DEPARTMENT
Wastewater Enterprise
AGENDA NO.
7b
MEETING DATE
December 9, 2025
AGENDA ITEM
Public Utilities Commission
City and County of San Francisco
Calendar: Consent Calendar
Project Manager: Joey Yan
Authorize Designation of Sole Source for Evoqua Mechanisms under Contract No. DB-140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant – Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation
Summary of Proposed
Commission Action:
Authorize the General Manager to designate Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanism, as the sole source product for Contract No.
DB-140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation, to match existing products used at San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant, in conformance with San Francisco Administrative Code Section 6.73(e) and California Public Contract Code Section 3400(c)(2).
Background: Secondary clarifiers play a key role at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission ( SFPUC) Wastewater Enterprise Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant (SEP) that treats up to 80% of the City’s wastewater. There are a total of 16 secondary clarifiers at SEP that are part of the secondary treatment process - a biological process designed to reduce the quantity of organic materials in wastewater before it is discharged. Secondary clarifiers are essential for wastewater treatment operations to reliably meet water quality targets and regulatory limits, ensuring that up to 150 million gallons per day are treated to secondary treatment level and discharged into the San Francisco Bay in compliance with SFPUC’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
In July 2018, SFPUC completed replacement of eight of 16 clarifiers with Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier equipment at SEP under a previous construction Contract No. WW-626, SEP Primary and Secondary Clarifier Upgrades. Ever since the installation, approximately seven years ago, the Evoqua equipment experienced no significant operational or maintenance problems and operated reliably.
The SFPUC plans to replace the clarifier mechanisms on the remaining eight of the 16 clarifiers under via a Design Build Contract No. DB-140 starting in 2026.
San Francisco Administrative Code Section 6.73(e) provides that specification of a name-brand product or service in a Request for Proposal (RFP) must comply with California Public Contract Code (PCC) Section Agenda Title: Authorize Designation of Sole Source for Evoqua Mechanisms under Contract No. DB-140 Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant – Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation Commission Meeting Date: December 9, 2025
3400. PCC Section 3400(c)(2) provides that the restriction on requiring specific products or services:
“is not applicable if the awarding authority, or its designee, makes a finding that is described in the invitation for bids or request for proposals that a particular material, product, thing, or service is designated by specific brand or trade name...[i]n order to match other products in use on a particular public improvement either completed or in the course of completion”
To ensure system -wide consistency and to match the secondary clarifier equipment at SEP , SFPUC staff is requesting to designate Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanism as the required product for Contract No. DB-140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation contract documents.
The General Manager has concurred with staff’s Justification Memorandum, dated October 21, 2025, finding that the specification of Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier equipment for Contract No. DB -140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation , is necessary to match existing products used at SFPUC Wastewater Enterprise facilities.
Summary of Specified
Equipment:
Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifiers mechanisms
Evaluation and
Selection Criteria:
The e valuation and selection criteria for Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifiers mechanisms are in the attached memorandum.
Environmental
Review:
This action does not constitute a “project” under California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378 because authorization to designate a specific brand of equipment is not an approval of the proposed Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation project and SFPUC retains discretion to, among other things, modify the proposed Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant -
Secondary Clarifiers
Rehabilitation project to mitigate significant environmental impacts, require the implementation of specific measures to mitigate any significant environmental impacts of the project, or reject the project, following completion of environmental review.
Attachment(s): 1. Justification Memorandum – Match Other Products in Use (California Code, PCC 3400(c)(2)) – Evoqua Secondary Clarifiers (October 21, 2025).
Agenda Title: Authorize Designation of Sole Source for Evoqua Mechanisms under Contract No. DB-140 Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant – Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation Commission Meeting Date: December 9, 2025
Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
City and County of San Francisco
RESOLUTION NO.
WHEREAS, Secondary clarifiers play a key role at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Wastewater Enterprise Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant (SEP) that treats up to 80% of the City’s wastewater. There are a total of 16 secondary clarifiers at SEP that are part of the secondary treatment process - a biological process designed to reduce the quantity of organic materials in wastewater before it is discharged. Secondary clarifiers are essential for wastewater treatment operations to reliably meet water quality targets and regulatory limits, ensuring that up to 150 million gallons per day are treated to secondary treatment level and discharged into the San Fr ancisco Bay in compliance with SFPUC’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit; and
WHEREAS, The SFPUC completed replacement of the first eight of the 16 clarifiers with Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanisms at SEP under previous Contract No. WW-626, SEP Primary and Secondary Clarifier Upgrades; and
WHEREAS, San Francisco Administrative Code Section 6.73( e) and California Public Contract Code Sections 3400(c)(2) allow the awarding authority, or its designee, to designate specific name-brand products or services in a construction procurement in order to match existing products already in use; and
WHEREAS, To ensure system -wide consistency and to match Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanisms, SFPUC staff is requesting authority to designate Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanisms to replace the clarifier mechanisms on the remaining eight of the 16 clarifiers under Contract No. DB-140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation; and
WHEREAS, This action does not constitute a “project” under California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378 because authorization to designate a specific brand of equipment is not an approval of the proposed Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation project and SFPUC retains discretion to, among other things, modify the proposed Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation project to mitigate significant environmental impacts, require the implementation of specific measures to mitigate any significant environmental impacts of the project, or reject the project, following completion of environmental review; and
WHEREAS, The General Manager concurred with the October 21, 2025 SFPUC staff recommendation to prescribe Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanisms for Contract No. DB- 140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation , in accordance with the California Public Contract Code Section 3400(c)(2); now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Commission hereby finds that the Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanisms product is the sole source necessary to match existing products in use at SFPUC Wastewater Enterprise’s SEP facilities, and authorizes the General Manager to designate Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier mechanisms in the Request for Bids for Contract No. DB-140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers, pursuant to San Francisco Administrative Code Section
6.73(e) and California Public Contract Code Section 3400(c)(2).
