Committee approves $325M multi-year watershed contract awards for water, sewer and emergency repairs

The Public Works committee voted to award multiple on-call, indefinite-quantity contracts for water, sewer, emergency and consent-decree repairs and upgrades with a total not-to-exceed value described by staff as above $325 million over a four-year period.

Staff said the procurement strategy — multiple awards for on-call service — is intended to lower long-term costs through higher bid quantities and multi-year commitments and to improve contractor planning and competition. The awards were described as covering four categories: small-diameter water distribution main projects (roughly $140 million total across awardees), sewer upsizing and lining projects tied in part to the county's consent-decree obligations (about $155.5 million), an emergency set-aside (about $19 million) and $10 million targeted at six priority consent-decree projects that must be completed by 2027.

Staff noted the program supports the county's capacity-assurance program (allowing system improvements that enable development connections) and that a number of projects are already planned in the county's 10-year capital improvement program. Commissioners asked about contract oversight and community engagement; staff described layers of oversight including county inspectors, project managers, contract-management services and public outreach protocols (project hotlines, door hangers and community meetings for larger projects).

Staff also discussed procurement choices and the need to select or hire an independent monitor/consultant contemplated in a previous resolution; they said they were considering RFQ/RFP options and noted some scope constraints in the resolution that may limit vendor pools.

The committee approved the recommendation to award the contracts to the listed lowest responsive bidders and directed staff to return with oversight details and any supplemental procurement actions needed to hire a monitor or consultant.

Next steps: contract execution with awarded firms, staff to provide details on oversight and monitoring, and scheduling of any special-called meetings to finalize pending items prior to full commission deadlines.