REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
May 25, 2017
FROM: THOMAS C. ESQUEDA, Director
Department of Public Utilities
THROUGH: KEVIN L. NORGAARD, PE, Supervising Professional Engineer
Department of Public Utilities - Wastewater Management Division
BY: ORLANDO M. GONZALEZ, PE, Professional Engineer
Department of Public Utilities - Wastewater Management Division
SUBJECT
Title
Approve a contract change order for the Headworks Wet Well Cleaning at the Fresno/Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (Bid File 3466) for $37,423 and a three-day time extension adjusting the contract amount to $387,188 (Council District 3)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council approve a change order to Pipe and Plant Solutions Inc. of Berkeley, California in the amount of $37,423 and three additional days for the City of Fresno pump failure on the Headworks Wet Well Cleaning Project at the Fresno/Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (RWRF).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The influent wet wells of the Headworks building at the RWRF are currently undergoing a cleaning. During the second half of the cleaning operation, the City operations staff encountered an electrical failure which required the wet well to be put back in service. Therefore, the Department of Public Utilities, Wastewater Management Division is seeking to approve a contract change order for the additional work and time delays due to the electrical failure in the amount of $37,423 and three additional days to Pipe and Plant Solutions, Inc., of Berkeley, California.
BACKGROUND
The Headworks Building houses the most important equipment at the RWRF, the raw sewage pumps (RSP). The sewer flows from Fresno and Clovis flow into two redundant wet wells where the RSP’s are located. From wet wells, the raw sewage is pumped approximately 50 feet vertically and then gravity flow through the remainder of the treatment process. The wet wells are served by either three or four RSP’s. Each wet well independently has enough capacity to pump the entire current peak sewer flows. The wet wells are designed so that they can be isolated from one another. Normally both wet wells are in service but, if one wet well is out of service the other serves all the flow. For this project, each influent wet well was isolated for cleaning while the other remained in service.
Over time these wet wells accumulate large amounts of debris. The debris consists of two major parts, heavier-than-water solids (grit) and floatable solids. As part of the project bid package design, the floating mat was probed by City staff and estimated to be six feet thick and the grit was also estimated to be six feet thick. Once the wet well was accessible during the cleaning work, it was discovered by the contractor and verified by City staff that these mats were each in excess of eight feet thick. This change order includes additional funds to compensate for the additional effort to remove the floatables and grit not anticipated by the bid package.
Once the southern wet well was cleaned, the contractor started on the northern wet well. During the cleaning of the northern wet well, one of the RSP’s pumping out of the southern wet well suffered a motor failure. The contractor was called in at 2:00 AM to remove all pumps and other support equipment from the northern wet well. The City then was forced to use the north wet well for three days while the contractor was on hold. The contractor was on standby for three days and tracked the delays on time and material. The following week the contractor remobilized into the wet well and completed cleaning out the debris in the north wet well. As a result of opening the isolation gates, a significant amount of additional floatables and grit were pushed back into the north wet well. The contractor was required to pump the sewage out of the well, remove floatable solids and pump out the scum layer a second time. City staff negotiated a price for additional work due to the motor failure and the additional debris to $37,423 with three days’ time extension. The work included the use of a hydraulic pumping unit, hydraulic submersible pumps, permit-required confined space entry equipment, 2.5” and 6” hoses for suction and water blasting, a winching system and a minimum four person crew.
Staff recommends that the City Council approve a contract change order in the amount of $37,423 to Pipe and Plant Solutions, Inc., for the additional work required after the motor failure and removal of the additional debris. Upon approval by the City Council, the agreement will be executed by the Director of Public Utilities or designee, who has been delegated this authority by the City Manager.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
The approval of this change order does not alter the original environmental scope of the project. On June 16, 2016, the Council adopted a finding of Class 1 Categorical Exemption set forth in CEQA Guidelines, Section 15301(b) (existing facilities) because this contract involves normal operation and maintenance of existing public sewer facilities. Furthermore, none of the exceptions to Categorical Exemptions set forth in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2 apply to this project.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
The local preference was not implemented because no proposers were local businesses.
FISCAL IMPACT
This project has no impact to the General Fund and is located in Council District 3. The additional funds do exist for this project change order in the Sewer Enterprise Fund number 40501. Total impact for this contract change order will be $37,423. The total fiscal impact of this construction contract will be $387,188.
Attachment:
Contract Change Order No. 2