HomeMy WebLinkAbout11 Professional engineering design services Agenda Item # f
TRUCKEE , *
Memorandum
To: Board of Directors
From: Joe Horvath, Electric System Engineer
Date: November 2, 2007
Subject: Award of Contract for Professional Engineering Design Services
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
Board authorization is required to approve the selection and enter into an agreement with a
consultant to provide professional engineering design services to the District for the rebuild of
Donner Lake and Tahoe Donner Substations.
Objectives:
2. Provide an adequate, reliable and high quality electric supply and distribution system
to meet current and future needs.
Goals:
2.2 Maintain and implement an Electric System Master Plan, including the required
facilities to meet the current and future demand and reliable supply.
2.3 Provide effective and efficient maintenance and replacement programs.
2. HISTORY
The approved 2007 operating budget includes capital projects necessary for the improvement of
the District's electrical system. The projects include the following: Donner Lake Substation
Rebuild, Tahoe Donner Substation Upgrade, and the new Donner Lake Circuit No. 3 feeder. At
the February 7, 2007 Board meeting, I discussed the need for soliciting professional engineering
services to design these projects. The Board agreed that Tim Taylor would review the Request
for Proposal (RFP) documents before making the RFP available to interested firms. The RFP
was finished at the end of July and made available to consultants on August 3. Interested firms
had until August 31 to submit a proposal to the District. Six firms sent in a proposal in response
to the RFP. The firm name, office location, and estimated staff hours to perform the requested
work are as follows:
Firm Office Location Staff Hours
Electrical Consultants, Inc. Salt Lake City, Utah (did not provide hours)
Mesa Associates, Inc. Knoxville, Tennessee 2,915
RW Beck, Inc. Seattle, Washington 5,329
Stanley Consultants, Inc. Englewood, Colorado 5,188
Tri Sage Consulting Reno, Nevada 2,662
Wood Rodgers, Inc. Sacramento, California 3,000
After receipt of the proposals, I formed a review committee composed of the following District
staff: Sanna Schlosser, Steve Hollabaugh, Neil Kaufman, Jessica Wilson and Joe Horvath. I
distributed copies of all proposals to each committee member along with an evaluation form to
be filled out for each proposal. The evaluation form asked each reviewer to assign points to 4
evaluation criteria areas, with a maximum of 100 total points possible. The evaluation criteria
included: staff experience and qualifications (35 points), technical approach (35 points), depth
and quality of firm's experience (20 points), and management approach (10 points). In addition,
I contacted 3 references for each consultant. I made the written transcripts of my interviews
available to each review committee member for their use in evaluating the proposals.
3. NEW INFORMATION
At the conclusion of the review process, we met as a committee to discuss our findings. We
were all unanimous in our selection of RW Beck as the most qualified consultant. RW Beck's
technical approach to these projects and qualifications to perform the work was noticeably the
best of all proposals. They were the only consultant to conduct a site visit to the Donner Lake
and Tahoe Donner Substations. As a result of their site visit, they correctly identified the project
design challenges including steep slopes, an intermittent stream, and proximity to a residential
neighborhood at the Donner Lake substation site, and the compact design (making additions of
equipment difficult) at the Tahoe Donner substation site. They were also the only consultant to
mention snow depths and snow removal as a design consideration. Whereas the other
consultants more or less repeated the scope of work from the RFP, RW Beck clearly described
the work to be performed in detail and their approach to implementing and managing the project
to a successful completion. Their client references were all unanimous in their opinion that RW
Beck is an excellent firm whom they would retain again for additional substation design
services.
There was some small variation among the committee members in the order preference of the
remaining consultants, however it was generally agreed that Tri Sage Consulting was the
second most qualified firm. Telephone interviews lasting approximately 30 minutes each were
conducted by 3 members of the review committee with the RW Beck and Tri Sage project
teams. At the conclusion of these interviews, our overall evaluation and order of preference for
the most qualified firm, RW Beck, had not changed. We therefore opened the cost proposal for
RW Beck which listed a total estimated not-to-exceed cost of$794,600 of which $736,268 was
for labor and $58,332 was for expenses including sub consultants.
