Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant On-Call Control Systems Engineer

Howard County, Maryland is soliciting bids for on-call Control Systems Integrator services at the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant in Savage under IFB 2027-06, with bids due September 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. and a virtual pre-bid conference on August 13, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. The contract is subject to Howard County's Equal Business Opportunity (EBO) program requiring a 15% subcontracting goal with minority, women, or disabled business enterprises, and Maryland Living Wage requirements of $19.83 per hour as of January 15, 2026 for service contracts exceeding $100,000 annually.

The scope encompasses design, fabrication, configuration, programming, testing, startup, and complete implementation of electrical instrumentation and control systems for water and sewer facilities, including work on Foxboro Distributed Control Systems and Rockwell Automation/Allen Bradley Process Control Systems, motor control centers, variable frequency drive panels, and chemical feed systems. Bidders must demonstrate at least ten years of continuous control systems experience for water or wastewater facilities and completion of at least five control systems integrator projects totaling $100,000 or more within the past nine years, with specific experience on both Foxboro DCS and Rockwell Automation/Allen Bradley PCS systems.

Key personnel—Project Manager, Lead Programmer, Project Engineer, and Master Electrician—must be direct employees and meet specified experience and licensing requirements. Labor is bid on an hourly basis across seven classifications; material markup is capped at 10%, subcontractor markup at 15%, and performance/payment bond markup at 2%. The contract is a requirements-type agreement for one year commencing on or about December 1, 2026, with four one-year renewal options at the County's sole discretion. Individual projects fall within SHA Cost Group "A" (up to $100,000 each). Bid pricing must remain firm for one year; renewal periods may include price adjustments up to 5% or CPI-U for Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, whichever is lower. Bidders must provide a bid deposit of 2% for bids under $100,000 or 5% for bids of $100,000 and greater, along with performance and payment bonds, Commercial General Liability of $1 million combined single limit, and Automobile Liability of $1 million.