Have you worked with raw dozer ripped white rock gravel on unsealed roads?
Please note all crushing performed on the road during mixing for Unsealed Roads.

Question:
Could you please confirm the 'Schedule of Rates' is correct, both the Toobeah and Talwood excel files have the same title on the SOR tab.

Answered on 08/Jul/2025 07:57 AM:


Yes, all the details of the line items match the data for the Talwood scope. The Toobeah SOR on RFT2425-131 has now been updated, and the only change was the heading on the SOR Tab.

Question:
Do you have a Google Earth 'kmz' file showing the location of the repairs?

Answered on 08/Jul/2025 08:32 AM:


There is an ArcGIS dashboard available https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/967eb74be4454b908f7d8c19664fbbeb, and by selecting the red bar RFT2425-133 from the "Complete by RFT Contractor" Table, it will dynamically change the map to display only that tenders information. From there, you can select Treatment from the adjacent table to see where particular treatments are located.

I will attach .kmz Files as addenda for those who prefer Google Earth.

Question:
Hi Peter,

We would like to conduct a site visit.

Could this be arranged.

Thanks

Will Childs

WTC Group

Answered on 18/Jul/2025 07:42 AM:


Will

There is no site meeting planned prior to the tender closing.

The work locations are all public roads, and inspections are welcome.

There is no "typical" road that represents all roads, and each site has specific conditions that tenders could familiarise themselves with during a drive-through. But a guided tour that not all respondents can attend would be an unfair advantage.

I will answer any questions you have in this public forum to ensure equal information is available to all.

Peter Collins

Question:
Please confirm that the scope for the item 'construction of unbound granular base' is limited to the removal and replacement of 150mm with cement-treated base (CTB) only, and does not include the additional 600mm subgrade treatment referenced in Part 2 (Specification), Figure 9?

Answered on 18/Jul/2025 08:01 AM:


To whom it may concern

The Subgrade Treatment listed in Figures 7 to 11 is provided as an indicative process for dealing with unsuitable material below the road pavement.

Any movement in the Subgrade during proof roll would initiate a Variation.

Subgrade treatments would be paid in addition to the standard treatment of overlaying pavement layers.

Depending on the scale of the unsuitable material, we may request a quote for larger areas of concern or proceed with Day Rates variation. Day rates paid on plant used in the subgrade treatment and materials consumed such as Geofabric, rock and CTB would be recoverable at cost plus a reasonable margin upon presentation of proof of purchase.

All day rates variations will require principal's inspector to authorise daily diary or site instruction notes confirming plant & equipement hours, and quantities of material consumed at the end of each day or at the following days prestart.

Peter Collins

Question:
Hi Peter

To avoid any ambiguity, can you provide insight into the following

Technical Specification 15.1 refers to Works under this contract comprising the loading, hauling, crushing and placement and finishing treatments on roads that have been damaged due to flooding and Technical Specification 15.3.1 refers to The gravel pavement materials shall be sourced from GRC’s approved gravel pits. Material has been dozer pushed, won and stockpiled by others..

Can you clarify who is liable for purchasing these gravel materials requiring loading, hauling, crushing and placement: Contractor purchase or Council free issue?

Additionally, Technical Specification 15.1 refers to Sealed roads requiring pavement repairs will require commercially produced road base material from TMR registered gravel suppliers and Technical Specification 15.3.2 refers to Gravel material to be used in shoulder grading shall be Type 3.3 road base, and any material for formation grading or stabilisation shall be Type 3.2 road base.

Can you clarify who is liable for purchasing these TMR-approved road base materials required for pavement repairs to sealed roads: Contractor purchase or Council free issue?

Thank you

Answered on 23/Jul/2025 05:28 PM:


When the gravel source material is listed as Commercial Roadbase, it is to be supplied by the contractor.

Including the ExBin value of material at the pit and any loading and haulage costs to get to site.

You can negotiate with the vendor for delivery or collection depending on range and availability of trucks.

There is a variety of TMR registered pits in and around the Goondiwindi Regional Council.

please consider the full list available on the TMR website, and the shorter list relevant to the GRC tenders below.

Quarry Name : TMR Quarry Reference Number (RQ No.)

_Andrews M & K Quarry:RQ573

_Bonathorne Quarry:RQ402

_Captains Mountain Quarry:RQ253

_Inglewood Quarry:RQ006

_Jimbour Quarry (Western Downs Regional Council):RQ151

_Kildonan Quarry:RQ173

_McNulty's Road Pit (Bulmers):RQ247

_Wilgatoo Pit:RQ505v

https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/business-industry/business-with-us/approved-products-and-suppliers/pavements-materials-and-geotechnical

Question:
Hello,

Can you please confirm. For the nominated gravel pits, is it only the contractor's expense to load and haul gravel to site? And Goondiwindi Council is covering the cost of the material

Answered on 24/Jul/2025 04:28 PM:


That is correct.

