Okaloosa County BOCC — February 18, 2014 — Action Item Printout — reading text

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: February 18, 2014 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Zan Fedorak SUBJECT: Award of Bid for Biosolids Removal & Transportation DEPARTMENT: Purchasing BCC DISTRICT: ALL STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Purchasing seeks approval to award bid to R & E Farms for biosolids removal and transportation. BACKGROUND & ANALYSIS: Background provided by Water & Sewer: Water & Sewer transports biosolids (AKA “sludge”) from the Bob Sikes Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) and the Russell Stephenson WRF to the digester at the Arbennie Pritchett WRF. The biosolids from all three WRFs then go through the rotary drum thickener into the digester and are dewatered with the centrifuge at the final solids stage of the plant. The solids come out of the centrifuge as Class B Biosolids. OCWS equipment and staff have been hauling Class B Biolsolids to R & E Farms, almost daily, for approximately 4 years. R & E Farms then applies the biosolids at one of their sites. This process was supported by contract #C09-1691-WS which expired on 9/30/13. Prior to the expiration, OCWS requested that bids be sought for a biosolids removal service (RFB #WS 42-13). These bids were received on 8/8/2013. Unfortunately, the bids came in much higher than the current contract pricing and budgeted funding. The former contract price was $5.50/cubic yard and the new proposed price would have been $13.60/CY. It was determined that a new FDEP unfunded mandate had adversely affected the pricing. This unfunded mandate imposed a regulation that more land area is required at the application sites per CY. Rather than accept the bids that were higher than expected, on 9/3/2013 the Board approved 1) a 6-month contract extension with R & E Farms through 3/31/2014 with their current pricing, terms, and conditions, and 2) re-bid the biosolids service with different specifications, which included allowing Alabama sites, to seek more competitive pricing. The service was re-bid as RFB# WS 21-14 and bids were received on 1/8/2014 from Synagro South LLC and R & E Farms, LLC. Bid tabulation is attached. R & E Farms was the lowest responsive bidder in all 3 requested line items: $7.65/CY to DeFuniak Springs - disposal only & site located in Florida $6.25/CY to Florala - disposal only & site located in Alabama $21.5/CY - disposal & transportation (load at Arbennie Pritchett WRF) OCWS has performed a financial analysis for these three options, giving consideration to the expenses that are incurred other than the direct cost to R & E, such as mileage (including fuel, maintenance, and labor costs) and capital costs (such as tractor-trailers). This analysis found the least expensive option to be hauling the biosolids to Florala @ $6.25/CY. Fortunately, a bid award and resulting contract to R & E Farms would give staff the flexibility of the 3 options above as needed. With an estimate of 13,110 CYs in a calendar year, the yearly cost to haul to R & E Farms would be approximately $82,000. OCWS budgeted $60,000 in FY2014 for this expense; therefore, a budget transfer will be needed before the end of the fiscal year to cover the added cost of FDEP’s unfunded mandate. OPTIONS: Approve/Disapprove award of bid to R & E Farms for biosolids removal and transportation being the lowest responsive bidder. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approving award of bid to R & E Farms for biosolids removal and transportation being the lowest responsive bidder. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: Ernie Padgett, County Administrator