City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Public Works
Meeting Date: October 6, 2025
Report #:2508-5123
TITLE
Approval of Professional Service Contract No. C26194618 with SCS Field Services in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $1,513,890, to Provide Landfill Gas Monitoring, Reporting, and Well Installation Services for the City’s Closed Landfill for a Period of Five Years, and Approval of a Budget Amendment in the Refuse Fund; CEQA Status – Exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15301
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve and authorize the City Manager or their designee to execute Contract No.
C26194618 with SCS Field Services, to provide landfill gas collection system monitoring, reporting, and well installation services for a term of five years for a total not-to-exceed amount of $1,513,890, including $1,376,265 for basic services and $137,625 for additional services; and
2. Amend the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Appropriations for the Refuse Fund (requires a 2/3 majority vote) by:
a) Decreasing the Refuse Fund balance by $179,175; and
b) Increasing the Landfill Operations appropriation for contract services by $179,175.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City closed and capped its landfill in 2015. The site was then improved to create Byxbee Park. State and federal regulations impose certain post-closure gas monitoring and reporting requirements. The contract with SCS Field Services will provide necessary routine and on-call monitoring, reporting, well installations, and other engineering services as needed.
BACKGROUND
The City owns and operates a closed, class III municipal solid waste disposal site (Landfill), located at 2380 Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto, California. The Landfill reached refuse capacity
and ceased accepting waste in 2011, underwent final capping and regulatory closure in 2015, and is now known as Byxbee Park. The Landfill is currently in its “post-closure” maintenance and monitoring period, under regulatory oversight by CalRecycle, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, The Bay Area Air District (BAAD), and Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health.
State and federal regulations require that landfill operators provide effective environmental control and monitoring systems to prevent the buildup and release of landfill gas from the buried waste. The Landfill’s gas extraction system consists of buried underground piping, 91 vertical extraction wells, and a flare/blower system that keeps the wellfield under vacuum.
Specific landfill gas control requirements are listed in BAAD’s Regulation 8, Rule 341, and include well-head monitoring, surface emissions monitoring, maintaining detailed operating records, continuous flow and temperature monitoring and recording at the flare/blower station, and source testing.
The environmental control systems monitoring and reporting tasks are required after the landfill closure for as long as the landfill continues producing methane and leachate (estimated for a minimum period of 30 years). The contract needed is to provide services for gas monitoring and reporting for the landfill gas control system for the Landfill as required by those regulations. The work requires specialized instruments, tools, equipment, and trained personnel to meet the stringent requirements of the State and local oversight agencies. The current contract is with SCS Field Services2 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $370,809 for 3 years, and it was amended twice, extending the term of the contract by a total of one year to October 10, 2025 to allow time for a complete formal solicitation process, and adding funds for a new total not-to-exceed amount of $417,012. The recent solicitation process was for a contract term of 5 years instead of 3 years to ensure stability and continuity of these required services.
ANALYSIS
The City requires the services of a qualified and experienced contracting firm to assist with regulatory compliance of the landfill’s gas collection system. Due to the nature and quantity of the work, outside resources are required. The new recommended five-year contract with SCS Field Services will continue to provide the City with monitoring and reporting services, ensuring landfill gas regulatory compliance, and includes the following tasks:
1 Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s (BAAQMD’s) Regulation 8, Rule 34:
https://www.baaqmd.gov/%7E/media/dotgov/files/rules/reg-8-rule-34-solid-waste-disposal- sites/documents/rg0834.pdf?rev=41e786097ed348e99bf53c14f101e055&sc_lang=en 2 City Council, October 25, 2021; Agenda Item #4; CMR #12080 https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/DocView.aspx?id=77&page=41&repo=r-704298fc&searchid=44d34e8e-3aae- 4c6d-a2d4-c2ef3c9802d2
1. Perform routine and on-call landfill gas collection and emission control system monitoring and reporting including well-head monitoring, surface emissions monitoring, component monitoring and leak testing, and flare/blower station monitoring;
2. Perform annual landfill flare stack emissions sampling, analyses, and reporting;
3. Compile and prepare required landfill gas reports, including Rule 8-34 Annual Report, Landfill Methane Rule Annual Report, and Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas reporting;
4. Provide well installations on an as-needed basis and as directed by City staff; and
5. Provide miscellaneous engineering support services on an as-needed basis and as directed by City staff. These services may include providing consultation on equipment specifications, landfill gas quality evaluations and modeling, or assistance with the regulatory liaison or unforeseen regulatory requests.
