August 24, 2004

SUBJECT: Award of Bid #F0304-70 for Improvements to the City's Water Supply and Distribution System Software and Telemetry Hardware

Approval is requested for the award of a contract to Transdyn Controls, Inc., of Pleasanton for improvements to the City's water supply and distribution system software and field telemetry hardware for the Department of Public Works Engineering Division Project Administration (Project UW-00/01-03).

The City operates a complicated water supply and distribution system that delivers water throughout the City from four different supply sources: Santa Clara Valley Water District and San Francisco Water Department wholesale water, City well water, and recycled water. The City's existing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System monitors and controls the operation of the City's water supply and distribution system. The main computer software and related electronics for the system are located at the Corporation Yard. Communication to the Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) at each field site is currently accomplished via telephone line. Field locations connected to the SCADA system include nine City wells, six connections to the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC) Hetch-Hetchy pipelines, ten water storage reservoirs, and one pressure station.

The current system was installed in 1989. It is obsolete and has been progressively failing for several years. Replacement RTUs are no longer available; and the buried phone lines have been deteriorating, resulting in many communications failures each week. Additionally, the Recycled Water Pumping and Storage Facility at San Lucar completed two years ago cannot be controlled from the Corporation Yard. Replacement of the old system is necessary for improving control of the water system and better communication concerning problems, to minimize evening and weekend call-outs, and to provide enhanced control of the utility systems through the use of currently available technology.

The SCADA System Improvement Project (Project #UW-00/01-05) includes six major components: 1) replacement of the existing field hardware; 2) the addition of monitoring units at sewer, storm, and monitor and control units at several important water operation pressure stations; 3) replacement of existing equipment at the control center; 4) provision of new communications technology (converting from overhead and buried telephone lines to radio communications); 5) integration of new hardware and software with the latest update of the program currently in use, and 6) replacement of the existing map board technology for rapidly monitoring the status and operation of all field units from the Corporation Yard.

Because of security concerns about the distribution of detailed drawings relative to the operation of the City’s water system, potential bidders were invited to prequalify by responding to Request for Qualifications #F0301-45 which was issued on January 30, 2004. Five bidders successfully prequalified.

Bid specifications for this project were prepared by Public Works and Purchasing staff. Because of uncertainty in the bidding climate, Invitation for Bids No. F0304-70 was structured as a Base Bid and several Additive Alternates to allow, at a minimum, for the award of a contract for the most critical components and the addition of other desirable operational components if bid pricing was favorable.

Cities may include provisions in their bid specifications for items that can be added or deducted from the scope of work. Where additives or deductives are included in bid packages, the local agency must identify in advance the method by which it will determine the lowest bidder, in order to assure fairness in the bidding process. In this instance, the City's bid specifications clearly identified that the City would rely solely on the amount of the Base Bid in determining the lowest responsible bidder.

Base Bid
The Base Bid includes all water plants (wells, tanks, booster pumping stations), six additional wells that are not within the plants, and all six connection points ("turnouts") with the Hetch Hetchy lines, as well as the base station in the Corporation Yard. These locations were all part of the existing SCADA system.

The Base Bid also includes additional locations for the overall benefit of the City’s utility operation, including one pressure station at Homestead and Lawrence that is an important interconnection point with the water system of the City of Santa Clara, the San Lucar Recycled Water Plant (reservoir, booster pumps, and pressure valve), the two storm pumping stations in the Baylands Park area, and the City’s five sewer lift stations. These facilities have not previously been on SCADA monitoring or remote operation, but have been identified by Public Works as important locations for the health, safety and well being of the public and the City’s infrastructure.

Additive Alternates
The bid also included five Additive Alternates for additional operation points. These are:

Additive Alternate No. 1 – The largest of the Additive Alternates, this group consists of seven facilities, including the City's second connection (turnout) from the Santa Clara Valley Water District in the Barranca area, a pressure monitoring station on the recycled water system at the Sunnyvale Golf Course, three pressure valves in the El Camino Real/Fremont/Wolfe area, one pressure station at New Brunswick and Homestead, and one pressure station at Bernardo and Yorktown.

