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CITY OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA
REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM
Report: Award of Contract to SECC Corporation for the Construction of a Fiber Optic Line to the Parks and Facilities in Scholl Canyon.
1. Motion authorizing the City Manager, or his designee, to enter into and execute a contract with SECC Corporation, in the amount of $401,606 plus a 15% contingency in the amount of $60,241 for the Construction of a Fiber Optic Line to the Parks and Facilities in Scholl Canyon (Specification No. 3979).
COUNCIL ACTION
Item Type: Consent Calendar
Approved for August 13, 2024 calendar
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On August 13, 2016, the City Council approved the Fiber Business Plan (Plan) that recommended GWP increase its presence in Glendale’s telecommunications market by creating a new network with a service offering for business customers marketed/sold either directly to the end user customer or indirectly through resellers and other service providers. The service offering will include Dark Fiber, Switched Ethernet, and Direct Internet Access. As part of the Plan, the transport network and fiber connection between City data centers and the Internet hub at One Wilshire building in Los Angeles has been completed. Construction of the fiber optic backbone of the network is complete for the most part, except for a small section crossing the railroad tracks across Sonora Avenue at Air Way. GWP’s goal is to further extend the network by installing a new fiber optic communication line to meet the communication needs of Scholl Canyon Parks and Facilities.
On April 30, 2024, the City Council adopted Specification No. 3979 for the extension of the fiber optic line to the parks and facilities in Scholl Canyon (Project), and authorized the City Clerk to advertise for bids. This new fiber line can be used for providing fiber services to community facilities such as Glenoaks Elementary School, Glenoaks Park, Lower Scholl Canyon Park, Scholl Canyon Ball Fields and the Scholl Canyon Landfill Facilities. The new fiber line can be extended in the future to the City of Pasadena.
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RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to enter into and execute a contract with SECC Corporation (SECC), in the amount of $401,606 plus a 15% contingency in the amount of $60,241 for the construction of the fiber optic line to the Parks and Facilities in Scholl Canyon.
ANALYSIS
Currently, the Scholl Canyon area that includes several parks, school and the landfill facility does not have access to fiber optic services from the City. This Project is designed to bring fiber optic services to the larger Scholl Canyon area to meet the communication needs of school, parks, ball fields and the new power generation facility at the Scholl Landfill site. Furthermore, this new communication line can be extended, in the future, to the Mirador Radio Tower in Pasadena which is to the east of the Landfill site to establish a direct fiber optic connection with the City of Pasadena (Scholl- Pasadena Extension).
GWP had tasked one of their Owner’s Engineers, Electrical and Power Engineers (EPE Inc.) to prepare the design and construction plan for installing this proposed Project. EPE Inc. completed the plans and construction package for this Project earlier this year, and they were adopted by the City Council on April 30, 2024, as Specification No. 3979. The proposed Project will use GWP’ s existing infrastructure such as pole lines and underground vaults and conduits to install the fiber optic cable.
The Plan envisages communication line to the new Biogas Renewable Generation Power Plant as well as the Scholl Ball Fields. Furthermore, the design makes provisions for future fiber services to Glenoaks Elementary School, Glenoaks Park, and Lower Scholl Canyon Park. The Owner’s Engineer’s original estimate for this Project was $500,000.
GWP staff issued Specification No. 3979 seeking bids from qualified contractors to install the fiber line extension to Scholl Canyon. The Project was advertised in the local newspaper as well as the industry bid site beaconbid.com. Even though the mandatory pre-bid meeting was attended by three contractors, GWP received only two bids, one from HP Communications for $252,926 and the other from SECC for $401,606. Even though HP Communications was the lowest bidder, their bid was incomplete and non-responsive, and was rejected due to not meeting the requirements of the specifications. HP Communications did not meet the bid requirements since they did not provide any bid bond, any experience details about prior projects completed, or the contractor safety questionnaire.
The bid from SECC for $401,606 is approximately 8% below the Owner’s Engineer’s estimate. Staff recommends awarding the contract to SECC based on their experience completing similar projects for public and private clients such as the City of Ontario, the City of Anaheim, San Bernardino Unified School District, AT&T, Frontier Communications, and Edison Carrier Solutions (ECS). Staff has received excellent feedback about SECC’s work from some of their clients including the City of Ontario and ECS. SECC has been on contract with the City of Ontario for over seven years and has worked on their “OntarioNet” project.
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STAKEHOLDERS/OUTREACH
Not Applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed contract with SECC for constructing the fiber optic line to the Parks and Facilities in Scholl Canyon will cost $401,606 plus 15% contingency of $60,241 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $461,847. The funds for this project have been budgeted in GWP’s capital budget for FY 2024-25. No new appropriation is being requested at this time. The City Council approved funding is outlined below:
Existing Appropriation
Amount Account String Funding Source
$461,847 GL 43110-5830-GWP-0020
PL E30072
Electric Depreciation
Fund
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (CEQA/NEPA)
The Project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines Section 15303 - Class 3 New construction or conversion of small structures, as it proposes to construct a fiber/utility extension to the Parks and Facilities at Scholl Canyon.
CAMPAIGN DISCLOSURE
Not applicable.
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Alternative 1: Decline to award the contract to SECC Corporation to construct the fiber optic line to the Parks and Facilities at Scholl Canyon, which will adversely impact GWP’ s ability to provide fiber optic services to Scholl Canyon area and to operate and maintain the new generation facility.
Alternative 2: Consider any other alternative not proposed by staff.
ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION
Submitted by:
Mark Young, General Manager - Glendale Water and Power
Prepared by:
Daniel Scorza, P.E., Assistant General Manager - Electric Varghese George, P.E., Senior Electrical Engineer/Fiber Services Manager Approved by:
Roubik R. Golanian, P.E., City Manager
EXHIBITS/ATTACHMENTS
None.