To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Utilities Director
Jeanne Stevens, P.E., Engineering Manager
Title
Resolution Approving a Construction Contract with Moltz Construction, Inc. for the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility Membrane Expansion Project
Body
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Executive Summary
The Utilities Department is seeking Town Council approval of a resolution (Attachment A) awarding a Construction Contract (Exhibit 1) with Moltz Construction, for the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility (PCWPF) Membrane Expansion Project. The Moltz project cost is $990,000 for the planned expansion to the PCWPF involving the addition of one membrane filtration system with a treatment capacity of 2 million gallons per day (MGD). Staff also requests approval for a 5% staff-managed contingency, $49,000, for a total project authorization of $1,039,000. This authorization request is within the project’s 2016 budget. Staff plans to complete the project over the winter when the treatment plant can be taken offline as needed and have the facility back online for the spring 2017 irrigation demand season. Adding one membrane rack system at this time will raise the facility’s overall membrane treatment capacity to 6 MGD and fully utilize the facility’s current overall treatment capacity.
In addition to the requirement that new equipment be compatible with existing systems, a consideration of life cycle costs supports acquisition of new membrane filtration systems by Pall Corporation as the most beneficial approach. Previous experience with Moltz and Pall, who successfully supplied, installed, and started up the PCWPF membrane systems, was excellent and the same staff from Moltz that worked on the PCWPF project will be working on this planned membrane expansion project.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
Utilities staff presented the specifics of this project to the Utilities Commission at their regularly scheduled meeting held on August 31, 2016. The presentation highlighted the scope and complexity of this capital improvement project. This project supports the Utilities’ goal of ensuring that reliable, high-quality drinking water is distributed to our community. Utilities Commission voted to recommend Council approve this project.
Discussion
The Utilities Department is planning to expand the membrane treatment capacity at the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility (PCWPF) by adding one membrane rack system by Pall Corporation (Pall). One membrane rack system will add 2 million gallons per day (MGD) of raw water treatment capacity to the PCWPF. Utilities is also planning to work exclusively with Moltz Construction, Inc. who performed the same services 3 years ago when Utilities constructed the PCWPF. A sole source justification form has been completed (Attachment B). The current facility was built using Pall’s membrane filtration systems and has a membrane treatment capacity of 4 MGD. Prior to the membranes, raw water is treated through a pre-treatment train (pre-treatment includes: aeration, flocculation, sedimentation, and greensand filtration) with a capacity of 6 MGD, except for this additional 2 MGD of membrane treatment. Adding the next membrane rack needs to be completed before additional raw water supplies, anticipated in 2017-2018, can be sent to the PCWPF for treatment.
Utilities completed a bidding process with three qualified membrane filtration system manufacturers in 2011. Pall submitted a bid (and was awarded the contract) which met the qualitative requirements and had the lowest Total Present Worth (TPW) Project Cost. Contract award based on the lowest TPW Project Cost provided a basis for evaluating and ranking bids and represents the sum of the purchase price and estimated present worth of operating and maintenance costs over 20 years; intent of the process used was to best represent the total cost of ownership for the membrane system.
The current cost for Pall Corporation to furnish the 2 MGD membrane treatment system included with the Moltz Construction contract is $673,540. As a more recent cost comparison, the Left Hand Water District (LHWD) in Niwot, CO purchased Pall membrane systems with a capacity of 10 MGD in 2014 for the cost of $2,672,740. In simple terms, this cost equates to approximately a $267,274 per MGD compared to the current Pall cost of $336,770 per MGD for the proposed PCWPF membrane expansion project. The LHWD did however, realize economies of scale when purchasing a larger overall membrane system (10 MGD) and their membrane treatment systems do not exactly match (need to consider different facility layouts, source water qualities, etc.) the membrane treatment systems designed for the PCWPF.
To expand the membrane filtration system and ensure the current system continues to operate reliably and efficiently, it is necessary to continue working with Pall to provide their membrane modules and control systems. Mixing modules and new control systems from a different membrane manufacturer is not a practical or recommended option.
Moltz Construction was the general contractor on the PCWPF project (see Attachment C). The same field superintendent that successfully completed the PCWPF project will manage Moltz’s field work on this membrane expansion project. Moltz has an excellent relationship working with Utilities staff and they have acquired the experience necessary to most cost effectively install and start-up a Pall membrane filtration system at the PCWPF.
Budget Impact
Utilities budgeted $7,250,632 in 2016 for PCWPF expansion projects including increasing treatment capacity and adding advanced treatment systems (Water Resource Capital Projects account 211-4375-443-77-75 Advanced Oxidation Facility). Moltz’s proposed fee is $990,000. Remaining account budget is available for projects such as completing plans and specifications to add advanced water treatment technologies and equipment to the PCWPF. Staff requests an additional $49,000 (Town managed 5% contingency) be authorized for a total project authorization of $1,039,000.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends Town Council approval of the resolution approving the Construction Contract for the PCWPF Membrane Expansion Project with Moltz Construction, Inc. in the amount of $990,000.
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution
Exhibit 1: Construction Contract with Moltz Construction
Attachment B: Sole Source Justification Form
Attachment C: Project Photos