Loveland WRF Capacity Improvements_RFQ_final.pdf

Request for Qualifications for

Professional Engineering Services City of Loveland Water Reclamation Facility

Capacity Improvements

Bid No. 2024-034

Issue date:

March 6, 2024

Owner:

City of Loveland, CO

Water and Power Department 200 N. Wilson Avenue Loveland, CO 80537

Request for Qualifications

The City of Loveland Department of Water and Power (City) is seeking a consultant to provide professional engineering services pursuant to Bid No. 2024-034 for the proposed Loveland Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) Capacity Improvements project.

Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) will be received electronically at bids@cityofloveland.org on or before 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time (MT) Thursday, April 4, 2024. SOQs are to be clearly marked with the project name, consultant name, bid number, and date. The submitting firm’s name will be read aloud to confirm receipt on the above referenced date and time via a Zoom teleconference.

The Zoom call-in link is:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87360734226?pwd=bDdWbDE4TzJTYkRSNVhHNkp0SFNxQT09

Meeting ID: 873 6073 4226 Passcode: 968706 One tap mobile +12532158782,,87360734226#,,,,*968706# US (Tacoma) +13462487799,,87360734226#,,,,*968706# US (Houston)

Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) Meeting ID: 873 6073 4226 Passcode: 968706

SOQs not received by the deadline set forth above at bids@cityofloveland.org, as determined by the City’s internal email system will not be considered. SOQs sent to other email addresses will not be considered.

The City is not responsible for delays occasioned by the City’s email system, internet connections, or power outages. Please allow at least 5 minutes before time due for internal server processing. Emails cannot exceed 25MB.

RFQs and associated reference documents are available online at https://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado Prospective consultants must be registered with BidNet-DIRECT to download RFQ documents. You may register for the search only feature for free. If you need assistance with registration call 800-835-4603.

Questions should be directed to Brian Gandy at brian.gandy@cityofloveland.org before 5:00 p.m. MT, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Questions and answers will be posted at www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado by Monday, April 1, 2024.

Interested consultants will be given an opportunity to tour the WRF facility with the City’s Project Management Team, Plant Manager, and Lead Operator. The tours will be limited to two hours on Thursday, March 21, 2024 from 9:00am – 11:00am. Please limit attendance to no more than three (3) staff members per interested firm. The WRF tour is mandatory as part of this RFQ process and only those firms who are in attendance will be allowed to submit an SOQ for consideration.

The City of Loveland is committed to providing an equal opportunity for services, programs and activities and does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, age, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or gender. For more information on non-discrimination or for translation assistance, please contact the City’s Title VI Coordinator at TitleSix@cityofloveland.org or 970-962- 2372. The City will make reasonable accommodations for citizens in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For more information on ADA or accommodations, please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at jason.smitherman@cityofloveland.org or 970-962-3319.

“La Ciudad de Loveland está comprometida a proporcionar igualdad de oportunidades para los servicios, programas y actividades y no discriminar en base a discapacidad, raza, edad, color, origen nacional, religión, orientación sexual o género. Para más información sobre la no discriminación o para asistencia en traducción, favor contacte al Coordinador Título VI de la Ciudad al TitleSix@cityofloveland.org o al 970-962-2372. La Ciudad realizará las acomodaciones razonables para los ciudadanos de acuerdo con la Ley de Discapacidades para americanos (ADA). Para más información sobre ADA o acomodaciones, favor contacte al Coordinador de ADA de la Ciudad en jason.smitherman@cityofloveland.org o al 970-962-3319.”

COLORADO OPEN RECORDS ACT NOTIFICATION

The City of Loveland is subject to section 24-72-201 et seq. of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the Colorado Open Records Act. If you object to the disclosure of any confidential or privileged information as such is defined in the Colorado Open Records Act, any such pages must be marked confidential and submitted as outlined below in the Submittal Instructions. If you fail to mark the documents confidential and fail to include the explanation, any objection to the release of any information will be deemed waived by the City.

Please note that your objection will be considered, but is not binding on the City. The City is required to make a determination under the Colorado Open Records Act, and may only withhold documents that are confidential under the law. If the City releases documents marked as confidential in compliance with the Colorado Open Records Act, the Consultant waives any claims for liability or damages.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction 5

II. Background 5

III. Existing Facility 5-6

IV. Project Description 6-7

V. Reference Documents 7

VI. Submittal Instructions and Conditions………………………………………………………………………………………….7-9

VII. Qualification Statement

Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………….9-10

VIII. Selection Process…………………………………………………………………………………10

IX. Schedule…………………………………………………………………………………………….10-11

I. INTRODUCTION

The City of Loveland Department of Water and Power (City) is seeking a consultant to provide professional engineering services for the proposed Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) Capacity Improvements project at the Loveland WRF.

