PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

FOR

WASTE-TO-ENERGY and SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

SECTION 1 – SCOPE OF SERVICES

1.1 The Hillsborough County Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) is seeking one (1) primary lead, highly qualified CONSULTANT firm, or a team of professional services CONSULTANT(s) supporting the one primary lead consulting firm, hereafter referred to as the “CONSULTANT”, to provide professional engineering and technical services related to the operations, permitting, design, planning, inspection, and assessment of the County’s Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Facility, the Resource Recovery Facility (RRF or Facility), and other Solid Waste Management Systems.

The CONSULTANT should prepare a proposal that is detailed, action-item-oriented, and outline specifically the CONSULTANT’s approach to providing the Scope of Services requested by the SWMD.

The CONSULTANT’s project experience, team members, the organization of the team, budgeting, and availability should be specifically identified and discussed as to how it relates to the CONSULTANT’s approach to the Scope of Services. The CONSULTANT should provide detailed information on key team members that will be utilized regularly during completion of the scope of work provided rather than providing broad statements of prior projects completed on the CONSULTANT’s firm(s) in general and not by the active members proposed to provide services to the SWMD. The role, experience, and depth of resources available to the CONSULTANT’s Primary Project Manager and Task Managers will be heavily reviewed for ability to provide services. Resumes of key personnel can include work knowledge gained with other firms. The CONSULTANT shall provide a project, or several projects, that demonstrates the capabilities of the specific CONSULTANT and CONSULTANT’s team members.

The CONSULTANT shall provide representative projects that demonstrate the CONSULTANT’s successful (as defined by the Client receiving the service) completion of services that are substantially similar to the services being requested. A project can have multiple services listed that match the scope of service.

1.2 Project Background - In 1987, the Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) was placed into operations for the acceptance of waste material with three (3) 400 ton per day boilers and one (1) General Electric turbine rated for 29 Megawatts (gross) of electrical generation. Supporting waste handling, air emission controls, reagents systems, ash handling systems, and enclosed structural building and supporting infrastructure comprising the remaining components of the original facility layout. In 2009, RRF operations was expanded to include one (1) additional 600 ton per day boiler along with one (1) additional General Electric turbine rated for 17 Megawatts (gross) of electrical generation. Additional waste handling, emission controls, reagents, and ash handling systems were included with the expansion along with enlargement of the building. In 2009, an enhanced metal recover system was added to the RRF operations. The Solid Waste Management Department of Hillsborough County has entered into an internal agreement with the Hillsborough County Public Utilities Department to supply power to several County owned facilities (Falkenburg Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, Central Water Treatment Plant, Brandon Support Operation Complex, and North Falkenburg Pump Station). In 2025, a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Tampa Electric Company (TECO) was completed for the sale of excess power above the needs of the RRF plant and County usage, to TECO. The SWMD also has an active contract with an energy broker for open sales electrical power on the open markets.

Hillsborough County currently has an Operations and Maintenance Service Agreement (SA) with

Reworld Hillsborough, Inc. (Reworld) to provide operational control of the Facility, to include waste handling from the tipping floor through processing, and handling of the residuals and waste products.

Operational control under the SA includes the continual maintenance and upkeep of the facility building and equipment (excluding the County’s scalehouse) until 2029. Under the SA, the County has a waste tonnage delivery, measured at the scales, and Reworld has annual contractual performance guarantees to be achieved, such as tons processed, electrical generation, reagent and natural gas usage, metals recovery, availability of the boilers and turbines, along with Facility’s outage scheduling and maintenance scheduling. The outage and maintenance scheduling are part of Reworld’s responsibility for identification and timing of specific building and equipment systems and the completion of preventative and proactive maintenance. During the last several years, the County has observed plant performance declining to the point where several performance guarantees have not been achieved.

Note, the current Facility Operator is Reworld; however, for this scope of services, Facility Operator can include other entities should the SA change firms.