I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission at its meeting of December 9, 2025.
Director of Commission Affairs
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
TO:
October 21, 2025
Dennis Herrera
General Manager, SFPUC
THRO
UGH: Joel Prather
Assistant General Manager, Wastewater Enterprise
FR
OM: Joseph Wong
Engineering Manager, Wastewater Enterprise
SUBJECT
: Match Other Products in Use (California Code, PCC
3400(c)(2) – Evoqua Secondary Clarifiers
Purpose
The purpose of this memorandum is to justify the designation of Evoqua Tow Brow® as the required secondary clarifier equipment in the procurement documents for San Francisco Public Utilities Co mmission (SFPUC) for C ontract DB-140, Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant - Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation.
California Public Contract Code Section 3400 (c)(2), as incorporated into Section 6.73(d) at Chapter 6 of the San Francisco Administrative Code, permits the designation of specific products as required and without equal when the awarding authority or its designee makes a finding described in the procurement documents that the product is required “[i]n order to match other products in use on a particular public improvement either completed or in the course of completion.”
Background
Secondary clarifiers play a key role at Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant (SEP) that
treats up to 80% of the City’s wastewater. There are a total of sixteen secondary clarifiers at SEP that are part of the secondary treatment process
- a biological process designed to reduce the quantity of organic materials
in wastewater before it is discharged. Secondary clarifiers are essential for wastewater treatment operations to reliably meet water quality targets
and regulatory limits, ensuring that up to 150 million gallons per day are treated properly and discharged into the San Francisco Bay in compliance with S
FPUC’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
OUR MISSION: To provide our customers with high-quality, efficient and reliable water, power and s ewer services in a manner that values environmental and community interests and sustains the r e
sources entrusted to our care.
Performance Reliability
In July 2018, SFPUC completed replacement of eight of the sixteen clarifiers with Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier equipment at SEP under a previous contract, WW-626, SEP Primary and Secondary Clarifier Upgrades.
Ever since the installation, approximately seven years ago, the Evoqua equipment experienced no significant operational or maintenance problems and operated reliably.
Standardization
Wastewater Enterprise (WWE) maintains an inventory of spare parts for all critical wastewater treatment equipment, including the secondary clarifiers at SEP. These clarifiers are operated and maintained by WWE’s team of operators, maintenance staff, electricians, and engineers. By standardizing all sixteen secondary clarifiers to a single manufacturer, the number of required spare parts can be significantly reduced. This standardization also enables staff to deepen their expertise with one clarifier system, thereby enhancing operational reliability, improving safety, and reducing maintenance labor costs.
Cost Control:
A vendor quote was provided in October 2025. The vendor quote includes a price adjustment clause that would apply if purchased in 2026. Any such adjustment will be based on the changes in the North American Stainless Steel Surcharge at the time the secondary clarifiers are released for manufacturing.
This monthly surcharge reflects fluctuations in the cost of raw materials used in production. Evoqua uses this surcharge to adjust prices fairly and transparently in response to market-driven material cost changes.
Furthermore, SFPUC requested a recent vendor quotation of similar application to compare against the quote provided. The provided reference quotation is within 5% of the vendor quote provided to the SFPUC.
California Code, PCC 3400(c)(2)
California Public Contract Code, incorporated into San Francisco Administrative Code Section 6.73(e)(1), provides that an awarding authority, or its designee, may designate a particular product for a public works contract procurement by making a finding that the product is necessary to match other products in use on a particular public improvement either completed or in the course of completion.
California Code, PCC 3400 (c)(2)
(c
) Subdivision (b) is not applicable if the awarding authority, or its designee, makes a finding that is described in the invitation for bids or request for proposals that a particular material, product, thing, or service is designated by specific brand or trade name for any of the following purposes:
(2) In order
to match other products in use on a particular public
improvement either completed or in the course of completion.
Conclusion
Subject to approval by the SFPUC Commission, the SFPUC plans to replace the
clarifier mechanisms on the remaining eight of the sixteen clarifiers under Contract DB-140 in 2026. As a result, WWE requests your concurrence to designate Evoqua Tow Brow® secondary clarifier equipment as a product that meets the intent of California Public Contract Code section 3400(c)(2), for the benefit of standardizi
ng all secondary clarifiers at SEP. This will ensure that Contract DB-140 matches the equipment previously installed under WW-626 in 2018. Standardizing all sixteen clarifiers will support continued, reliable treatment performance as well as minimizing maintenance costs and downtime.
Concurrence:
__________________________________
Dennis
J. Herrera
General Manager, SFPUC