CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Waive the applicable provisions of the Naperville Procurement Code and award Procurement 21-354, Grant Application Assessment, Preparation and Submittal Services, to West Monroe Partners, LLC for an amount not to exceed $180,000 (requires six positive votes)
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DEPARTMENT: Electric Utility
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Groth, Director
BACKGROUND:
On August 10, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684), bipartisan legislation to invest in the nation's infrastructure, including funding for roads and bridges, rail, transit, ports, airports, electric grid, water systems, broadband, among other priorities. The City seeks to identify and submit grant applications based on the different funding mechanisms within the Act in anticipation of it becoming law by the end of the year.
Based on an initial assessment, five areas within the Electric Utility have been identified to have shovel ready projects potentially eligible to receive funding: Tollway Substation improvements, distribution automation upgrades, undergrounding primary and secondary cable, fiber optic cable upgrades and EV charging infrastructure (for municipal and public access). Cyber security is another area that will be explored but is likely to be bundled within the five main areas.
DISCUSSION:
The City does not have the expertise and resources in house to identify, research, and prepare grant application submittals. In addition, with the Act just approved on August 10th of this year and the grant application submittal process scheduled to begin in December 2021, there is not enough time to conduct a formal Request for Proposal process to identify a consultant.
As a result, in an effort to get ahead of the process and improve the likelihood of obtaining funding, the staff requests that the Council authorize staff to contract with WMP without conducting a formal RFP. WMP will provide the City with the following services...
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