The selection process will include a mandatory group site tour of the facility for interested firms and the submission of a written statement of qualifications. Specific details and requirements are outlined below.

In January 2024, Brown and Caldwell completed a Facility Master Plan for current and future conditions of the WRF as well as an update to the City’s wastewater utility plan. The WRF currently operates in accordance with its current Colorado Discharge Permit, which is currently under a CDPHE Administrative extension. It is anticipated that the renewed Discharge Permit would include an approved and amended Site Location Application which would be submitted to CDPHE as part of the proposed capacity improvements project outlined below.

II. BACKGROUND

The WRF is a 10 MGD activated sludge biological nutrient removal (BNR) facility with high-rate mesophilic anaerobic digestion. There is a long history of expansion and improvements over the years dating back to when the plant was first constructed in 1961. The most recent improvements were completed in 2019, which included the integration of BNR into its secondary treatment process, along with the replacement and expansion of its digested sludge treatment process. The current permitted organic loading capacity is 20,236 lbs. BOD5/day. With the recent BNR improvements, the WRF is consistently meeting or exceeding the CDPHE Regulation 85 nutrient limits of 15 mg/l total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) and 1 mg/l total phosphorus (TP). Those nutrient removal values observed at the WRF have allowed the City to participate in CDPHE’s Voluntary Incentive Program (VIP), which will likely provide an additional ten years of compliance schedule for the implementation of CDPHE Regulation 31, pushing that window from a tentative date of 2034 to 2044.

III. EXISTING FACILITY

The WRF has consistently met discharge permit requirements during the years of operation. The influent organic loadings are currently approaching 80% capacity which triggers planning for expansion. A Gap Analysis of the current facility was conducted as part of the 2024 Facility Master Plan. That analysis identified several treatment processes which fell below the performance standards outlined by the City, including the secondary treatment loading limitations.

Shown below is a table of identified Gaps in the current WRF treatment process which the City would like to incorporate into a near-term Capital Improvements Project.

Gap Number and

Description

Desired Future State

Current State

Identified Gap

Section

Discussed

(TM 5)

1. Near-term secondary treatment loading limitations

Plant treatment capacity that is capable of treating the planned annual loading growth, up to a desired capacity of 12 MGD MMF and 27,150 lbs BOD5/day with Reg 85 effluent limits.

Secondary treatment process limited to approx. 8.2 MGD

MMF and 21,000 lbs BOD5/day in plug flow operation. Marginal capacity improvement (<3%) when operated in

Step Feed under ideal conditions.

Optimization of secondary process. Additional aeration basin volume and/or secondary clarifier capacity to allow SRT needed in aeration basins.

Section 2.1

Section 2.2.1

4. Primary Clarifiers Reliable performance of

Primary Clarifiers through planning period

Diminished condition and high level of criticality

Addressing Current

State Issues

Section 2.2.3

5. Aeration Blowers Reliable performance of

Aeration Blowers through planning period

Inadequate firm aeration capacity for near-term loading with current diffusers; limiting aeration header; Non-supported PLCs; equipment is nearing end of useful life

Addressing Current

State Issues Section 2.2.3

6. ALPS Reliable performance of

ALPS through planning period

Wet well unable to be isolated for maintenance;

hydraulic limitation during high flows; high H2S and odors

Addressing Current

State Issues Section 2.2.3

7. UV Disinfection Reliable performance of UV

Disinfection through planning period

No redundancy; Effluent

Flow meters issues;

Hydraulic limitations; Non-supported PLCs; Reaching end of useful life

Addressing Current

State Issues Section 2.2.3

10. Various MCCs Reliable performance of

MCCs through planning period

Corrosion and end of useful life; Lack of power feed redundancy – single point of failure; Equipment is discontinued and unsupported – no spare parts

Addressing Current

State Issues

Section 2.2.3

11. Influent Pump

Station Structure and Piping/Valves

Reliable performance of

Influent Pump Station through planning period

Concrete degradation in critical area that cannot be taken offline easily. Piping and valve corrosion

Addressing Current

State Issues

Section 2.2.3

14. Long-term, growth-driven additional loading capacity

Plant treatment capacity that is capable of treating the planned annual loading growth, up to a 20-year planning horizon with Reg

85 effluent limits.

