the aggregate amount of which shall be seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000), will be required for the faithful performance of the contract. Each bond must be signed by the Contractor and the sureties. The name and address of each surety offered must be stated in the bid or proposal, together with the amount in which each surety will qualify. The sureties and the amount in which each will qualify must be satisfactory to the Board.

The bidder whose bid shall be accepted will be required to attend at the office of the Board in person, or if a corporation, by a duly authorized representative, with the sureties offered by him, and to execute the contract and bonds within 10 days from the date of the service of a written notice that the contract has been awarded to him, delivered to him in person, or mailed to the address given in the bid; in case of failure or neglect so to do, he may, at the option of the Board, be deemed to have abandoned the contract and as in default to The City under the provisions of Section 30, of Chapter 724, Laws of 1905.

It is the purpose of the Board of Water Supply to build the works under its charge in the shortest time consistent with good construction. To this end contractors will be required to use improved methods and appliances for doing the various parts of the work. Complete and well-designed construction plants and effective organization will be insisted upon. Attention is called to the magnitude of the work and to the need for machinery and other equipment of unusually large capacity.

The attention of bidders is especially directed to the contract requirements as to the time of beginning work, the rate of progress and the date for completion of the several parts and the whole of the work, as required by Article VI of the contract. In all stages of the work such rates of progress will be required as will give promise of the completion of all parts of the work within the prescribed time.

The portions of the Yonkers siphon and Van Cortlandt siphon included in this contract, together with the uptake and downtake chambers and the by-pass aqueduct, shall be so far completed as to be ready to convey water within 45 months after the service of notice upon the Contractor to begin work.

Certain provisions of the specifications involve an unusual division of the work. For example, the work of handling water in the shafts and tunnels, which

it is impracticable to exclude during construction, will be paid for under separate items and is not included in the prices to be bid for tunnel excavation and masonry. Furthermore, in the case of grouting, owing to the uncertainty as to the quantity, distribution, and conditions of placing the grout, to the special character of the machinery required, and to the great importance of this work, the machinery and materials and the various necessary operations will be paid for under separate items.

The rigid requirements of the specifications relating to the selection and consolidation of materials for refills and embankments, to the care of the reservoir bottom, to the mixing and placing of concrete both in the tunnels and reservoir, to the grouting in the tunnels and to other operations which require special care to assure safe, efficient and water-tight structures, are called to the attention of intending bidders, particularly those who have not had personal experience in waterworks construction, and who, consequently, are liable to make insufficient allowance for the character of work necessary.

The sanitary regulations and the provisions relating thereto are particularly called to the attention of intending bidders.

For the convenience of intending bidders, the lines and limits of the proposed work have been marked upon the ground with sufficient clearness to enable a person to find them readily. Conspicuous signs have been placed at the shaft sites.

The country in the vicinity of the proposed reservoir has been explored for sand and stone suitable for reservoir construction, and it is believed that such materials can be found within a reasonable distance of the reservoir site. No guaranty is given, however, that such material will be accepted for construction purposes.

Several test pits have been excavated on the reservoir site, most of which have been carried down to the elevation of the bottom of the reservoir masonry. These test pits have been left open and may be inspected. The subsurface investigations have been made with reasonable care, substantially at the places indicated on the drawings, and carried to the depths thereon recorded. The difficulty encountered in excavating the test pits indicates that blasting may be required in order to excavate the materials by machinery. Each bidder must form his own opinion of the character of the material to be excavated from an inspection of the ground and by his own interpretation of the test pits made by The City and from any other investigation which he may desire to make.

Core borings have been made on or near the lines of the Yonkers siphon and Van Cortlandt siphon. Records of these borings may be seen at the office of the Engineer, at White Plains, New York.

The public water supply of the City of Yonkers supplies the neighborhood of Hill View reservoir, and water mains are now laid in McLean and Kimball avenues. The work must be prosecuted in such a manner that these water mains are not interfered with nor the supply interrupted at any time.

The Bronx Valley relief sewer, a tunnel about 6 feet in diameter now under construction, crosses the line of the Van Cortlandt siphon within the limits of this contract, at the elevation of about + 30. It will be necessary to conduct the work on the Van Cortlandt siphon in this vicinity so as to avoid any damage to the sewer.

Statement of Quantities. — The following is a statement, based upon the estimate of the Engineer, of the quantities of the various classes of work, and of the nature and extent, as near as practicable, of the work required; the several bids will be computed, tested and canvassed by the quantities and kinds of work mentioned in this statement, viz.:

Item 50.

Item 51.

27,000 cubic yards 7,000 cubic yards 40,000 square

yards

2,000 cubic yards 70 tons

80,000 pounds

Miscellaneous cast iron, wrought iron and steel... 900,000 pounds
Bronze...

35,000 pounds

These quantities are approximate only, being given as a basis for the uniform comparison of bids, and the Board does not expressly or by implication agree that the actual amount of work will correspond therewith, but reserves the right to increase or decrease the quantity of any class or portion of the work, as may be deemed necessary by the Engineer.

Bidders are required to submit their estimates upon the following express conditions, which shall apply to, and become part of every bid received, viz. :

Bidders must satisfy themselves, by personal examination of the location of the proposed work, and by such other means as they may prefer, as to the actual conditions and requirements of the work and the accuracy of the foregoing estimate of the Engineer, and shall not, at any time after the submission of a bid, dispute or complain of such statement or estimate of the Engineer, nor assert that there was any misunderstanding in regard to the nature or amount of work to be done.

Attention is called to the uncertainty in the quantities of many of the kinds of work involved in the construction of the shafts and tunnels, where such quantities depend upon the tightness, solidity, breakage and other qualities of the rock which