JH26-9 Notice of Sole Source - Outreach for Water Conservation Toolbox for Great Salt Lake Basin

The Utah Division of Purchasing is pursuing a sole source procurement for the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council (GSLAC), specifically engaging SWCA Environmental Consultants to conduct water conservation outreach across the Great Salt Lake Basin. The project involves presenting a recorded Water Conservation Tools presentation to 17 regulating authorities, with meetings to be conducted either in-person or virtually within a 20-mile radius of Salt Lake City. Each meeting is expected to take approximately 4 hours and will include coordination, travel, presentation, and follow-up activities. The key deliverable is comprehensive engagement with cities and counties to expand understanding and implementation of the Water Conservation Toolbox. The procurement is being conducted under a notice of intent to award without standard competitive bidding, with a specific deadline for potential challenges of September 25, 2025. SWCA was selected based on their unique expertise, existing relationships with municipalities, and prior work on the initial project phase, which makes them particularly well-suited to continue the outreach efforts.

The procurement appears to have no specific set-aside designations or restrictions on responding organizations. SWCA is the incumbent and proposed sole source vendor, with a total contract value of $16,186 for the project extension. The contract will be structured as a time-and-materials agreement valid for 90 days, with labor costs ranging from $104 to $268 per hour for four staff members: a Project Manager, two Presentation Support specialists, and a General Biller. Potential vendors are required to certify they are not engaged in economic boycotts as defined by Utah Code 63G-27, which includes boycotts related to traditional energy, mining, agriculture, firearms manufacturing, environmental standards, or medical procedure access. The procurement unit has determined that bringing in a different vendor would be challenging and potentially less effective, given SWCA's existing contextual knowledge and established relationships from the initial project phase.