CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Sole Source Procurement 22-303, SEL Equipment, to A Star Electric Inc. for an amount not to exceed $850,000
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DEPARTMENT: Electric Utility
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Groth, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
Schweitzer Engineering Labs, Inc. (SEL) designs, manufactures and supports products that the Electric Utility (“Utility”) uses in electrical substation and distribution applications such as SEL meters, relays, fault indicators, communications and RTU equipment for protection and control of Utility assets.
The Utility currently has several thousand fault indicators installed in transformers that are used by field personnel to identify the location of faulted cable during an outage event. It has has standardized on a fault indicator manufactured by SEL, and has over the last 20 years, installed approximately 4,000 in the field on new and existing transformers.
In addition, one of the many on-going projects is the removal/changeout of electromechanical relays (1980’s technology) at the 16 substations in the city which provide protection to the substation equipment from faults and upgrading to digital ones to provide improved protection for the high value equipment.
DISCUSSION:
The Utility has continued to install fault indicators on new transformers as they are put into the field. Recently, a program to replace non-functioning or obsolete indicators on existing equipment was begun and has driven a need to purchase additional fault indicators for the warehouse to distribute to the field crews performing the work.
An on-going project in the Utility budget has been to upgrade the relays, meters, remote terminal units (RTU) and communications equipment. This equipment is tied into the Utility SCADA system which allows the control room to monitor and operate equipment in the substation remotely. Most importantly, upgrading the antiquated RTU systems allows for much more timely access to substation condition data from the control room and much faster response to commands sent to control the equipment. The communications used between the various devices is proprietary to SEL and requires all devices to be compatible. No other equipment can be used without changing out all of the installed devices which would be extremely expensive. This request represents the estimated purchase needs for the next 12 months to supply the work crews and to maintain an adequate stock in our warehouse.
The Utility has identified this purchase as a sole source because SEL is the sole designer and manufacturer of these products which have been in use for the past 20 years. A Star Electric is the only authorized manufacturer’s representative in the State of Illinois to supply SEL products.
There is no other viable option which could be used in a timely and cost-effective manner at this time. SEL provides a ten-year warranty on all equipment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP#: N/A
SEL equipment is expensed to the Operating Supplies account listed below. The requested award can be accommodated within the 2022 budget for the remainder of this year. Sufficient funds will also be included in the 2023 budget for the remainder of the contract term.
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Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount |
|
40101300-541407 |
Operating Supplies |
$4,000,000 |