City of Lawrence
Utilities Department
MEMORANDUM
TO: David L. Corliss, City Manager
Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager
Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Mike Lawless, Assistant Director of Utilities
CC: Dave Wagner, Utilities Director
Philip E. Ciesielski, Assistant Director of Utilities
Beth Frailey Krishtalka, Assistant to Director
DATE: September 30, 2009
RE: Authorize the City Manager to execute an Engineering Services Agreement for the Wastewater Master Plan - Project UT0706MP
Please include the following item on the City Commission agenda for consideration at the October 6, 2009 meeting:
Authorize the City Manager to execute an Engineering Services Agreement in the amount of $297,883 with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. for services in conjunction with the Wastewater Master Plan - Project UT0706MP.
Project Details
The current Wastewater Master Plan was completed in 2003 and supersedes the 1995 Wastewater Master Plan. Interim updates focusing on specific areas of the City have been made, with the most recent involving the City’s northwest and southeast areas. The current Master Plan is more than five years old and based on data that is six or more years old.
The table below provides a comparison of the 2009 Wastewater Master Plan to the 2003 Wastewater Master Plan.
|
2003 Master Plan |
2009 Master Plan |
|
|
Plan Scope |
Water & Wastewater |
Wastewater |
|
Design Years |
2000, 2010 & 2025 |
2010, 2020 & 2030 |
|
Criteria to Trigger Construction |
Design year |
Population/flow and regulatory requirements |
|
Flow Meters |
6 |
31 |
|
Rain Gages |
4 |
13 |
|
Data Collection Time |
2 months |
35 months; Data Collection is on-going |
|
Wastewater System Modeled |
Trunk System |
Entire System |
|
GIS Integration |
No |
Yes |
|
City Owned Wastewater Model |
No |
Yes |
|
Basin Service Plans |
No |
Yes |
|
Study Area |
UGA – T2025 |
UGA – T2030 |
Since completion of the 2003 Wastewater Master Plan, the Department has placed a great deal of emphasis and effort on building comprehensive sewer and water GIS data sets. In addition to the GIS data, flow metering and rainfall data collection have been on going for almost three (3) years. The Department is now seeing the benefit of this investment. As an example, the preparation of the GIS database for the wastewater master plan for Rapid City South Dakota with a sanitary sewer system about 65% of the size of Lawrence was more than $268,000. Flow monitoring for 12 meters and rainfall data collection for a period of 60 days cost more than $107,000. The total cost of Rapid City’s master plans (wastewater and water) was more than $1.2 million.
Project History
On March 11, 2008, the City Commission authorized staff to advertise a Request for Proposals for professional engineering services to prepare a wastewater facilities master plan.
On April 25, 2008 in response to the Request for Proposals for the wastewater facilities master plan, staff received proposals from four (4) groups interested in the project. Proposals were received from George Butler Associates, Inc.; Burns & McDonnell/BG Consultants, Carollo, and Black & Veatch.
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 Burns & McDonnell/BG and Black & Veatch as the two highest qualified respondents for the project. Based on the rankings, the team of Burns & McDonnell/BG was recommended to begin contract negotiations.
On June 17, 2008 staff requested authority to begin negotiations with team of Burns & McDonnell/BG on the wastewater facilities master plan. The City Commission deferred action on the project indefinitely at that time.
On May 26, 2009 the City Commission authorized staff to negotiate an Engineering Services Agreement for the preparation of a wastewater facilities master plan with the team of McDonnell/BG.
Project Status
Staff have met with Burns & McDonnell and have negotiated an appropriate project scope for preparation of the master plan in the amount of $297,833. The scope and fee correspond to the budget allocated for the project and accomplish the expectations expressed by the Commission and the City Manager.
Negotiations resulted in a reduction of the hours to prepare the master plan by 30% from the RFP response. As part of the negotiations with Burns & McDonnell, city staff will provide GIS data verification, prepare population overlay data, prepare work order history formatted to meet Burns & McDonnell’s needs and arrange for modeling software demonstrations. In addition, city staff will provide the financial strategies and rate model scenarios to determine adequate revenues and sewer rates to support the Capital Improvement Plan developed for the master plan. By performing these tasks, the city was able to reduce the project costs by more than $35,000.
The sewer modeling software is available from several different companies with varying options and configurations as well as prices ranging from $15,000 to more than $50,000. In order to prepare a definitive fee for the project, the cost of the sewer modeling software is not included in the fee for the master plan. The task of determining the suitability and selection of a specific sewer model is included in the scope but the purchase of the software will be the responsibility of the City. The Commission will see the request to purchase the software once the model selection is complete.
Project Funding
The project is included in the 2009 Capital Improvement Program as well as the 2009 Rate Plan.
Recommendation
Staff recommends authorizing the City Manager to execute an Engineering Services Agreement in the amount of $297,883 with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. for services in conjunction with the Wastewater Master Plan - Project UT0706MP.