Goodiwindi Regional Council have tendered the Gravel Pushing to cover the cost of Dozers to Rip and Push material into stockpile.

For the privately owned pits the owners will recive a royalty for the volume of material removed from each pit.

It is the contractors reposnibility to load and cart the material from the designated pit to the construction site for which we have calculated the on road haul distance and included it on the Schedule of rates information.

Question:
Good morning,

Can you please confirm the specifications of the pit material that will be satisfactory to the Superintendent. Is it the intention for the material to be compacted Insitu or crushed/screened onsite?

After site view inspection on all of the pits, the material available shows considerably oversize rock material.

Regards

Answered on 28/Jul/2025 03:38 PM:


Glen

The material will be ripped 3 ways, and stockpiled. In past flood restoration projects and Council Resheeting programs, the material stockpiled on designated gravel pits is crushable by 22t Padfoot Rollers or Grid Rollers.

Any material over the size that can safely go under a Padfoot would be excluded under the pushing contract and not the responsibility of the Roads Contractor to deal with.

If there is a significant quantity of oversized material stockpiled, it will be the Pushing contractors' responsibility to provide complying material

Excerpt from the Pushing contract Specification Below:

"

(a) Only good quality white rock will be accepted and the criteria for selection, ripping and payment/rejection shall be as follows:

i. Hardness

The material shall exhibit hardness such that the output of a Class 200C (as specified in AS2868-1986 “Classification of Machinery for Earthmoving, Construction, Surface Mining and Agricultural Purposes”) and minimum D8N crawler tractor working at its full capabilities, is no higher than 150m3/hr, ripping and stockpiling.

The crawler tractor employed shall be equipped with an approved heavy duty single tyne matching ripper. Both tractor and ripper shall be in good working condition to the satisfaction of Council, who shall have the right to nominate the tractor operator (whether a Contractor’s employee or not) and to direct the operations of the tractor during the proving of the hardness.

The material shall be ripped 3 ways (1 straight and 2 diagonal) to minimise the size of the material being re-moved. Dependant on pit location the material shall be stockpiled so as to minimise the effects of inundation.

It is the Contractor’s responsibility to notify Council if the material quality is inadequate or if the required hard-ness cannot be achieved. Under such circumstances work is to cease until further instruction is provided by Council.

ii. Contamination

Overburden material or transitional material between overburden and good quality rock is not to be mixed or pushed with the rock.

It is the Contractor’s responsibility to ensure all overburden or substandard material is pushed and stockpiled separately. Payment will be made for this work under the “Remove & Stockpile Overburden” item.

iii. Payment/Rejection

Under no circumstances will payment be made for rock of inferior quality or hardness or where inferior material (overburden, transitional material or sub-standard rock) is mixed or pushed with the rock unless authorised by Council’s Engineer. Such unacceptable material will be quantified by Council and separated from the rock stockpile at the Contractor’s expense.

No access is permitted to pits on private property without the prior approval of Council and the consent of the property owner.

Areas of pits to be worked shall be marked by Council prior to commencement of work. The nomination of the site or work face by Council does not relieve the Contractor of the responsibility for pushing only good quality rock.

If the required hardness or quality cannot be met it is the Contractor’s responsibility to contact Council.

The Contractor shall square up the stockpiles for measurement and the stockpile site base shall be kept level at all times.

Overburden shall be dozed to excavated areas beside the area being worked if such exists, otherwise it shall be stockpiled neatly beside the excavation. The removal of overburden price shall include any clearing neces-sary for each stockpile or pit area. The location of overburden disposal sites shall be approved by Council prior to commencement of ripping.

The Contractor shall construct entries into and out of the stockpile areas with maximum grades of 10% so it is accessible to road trains. The cost of constructing any entries shall be included in the rate for Ripping & Stockpiling white rock.

"

Question:
For Heavy Shoulder Grading + 50mm imported material, can Council please advise a nominal width, to ensure all tenderers are pricing the same commercial road-base supply quantity?

Answered on 29/Jul/2025 03:37 PM:


The typical treatment for unsealed shoulders shall be 1m wide from the edge of the seal to the hinge point of the unsealed shoulder, which is continued on the same crossfall as the sealed pavement.

Some sealed shoulders will tie in with embankment material, others will require embankment to be trimmed with a grader from the 1m offset down, typically on a 1:4 slope.

Refer to Figure 12: Sealed Roads Typical Cross sections, in Part 2 of the documents.

The Hinge point from pavement to the Gravel Batter identified on the cross-section would be outside the 1m offset, and should be compacted before trimming to shape with embankment/table drain.