1.3 Waste-to-Energy Annual Services

The scope of services is an annual service that the CONSULTANT will provide under this contract to support the County’s staff with understanding how the Resource Recovery Facility is operating, performance, compliance with permits, and evaluating and communicating with the Facility’s operations contractor, currently Reworld Hillsborough, Inc.

1.3.1 Independent Consulting Engineer

The CONSULTANT will act on behalf of the COUNTY to the extent provided the Extension Operations and Management Agreement between Hillsborough County and Reworld Hillsborough ("Reworld"), and in the capacity of "Independent Consulting Engineer" for the Resource Recovery Facility, Transfer Stations, and other solid waste facility to support Bond compliance and reporting requirements. Activities may include review and opinion of annual Repair and Refurbishment (R&R) fund requirements consistent with Section 11.02 (Maintenance of System) of the Solid Waste and Resource Recovery Revenue Bonds.

The CONSULTANT will review the Service Agreement (SA) with REWORLD, all permit applications and permits, plans, reports, monthly meeting notes, and Annual Inspection Reports to be familiar with operational history related to the Resource Recovery Facility. This review and evaluation of data will be a dynamic list as project needs are further developed. The CONSULTANT and the COUNTY will work together to obtain requested information.

The CONSULTANT will be familiar, and evaluate as needed, upon award of the contract, the Facility’s history with focus on causes of forced outages, downtime, emissions, electrical production, and repairs made to the existing facility.

1.3.2 Annual Inspection and Report - Resource Recovery Facility

The CONSULTANT will conduct inspections of the Hillsborough County Resource Recovery Facility (the "Facility") during planned maintenance outages and will report to the COUNTY on the performance of Reworld with respect to the satisfactory performance of maintenance, repair, and operation of the Facility. An Annual Inspection Report will be prepared and submitted to the County for the period October 1st through September 30th for each contract year. As part of the service, the Annual Inspection Report will summarize plant performance per waste processing unit, emissions, outages (scheduled and unscheduled, power generation, punchlist items, and assistance with determining whether Reworld, or other operators, have meet contract guarantees and financial settlement statements.

1.3.3 Annual Inspection and Report - Transfer Stations

The CONSULTANT will conduct annual inspections of the COUNTY's Northwest Transfer Station and South County Transfer Station and report to the COUNTY on the condition of those facilities. The inspection will include the condition of the facility components, lights, traffic travel areas, signs, operational condition of the buildings, compliance with Facility permits, and condition of the County asset to provide safe and continued operations. The inspection shall include a list of recommended items in need of correction or repair. The CONSULTANT shall provide the County with as-needed engineering assistance related to its two transfer stations’ inspections. An Annual Inspection Report will be prepared for the Transfer Stations and submitted to the County.

1.3.4 RRF Facility Punch List

The CONSULTANT will review and update on a quarterly basis, in accordance with Section 8.7.2 of the Extension Operations and Management Agreement for the Resource Recovery Facility between Reworld and the COUNTY ("the Service Agreement"), the Facility Conditions Punch List ("the Punch List"). The Punch List will identify Facility conditions requiring repair and replacement and the date that the items were first added to the Punch List, a date by which the repair or correction is required, and if necessary, provide an estimate of the cost of such repair or correction. CONSULTANT shall administer the terms of Section 8.7 of the Service Agreement under this Task 3. A record of when the item was removed from the Punch List will also be maintained by the CONSULTANT. Such records will allow evaluation of the timeliness of all maintenance and repair activity undertaken by the Facility operator.

1.3.5 Monitor Environmental Testing and Reporting

The CONSULTANT will monitor and verify the Annual Air Quality Testing of the Facility and other routine environmental compliance reports required in the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and/or the Power Plant Siting Act (PPSA) certification, Title V permit, or other regulatory requirements for the Facility. Test reports prepared by the Facility’s operator, currently Reworld, include annual stack test report, semi-annual and annual operating reports, start-up/shut-down actions, and quarterly excess emissions reports. The CONSULTANT will notify the COUNTY of the test results as they become available and provide review comments on the compliance reports prepared by the Facility’s operator.