Secondary treatment process limited to approx. 8.2 MGD

MMF and 21,000 lbs

BOD5/day in plug flow operation

Likely no capacity gap in 20-year horizon if the identified Gap 1 is addressed

Section 3.1

IV. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The primary goal of the project will be to improve and expand the secondary treatment process to meet the desired capacity of 12 MGD MMF and increase the organic capacity of the facility to 27,150 lb/day (peak month BOD loading). Additional project goals include increasing the long-term reliability and performance of several treatment processes as noted in the referenced gap analysis. The project is expected to include the following scope items:

Replacement of fine bubble diffusers in the two existing bioreactor trains Implementation of Ammonia-based aeration control (ABAC) Addition of Hydrocyclone technology MLE conversion including RAS Fermenter Addition of a third MLE bioreactor train Replacement of the existing Blowers Modifications of the Aeration Lift Pump Station (ALPS) Primary Clarifier rehabilitation Additional redundancy to existing MCCs UV Disinfection improvements including installing UV equipment in spare channel

Based on the 10-year capital budget, construction is expected to begin in late 2025.

V. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

The Consultants will be provided with the following historical documents, which can be downloaded from the BidNet site:

A. Record drawings – WWTP BNR and Digesters Project (BNR Improvements) – 2021 B. Record drawings – WWTP BNR and Digesters Project (Digester Improvements) – 2020 C. Loveland Water Reclamation Facility Master Plan D. Current CDPS with Administrative Extension

VI. SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS AND CONDITIONS

A. All submittals shall comply with the requirements, conditions, and specifications contained within this RFQ. Failure to do so may result in rejection of the submission.

B. A representative of the submitting company who has contractual authority must sign the submission. Only one submission will be accepted from any one company serving as a prime Consultant. Sub-Consultants to any prime Consultant may be included in the submission of more than one firm.

C. All SOQs must be complete, comprehensive, and professional, but it is not necessary to include expensive displays or excessive materials.

D. All costs incurred to prepare and submit the SOQ shall be the Consultant’s responsibility and will not be reimbursed by the City.

E. In the event that it becomes necessary to provide additional clarifying data or information, or to revise any part of this RFQ, revisions/amendments and/or supplements will be posted at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado. The schedule below lists the deadline for submission of questions and the expected date of responses from the City. It shall be the responsibility of the proposers to monitor http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado for any such postings.

F. Pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, C.R.S. §§ 24-72-201 et seq. (“Act”), all information contained in any SOQ, bid, or proposal is subject to public disclosure unless it meets one of the exceptions set forth in the Act. To avoid disclosure of trade secrets, privileged information, or confidential commercial, financial, geological, or geophysical data (“Confidential Information”), the Consultant must clearly mark all Confidential Information as such and provide a written, detailed justification with its proposal of the protected nature of the Confidential Information under Colorado law. Please note that your objection will be considered but is not binding on the City. The Consultant acknowledges that the City is bound by the terms of the Act, and understands that the City, in its sole discretion, must make a final determination regarding disclosures in compliance with the Act and may only withhold documents that are confidential under the law.

G. If you fail to mark the documents confidential or fail to include the explanation, any objection to the release of any information will be deemed waived. By submitting a proposal, the Consultant agrees to hold the City harmless from any claim arising from the release of Confidential Information not clearly marked as such or lacking written, detailed justification supported by Colorado law.

If the City releases documents marked as confidential in compliance with the Act, the Consultant waives any claims for liability or damages.

For documents marked confidential that the City has withheld in compliance with the Act for which the City has received a 14 day notice of intent to file with the district court from the requestor, due to the Consultant’s superior knowledge as to the nature of the confidential information, Consultant may participate in the meeting with the requestor required by Section 24-72-204(5)(a) of the Act and intervene as an interested party in any court action to defend the City and advocate for the withholding of Consultant’s own confidential information on its own behalf and at its own expense. If Consultant fails to participate in such meeting and fails to intervene as an interested party, Consultant waives any claim of confidentiality, the City may release the requested documents, and Consultant waives any claims for liability or damages for the City’s release of the documents.

H. The City shall select the Consultant that is most advantageous to the City, as determined by the City in its sole discretion. The City reserves the right to reject any or all submissions and waive any informalities therein and to accept or reject any portion of the proposal if deemed to be in the best interest of the City to do so.

