Councilman Robert Gonzales said that the reason he asked that the report be pulled from the consent calendar was because he recognized several of the listed firms as taking part in the Value Engineering study on the wastewater treatment plant. “Would this exclude them from bidding on the job if we had to go out on a bid?” asked Gonzales. “...I would hate to hire one of the companies used for value engineering because they had an inside track” and the city was sued for favoritism.City Attorney Karl Berger said that the competitive process would eliminate such concerns, as “anyone applying for the project, whatever system used, is given the full amount of information that everyone else does.” Participants in the Value Engineering process would also receive the same information, and Berger said that bidders would not need to disqualify themselves based on prior study of the project.“Some of these firms took park in value engineering... fingers may be pointed that maybe they had an inside track,” said Gonzales.Wherever the project goes, the list presented to the Council is for management only, said Finley. “They’re all consultants, there’s no contractors here, they would take a supervisory role... obviously, you can’t do both.”RBF, the only firm that managed a project that includes the finance component of DBOF, will not be participating in the request for proposal said Finley.
List of DBO management consultants for WWTP discussed
July 27, 2007
Santa Paula City Council
Just prior to the city heading down the Design/Build/Operate/Finance path, staff presented a list of engineering firms that can manage the DBOF process for the new membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesJust prior to the city heading down the Design/Build/Operate/Finance path, staff presented a list of engineering firms that can manage the DBOF process for the new membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant. The Council had asked for such a report in May while they were still exploring the DBOF strategy.At the July 16 meeting, Public Works Director/City Engineer Cliff Finley reported that staff conducted the research using websites and phone calls to representatives of the American Council of Engineering Companies, Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California, American Membrane Technology Association and Design Build Institute of America. The survey found that 182 California firms specialize in Design/Build/Operate programs, that out of the 120 state wastewater engineering firms there are 11 that specialize in the MBR design, and that there are 41 California firms that specialize in program management.Engineering firms in California that have experience with Design/Build/Operate and membrane bioreactor projects numbered 11, with one, RBF, “the only firm that appears to have managed a project that includes the finance component,” noted Finley. None of the 10 remaining firms have “actually performed the finance portion of the DBOF process, but are typically part of a larger team,” said Finley.“If many of these firms look” familiar, it is because the city has contracted with them in the past or continues to contract with them, said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz.
