PW RFP Fire Line Inspections.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

THE FORT WORTH WATER DEPARTMENT

FIRE LINE INSPECTIONS

1.0 INTENT

The City of Fort Worth (City) seeks to establish non-exclusive contracts with qualified vendors to perform annual investigations of approximately one-third of the City's private fire service connections. The City currently maintains approximately 3,600 fire service connections and intends to investigate approximately 1,150 to 1,200 fire services each year, allowing the entire inventory to be assessed on a three-year rotating cycle.

The purpose of these investigations is to identify potential leakage, unauthorized water consumption, unauthorized connections, and deficiencies related to fire service systems. The resulting information will assist the City in protecting the public water system, reducing water loss, improving the accuracy of customer records, and ensuring the integrity of private fire service connections.

These specifications establish the minimum requirements for vendors to perform fire service investigations and provide the City with accurate, consistent, and actionable information to support its water loss control and cross-connection control programs.

2.0 SCOPE OF WORK

The successful bidder, hereinafter “Vendor”, shall perform a comprehensive field investigation of each fireline service assigned by the City utilizing a City provided inspection checklist. The investigation shall include leak detection, flow monitoring, visual inspection, documentation and reporting, and other investigative methods.

Unless otherwise authorized by the City, investigations are intended to be non-invasive and conducted from the exterior of the property. Interior building access shall not be required except when necessary to install, retrieve or service approved monitoring equipment or when specifically authorized by the property owner and the City.

2.1 Provide fire line investigations that:

2.1.1 Determine whether continuous or intermittent water consumption is occurring.

2.1.2 Identify evidence of potential unauthorized consumption and inspect for unauthorized connections if visible from exterior.

2.1.3 Inspect the fire service for evidence of leakage (exterior).

2.1.4 Document the presence or absence of:

2.1.4.1 Fire line meter

2.1.4.2 Backflow prevention assembly

2.1.4.3 Meter bypass

2.1.4.4 Visible cross-connections that are observable without dismantling equipment or conducting interior plumbing inspections.

2.1.4.5 Vault accessibility

2.1.4.6 Damaged or missing equipment

2.1.4.7 Any apparent modifications

2.1.5 Successful bidders shall be able to leave overnight devices for a minimum of seven (7) days to determine whether a fire service is seeing usage/consumption.

2.2 Vendor shall coordinate site access to the property as necessary to perform the investigation. Interior building access shall only be required when necessary to install, retrieve or service leak detection or flow monitoring equipment approved for the investigation.

2.3 Vendor shall restore site to original condition.

2.4 Vendor shall protect monitoring equipment.

2.5 Vendor shall bid all items listed on Bid Solicitation Page.

2.6 Vendor shall provide literature and/or specifications on the leak/flow monitoring devices that they will utilize.

2.7 The submission of a bid by the bidder shall be considered evidence of compliance with these requirements.

2.8 Following the award, additional materials of the same general category that could have been encompassed in the award of this Agreement, and that are not already on the Agreement, may be added.

2.9 Completion of Investigation: a fireline investigation shall be considered complete when monitoring has been completed, all required inspection items have been documented, required photographs obtained and the completed report submitted to the City.

3.0 DURATION

3.1 The term of the contract shall be for one (1) year from the City Manager’s or their designee’s execution date or the expenditure of funding, whichever comes first.

3.2 This contract may be renewed for up to four (4) additional one-year terms by mutual agreement of the parties.

3.3 The City reserves the right to terminate, in whole or in part without recourse of penalty, any purchase order or contract that results from or is connected to this Request for Proposals.

4.0 DELIVERABLES

4.1 The Vendor shall notify the City of immediately of:

4.1.1 Leaks found during an investigation

4.1.2 Water surfacing

4.1.3 Damaged fireline service

4.1.4 Missing backflow assembly

4.1.5 Unauthorized connection creating immediate concern or hazard

4.1.6 Unsafe conditions

4.2 The Vendor shall maintain all monitoring data and field records and preserve the integrity of collected data until accepted by the City.

4.3 The Vendor shall provide a report for each address assigned. Report template will be developed by the City.

4.3.1 Report shall include, but not limited to, the following:

4.3.1.1 Address tested

4.3.1.2 Date

4.3.1.3 Inspector

4.3.1.4 Fireline size

4.3.1.5 Monitoring device ID

4.3.1.6 Monitoring Duration

4.3.1.6.1 Start date and time

4.3.1.6.2 End date and time

4.3.1.7 Identify if water consumption was observed, classified as intermittent or continuous

4.3.1.8 Fireline meter/by-pass meter presence and size and reading

4.3.1.9 Backflow presence and size

4.3.1.10 Visible cross-connections

4.3.1.11 Unauthorized connections

4.3.1.12 Vault condition if applicable

4.3.1.13 Damaged or missing equipment

4.3.1.14 Apparent modifications

4.3.1.15 Photos from the investigation

4.3.1.16 Notes of significant issues or concerns and notify City when a

Customer Service Inspection is necessary

4.4 Upon finding a fire line with water consumption the Vendor shall provide:

4.4.1 Estimated continuous flow rate if measurable

4.4.2 Description of suspected source

4.4.3 Photos indicating water consumption

4.4.4 If able, Vendor shall provide photos of the point of consumption if the apparent source is accessible from the exterior or during approved monitoring activities

4.4.5 Provide all results from the monitoring device

4.5 All deliverables shall be delivered electronically to designated City personnel.

5.0 QUALIFICATIONS

5.1 Minimum of five (5) years experience investigating commercial fire systems

5.2 Experience performing leak detection, water loss investigations or related utility infrastructure inspections

5.3 References: provide three (3) references from water utilities of similar size

5.4 Personnel qualifications: field personnel should have a minimum of two (2) years’ experience in water loss investigations

6.0 PRICING PROPOSAL

Proposals shall include pricing for the following:

6.1 Cost per standard fire line investigation for a minimum of 7 days

6.2 Additional monitoring fee per day beyond 7 days

6.3 Report fee and supplemental documentation

6.4 Hourly fee for technician for additional services

7.0 SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

One electronic copy (PDF) of the proposal shall be submitted in accordance with the solicitation posting and shall include the following:

7.1 Sample inspection report.

7.2 Proposed equipment inventory list identifying data loggers or other devices to be used

7.3 Technical approach and methodology

7.4 Completed pricing proposal

7.5 Experience and references

7.6 Insurance certificates

8.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

8.1 Experience and qualifications - 25 points

8.2 Technical approach and methodology - 25 points

8.3 Equipment and technology - 15 points

8.4 Reporting quality and data deliverables - 15 points

8.5 Cost proposal - 20 points

9.0 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Small Business Program

This will be exempt from the Small Business Program Ordinance 27832-08-2025 under 21-7 (a) Professional Services subject to procurement under Chapter 2254 of the Texas Government Code

Deadline for Submission of Questions and Clarification

The deadline for submission of questions or requests for clarification will be identified in the solicitation posting. All interested firms seeking additional information, addenda, or clarifications shall submit questions through the City’s procurement portal.

Support

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