I. The selected Consultant will be required to execute a Services Contract with the City as provided as an attachment to this RFQ. If you cannot accept the contract language as is, please include within your submission the items you cannot accept and the language you propose for substitution and the City will review for acceptability. All contracts will be on a not-to-exceed total price.

J. Consultants shall not contact anyone other than Brian Gandy regarding the RFQ during the solicitation and selection process. Consultants who communicate with other City staff members or elected officials regarding the RFQ during the solicitation and selection shall automatically be disqualified from consideration.

K. The City has no obligation to award any work to a selected Consultant and makes no guarantees as to the amount of work that may or may not be awarded or actually performed.

L. Each submission shall stipulate that it is predicated upon the terms and conditions of this

RFQ and any supplements, addendums or revisions thereof.

M. All SOQs must be received at bids@cityofloveland.org before the date and time specified in the notice page above. The electronic date and time on the email will determine if the proposal was received before the prescribed time. Please put the name of the RFQ in the subject line of the email and name the attached proposal: Name of RFQ-company name.

Any SOQ arriving after the deadline will not be considered. Responsibility for timely submittal and routing of submission prior to recording lies solely with the Consultant.

Please be aware that the City internal email server scans all emails with attachments and delays the receipt of those emails by up to 4 minutes so plan your time of submittal accordingly. Email cannot exceed 25 MB including all graphics in your signature line, email contents, and attached documents.

N. SOQ submittals shall be clear, accurate, and comprehensive. Submittals shall be limited to 20 pages maximum (including the cover letter). No supplemental pages, appendices, etc. shall be included. Minimum font size shall be 11 point, 11x17 fold out sheets will be counted as one page.

VII. QUALIFICATION STATEMENT CONTENTS

A. Cover Letter

B. Firm History and Background

a. Include a brief history of the company and provide any background information that may be relevant to the Project. If your company has provided services to the City in the past, particularly for the WRF, highlight this experience in the SOQ and provide the appropriate project details in Part D below.

C. Project Team Qualifications

a. Provide the proposed project team organization chart with roles identified. List all key personnel and provide brief summaries of similar experiences, including secondary treatment enhancements and MLE conversion. The expectation is that the proposed team indicated in the SOQ would be an integral part of the team throughout the life of the project – design through construction. If sub-consultants are included, identify prior experience working with them as a team and summarize their qualifications. The City will contract with an independent firm for Resident Project Representative services, so do not include that service as part of your team. Local team members will be preferred.

D. Related Project Experience

a. Include project descriptions (with construction cost), client reference, consultant’s personnel involved, and tasks performed for similar projects, secondary treatment enhancements including MLE conversion is preferred. Include five (5) example projects the firm has completed within the past ten (10) years that are relevant to the services anticipated for this Project with a construction value of $20 million or more.

E. SOQ Proposal Presentation

a. SOQ submittals shall be clear, accurate, and comprehensive. Submittals shall be limited to 20 pages maximum (including the cover letter). No supplemental pages, appendices, etc. shall be included. Minimum font size shall be 11 point, 11x17 fold out sheets will be counted as one page.

VIII. SELECTION PROCESS

The criteria and scoring to be used by the selection committee to evaluate and rank the firms will be as shown in the table below and as noted in the previous sections. Total scores for each firm from each committee member will be added together, and the firm with the highest score will be selected.

Item Category Weighting

Factor Points (1-10)

Weighted Score

1 Overall Qualifications of Firm 20%

2 Qualifications of Personnel (Team) 30%

3 Related Project Experience 35%

4 SOQ Proposal Presentation 15%

Total Score

IX. SCHEDULE

The anticipated schedule is as follows:

Date Event

March 6, 2024 Invitation sent to Consultants via BidNet

March 21, 2024 Required Facility Tour (9:00am – 11:00am)

March 28, 2024 Last Day for Questions

April 1, 2024 Final Addendum to RFQ Issued

April 4, 2024 (2:00 pm) SOQ submittal deadline

April 5 – 12, 2024 City Review and Scoring of Proposals

April 12, 2024 Announce consultant selection

April 15 – 30, 2024 Contract Negotiation with selected firm

May 2024 – July 2025 Design phase

August 2025 – July 2027 Construction phase

ATTACHMENTS:

City Services Contract Record drawings – WWTP BNR and Digesters Project (BNR Improvements) – 2021 Record drawings – WWTP BNR and Digesters Project (Digester Improvements) – 2020 Loveland Water Reclamation Facility Master Plan Current CDPS with Administrative Extension