Agenda Item Wording:
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Authorize City Manager to award a sole source contract for the Instrumentation and Electrical Services & Maintenance and Repair for the Water Reclamation Facility and Collection System to Telstar Instruments Company, Inc. for a not to exceed amount of $400,000 annually. This is a one (1) year contract that may be renewed for four (4) consecutive one (1) year periods upon mutually agreed upon terms.
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Deadline for Action: 5/1/2023
Submitting Department: Public Works
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Wyndi Ferguson, Public Works Manager, wyndi.ferguson@visalia.city <mailto:wyndi.ferguson@visalia.city>, 713-4186
Nick Bartsch, Public Works Director, nick.bartsch@visalia.city <mailto:nick.bartsch@visalia.city> 713-4052
Department Recommendation:
Authorize City Manager to award a sole source contract for the Instrumentation and Electrical Services & Maintenance and Repair for the Water Reclamation Facility and Collection System to Telstar Instruments Company, Inc. for a not to exceed amount of $400,000 annually. This is a one (1) year contract that may be renewed for four (4) consecutive one (1) year periods upon mutually agreed upon terms.
Background Discussion:
The City of Visalia Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) provides treatment to nearly 13 million gallons of wastewater per day (mgd). In order to ensure protection to health, safety, and the environment, the facility must be maintained in a state that allows continuous operation, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. In order to ensure this level of operability and reliability, the facility instituted an aggressive preventative maintenance program. A key component of this program is the routine testing, calibration, and replacement of the electrical and control systems.
The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system monitors the operations of the WRF, as well as the collections system lift stations, on a minute-to-minute basis. This system alerts staff when operational control equipment has failed. Staff sets the alarm conditions based on their experience and expertise, but the SCADA system monitors every aspect of those conditions. Without this system, the WRF and Collections operations would need to have staff physically monitoring all parameters for each lift station, pump, tank, or blower on a constant basis in order to operate.
Due to age, operating issues, and recent failures of key components, the entire SCADA system is currently in the process of being rebuilt. This requires building new servers, programming the digital information specific to the plant and collection system, and then switching to the new servers. The completion of this upgrade will also enable staff to utilize the fiber optic network that was installed during the last plant upgrade project, as well as provide future connectivity throughout the city. Telstar Instruments Company is currently under contract for these necessary repairs/upgrades and the project is approximately 40% complete.
Telstar Instruments Company has provided electrical and control systems services to the Visalia WRF since 1983, and the current contract expired in April 2023. Telstar has always been proactive in their maintenance of the plant’s electrical systems and has been very responsive in after-hours emergency situations. Having a local office in Hanford has enabled them to guarantee an around-the-clock response time of one hour.
Staff is confident in Telstar’s ability to provide the needed services and feels that the possibility of bringing in a new contractor at this point would be detrimental to the continuity of the instrumental operation of the WRF. Telstar has an intimate knowledge of the facility, is currently working on ongoing upgrade projects, and is an integral component of the plant’s maintenance program, thus ensuring consistent and reliable operations of the instrumentation & electrical components of the WRF. Their proposed rates and fees are in line with industry standards for this type of work.
Fiscal Impact:
Approximately half of the tasks performed under this contract are routine and preventative in nature, however the other half are of a highly variable and/or corrective nature, therefore predicting an exact contract value is difficult. Staff is recommending and requesting a not to exceed amount of $400,000 annually. Funding for this contract is included in the operating budgets of the divisions within funds WRF (431) and Storm Sewer (481).
Prior Council Action:
July 2015 - Authorize a three (3) year extension of contract through completion of WRF Upgrade project to ensure continuity of service.
February 2018 - Authorize award of RFP 17-18-24 (Instrumentation and Electrical Services) to Telstar Instruments.
Alternatives:
Competitively select a contractor to perform these services via a Request for Proposals (RFP) process through the City’s Purchasing Department. (Due to the critical nature and timing of this work, this is not recommended.)
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
Authorize City Manager to award a sole source contract for the Instrumentation and Electrical Services & Maintenance and Repair for the Water Reclamation Facility and Collection System to Telstar Instruments Company, Inc. for a not to exceed amount of $400,000 annually. This is a one (1) year contract that may be renewed for four (4) consecutive one (1) year periods upon mutually agreed upon terms.
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Attachments:
Telstar Time & Material Rates