CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Approve the award of RFP 26-091, Springbrook Water Reclamation Center The North & South Plant Tertiary Filter Improvements Project, to Donohue & Associates, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $2,163,000
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DEPARTMENT: Water Utilities
SUBMITTED BY: Darrell Blenniss, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The existing sand filtration system consists of 13 units: eight installed in 1974, three in 1983, and two in 1988. All filters have reached the end of their expected service life. The system is currently experiencing excessive headloss due to aging equipment and accumulated clogging. In addition, the existing filtration system only treats flow from the North Plant. The flow from the South Plant does not receive filtration.
Staff completed a Facilities Plan for the Springbrook Water Reclamation Center (SWRC) in 2022. The Plan established a long-term strategy for improvements to SWRC to ensure compliance with the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and anticipated future regulatory requirements, particularly those related to nutrient removal. The Plan identified the need to replace and upsize the existing aging filters to accommodate increased flows and meet anticipated regulatory requirements.
DISCUSSION:
On March 27, 2026, the Water Utilities Department issued Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 26-091 to solicit proposals from qualified firms to provide engineering services for the design, permitting, bid-phase services, and construction assistance for the North and South Plant Tertiary Filter Improvements Project. Proposals were received from the following firms:
|
Donohue & Associates, Inc. |
Trotter and Associates |
|
Burns and McDonnell |
Fehr Graham and Associates, LLC |
A selection team comprised of staff from the Water Utilities evaluated the proposals, which were scored based upon criteria set forth in the RFP:
1. Capability, Capacity and Qualifications of the Proposer (30%)
2. Suitability and Quality of the Approach/Methodology (50%)
3. Milestones and Deliverables (20%)
Following the review and scoring of the proposals, the selection committee invited the three highest-scoring consultants-Donohue & Associates, Inc., Burns & McDonnell, and Trotter and Associates-to participate in two rounds of interviews. Upon completion of the interviews, the committee re-evaluated and rescored the three firms. Based on the final evaluation, Donohue & Associates, Inc. received the highest overall score and is recommended for the contract award. The table below summarizes the final qualification scores:
|
Firm Name |
Qualification Score |
|
Donohue & Associates, Inc. |
88.83 |
|
Trotter & Associates |
80.67 |
|
Burns & McDonnell |
74.67 |
|
Fehr Graham and Associates, LLC |
62.1 |
The contract is anticipated to run through December 31, 2030, including engineering services during construction.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP #: WW050- SWRC -Cloth Media Disc Filter Facilities
The design cost for the SWRC plant will be charged to the Infrastructure account listed below. The project is budgeted at $1,900,000 in the 2027 proposed budget. Subject to City Council approval, the proposed design cost for 2027 is expected to be within the budget. Future costs associated with this project will be included in the budget as appropriate during each annual budget cycle. The requested award of $2,163,000 is favorable to budget.
|
Account Number |
Fund Description |
Proposed Budget |
|
41251500-551502 |
Water Utilities |
$92,185,794 |