Solicitation Process:
A formal Request For Proposals (RFP) for the project was posted to the City’s eProcurement system on June 27, 2025. The City received three proposals on July 25, 2025, all of which were deemed responsive, as summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Summary of Solicitation Process:
Proposal Description Landfill Gas Monitoring, Reporting, and Well Installation Services/RFP194618
Proposed length of project 5 years
Total days to respond to proposal 29
Pre-proposal meeting None
Pre-proposal meeting date N/A
Number of proposals received 3
Number of proposals considered responsive 3
Proposal price range $195,570-$275,253 per year
Table 2: Proposals Received:
Company Name Location (City, State) Proposal Amount per Year Proposal Amount over 5 years SCS Field Services Long Beach, CA $275,253 $1,376,265
APTIM Concord, CA $240,583 $1,202,915
Blue Flame Crew West Naperville, IL $195,570 $977,850
A team composed of three staff from the Public Works Department evaluated the proposals included in Table 2 based on the following criteria: quality and completeness of proposal, effectiveness of the proposed solution, experience, cost, financial stability, timely performance, prior record of performance for government agencies, ability to provide ongoing services, and compliance with applicable laws.
Following a comprehensive evaluation, SCS Field Services received the highest aggregate score and was selected due to the quality and completeness of their proposal, quality and effectiveness of their services, the experience of their staff, and prior record of performance with the City. Additionally, the key differentiator for SCS Field Services included established and robust software with a data tracking system and analysis of gas wells that allows monitoring of wells over time and assists with troubleshooting of potential compliance issues including with ease in the field with mobile devices. The online database tool retains history of each well, identifies anomalies that alert staff if additional maintenance or troubleshooting is needed at each specific well location, and includes charting and mapping features. This is a unique tool to SCS Field Services that the City currently uses and will continue to benefit from, and it enhances the City’s response time to prevent compliance issues with regulators. Additionally, SCS proposed an equally robust solution for remote monitoring and control of the gas flare which provides real time remote monitoring and an alert system to ping SCS and City staff when the flare is outside of its operating parameters so it can be addressed immediately, reducing flare down time and BAAD enforcement action and fines. These two features were absent or reflected insufficient content to demonstrate this caliber of monitoring tools in the other proposals.
The funding needs for the new contract are significantly higher at $179,175 more per year than the current contract; however, the last RFP was conducted in 2021, and costs have since increased considerably for labor, supplies, and general cost of living expenses. Other contributing factors to the increase include the addition of a new task in the RFP scope of work for well installation, and an increase in the number of hours the technicians may spend on-site monitoring gas wells and surface emissions. The rates for the new contract with SCS Field Services will be locked in and not change for the entirety of the 5-year contract term through October 2030.
The City is required per federal and state regulations to provide effective environmental control and monitoring systems to prevent the buildup and release of landfill gas and leachate from the buried waste, therefore, if this contract is not approved, the City will be unable to comply with these requirements beginning October 2025 and will be subject to permit violations and fines.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
Partial funding for the first year of the contract recommended in this report is available in the Fiscal Year 2026 Adopted Operating Budget for the Refuse Fund. To fully fund the first year of the contract, staff recommends amending the Fiscal Year 2026 Adopted Operating Budget for the Refuse Fund by appropriating funding from fund balance in the amount of $179,175.
Appropriations for subsequent contract years will be determined through the annual budget development process and are subject to Council approval. Table 3 summarizes the contract costs.
Table 3: Summary of contract costs for the contract with SCS Field Services for Landfill Gas Monitoring, Reporting, and Well Installation Services:
Monitoring, Reporting, and Well Installation per Year $275,253 Additional Services per Year $27,525
Total Annual Cost $302,778
Total Contract Not-to-Exceed Amount for 5-year term $1,513,890
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
This contract is for the continuation of existing Landfill monitoring and reporting services that are required by multiple regulations and engagement focused on the procurement process to engage potential proposers.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Council action on this item is exempt from CEQA review under section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines because the contract for landfill monitoring and reporting services involves the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, or minor alteration to an existing facility with negligible or no expansion in use.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Partially Executed Contract with SCS Field Services, Contract #C26194618 APPROVED BY:
Brad Eggleston, Director Public Works/City Engineer