City Council Agenda Report
April 16, 2024
TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: Jesus M. Gomez, City Manager
BY: Glen W.C. Kau, P.E., Director of Public Services/City Engineer Jacqueline Koontz, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer
SUBJECT: AWARD OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT - 2025 SANITARY
SEWER SYSTEM MASTER PLAN STUDY
Background:
Norwalk is about 9.8 square miles in area; is a balanced residential, commercial, and industrial City with approximately 110,000 residents. Incorporated in 1957, Norwalk, is located 17 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, and is part of the Greater Los Angeles area.
The City’s sewer system serves the area consisting of all lands within its corporate boundaries (9.35 square miles) and provides sewer service to a population of approximately 110,000. The existing sewer collection system is comprised of about 163 miles (860,640 lf) of mostly gravity sewers of varying diameter; 2,480 sewer manholes; 26 sewer siphons (double siphons are counted as two siphons); and (3) three sewage lift stations. The City currently contracts for regularly scheduled sanitary sewer video inspection/cleaning and for as-needed system repairs.
The previous 2014 Sewer System Management Plan (SMP) and Sanitary Sewer Master Plan (SSMP) were completed and adopted by City Council in 2015. Due to the length of time since the 2014 SMP and SSMP were completed, it is recommended to prepare a revised 2025 SMP instead of performing an update.
Public Services Utilities staff sought qualified and experienced engineering consulting firms to perform a sanitary sewer system master plan (SMP) study and related services for the city’s sanitary sewer system. The SMP is intended to be used to provide guidance and recommendations for crucial improvements for enhancements to system operations and maintenance; timely system improvements to insure uninterrupted and compliant services; identify and recommend future system capital improvements; account for future private
City Council April 16, 2024
Award of Professional Services Agreement Page No. 2
2025 Sanitary Sewer System Master Plan Study
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8 development and associated system demands. No comprehensive city-wide sewer system model or master plan has been completed to date for the City.
The selected engineering consulting firm will be selected through qualifications-based selection (QBS), a procedure whereby firm is retained based on qualifications and responses; price is not the primary factor but is considered into the agreement with negotiation as needed for a mutually agreeable contract.
In October 2023, staff solicited a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire city-wide SMP study services. The work scope consists of the following six tasks at minimum:
Task 1 - Project Management and Meetings
Task 2 - Review Existing Plans, Policies and Procedures Task 3 - GAP Analysis, Plan and Standards and Procedures Update or Development Task 4 - Flow Monitoring/Develop and Calibrate Sewer System Hydraulic Model Task 5 - Review Overflow Emergency Response Plan
Task 6 - Draft and Final Updated SMP
These SMP tasks will achieve the following goals but not limited to:
•Collect and review of all data significant to and thorough completion of the SMP and sewer hydraulic model. Coordination with relevant agencies such as Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) and Los Angeles County Sanitation District (LACSD) to acquire all data.
•Submit a Technical Memorandum (TM) to identify and provide rationale for flow monitoring locations throughout the City.
•Develop key system data to be used in the development of Sewer Impact Fees. •Provide a preliminary and final 2025 SMP that identifies deficiencies in the system and includes a prioritized 10-year plan (2025 – 2030/35) all recommended alternatives for improvement all sewer facilities, cost estimates and estimated project durations. •Develop a sewer hydraulic model to identify peak flow factor and flow patterns, assess capacity constraints, and potential limitations for future development. •Conduct site investigations, as needed, to confirm information from existing reports and records.
It is expected that the computerized hydraulic model analysis of the pipeline network will identify the capacity of the City’s sewer pipelines and lift stations, identify deficiencies, and propose a capital improvement program with costs estimates for remedy of the identified deficiencies.
No responses were received during initial solicitation. Staff then contacted a handful of potential engineering consultants to extend personal invitations to propose. This proved successful as five proposals were received from second solicitation. The five proposals were and reviewed and ranked with the following results:
City Council April 16, 2024
Award of Professional Services Agreement Page No. 3
2025 Sanitary Sewer System Master Plan Study
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8 Rank Company Name Completion
Time Fee
1 Psomas 11 months $328,165
2 Dudek 9 months $311.290
These two firms’ proposals had similar approaches. Stetsons’ proposal provided more detailed responses in their methodology and approach for data collection, water modeling, system operations; determining hydraulic capacity; using current and critical planning criteria to accommodate future, improvements and expansions; development of the system improvement plan; their experience in water rate studies and development.
Fiscal Impact:
Adequate funding ($100,000) is available in the approved FY 2023-24 budget. Staff recommends that these services will be funded over two fiscal years and will budget the project appropriately. These services will be funded over two fiscal years and costs will be included in next year’s budget.
Citizens Advised:
N/A
Strategic Plan 2023 Implementation:
The recommended action will further the City’s Strategic Plan Goal 2: Work in Partnership with Our Community to Achieve Safe and Livable Neighborhoods, Objective 1, Reinvest in existing and aging infrastructure.
Recommended Action:
Staff recommends City Council award a professional services agreement with Psomas to provide professional engineering services for preparation of the City of Norwalk’s 2025 Sanitary Sewer System Master Plan Study, for a not-to-exceed-fee of $328,165, and authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement and any amendments up to his authority, provided there is funding in the budget, and it is within the City Manager’s signing authority, on behalf of the City, in a form approved by the City Attorney.
Attachments:
N/A