City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 9, 2025
Agenda Item: 4.H
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works, Water Resources Subject: Award RFP #444 and Agreements to 4Front, Arcadis U.S. Inc., and Hazen and Sawyer for On-Call Technical Services for Rehabilitation and Replacement of Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of Categorical Exemptions pursuant to Sections 15301 and 15302, and a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Award RFP #444 to 4Front, Arcadis U.S. Inc., and Hazen and Sawyer for on-call technical support services for the Water Resources Division; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute agreements for on-call technical support services with 4Front, Arcadis U.S., Inc., and Hazen and Sawyer, in an amount not to exceed $750,000 for each agreement over a fiveyear period, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
The City of Santa Monica, Department of Public Works – Water Resources Division provides drinking water, wastewater collection, and recycled water services to residents, commercial users, and other users within the City boundaries. The City currently services approximately 18,000 metered customers with a current average annual water demand of approximately 11,600 acre-feet per year (AFY). To assist in maintaining a reliable and resilient water and wastewater infrastructure to serve the community, staff in the Water Resources Division issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to retain professional environmental and engineering consulting firms to provide as-needed technical support for services such as development services, engineering design services to rehabilitate or replace aging infrastructure and feasibility studies to maintain 2 of 5
continuous, reliable water and wastewater services. Staff recommends awarding the on-call technical support services to 4Front, Arcadis U.S. Inc., and Hazen and Sawyer in amounts not to exceed $750,000 each for a three (3) year term with two one-year renewal options.
Discussion
The Water Resources Division provides drinking water, wastewater collection, and recycled water services to residents, commercial users, and other users within the City boundaries. The City currently services approximately 18,000 metered customers with a current average annual water demand of approximately 11,600 acre-feet per year (AFY). Key facilities and infrastructure in delivering the City’s local water supply include:
three well fields with 11 production wells total, a 5 million gallons per day (MGD) Charnock Treatment Plant, a new 3 MGD Olympic Well Field Advanced Water Treatment Facility, a centralized 13 MGD Arcadia Water Treatment Plant (brackish groundwater desalination facility), three (3) booster pump stations, four (4) drinking water storage reservoirs that total 40 million gallons, a 1 MGD potable reuse facility (Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project), two stormwater harvesting tanks (total capacity of 3.1 million gallons), a 0.5 MGD stormwater/urban runoff recycling facility, a
0.3 MGD injection well, and over 200 miles of water distribution system pipelines. The Water Resources Division also operates the City’s wastewater infrastructure, which includes the 25 MGD Moss Avenue Pump Station and over 150 miles of wastewater collection pipelines.
To maintain a modern, reliable, and resilient water and wastewater infrastructure, the various facilities that pump, treat, and distribute drinking water to the community requires continuous upkeep, rehabilitation, and/or replacement to ensure continuous service and delivery of safe, high-quality drinking water. On-call, or as-needed, technical services would assist the division in carrying out routine maintenance projects that require professional engineering analysis or design in a timely manner. On-call technical services may include development services to evaluate the impact of new developments on the City’s water and wastewater infrastructure, periodic hydraulic 3 of 5
model calibration to maintain system resiliency, feasibility analyses in replacing obsolete equipment (e.g., water valves), design services to support emergency repairs, and asset management.
Vendor Selection
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified
Persons/Firms
4Front, Arcadis U.S. Inc., and Hazen and Sawyer
Evaluation Criteria Training/credentials/experience, competence/skill, capacity/ability to perform services promptly, sufficiency of financial/other resources, character/reputation, ability to provide future services as needed and price.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
4Front Arcadis U.S.
Inc.
Hazen and
Sawyer
Richard C.
Slade and
Associates LLC
Worley
Bid Data
Date Posted Posted On Advertise In (City
Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
04/03/2025 City’s Online
Bidding Site
Santa Monica
Daily Press
62 05/01/2025
Justification to Award
The proposals were reviewed by an evaluation committee consisting of staff from the Public Works Department – Water Resources Division. 4Front demonstrated the strongest technical competence and experience to support water and wastewater development services for the City; Arcadis U.S. Inc. demonstrated the strongest competence of the City’s water and wastewater assets and its condition to support proactive maintenance and replacement of aging assets; and Hazen and Sawyer demonstrated the strongest range of capacity to support technical feasibility evaluations and design services.
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Environmental Review
Design services for rehabilitating or replacing existing infrastructure and equipment are categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15301 and Section 15302 of the CEQA Guidelines. Section 15301 exempts Class 1 (Existing Facilities) projects from CEQA, which include the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alternation of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use. Section 15302 exempts Class 2 (Replacement/Reconstruction) projects, which consist of replacement or reconstruction of existing structures and facilities where the new structure will be located on the same site as the structure replaced and will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structure replaced. The oncall technical services would be limited to only rehabilitation or replacement of existing facilities, with no expansion of existing use.
Technical and feasibility studies that may be performed under the on-call technical services are categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines under the “common sense” exemption, which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Water and Wastewater Funds to award agreements with 4Front, Arcadis U.S., Inc., and Hazen and Sawyer to provide on-call technical services for the water utility. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Contract Request (4Front)
FY 2025-26
Request Amount Account # Future Years Total Contract Amount $100,000 50500001.550010 $275,000 $375,000
$100,000 51500001.550010 $275,000 $375,000
$200,000 TOTAL $550,000 $750,000
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Contract Request (Arcadis U.S. Inc.)
FY 2025-26
Request Amount Account # Future Years Total Contract Amount $100,000 50500001.550010 $275,000 $375,000
$100,000 51500001.550010 $275,000 $375,000
$200,000 TOTAL $550,000 $750,000
Contract Request (Hazen and Sawyer)
FY 2025-26
Request Amount Account # Future Years Total Contract Amount $100,000 50500001.550010 $275,000 $375,000
$100,000 51500001.550010 $275,000 $375,000
$200,000 TOTAL $550,000 $750,000
Prepared By: Sunny Wang, Water Resources Manager
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. FY 25-26 Oaks Initiative (4Front Inc)
B. FY 25-26 Levine Act (4Front Inc)
C. FY 25-26 Oaks Initiative (Hazen & Sawyer)
D. FY 25-26 Levine Act (Hazen & Sawyer)
E. FY 25-26 Oaks Initiative (Arcadis)
F. FY 25-26 Levine Act (Arcadis)