City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: JUNE 10, 2025 FROM: PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT WARDS: 1 AND 2
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS NO. 2416 – APPROVE A SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH T2 UES, INC. DBA T2 UTILITY ENGINEERS OF HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA, FOR UTILITY POTHOLING SERVICES TO SUPPORT CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $119,870.00 ISSUE:
Approve a Services Agreement with T2 UES, Inc. dba T2 Utility Engineers of Huntington Beach, California, for utility potholing services in the amount of $119,870.00.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the City Council:
Approve a Services Agreement with T2 UES, Inc. dba T2 Utility Engineers of Huntington Beach, California, for utility potholing services to support capital improvement projects in the amount of $119,870.00; and Authorize the City Manager, or designee, to execute the Services Agreement with T2 UES, Inc. dba T2 Utility Engineers, including making minor and non-substantive changes.
BACKGROUND:
The Public Works Department – Wastewater and Engineering Divisions are currently finalizing the engineering design of three capital improvement projects:
Rerouting of the existing sewer mains on Third Street to accommodate the Third Street Grade Separation Project; Storm Drain Improvements to resolve drainage and erosion issues near Watkins Drive and Mount Vernon Avenue; and Lighting Improvements Project on Fifth Street and Main Street.
It is imperative that the proposed designs do not interfere with existing underground utilities; such conflicts often increase construction costs due to unplanned relocations and delay project completion.
DISCUSSION:
Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 2416 solicits qualified utility locator services to verify location, alignment, and depth of existing utilities, as well as identify possible conflicts with the proposed new improvements.
The City’s Engineering teams strive to deliver quality projects while exercising sound fiscal stewardship of the public’s money. By combining these services across multiple projects, the City can secure reduced pricing from vendors through economies of scale and reduce the City’s administrative time and expenses. Prioritizing potholing investigation prior to completing project design upholds the City’s standard of excellence in internal design and reduces the possibility of costly design changes in the field during construction.
On October 22, 2024, RFP No. 2416 for Citywide Utility Potholing Services was posted on PlanetBids. Services include locating existing underground utilities at various locations throughout the City to support the design of Public Works capital improvement projects.
Upon releasing RFP No. 2416, 1,101 City of Riverside vendors were notified via PlanetBids, and 41 prospective bidders downloaded the proposal documents. Prior to the bid opening, one (1) addendum was issued to revise the locations and amount of potholes needed, as well as a revision to the cost proposal to reflect the additional potholes. One question was received, inquiring whether this RFP is a yearly contract or is the pricing based on the provided line items of work.
On November 21, 2024, a total of six (6) proposals were received. The proposals were reviewed and scored by a panel consisting of Public Works staff based on established criteria from RFP No. 2416: qualifications, pricing, experience, professional references, and approach and methodology. As a result, T2 UES, Inc. dba T2 Utility Engineer’s proposal ranked the highest among the proposers.
Proposer
City Location
Amount
Rank
T2 UES, Inc. dba T2 Utility Engineers
Huntington Beach, CA
$ 119,870.00
1 Kana Subsurface Engineering
Riverside, CA
$ 147,171.00
2 J&M Contracting Corp.
La Verne, CA
$ 142,760.00
3 Herman Weissker, Inc.
Riverside, CA
$ 273,017.75
4 Horizon Underground, Inc.
Norco, CA
$ 183,100.00
5 Outsource Utility Contractor, LLC
Torrance, CA
$ 152,160.90
6 Purchasing Resolution 24101 Section 508 states, “Contracts procured through Formal Procurement shall be awarded by the Awarding Entity to the Lowest Responsive and Responsible Bidder, except that…(c) Contracts procured through Formal Procurement for Services or Professional Services, where a Request for Proposals or Request for Qualifications was used to solicit Bids, shall be awarded by the Awarding Entity in accordance with the evaluation criteria set forth in the Request for Proposals or Request for Qualifications…” The Purchasing Manager concurs that the recommendation to award complies with Purchasing Resolution 24101.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
This item contributes to Strategic Priority 6 – Infrastructure, Mobility, and Connectivity and Goal 6.2 – Maintain, protect, and improve assets and infrastructure within the City’s built environment to ensure and enhance reliability, resiliency, sustainability, and facilitate connectivity.
This Project focuses on fiscal responsibility to prudently utilize public funds to provide exceptional services that are efficient, accessible, and responsive. Authorizing the execution of these agreements provides timing installation, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and to ensure safe, reliable infrastructures that benefit the community and facilities.
Furthermore, this project aligns with each of the five Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust – This Project ensures that the proposed projects will not interfere with the existing utilities, therefore minimizes disruptions to all underground utility services to the communities.
Equity – This Project supports the design of capital improvement projects within the City, which benefit all public users.
Fiscal Responsibility – This Project was publicly bid, and the Services contract will be awarded to the most qualified Proposer.
Innovation – This Project solicits services that include Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technologies to locate existing underground utilities. This is a new technology that maps the existence of underground pipelines, which minimizes the guesswork of saw-cutting and roadway pavement removal to pinpoint the underground utilities.
Sustainability & Resiliency – The use of GPR minimizes the guesswork of locating and removing bigger areas of roadway pavement, thus keeping the surface infrastructures intact and preserving the City’s streets.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The total fiscal impact of the action is $119,870. The estimated total project costs including design engineering, potholing services, contingencies, and contract administration are itemized in Table 1. Sufficient funds are budgeted and available in the expenditure accounts as shown in Table 2 to award the RFP and complete the project.
Table 1 – Total Project Costs
Task
Amount
Design Engineering (In House)
$5,993
Potholing Services Contract (T2 UES, Inc. dba T2 Utility Engineers) $119,870
Contingencies (10%)
$11,987
Inspection and Survey (In House)
$11,987
Total
$149,837
Table 2 – Project Funds
Fund
Project/Program
Account
Amount
TUMF
Third St/BNSF Grade Separation
9990119-440315
$106,460.71
Gas Tax
Misc Street Construction—Storm Drain Improvements
9507027-440223
$2,669.27
Measure A
Pedestrian Mall Lighting Upgrade
9913900-440313
$40,707.02
Total
$149,837.00
Prepared by: Thuy Nguyen, Principal Engineer
Approved by: Gilbert Hernandez, Public Works Director
Certified as to
availability of funds: Kristie Thomas, Finance Director/Assistant Chief Financial Officer Approved by: Kris Martinez, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Rebecca McKee-Reimbold, Interim City Attorney Attachments:
Project Location Map
Services Agreement
RFP Award Recommendation
RFP 2416 – Services AgreementPage 2