City to shift wastewater contract administration to Accenture for treatment plant expansion

Sunbury City staff told the services committee on May 6 they plan to modify Accenture Consultants’ existing construction-inspection contract to add contract administration services for the wastewater treatment plant expansion.

Staff said the initial inspection contract was for $611,000 and that contract administration is a function needed during design and construction to manage requests for information, verify manufacturers’ specifications and ensure ordered equipment matches design plans. Staff framed the change as a shift of responsibility from the design consultant to Accenture, noting Accenture is already providing construction inspection under an existing contract and that the city opted to modify that contract rather than execute a separate procurement.

A committee member described the change as a transfer of responsibility from one group to another. Staff said Accenture is on the city’s on-call list for a quality-based selection process and that modifying the existing contract was chosen as a cleaner administrative route than issuing a wholly new contract. No formal vote on the modification was recorded in the services meeting transcript; staff indicated the matter would proceed through the normal contract approval processes.