REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Award of Contract for Sunnyvale Clean Water Program Facility Condition Assessment Project (F17-048)
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Approval is requested to award a contract in the amount of $953,177 ($779,984 for base services and $173,193 for optional services) to AECOM Technical Services, Inc. of Oakland, CA for professional condition assessment work associated with the Sunnyvale Clean Water Program. Approval is also requested for a 10% for contract contingency on the base services in the amount of $77,998.
EXISTING POLICY
Consistent with the provision of Chapter 2.08 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, contracts for this of professional design services are awarded pursuant to a Request for Proposals (RFP) best value process, unless otherwise exempt from competitive bidding.
In addition, the City evaluates civil engineering design proposals in conjunction with the Qualification Based Selection (QSB) process established in California Government Code section 4525 et. seq. This requires that consultants be evaluated on the basis of demonstrated competence before pricing is considered and negotiated.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This award is for the assessment of current facility and equipment conditions and design services therefore the action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(a) as it has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City is engaged in a Program to renovate the existing Water Pollution Control Plant (Plant) to a new facility suitable to treat and dispose of municipal sewage over the next 30 or more years. Portions of the existing Plant were built in the 1950s. With additions over the years, including the oxidation ponds in 1966 and the tertiary plant in 1978 it has grown to a tertiary treatment facility with an average dry weather flow rate of 14 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) and a permitted average dry weather flow rate of 29.5 MGD.
The City has recently completed a Master Plan for the Plant, which consists of more than 30 capital improvement projects. In order to fully quantify the existing condition of several Plant assets, a detailed condition assessment is necessary which is identified in Project 2.1, Existing Plant Rehab, of the Master Plan.
Due to the age of overall facilities at the Plant, key elements of the existing treatment process need to be rehabilitated or replaced to maintain permit compliance. These include elements of the existing influent piping and the secondary and tertiary treatment processes. Rehabilitation of these treatment processes will be required to keep them operational until they are fully replaced with final build out of all the conventional activated sludge (CAS) facilities. Given the expected period over which the split flow operation (combined use of existing oxidation ponds and new partial CAS facilities) could occur, major upgrades are anticipated to keep the existing secondary treatment facilities operational until they are fully replaced with CAS facilities in 2035.
The AECOM consulting team will perform all engineering and project management related work necessary to prepare a condition assessment report suitable for use as the guiding document for the future facilities rehabilitation project. The scope of work includes physical assessment of the specified treatment processes, recommendations for repairs (to include repair cost estimates/budget and schedule/duration), and a priority based recommendation and phasing for replacement or rehabilitation. It is anticipated that the assessment will be completed within a 6-month period and then the results and recommendations will be summarized in a report. Depending upon the work product quality and performance of the consulting team, staff may propose retaining AECOM to design facility improvements which would require Council approval.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) process was utilized to solicit proposals for this project. The RFP was directly distributed to nineteen Bay Area firms and posted on the City’s website. Twenty-four (24) firms requested the RFP documents. Three responsive proposals were received on November 30, 2016 from AECOM, HDR Engineering, Inc., and GHD Inc.
Proposals were reviewed by an evaluation team consisting of Public Works Engineering and Environmental Services Department staff. The firms were evaluated on qualifications, experience, project overview/approach and innovation. Following the evaluation process, all firms were invited for scripted presentations and interviews. Following the evaluation program, AECOM was unanimously selected as the highest ranked consulting team with the most relevant experience.
The initial fee proposal from AECOM was approximately $1,630,000, but the scope included some duplicative efforts with subconsultants and testing on infrastructure that the City does not need to assess because data is already available. Items that could be eliminated included additional confined space entries on the dual media filters and additional destructive testing on certain components of the fixed growth reactors Subsequent scope and fee discussions with AECOM resulted in a total project cost of $953,177.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total potential contract cost is $1,031,175. This includes $779,984 for base services, $173,193 for optional services, and a 10% contingency on the base services in the amount of $77,998. Budgeted funding is available in Project 827090 - Construction of a New Water Pollution Control Plant.
Funding Source
The funding source is the Wastewater Management Fund.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1) Award a contract in substantially the same form as Attachment 1 to the report and in an amount not to exceed $953,177 to AECOM Technical Services Inc., and authorize the City Manager to execute the contract when all necessary conditions have been met; and 2) approve a 10% contract contingency on the base services in the amount of $77,998.
Staff
Prepared by: Pete Gonda, Purchasing Officer
Reviewed by: Timothy J. Kirby, Director of Finance
Reviewed by: Manuel Pineda, Director of Public Works
Reviewed by: Kent Steffens, Assistant City Manager
Reviewed by: Walter C. Rossmann, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Deanna J. Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENT
1. Draft Consultant Services Agreement