1.3.6 Monthly Meetings

The CONSULTANT will attend routinely scheduled monthly meetings as required with the COUNTY and Reworld staff to discuss Facility operating status, the punch list and other issues relating to the performance of the Facility.

1.3.7 Facility Services Project Management

Upon receipt of the signed (authorized) original Work Order, the CONSULTANT will initiate the project set-up along with the necessary internal approvals. Project administrative activities related to this task order will be performed under this task. All internal and external coordination of activities, including day-to-day management, will also be provided under this task. These activities will help maintain the project on schedule and within budget Updates and communication with the COUNTY will take place on a continuous basis, and any scope variance, budget or schedule variation will be identified early and addressed immediately.

Project Cost Reporting - The CONSULTANT will prepare monthly invoices by task for work completed on this project and submit them to the COUNTY. Invoices will be accompanied by project status reports describing the work performed during the invoice period, at a minimum.

1.3.8 Bond Services

The CONSULTANT will provide general consulting services, limited to addressing Bond related issues, to assist the COUNTY or to resolve issues which may arise related to: compliance with environmental permits for the solid waste resource recovery facility; the Energy Purchase Agreement; the Interconnection Agreement; ash testing, facility inventory, management, disposal and permitting; sales of recovered metals, maintenance of transmission line, and other matters affecting the operation, maintenance, expansion, financing and/or permit status of the Facility or other solid waste facilities.

Revenue Bond Compliance Services to be Rendered - This scope of work includes wide variety of professional services, engineering assignments, assessments, reports to support the terms and conditions of bond covenants governing the management and operations of the County’s Solid Waste Disposal System and Resource Recovery Revenue bonds, prepare assessment reports of the condition and planning for the Resource Recovery Facility, assist the solid waste department with various contract negotiations, engineering and planning for improvements to existing, or new solid waste management operations, and providing professional services on other various facilities that support WTE operations.

Pursuant to Section 11.02 of the Amended and Restated Solid Waste and Resource Recovery Revenue Bond Ordinance No. 16-24, adopted on November 21, 2016, specifies that a Qualified Independent Consulting Engineer inspect the operations and maintenance of the County’s Solid Waste Management system. Task 1.3.1 through 1.3.8 will cover these bond services obligations for the Resource Recovery Facility and two transfer stations under the Bond Ordinance No. 16-24 or future bond requirements.

1.4 Waste-To-Energy Service Agreement Development and Solicitation Services

The CONSULTANT shall be knowledgeable of WTE service Agreements or Extensions Contracts WTE Solicitations, and other Contractual negotiations associated with other County or facilities owners that have similar operations to the SWMD Facility.

Waste-to-Energy Service Agreement Development – The current SA will expire in 2029. At the County’s option the current SA may be extended based upon some modifications to the existing SA or the SA may be revised to reflect more up-to-date contract terms and competitively negotiated. The CONSULTANT will provide services to review and develop SA contractual language to protect the County’s best interests. More than likely any scenario will involve identifying Capital Improvement projects for improvements to the Facility performance. The Capital Improvement projects may be SA operator funded, County funded, or a combination.

The CONSULTANT shall outline specific experience based upon assessment of the County’s Facility condition or similar facilities, the County’s operational goals and budgets, understanding the market conditions and operational experience of current and new SA firms, operational performance guarantees, evaluation and validation of Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), impacts to operations, and costs.

Waste-to-Energy Service Agreement Solicitations - The current SA will expire in 2029. Potentially a new Service Agreement may be considered for competitive solicitation. The CONSULTANT shall outline specific experience with preparing language solicitation, evaluation criteria, answering vendor and county questions, bid review, legal opinions, and other services typical of public solicitations, with preference given to experience related to Waste-to-Energy solicitations.

1.5 Facility Condition Assessment

The CONSULTANT shall be knowledgeable in design, operations and maintenance of municipal solid waste combustion and handling systems that are like those used at the Facility. This Task will concentrate on evaluation of the operational condition and determining replacement of components in the Waste Handling Systems, defined as all system from the tipping floor and waste handling systems, waste combustion and high pressure steam systems, air pollution control systems, ash handling systems, metals recovery systems, power generation and distribution, structural, electrical, mechanical, and instrumentation control, and other systems supporting the operations of the Facility.