If there is suitable recoverable material in the adjacent embankment and table drain, it may be used to form the Gravel batter, but it will not be a substitute for the imported 50mm or Gravel Material Supply Items designated to correct the loss of material in the 1m wide unsealed shoulders.

Question:
Pavement Reconstruction and Patch Repairs - Can Council please advise if there is a nominated spoil location for the excavated road-base material?

Answered on 31/Jul/2025 08:20 AM:


Andrew

There is no designated spoil location for all Pavement Reconstructions or Patch Repairs.

Generally, the most favourable option is for the contractor to seek the local property owner's consent to place spoil on private property.

On the rare occasion when no private properties will accept old road base, we have in the past identified old gravel pits in need of remediation and spoil from roads can be placed in pits.

Where gravel shoulders are eroded or lacking material, good road base may be used to increase shoulder width at the direction of the inspectors, where doing so will not affect the drainage function. but this is not typical.

In short, please allow for the disposal of materials within a 10km radius of the job. If this is not possible and Gravel Pits are the only viable disposal site we will consider costs in hauling more than 10km.

Question:
Can Council please the process for validating bank m3 placed from COMMERCIAL quarries? Will Council be providing an average material density to assume for material coming out of the commercial quarries, with bank m3 validated through truck tonnage dockets?

Can Council please the process for validating bank m3 placed from the PIT stockpiles? Will tenderers be provided with a stockpile m3 = bank m3 conversion and will this be validated by a pre & post survey of the stockpiles?

Answered on 31/Jul/2025 12:56 PM:


Andrew

The Sealed Road Gravel from Commercial Source is assumed 2.3t/m3 maximum density.

All treatment type quantities that are measured in m3 are Tight m3 compacted Road quantities.

To convert tignt m3 to Loose m3, we have assumed 1.5 as the bulking factor.

The White Rock material for Unsealed roads from various pits varies in Compact Density from 1.70 - 2.1t/m3, for caluclations, we have assumed 1.8t/m3 as the compact density for all unsealed pavement. A Bulking factor of 1.5m3 loose to 1m3 tight.

Converting Bank m3 in the Pit to Stockpile m3 after Dozer rip, push and track compaction in the stockpile for unsealed material out of the various pits is dependent on too many variables to assume.

Loose m3 loaded trucks to Road tip rates should apply the reverse of the bulking factor.

1.5m3 loose for each 1m3 QTY required on the road.

I hope that makes sense.

Question:
Hi

Please see RFI below

Work Package / SP: General

Reference Documents: QRA Treatment Guide 2020-21

RFT-2425-130 Part 2 – Specification V1.0

Reference Drawings NA

Question / Clarification Re: Project Survey and Testing Requirements

The Specification and QRA treatment guide provide no details on any construction survey or compaction testing requirements for the project.

Can Council please provide details for survey / compaction testing requirements, including material density/moisture testing requirements, test frequency, lot sizes and As-constructed survey requirements?

Answered on 04/Aug/2025 11:54 AM:


Good Morning

There are no Survey requirements for the project.

Site Testing of road pavements will be limited to Visual Inspection, Proof Rolling and Surface straight edge testing. See Clauses 15.4, 15.5 & 15.7 From Part 2 Specification.

Commercial Roadbase stockpile Testing will be required on each material source stockpile to confirm compliance with the TMR Material Type Required as per MRTS05 Table A2 and A2 Normal Testing.

Bitumen Spray seal Quality controls should follow Austroads and TMR Standard Specifications & Technical Notes for Initial Seals with respect to Cold Weather sealing, Aggregate Storage and Pre-Coating and pavement inspections before sealing.

Question:
Hi

Please see RFI below

Work Package / SP: General

Reference Documents: QRA Treatment Guide 2020-21

RFT-2425-130 Part 2 – Specification V1.0

Reference Drawings NA

Question / Clarification Re: Project Survey and Testing Requirements

The Specification and QRA treatment guide provide no details on any construction survey or compaction testing requirements for the project.

Can Council please provide details for survey / compaction testing requirements, including material density/moisture testing requirements, test frequency, lot sizes and As-constructed survey requirements?

Answered on 04/Aug/2025 11:58 AM:


Good Morning

There are no Survey requirements for the project.

Site Testing of road pavements will be limited to Visual Inspection, Proof Rolling and Surface straight edge testing. See Clauses 15.4, 15.5 & 15.7 From Part 2 Specification.

Commercial Roadbase stockpile Testing will be required on each material source stockpile to confirm compliance with the TMR Material Type Required as per MRTS05 Table A2 and A2 Normal Testing.

Bitumen Spray seal Quality controls should follow Austroads and TMR Standard Specifications & Technical Notes for Initial Seals with respect to Cold Weather sealing, Aggregate Storage and Pre-Coating and pavement inspections before sealing.