City of Lawrence

Utilities Department

MEMORANDUM

TO: David L. Corliss, City Manager

Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

FROM: Philip E. Ciesielski, Assistant Director of Utilities

CC: Dave Wagner, Utilities Director

Mike Lawless, Assistant Director of Utilities

Beth Frailey Krishtalka, Management Analyst

Mark Hegeman, Water Systems Manager

Dave King, Maintenance Manager

DATE: August 26, 2009

RE: Authorize the City Manager to execute and Engineering Services Agreement for Project UT0705CS Expansion of Wet Weather Storage at Pump Station PS09 (Four Seasons)

Please include the following item on the City Commission agenda for consideration at the September 1, 2009 meeting:

Authorize the City Manager to execute an Engineering Services Agreement in the amount of $231,324.00 with Black & Veatch for Design and Construction Phase Engineering services in conjunction with project UT0705CS – Expansion of Wet Weather Storage at Pump Station 09 (Four Seasons).

Project Details

The 2003 Wastewater Master Plan identified improvements to Pump Station 09 located west of 31^st and Kasold (area map) that included expansion of the wet weather storage capacity by 2.5 million gallons. The additional wet weather storage is critical to relieving collection system capacity issues and for the continuation of development in the Yankee Tank and Wakarusa Basins and along the 31^st Street corridor. Attached are graphs of storage utilization during recent rain events. The project was to be one of the first projects approved for construction within the Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility (WWRF) contract. While construction of the WWRF is on hold, there is a more immediate need for the additional storage capacity at Pump Station 09.

Project History

On March 11, 2008, the City Commission authorized staff to advertise a Request for Proposals for professional engineering services to expand wet weather storage at Pump Station 09.

On April 25, 2008 in response to the Request for Proposals, staff received proposals from five (5) groups interested in the project. Proposals were received from BG Consultants/Burns & McDonnell, Shafer, Kline & Warren, Black & Veatch, Olsson Associate/Peridian Group and Landmark Engineering Group.

A review committee of staff members from the Departments of City Manager’s Office, and Utilities evaluated the five proposals. As indicated in the RFP, the following criteria were used to rate the responses:

Project organization & approach

Firm experience with similar projects

Schedule to complete the project

Value added concepts proposed by consultant

Staff consistently ranked Black & Veatch and BG/Burns & McDonnell as the two highest qualified respondents for the project. Based on the rankings, Black & Veatch was recommended to begin contract negotiations.

On June 17, 2008 staff requested authority to begin negotiations with Black & Veatch on the Pump Station 09 project. The City Commission deferred action on the project indefinitely at that time.

On May 5, 2009 the City Commission authorized staff to negotiate an Engineering Services Agreement for design and construction phase engineering services with Black & Veatch.

Project Status

Staff have met with Black & Veatch and have negotiated an appropriate project scope and fee for engineering design and construction phase services in the amount of $231,324.00. The estimated construction cost is $2.4 million.

Design Phase Services $135,999.00 (5.6% - of construction)

24% of the design fee is related to supporting platting, flood routing hydraulic analysis and floodplain permitting requirements. These survey and platting related services, less the hydraulic modeling analysis, are subcontracted to Bartlett & West.

Construction Phase Services $95,325.00 (4.0% - of construction)

14% of the construction fee is related to subcontracted concrete and soils testing.

As part of the negotiations with Black & Veatch Staff have identified approximately $15,000.00 of Planning related activities that will be handled by City Staff. City Staff will prepare, submit and manage the required Site Plan, Special Use Permit, Zoning Applications, and Floodplain Development Permit. Black & Veatch, and their sub-consultant Bartlett & West, will provide field survey data and hydraulic analysis results for City Staff’s use in the execution of these Planning related activities. Department Staff will also perform design, integration, equipment procurement and startup of the instrumentation and control systems.

Nationally average engineering and construction phase fees for new construction ranges from 14% to 17% of the construction cost. This project is less complex and as a result the fee as compared to the estimated construction cost is lower.

Project Funding

The project will be funded through the reallocation of $3,500,000.00 from the 2007 revenue bond fund. The project is included in the 2009 Capital Improvement Program as well as the 2009 Rate Plan.

Recommendation