Upon completion of this Assessment, the goal will be to determine the existing condition of the systems and assist the County with evaluating current plant maintenance, identifying components that can be maintained through the current SA period, identifying components that should be replaced due end of useful life, lack of spare parts, modernization and components that that should be capitalized to extend future operations of the Facility. The components of the system will be categorized as follows;

Maintenance Related Issues Limits Operations Limited Operational Life Expected with Continued Maintenance to the end of SA Replacement due to End of Useful/Usable Life Replacement due Lack of Spare/Replacement Parts in the Market Refurbishment/Replacement/Upgrades for Extension of Life of Plant (+30 years after end of SA) Category to be determined based upon findings

1.6 Waste-To-Energy Project Development, Permitting, and Observation Services

The CONSULTANT shall be knowledgeable in development of project scope, design, permitting, cost estimating, management, and construction observation of projects identified to expand, increase performance, or replace/repair systems in a municipal solid waste combustion and handling systems that are like those used at the Facility.

1.7 Technical Training, Education and Presentations

From time to time, the County may need professional services from the CONSULTANT to train or educate staff, county officials, the public on aspects of the WTE operations and future regulations or benefits of the County overall solid waste operations. This may include presentations.

Technical Training - The CONSULTANT shall provide technical training and education of County personnel as applicable to the specific operations of the Facility, detailed technical working of various components of the Facility, as well as day-to-day items to observe, monitor, and record items to document the operations of the Facility or solid waste systems.

General Education – The CONSULTANT shall be able to provide general education and training to County personnel, and members of the public, the covers a range of education classes or presentations that describes the operations and benefits of the Facility or solid waste systems.

Presentation – The CONSULTANT shall be able to produce presentation materials for various forums to present both general and technical materials related to the operations or planning for the Facility and/or the Solid Waste management system(s).

1.8 Ash and Metals Recovery, Reuse, and System Optimization

The CONSULTANT shall be knowledgeable in different applicable testing and application methods for increasing the efficiency of the ash handling, beneficial reuse of ash, and metal recovery system within the Facility.

1.9 Facility Infrastructure

The CONSULTANT shall be knowledgeable in design, permitting, and construction oversight of high use, heavily loaded roads, underground cable/piping conduit protection, lighting, drainage, signage, and stripping, as related to modifying the current road system to improve traffic flow, traffic queuing, and safety.

1.10 Waste-To-Energy Facility Permitting, Siting, Planning, and Layout

For Task 1.10, Due to the limited number of WTE recently permitted or constructed, the CONSULTANT can demonstrate knowledge of the services to be provided in this task through a combination of professional personnel experience, projects and reports prepared for planning or conceptual reports, and services with regulatory or professional industry recognized organizations related to Waste to Energy.

The CONSULTANT shall be knowledgeable of permitting, siting criteria, facility sizing, equipment, economics, design, and site layout for a potential new WTE facility.

1.11 As-Requested Services

The CONSULTANT will provide professional services, to include engineering, reports, evaluations, testing, professional opinions, testing, design, permitting, or other professional services for services related to the operations of the Facility or other solid waste facilities, such as but not limited to, transfer stations, closed and active landfills, air emissions, landfill gas systems, hydrogeological/geotechnical services, stormwater, master planning. As-Requested services will be approved by the COUNTY prior to any work being initiated.

1.12 Anticipated Timeline for Services

For the purposes for Proposal, listed below are the anticipated overall general timeline(s) for the CONSULTANT to provide services.

Tasks 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031

1.3 x x x x x x

1.4 x x x x x

1.5 x x x x x

1.6 x x x x x

1.7 x x x x x x

1.8 x x x

1.9 x x x x x

1.10 x x

1.11 x x x x x x

Note: The timeline for services may vary and tasks may be amended or not utilize depending on SWMD operational needs.