City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: November 18, 2025
Agenda Item: 4.F
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works, Water Resources Subject: Award RFP #SP2456 to Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. for Operation, Maintenance and Management Services of the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) Advanced Water Treatment Facilities Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15301 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Award RFP #SP2456 to Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. to provide operation, maintenance and management services for the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) advanced water treatment facilities for the Public Works Department; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a contract with Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $16,000,000 (including a 10% contingency) over a five-year period.
Summary
The City of Santa Monica continues to be a recognized leader in the world for its innovative water infrastructure projects and environmental policies aimed at providing a resilient, reliable, and sustainable water supply. A key cornerstone in the City’s effort to provide a local, drought, resilient water supply is the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project, or SWIP, that leverages stormwater, dry weather urban runoff, and municipal wastewater to produce purified water to augment the City’s water supply. The SWIP was delivered through a design-build-operate model, where the design-build team that constructed the SWIP also provided two years of operations of the SWIP, Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (SMURRF), and other supporting facilities after construction completion. Due to the unique nature and evolving state regulatory 2 of 5
requirements for treatment operator certification for facilities like SWIP, the City currently does not employ treatment operators whose certification levels meet the state regulations required to operate the SWIP and must therefore contract out these services to operate the facility. Staff recommends awarding the SWIP operations and maintenance contract to Jacobs Engineering Group (Jacobs). If the operating conditions and requirements for SWIP remain unchanged after the five-year contract period, staff will return to City Council to seek renewal of the SWIP five-year operations contract.
Discussion
The City’s 2018 Sustainable Water Master Plan established the strategic framework for Santa Monica’s pathway to reduce reliance on imported water supplies and provide a climate, resilient, local water supply for the community. Achieving this goal is essential to maintaining local control over water resources and ensuring long-term resilience in the face of climate variability, supply interruptions, and regulatory challenges. A key cornerstone of the 2018 Sustainable Water Master Plan is the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP), a major initiative aimed at enhancing the City’s long-term water resilience. Completed in late 2022, SWIP underwent rigorous regulatory testing before officially beginning operations in 2023. The project plays a critical role in advancing sustainable water management through infrastructure that supports water recycling, reliability, and climate adaptation. The SWIP captures and treats alternative water sources (e.g., stormwater, dry weather urban runoff, and municipal wastewater) through a six-step water purification process that consists of a rotary drum screen, membrane bioreactor, cartridge filtration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet/advanced oxidation processes, and chlorine disinfection to produce highly purified water for nonpotable uses (e.g., irrigation and toilet flushing); potable reuse to recharge local groundwater aquifers, and potential future direct potable reuse.
The SWIP is currently operated by Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. through a designbuild-operate contract that expires in February 2026. The City’s Water Resources Division has not operated wastewater treatment facilities and/or an advanced water purification facility like SWIP and does not have operations staff with the necessary experience and state certifications required by the State Water Resources Control 3 of 5
Board. In addition, regulatory requirements for treatment operator certification are still evolving and may change within the next five years pending future potable reuse applications of purified water produced by the SWIP.
This new contract would authorize operations and maintenance services at the SWIP to Jacobs. Jacob’s staff would provide 24/7 operations services with six on-site staff: four state-certified wastewater treatment/advanced water treatment plant operators and two maintenance technicians. The six staff would each work 40 hours per week, in addition to as-needed on-call services on a 24/7 basis for emergencies. Jacobs would also provide administrative and engineering support to comply with all the requirements of the City’s operating permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region. Jacobs would perform day-to-day operations at the SWIP facilities, maintain and repair equipment, ensure the proper application of chemicals, perform and coordinate repairs, take water samples, monitor various analyzers and other instrumentation, keep records, prepare reports, update safety/training and operations plans, and perform other duties as required. The average labor cost over the five-year period for the six full-time staff operating SWIP, along with two management/administrative staff, is approximately $1.8 million per year, totaling roughly $9 million over the five-year period. The contract also includes City-controlled allowances that average approximately $1.1 million per year, or a total of roughly $5.4 million over the same period.
These City-controlled allowances cover service agreements for the advanced water treatment processes at SWIP, spare parts and equipment, optimization services for the groundwater recharge wells, general consumables (e.g., chemicals and maintenance supplies), and process engineering support services to optimize SWIP operations. The contract operation cost is consistent with current water industry costs in California—for example, contract operation services recently procured by the West Basin Municipal Water District in El Segundo and the Soquel Creek Water District in Northern California, both of which operate similar advanced water purification facilities like SWIP. 4 of 5
RFP Information
Best Qualified Firm Jacobs
Evaluation Criteria Technical ability and experience with similar facilities; qualifications of staff for work on similar facilities; suggested modifications and innovative/advance techniques; safety and permit compliance record; cost and financial responsibility Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
Justification to Award
The proposals were reviewed by an evaluation committee consisting of staff from the Public Works Department – Water Resources Division. Jacobs was selected as the best-qualified firm based on their technical ability and experience with operating similar facilities in California with the most recent permit conditions (e.g., Soquel Creek Water District and West Basin Municipal Water District). Their key staff personnel are highly qualified and have direct experience with similar advanced water/wastewater facilities. Their proposed innovative and advanced techniques for operational efficiency (e.g. AquaDNA Deragger for lift station optimization) were included in their base scope of services. They also have a proven track record in regulatory compliance and use of a digital enabled safety program, along with competitive pricing that included value-added offerings to support the City.
Environmental Review
Operations and maintenance services are categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines. Section 15301 exempts Class 1 (Existing Submittals Received
Inframark, LLC Perc Water
Jacobs Veolia Water West Operating Services,
Inc.
RFP Data
Date
Posted Posted On
Advertise In
(City Charter &
SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
7/18/2025 City's Online
Bidding Site
Santa Monica Daily
Press
89 9/12/2025
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Facilities) projects from CEQA, which include the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use. The award of the contract would allow for continuance of SWIP operations and would not expand or materially change existing facilities or operations. Therefore, the project is categorically exempt as set forth in Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Wastewater Fund to award a contract to Jacobs to operate, manage, and maintain SWIP facilities. The Clean Beaches and Ocean Parcel Tax Fund would contribute to the operating costs of maintaining the SWIP by making annual transfers of approximately 30% of the total operating cost to the Wastewater Fund. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Contract Request
FY 2025-26
Request Amount
Future Years
Amount Account # Total Contract Amount
$2,250,000 $13,750,000 51500001.55001N $16,000,000
Prepared By: Jason Hoang, Principal Civil Engineer
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. FY 25-26 Oaks Initiative (Jacobs Engineering)
B. FY 25-26 Levine Act (Jacobs Engineering)