Report Prepared by: Joseph D. Angulo, Environmental Project Manager, Engineering
Title
SUBJECT: First Amendment to Agreement for Professional Services with AECOM Technical Services, Inc., for Well Site Design Services, Project No. 114001
REPORT IN BRIEF
Authorizes an amendment to a contract for well design services for a new production water well at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion:
A. Approving an amendment to an Agreement for Professional Services with AECOM Technical Services, Inc., in the amount of $15,382 for engineering design services; and,
B. Authorizing the City Manager or Assistant City Manager to execute the necessary documents.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve, as recommended by staff; or,
2. Approve, subject to modifications as conditioned by City Council; or,
3. Refer to staff for reconsideration of specific items; or,
4. Deny.
AUTHORITY
Charter of the City of Merced, Section 200 et seq.
Services with an estimated value greater than $30,000.00 are made by written contract in accordance with Merced Municipal Code, Title 3 - Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.04.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
As provided for in the 2017-18 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION
Wastewater Treatment Plant Water Supply
The City of Merced Wastewater Treatment Plant is located at 10260 Gove Road in south Merced. The facility’s fresh water needs for the restrooms, laboratory, etc. are served by an existing groundwater production well that is over thirty years old. When the well is occasionally taken off-line for maintenance and repairs there is no fresh water supply to the facility.
A new well has been installed, Well #2, to provide redundant capacity for when the existing well is off-line. It will incur negligible expansion of groundwater usage and will be the primary source of water to the facility when the older well is off-line and is eventually taken out of service. The project generally consists of: the new well installation, submersible pump, concrete pad, electrical service, chlorine feed, pressure tank and associated plumbing.
On April 6, 2015, the City Council awarded an engineering design professional services agreement with AECOM Technical Services, Inc. (AECOM), for the new water well system at the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The contract amendment under consideration is necessary to reimburse AECOM for the following additional costs:
1. After the original design contract was awarded staff discovered that certain reference electrical drawings provided to AECOM for existing plant facilities were not “as-built” drawings but were from previous designs. This discovery necessitated additional research, field confirmation, and design changes by AECOM staff.
2. The City required AECOM engineers to design the new well pump station with power sourced from an existing electrical panel and conduits in a building adjacent to the new well site. AECOM and City staff subsequently determined that the subject panel was at maximum safe power load and this required a design change to acquire power from a different source electrical panel.
3. City staff requested a design change to allow remote operation of the new well that required design modifications.
4. After construction began on the new well plumbing it was determined that the new water line from the well site conflicted with existing sub-grade piping. The City requested AECOM to re-design the piping layout deeper with an associated blow-off valve for future maintenance.
5. The project main contractor, Soracco Junior General Engineering (Soracco), included an electrical subcontractor, Amerine Systems (Amerine), to perform electrical integration services to tie the new system into the existing plant operations. Soracco began the process of submitting electric component data in accordance with contract provisions. The City forwarded these to AECOM staff who subsequently questioned the qualifications of Amerine as the submittals did not meet the project standards. Staff notified Soracco of this finding and they informed the City that Amerine is not qualified to perform the required electrical control integration work. They also advised staff that they are in the process of hiring a new replacement electrical subcontractor. This action will result in the need to re-submit electrical component data for a second review by AECOM’s electrical engineers. The City informed Soracco that AECOM’s additional review costs incurred due their change in subcontractor would be deducted from their contract payments.
Staff recommend approval of the AECOM contract amendment, as the additional services provided were necessary for project completion.
Past Actions
On April 4, 2016, the City Council awarded a contract to Nor-Cal Pump and Well Drilling to construct the new Well #2 at the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The new well was installed in the summer of 2016.
On April 3, 2017, the City Council awarded a construction contract to Soracco Junior General Engineering to build the new Well #2 electrical and plumbing systems to tie the new well into the existing infrastructure.
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
This project was established as a Capital Improvement Project and account 553-1108-637.65-00-114001 contains sufficient funding to complete the project.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Vicinity Map
2. Location Map
3. Contract Amendment