Okaloosa County BOCC — January 7, 2014 — Action Item Printout — reading text

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: January 7, 2014 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Jeff Littrell SUBJECT: EA Tapping Services - Contract for Large Taps, Line Stops, and Valve Insertions DEPARTMENT: Water and Sewer BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: OCWS staff requests BCC approval to authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with EA Tapping Services LLC for large taps, line stops, and valve insertions. BACKGROUND: OCWS has had a tapping and line stop contract (C09-1690-WS) with EA Tapping Services since 2009. The original contract had a one year term with three one year renewals. We have reached the end of the allotted renewal periods. OCWS staff are requesting BCC approval of the proposed new contract with EA Tapping Services for a three year term with three one year renewals. Large taps and line stops are necessary from time to time to make new connections to our system or to repair our system. It is imperative to have these services readily available to maintain our system. In emergency situations involving large line breaks, OCWS does not have a means to stop the flow if valves are not present. Not being able to stop the flow on a large line may have catastrophic consequences. Staff also utilizes line stops in controlled, planned environments, such as inserting a tee or gate valve into an existing line to serve as a connection. However, even in these types of scenarios things can easily go awry with aging infrastructure or a contractor that is not specialized and careful. Due to this very serious and continual need, a competent and trusted contractor is essential to provide these necessary services. OCWS has tried various contractors over the years in this role, but EA Tapping Services stands out for their professionalism, technical proficiency, low cost, and most importantly, their reliability. Therefore, attached for your review and consideration is a new contract with EA Tapping Services. Also attached are the County Contract Review Coordination Sheet and their current insurance certificate. Regarding the unit pricing, EA Tapping Services has agreed to utilize their current pricing from the 2009 contract (for which they were the low-bid contractor) for large taps and line stops - without an increase. In fact, if multiple taps/stops are done in one mobilization, they bill for less than the unit price amount - via the bundling discount listed in Exhibit B of the contract. The new contract includes unit pricing for valve insertions. The following is a more detailed description of the services that EA Tapping Services provides: - Large Taps - large tapping machines are a proprietary technology that is unavailable to municipalities. Any project requiring taps larger than 12 inches have to be done by a contractor. - Line Stops - sometimes necessary to connect to pressure water and sewer lines. It's not economically feasible for OCWS to own all the equipment necessary to cover all of the line sizes and site conditions present in our system. A large line stop event is a high risk, time dependent and critical activity. - Valve Insertion - this is a newer service that has become very popular in the industry, for good reason. It allows the placement of valves on live lines anywhere in the system. This provides tremendous flexibility when planning for maintenance and new construction projects and will eliminate the need for service outages in many scenarios. OCWS has utilized EA Tapping Services in the past several years for critical projects such as: City of Ft. Walton Beach 36" Transmission Main & Wastewater Consolidation, Main Island Lift Station, Rocky Bayou Force Main, and the Arbennie Pritchett WRF Program. For the last 3 years on the previous contract, Okaloosa County has paid EA Tapping Services an average of $19,613 per year. This is a relatively low cost, for a vital high-risk service. OPTIONS: Approve or deny. RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends BCC approval for the Chairman to execute the contract with Ea Tapping Services LLC for large taps, line stops, and valve insertions. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: Ernie Padgett, County Administrator