Town of Monument Water Rate RFP.docx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

1. Introduction The Town of Monument, Colorado (Town) is located along the I-25 just 20 miles north of Colorado’s second-largest city, Colorado Springs, and is an easy drive to Denver just 53 miles to the north. The Town is a rapidly growing community, with excellent schools, beautiful surroundings and easy access to outdoor recreation, all with that small-town feeling that provides the quality of life that makes Monument so desirable.

The Town is a home rule incorporated community, serving a population of 11,000 residents in north El Paso County. The Town operates under a council-manager form of government consisting of a Mayor, Mayor Pro-Tem, five Council Members and a Town Manager.

1. Objective The Town is soliciting proposals from qualified consultants to perform a water rate study to prepare a cost-of-service study, validate the appropriate rate structure, and recommend rates for the Town that generate adequate revenue to cover:

· Current and future operations and maintenance costs based on established and anticipated regulations and industry best management practices

· Bulk fill costs

· Rate stabilization

· Capital repair and replacement costs based on age and condition of infrastructure and systems

· Major capital improvement project costs

· An adequate reserve fund

· Required debt coverage

· Necessary studies to maintain an efficient and resilient utility

The Town’s water system is operated as a self-supporting enterprise fund. Revenues are derived primarily from water service charges and must be adequate to fund the water system’s operating and capital programs which consist of the Town’s water distribution system. Water customers are charged either a metered or non-metered user rate along with a fixed administration charge. In addition, voters passed initiative 2A, a half-cents sales tax, to fund water system expansion projects.

The Town produced 160,000,000_million gallons of water in 2024 from 12 active wells. Our current percent losses for the system averaged 4.60% in 2024. In the first three months of 2025, water production is up around 5.5% from 2024. The Town produces 14 million gallons of water per month of water from 12 active wells.

2. Scope of Services A proposed minimum Scope of Services is listed below:

A. Kick-off Meeting: Meet with Town staff to identify information needed for review and to layout schedule. Provide follow-up written minutes.

B. Data Collection: Provide a comprehensive list of data requirements for Town staff to provide that will support the study.

C. Revenue Requirement Analysis: Perform a revenue requirement analysis utilizing a generally accepted approach for a 10-year projected time-period. Revenue requirements include operations and maintenance, basic repair and replacement needs, capital improvement projects, and reserve funds. Revenue requirements should also include an analysis of future water consumption scenarios based on weather patterns and state regulations, to assess the impacts of water consumption changes, regulatory changes, or other unforeseen events on water rates.

D. Progress Meetings: Conduct bi-weekly project meetings to review progress with the Town staff and coordinate continuing project activities. Take and distribute minutes for meetings.

E. Cost of Service Analysis: Perform a cost-of-service analysis to equitably allocate the previously developed revenue requirement to the various customer classes as determined by each revenue collecting methodology. This task should include benchmark comparisons to agencies with similar populations and utility structures.

F. Rate Design Analysis: Design a rate model including:

· All necessary revenues

· Debt service options & costs.

· Up to four (4) recommended rate structure options with an evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of each.

· Capital project financing scenarios (including schedules)

· Prepare comparison of current and proposed rates to water rates of peer agencies.

G. Work with Town staff including Town Attorney and/or other specialized legal representation as applies to utility rate setting.

3. Reports and Presentations A. Prepare reports and present findings and rate recommendations to Town staff.

B. Incorporate any Town comments and finalize report.

C. Prepare rate structure, reports, and findings to present at a public workshop.

D. Assist Town staff with developing the annual rate review which incorporates conditional, automatic adjustments into the rate review options, based on a number of accepted variables (triggers).

E. Prepare and present rate study to Town Council at a Public Hearing in collaboration with staff.

F. Update Town of Monument Municipal Code (TMC)

G. Public Outreach (Cost proposal should reflect this task separately)

· Public meeting (s) with community or/and key stakeholders

· Educational material

· Temporary Website At the discretion of the Town, deliverables shall be provided to the Town in electronic copies for all specifications, reports, and all documents, including but not limited to: plans, analysis, specifications, studies, and any necessary technical data and shall become property of the Town. Notwithstanding the inclusion of services in this RFP, the final scope of services negotiated between the Town and the successful Consultant shall be set forth in the Professional Services Agreement (“Agreement”) executed by and between the Town and the successful Proposer. A copy of the Agreement is attached.

4. Tentative Procurement Schedule The following is the tentative procurement schedule for the RFP. The Town reserves the right to adjust this schedule.

5. Proposal Submission A. Proposals must be submitted via email, clearly identified with the RFP title and the word “Submittal” or “Proposal” in the email subject line, with all attachments, no later than the date and time indicated in the Schedule above, to:

Jennifer Phillips, Director of Finance, Town of Monument Email: JPhillips@tomgov.org B. All proposals must be submitted in Microsoft Word or .pdf format.

C. Submittals without the proper subject line identification may be considered routine emails and may not be considered.

D. Proposals received after the deadline indicated above will not be considered and will be rejected for lateness.

E. There is no expressed or implied obligation for the Town to reimburse responding firms for any expenses incurred in preparing proposals in response to this request.

6. Questions A. Questions regarding this RFP must be emailed to Jennifer Phillips, Director of Finance, JPhillips@tomgov.org, no later than the date and time indicated in the Schedule above.

B. All questions must include the RFP title and the word “Question – RFP 25-002” in the email subject line. Questions without this subject identification may be considered routine emails and may not be considered.