After informing RW Beck that they were selected as the most qualified firm (subject to Board
approval), we began the process of negotiating a final contract including scope of work and
costs. We reviewed RW Beck's detailed breakdown of task items and staff hours for the
proposed work. In our negotiations, we were able to reduce RW Beck's staff hours from 5,329 to
4,511 hours. This was accomplished by: (1) removing built-in uncertainties, (2) clarifying the
intent of the RFP with regards to District work, (3) small reductions in the scope of work, and (4)
reducing travel expenses. Removing built-in uncertainties included eliminating hours to prepare
permit drawings and applications. Other than CEQA, it is not known with certainty what other
permits are required. The consultant included staff hours for an estimated amount of permit
work which was eliminated. With regards to District work, it was always the intent of the District
in the RFP to prepare the bid documents (other than the technical specifications) and perform
the logistics of the bid process. The consultant included staff hours for this work so these hours
were removed. Small reductions to the scope of work included reducing the number of design
alternatives in the preliminary design stage from 3 to 2 alternatives. A reduction in travel
expenses and RW Beck's staff time was achieved by performing some review meetings by
telephone conference. The reduction in staff time to 4,511 hours corresponds to a total
estimated not-to-exceed cost of$656,195 of which $604,574 is for labor and $51,621 is for
expenses including sub consultants. This represents a 17.4 percent decrease in overall project
cost from the original cost proposal.
4. SOURCE OF FUNDING
The source of funding for the Donner Lake Substation Rebuild and the new Donner Lake Circuit
No. 3 feeder is Facilities Fees as these are approved Electric System Master Plan Projects. The
source of funding for the Tahoe Donner Substation Upgrade is Rates. If the Board approves of
retaining RW Beck as a consultant, the cost breakdown for engineering design services would
be approximately as follows:
Donner Lake Substation Rebuild and new No. 3 Feeder $561,057 (Facility Fees)
Tahoe Donner Substation Upgrade $95,138 (Rates)
5. RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the Board approve the selection of RW Beck to provide professional
engineering design services to the District for the rebuild of Donner Lake and Tahoe Donner
Substations and authorize the general manager to sign the consulting services agreement for
an amount not to exceed $656,195 with the funding sources as noted above.
S ve Hollabaugh, Elec Utility Manager o Ulric nterim GM
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Attachment
RW Beck Cost Proposal— Original and Revised
COST PROPOSAL
t
Cost Proposal
R.W.Beck's cost proposal includes our estimated cost to provide
engineering services to the District as outlined in our scope of work
description included in our technical proposal. Also included is our
current billing rate schedule for the services. The following cost
breakdown covers Donner Lake Substation,the 12.47-kV distribution
feeder,and Tahoe Donner Substation. Our estimated costs assume that
the three project elements are executed simultaneously in
accordance with our Project Implementation Schedule included in
Section 1 of the technical proposal.
Breakdown of Costs
Preliminary Design 381 $ 56,624
Major Materials Procurement 619 $ 84,798
Detail Design 2,059 $ 69,840
Permitting 467 $ 59,231
Coordination with Sierra Pacific and PGBE 46 $ 14,122
Construction Contract Documents,Drawings,Bidding 968 $ 33,024
Protective Relay Settings 108 $ 16,923
Engineering During Construction 443 $ 70,270
As-Built Drawings 238 $ 31,436
Sub-Total Engineering Cost 5,329 $ 736,268
Expenses,including travel and office expenses $ 38,132
GeotechnicalSubconsultant $ 7,600
Surveying Subconsultant $ 12,600
'total Estimated Not-to-Exceed COST $ 794,600
The estimated costs are based upon the below billing rate schedule,
which will be in effect until June 30,2008. At that time,the billing
rates will be adjusted in accordance with R.W. Beck's annual
salary adjustment.
1
XM4128 0807 1
TRUCKEE DONNER PUD
ELECTRTIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM ENGINEERING SERVICES
BREAKDOWN OF COST
Donner Lake Substation Tahoe Donner Substation Total
Scope of Work Hours Cost Hours Cost Total Hours Cost
Preliminary Design 226 $34,250 53 $8,005 279 $42,255
Major Materials Procurement 560 $72,017 560 $72,017
Detail Design 1687 $213,721 306 $40,338 1,993 $254,059
Construction Contract Documents, Drawings, Bidding 729 $92,063 26 $3,931 755 $95,994
Permitting Support 140 $25,149 140 $25,149
Protective Relay Settings 89 $15,222 45 $7,550 134 $22,772
Engineering During Construction 341 $50,102 102 $16,921 443 $67,023
Conformed-to-Construction Drawings 124 $13,989 87 $11,316 211 $25,305
Sub-Total Engineering Cost 3896 $516,513 619 $88,061 4515 $604,574
Expenses, including travel and office expenses 0.862901 $27,113 0.137099 $4,308 $31,421
Geotechnical Subconsultant $6,558 $1,042 $7,600
Surveying Subconsultant $10,8731 $1,727 $12,600 $51,621
Total Estimated Not-to-Exceed COSTI $44,5441 $7,077 $656,195
$561,057 $95,138 $656,195