REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: BROCK D. BUCHE, PE, PLS, Director
Department of Public Utilities
BY: CHAD COLBY, Water Manager - Certified
Department of Public Utilities - Water Division
CASSIE L. SCHOLZ, PE, Licensed Engineer Manager
Department of Public Utilities - Utilities Planning and Engineering
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to the Advanced Metering Infrastructure System (Citywide):
1. Affirm the City Manager’s finding that Badger Meter, Inc., is uniquely qualified to perform services related to the City of Fresno’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure system, in accordance with Administrative Order 6-19;
2. Approve a Software Purchase and Services Agreement with Badger Meter, Inc., for a term of five years and a not-to-exceed amount of $4,731,378.75.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council affirm the City Manager’s finding that Badger Meter, Inc. (Badger), is uniquely qualified to perform services related to the City of Fresno’s (City’s) Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system; award a contract to Badger Meter, Inc., a Wisconsin corporation (Badger), to renew and upgrade the water meter reading and data management software platform, and continue data hosting and technical support services for the AMI system platform; and authorize the Director of Public Utilities, or designee, to execute the agreement on behalf of the City.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On January 14, 2010, the City selected Badger through a competitive selection process to serve as the City’s provider of water meters and related parts, and the integrated AMI system for wireless water meter data collection and data management for customer billing and water usage analytics. With this competitive selection, the City effectively standardized Badger’s integrated AMI products and services for water meters and customer billing. The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) seeks to renew the agreement with Badger to upgrade to Badger’s latest data management software service and to transition from a Radio Frequency (RF)-based wireless transmitter system to a cellular-based system using Badger’s ORION cellular endpoints.
The five-year software purchase and services agreement is a unit-price based contract, and the annual compensation is calculated by multiplying the unit prices for software and service by the number of water utility accounts in the City’s water service area. The transition from the RF technology to cellular technology will take approximately four years. During the transition, the City will be charged a blended fee for both services until the older technology has been completely phased out. Once the current 141,500 existing accounts have been updated, the annual compensation will be $1,001,820.00, with a total contract amount of $4,731,378.75. The contract total includes continued essential software services taking place after the expiration of the previous agreement.
BACKGROUND
The Uniquely Qualified Memorandum, as set forth in the Administrative Order (AO) 6-19 and included as Attachment 1, describes how the City has effectively standardized Badger’s AMI products and services for the foreseeable future, with the expenditure of $76.8 million to install Badger’s AMI system between 2010 and 2013 and the approval of a five-year Software Purchase and Services Agreement for water meter reading and data management Software as a Service (SaaS) platform in 2018. The prior Software Purchase and Services Agreement has expired, and there is an urgent need to renew and upgrade Badger’s services from failing Radio Frequency (RF) endpoints to cellular reading technology via the Badger ORION cellular endpoints.
The Badger cellular endpoint technology requires the BEACON proprietary Network as a Service (NaaS) to collect water meter data from the cellular endpoints, providing monthly usage readings to Utilities Billing and Collections for 141,500 customers. The NaaS system will work in collaboration with the SaaS system as the City transitions from RF to cellular endpoints. The BEACON software and the cellular endpoints utilize the existing cellular network and will eliminate the need for the City to maintain data collectors and gateways currently located around the city. This upgrade will require less maintenance and equipment replacement, and improve reliability of the AMI data collection and management systems. The updated BEACON system will also enable the City to automate reports, assisting with notification of excessive water use and for detecting leaks. Additionally, the BEACON EyeOnWater portal is an integral part of the software, which allows water customers to monitor their water use, detect leaks, and understand water usage trends. The specific products and services to be provided by Badger as part of this agreement can generally be described as follows:
1. Data Management Software for Hourly Meter Data. This is the BEACON Software Package.
2. Customer Access Portal for Hourly Meter Data. This is the Eye-On-Water Package integrated with the BEACON Software Package
3. Data Transmission Services for Hourly Meter Data. Existing hourly water meter data is currently transmitted via licensed FCC radio signal from the City’s AMR water meters to gateways, and via Cellular backhaul from gateways to cloud-based Beacon Software Package. As meters are fitted with cellular endpoints, hourly water meter data will be transmitted directly from meters via Cellular service.
4. Data Hosting Services. The hourly water meter data that is transmitted from the gateways will be directed to cloud-based servers currently hosted by Amazon that have the BEACON Software and Eye-on-Water Software installed.
5. Data Integration Services. The hourly water meter data from BEACON Software will be integrated with the City’s CentralSquare/Naviline utility billing software to generate monthly utility bills and allow customer service representatives to respond to calls from customers regarding water usage and water billing.
City staff has negotiated reasonable and appropriate unit prices for Badger’s next generation water meter reading and data management software platform, and the related services for data hosting and technical support. The unit prices are consistent with market rates charged by other vendors for similar products and services.
City staff recommends City Council affirm the City Manager’s finding that Badger Meter, Inc., is uniquely qualified to perform services related to the City’s AMI system, and approve the agreement with Badger for a term of five years and a not-to exceed amount of $4,731,378.75. The contract total includes continued essential software services taking place after the expiration of the previous agreement. The agreement between the City and Badger Meter, Inc., has been approved by the City Attorney’s Office as to form, and it is included in Attachment 2.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
Approval of the Agreement is not a project for purposes of CEQA.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local Preference was not applied as this is an award to a uniquely qualified consultant.
FISCAL IMPACT
This agreement will not have any impact to the General Fund. The funds are appropriated within the Water Division’s Water Enterprise Fund.
Attachments:
Uniquely Qualified Memorandum - Badger Meter, Inc.
Software Service Fee Agreement