C. Questions communicated by telephone or in person will not be accepted.

D. All questions will be responded to via BidNet Direct (formerly Rocky Mountain E-purchasing System) no later than the date indicated in the Schedule above. Any responses by the Town that change the terms, conditions, and/or specifications of this RFP will be posted on the website as an addendum. No other communications of any kind may be considered a change to the terms, conditions, and/or specifications of this RFP.

7. Submittal Requirements The following items are to be included in the proposal:

A. Name of vendor, address, telephone number, website URL, and contact person’s name and email address.

B. Schedule (date of commencement of services, milestones and estimated completion date) C. Cost Proposal D. Statement of qualifications that includes:

i. Company information:

a) Organization – general

b) Time in business.

c) Number of employees.

d) Annual volume of business (number of projects and dollar total).

e) Volume of business in Colorado during the past 5 years (number of projects and dollar total).

f) A description of what differentiates the vendor’s service from that of its competitors.

ii. Similar project experience:

a) Similar scope of work within the past 5 years.

b) Projects for other public entities.

iii. Project-specific information:

a) Proposed scope of services.

b) Proposed project team.

1. Include resumes/bios describing applicable experience of all personnel proposed for the scope of services.

2. Include evidence of any necessary licensure, registrations, and credentials, including information on any revocation or suspension.

3. Identify the project lead – manage the project and be the point of contact for the Town

4. Identify the field staff – working on site and reviewing financial data

iv. References (minimum of 3) E. Comments and exceptions to the proposed form of Services Agreement circulated in connection with this RFP, including without limitation the insurance requirements. Post-award comments to the Services Agreement not included in the proposal shall not be considered.

F. The proposal must be signed manually or electronically by an officer or person qualified to bind the vendor.

8. Withdrawal of Proposal Proposals shall be binding on the vendor and may not be withdrawn for a period of 60 days following the submission deadline. A vendor may withdraw its own proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline.

9. Evaluation of Proposals Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

A. Proposed costs.

B. Proposed schedule – and ability to complete scope of services according to the proposed schedule.

C. Whether the proposal is responsive to this RFP. To be deemed responsive, the proposal documents shall conform in all material respects to the requirements contained in this RFP.

D. Consultant and staff are authorized and have the financial strength, technical expertise, resources, and experience to complete the scope of services.

E. Consultant has satisfactory professional references.

F. Any other criteria deemed material by the Town.

The Town may impose a numerical valuation system to weigh criteria and rank proposals.

10. Procedure for Selecting Proposal A. The proposals are expected to be evaluated by Town staff, who will make a recommendation to the Town Council. As part of its evaluation process, the Town may request clarifications and additional information, conduct customer reference, require a subset of finalist vendors to make a presentation to the Town’s selection team, hold multiple rounds of review with a limited group of proposers, and take any other action necessary to perform a thorough and objective evaluation of each proposal.

B. In the event the Town elects to accept a proposal, it shall accept in writing the proposal that, in its estimation, will best serve the interests of the Town.

C. Subsequent to the proposal due date, the Town reserves the right to negotiate (i) terms and conditions of the Services Agreement with a vendor(s), and (ii) modifications to a proposal with a single vendor without obligation to negotiate similar modifications with other vendors.

D. The Town reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, waive any and all formalities and to negotiate contract terms with the successful vendor, disregard all nonconforming, non-responsive or conditional proposals, act in the best interest of the Town, and terminate, modify or suspend the RFP process. This RFP does not commit the Town to award a contract.

E. There is no expressed or implied obligation for the Town to reimburse the responding firms for any expenses incurred in preparing proposals in response to this request.

F. All property rights, including publication rights of all reports produced by respondents in connection with services performed under the agreement will be vested in the Town. In addition, respondents will not publish or release any of the results of its examination without the express written permission of the Town.

G. The Town reserves the right to retain all proposals submitted and to use any ideas in a proposal regardless of whether the proposal was selected. Submission of a proposal indicated acceptance by the Consultant of the conditions contained in the Request for Proposals, unless clearly and specifically noted in the proposal as submitted and confirmed in the contract between the Town and the Consultant selected.

11. General Terms and Conditions A. Interested Parties: All interested vendors are invited to submit a proposal in accordance with the terms, conditions, and specifications contained herein.

B. Tax Exemption: The Town, as a home rule municipality, is exempt from sales and use taxes. Vendors shall inform all prospective subcontractors and suppliers from whom they expect to obtain services or supplies of the tax-exempt status of the Town. Following the award of proposal, a tax exemption certificate will be furnished by the Town upon request by the successful vendor.

C. Pre-Contractual Expenses: The Town assumes no liability for payment of any pre-contractual expenses incurred by prospective vendors, including but not limited to costs incurred in the preparation or submission of proposals.

D. Non-Discrimination: The vendor, by submitting a proposal, agrees to not unlawfully discriminate against any employee of the vendor or the Town or applicant for employment or for services or any member of the public on the basis of disability, race, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or military status, pregnancy, political affiliation or any other status protected by federal or state law.

E. Governing Law: The laws of the State of Colorado shall govern this RFP. The venue for any dispute arising out of or relating to this RFP shall be in the State of Colorado District Court for El Paso County.

F. Public Record: All proposals submitted will become property of the Town and may be subject to public disclosure pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, § 24-72-201, et seq., C.R.S. Any language purporting to render the entire proposal or proprietary will be ineffective and will be disregarded.

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