1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: May 17, 2022
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Dawn Roth Lindell, General Manager, Burbank Water and Power VIA: Riad Sleiman, Assistant General Manager, Electric Services Division BY: Youssef Chedid, Senior Electrical Engineer
SUBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution Approving the Golden State Substation Rebuild Design-Build Contract with Aubrey Silvey Enterprises , Inc.; Delegation of Authority to Approve Plans; and Amendment of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021- 22 Budget to A ppropriate Funds for the C onstruction of the Golden State Substation Rebuild
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AUTHORIZING
THE GENERAL MANAGER OF BURBANK WATER AND POWER, AS DESIGNEE OF
THE CITY MANAGER, TO EXECUTE A DESIGN -BUILD CONTRACT WITH AUBREY SILVEY ENTERPRISES, INC. FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOLDEN STATE SUBSTATION REBUILD BID NO. 1495, AUTHORIZING THE BURBANK WATER AND
POWER ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER, ELECTRI C SERVICES, OR HIS
DESIGNEE, TO APPROVE PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF THE DESIGN -BUILD CONTRACT, AND AMENDING THE FY 2021- 22 BUDGET TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOLDEN STATE SUBSTATION REBUILD (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND
Due to the transformer fire that occurred at the Golden State Substation (substation) on April 10, 2020, significant portions of the substation were damaged. As a result, Burbank Water and Power (BWP) is proposing a project to rebuild large portions of the substation.
BWP internally evaluated two options to rebuild the substation. The first option involved replacing the damaged equipment with similarly rated equipment and the second option
WATER AND
POWER
2 involved rebuilding the s ubstation with increased capacity and enhanced safety equipment as per the latest BWP standards. After evaluating both options, staff recommended the latter as it will provide 13 MW of additional capacity without having to expand the footprint of the substation by increasing the transformer and switchgear ratings, reduce the amount of internal labor to perform switching operations by replacing outdoor manually-operated 12 kV disconnect switches with indoor remotely-operable 12 kV circuit breakers , and enhance electrical safety for field crews by replacing the damaged switchgear with saf er arc -resistant switchgear . The increased s ubstation capacity is needed to serve future developments in the area and 4 kV to 12 kV conversions.
DISCUSSION
Design -Build Contractor Selection for the Golden State Substation
Staff has initiated and completed the request for proposal (RFP) process for the r ebuild of the substation and is now seeking the City Council’s recommendation to award the design-build (DB) contract to Aubrey Silvey Enterprises, Inc. (ASE).
On November 5, 2021, staff released a RFP under bid schedule 1495 to seven DB firms that BWP and the City of Burbank Purchasing Division (purchasing) prequalified using the statement of qualifications (SOQ) process. Staff conducted a mandatory pre-proposal meeting and job walk on November 30, 2021, which was attended by 17 contractor representatives from six firms. Two of the seven firms responded to purchasing with a proposal on January 25, 2022.
The substation was and will remain a 69 kV to 12.47 kV (12 kV) electrical substation constructed within the existing Gol den State Substation footprint, which is located on property owned by the city.
The scope of work for this DB contract includes the engineering, procurement, and construction for the rebuild of the substation at 2201 W. Pacific Avenue. This scope of work includes the following: demolition of the existing substation transformers and 12 kV switchgear house, electrical enclosures, above- grade equipment, foundations, substructures, lighting, block wall, sidewalk, and street restoration.
Upon receipt of proposals, p urchasing reviewed the proposals to ensure they were complete and responsive. After removing the price proposals, which exclusively contain the cost of each proposal, p urchasing notified BWP on February 1, 2022, that two proposals were ready and available for BWP to begin its evaluations.
3 Each proposal was evaluated using a set of ranking criteria, including business history and performance (10 percent), t echnical and s ervice (30 percent), design and management (10 percent), and price (50 percent). The evaluation team consisted of highly qualified personnel with expertise in electrical substations, including electrical engineers, substation maintenance and construction staff, and power system op erator staff. Upon completi on of the proposal evaluations, the evaluation team compiled and submitted its ranking scores to purchasing. Subsequently, purchasing was allowed to release the price proposal to BWP. The price proposals were scored and final evaluations tabulated.
After tabulating scores, the evaluation team determined that the superior proposal was submitted by ASE. ASE is qualified to engineer, procure and construct the Golden State Substation using the DB method. ASE’s proposal has the best understanding of the city’s needs and provided a technically sound design concept in a thoughtful and thorough proposal. BWP worked with ASE’s team in the past on the Ontario Substation project.
Their team consists of seasoned and dedicated substation construction team members with a long history of successful substation projects and excellent references.
Furthermore, ASE’s evaluation scored better in both the technical and price aspects of their proposal.
After releasing the total ranking scores to purchasing, BWP entered into negotiations with ASE to iron out a handful of scope, pricing, and schedule issues. Ultimately, A SE’s final proposal cost matched the initial proposed cost of $14,576,194.
Design Immunity
California Gov. Code, Section 830.6 provides for design immunity to the city when the City Council approves the final plans and specifications. Design immunity is liability protection provided for public projects when plans have been reasonably approved and errors may have been found at a later time. In a traditional design-bid-build project, design or plan approval occurs when the City Council awards the construction project just after bidding. With a DB project, final plans and specifications are not completed until after the City Council’s approval. Therefore, in order for the city to retain design immunity, the City Council or any employee ex ercising discretionary authority must approve the plans and specifications for a project using the DB method. The City Council may also delegate this authority. Accordingly, staff is requesting that the City Council delegate authority for approving plans and specifications to the BWP Assistant General Manager, Electric Services, or designee.
CEQA Compliance
This project has been determined to be categorically exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15302(c) of the State CEQA Guidelines pertaining to the replacement or reconstruction of existing 4 structures and facilities, where the new structures and facilities will be located on the same site and will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structures and facilities being replaced.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total cost of the ASE DB firm contract to rebuild the Golden State Substation is $14,576,194. In addition, staff recommends a contingency amount of $728, 810 (5%) to address any unforeseen issues or circumstances. The $15,305,004 is higher than the original engineer’s estimate of about $8,500,000 which was based on 2017 DB bid pricing for the Ontario Substation, equipment budgetary pricing during the 2020 timeframe, and staff experience with substation construction costs. This significant difference is due to the unforeseen effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the supply chain, industry demand, and inflation. Some of the major equipment that was purchased previously in 2017 has seen a price increase of up to 112%; a comparison of the 12 kV switchgear and miscellaneous protection and control equipment cost was about $1,615,628 in 2017 but has now increased to $3,431,738 based on this bid.
Sufficient funds exist in the budget to fund the initial payments of the DB firm contract in FY 2021-2022, but an additional $10,880,194 must be appropriated to provide sufficient funding for the entire DB firm contract.
Staff requests Council ’s authority to amend the FY 2021- 22 budget by appropriating $10,880,194 from unappropriated balance account number 496.ND000.30004. 0000.000000.21600 (Electric Utility. Non-Departmental. Unappropriated Balance. None.
No Project. Net Assets) to construction in progress account number 496.PS31E.15022.0000.24123.10700 (Electric Utility. Electrical Engineering. Buildings- Work in Progress. None. Golden State Sub Rebuild. Construction Work in Progress).
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that the City Council delegate authority to the General Manager of BWP to execute a DB contract with A SE and delegate authority to approve plans and specifications of the DB contract to retain design immunity. Additionally, staff recommends that the City Council increase the e lectric fund’s FY 2021- 22 budget by $10,880,194 and appropriate funds for FY 2021- 22 for the construction of Golden State Substation Rebuild.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Option 1 Current Proposed Layout