Additive Alternate No. 2 – This group consists of three pressure stations at Mary and Washington, Noranda and Homestead, and Newfoundland and Cascade.

Additive Alternate No. 3 – This group consists of three automatic control valves at Wright and Cascade, Franchere and Cascade, and Mary and Cascade.

Additive Alternate No. 4 – This group consists of three automatic control valves at Maria and El Camino Real, El Camino Real approximately 900’ NW of Maria, and Pastoria between Iowa and Sutter.

Additive Alternate No. 5 – This group consists of three automatic control valves at El Camino and the Sunnyvale East Channel, Fair Oaks and Garland, and Mary, 150 feet south of Washington.

Bid History
On May 4, 2004, the bid package was distributed to the five prequalified contractors. Responsive bids were received from all five.

Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends award of contract to Transdyn Controls, Inc., for the Base Bid and the following three Additive Alternates:

Additive Alternate No. 1 – This is the largest of the Additive Alternates, comprising seven facilities. The turnout from the Santa Clara Valley Water District is an obviously important monitoring location; and currently, the greatest challenge for the recycled water system is in providing sufficient water at the correct pressure for the Sunnyvale Golf Course, located at the extreme end of the recycled system. In addition, the pressure stations included in this Additive Alternate are the most important for maintaining pressures along the Wolfe-Homestead Transmission Main and between Pressure Zones 1 and 2 on the westside of the City.

Additive Alternate No. 3 – The three automatic control valves in this Additive Alternate are important locations for maintaining pressures in the southwest part of the City, affecting the movement of water from Pressure Zone 3 to Pressure Zone 2.

Additive Alternate No. 5 - Although both Additive Alternates Nos. 4 and 5 each include three more automatic control valves which affect water pressure in the water system, the addition of the three locations in No. 5 provide a slightly more uniform network of control valve locations than the locations in No. 4.

Staff does not recommend the award of the following two Additive Alternates at this time:

Additive Alternate No. 2 - Since Invitation for Bids No. F0304-70 was finalized, the valve at Newfoundland and Cascade has been by-passed to improve the water pressure in the southwest portion of the City and is no longer being used as a pressure regulating site. Therefore, the installation of monitoring equipment at this location is not necessary.

Additive Alternate No. 4 - Although this Additive Alternate includes three more automatic control valves affecting water pressure in the water system, staff does not feel that sufficient benefit would be gained to justify the cost at this time. Although the locations are also useful pressure zone valves, but their benefit is slightly more localized.

It should be noted that Transdyn is not the lowest bidder when considering the total for the Base Bid and Additive Alternates 1, 3 and 5. Nevertheless, the bid specifications clearly set forth the criteria for determining the lowest responsive and responsible bidder; and that criteria is Base Bid only. Transdyn Controls offered the lowest Base Bid.

A determination was made that this project will have no significant effect on the environment in accordance with CEQA guidelines for categorically exempt projects.

Project costs for the recommended contract include:

Construction
Base Bid	$979,547
Add Alternate No. 1	210, 739
Add Alternate No. 3	149,284
Add Alternate No. 5	147,435
Total Construction	$1,487,005
Contingency (10% of Construction Costs)	$148, 700
Total Cost	$1, 635, 705

Funds for this project are available in Capital Project No. 815202 - Water/Sewer Supervisory Control System.

1. Award a contract, in substantially the same form as the attached draft and in the amount of $1,487,005 to Transdyn Controls, Inc., for improvements to the City's water supply and distribution system software and telemetry hardware (including Base Bid and Additive Alternates 1, 3 and 5) and approve a project contingency in the amount of $148,700); or

2. Award a contract to Transdyn Controls, Inc., in the amount of $979,547 for improvements to the City's water supply and distribution system software and telemetry hardware (Base Bid only) and approve a project contingency in the amount of $97,955); or

3. Reject all bids and authorize staff to rebid the project.

It is recommended that Council approve Alternative No. 1 above.

Prepared by:

Elaine Wesely
Purchasing Officer

Reviewed by:

Mary J. Bradley
Director, Finance

Reviewed by:

Marvin Rose
Director, Public Works

Approved by:

Amy Chan
City Manager

Attachment
Draft – General Construction Contract (.pdf format)