Pump Station 1 and Soquel Pump Station Design

The City of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works is soliciting proposals from qualified design and engineering consultants to provide design, consulting, and engineering support services for the rehabilitation of Pump Station No. 1 (located south of the Laurel Street Bridge) and the construction of a new Soquel Pump Station (located south of Soquel Avenue Bridge on the west side of the San Lorenzo River). This is a professional services procurement with an approximate project budget of $1,800,000, funded in part through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant administered by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES). The scope of work encompasses planning, design, and engineering consulting services including additional hydraulic modeling, basis of design development, 50%, 90%, and 100% design phases, and project management services, with deliverables becoming the property of the City upon completion. Key objectives include improving stormwater management capacity to protect downtown Santa Cruz from flooding caused by the San Lorenzo River, sea level rise, aging storm drain infrastructure, and silted gravity outlets, with the facilities designed to achieve protection for 5-year storm events and significant improvements for 25-year events. Minimum qualifications require proposers to have successfully completed at least three similar projects within the past ten years, demonstrated experience managing federally-funded design projects, and employment of a licensed professional Civil Engineer as the Engineer of Record. Evaluation criteria include project team organization and key personnel qualifications, relevant project experience, design proposals with schedules, and delivery capacity. A non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for February 19, 2026, at 10:00 am at Spruce Street and Laurel Street Extension; written questions and clarifications must be submitted by February 26, 2026, at 5:00 pm; and proposals are due by March 13, 2026, at 5:00 pm via the City's e-Procurement Portal, with respondent selection and negotiations anticipated for March 31, 2026, and a Notice to Proceed targeted for May 1, 2026.

No set-asides or restrictions on organizational type are identified in the procurement documents; however, all proposers must comply with prevailing wage requirements, living wage compliance standards, and current registration with the California Department of Industrial Relations. Proposers must submit cost proposals using a Cost Plus Fixed Fee structure with detailed hourly rates, indirect cost rates, and fixed fees, and must demonstrate proof of Professional Liability (Errors and Omissions) insurance with limits of $2,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate maintained for at least five years after service completion, Commercial General Liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, Auto Liability, and Workers' Compensation insurance. The contract requires performance and payment bonds and compliance with all federal and state requirements applicable to FEMA BRIC-funded projects, including provisions from the 2025 Cal OES Subrecipient Handbook addressing fiscal controls, civil rights laws, environmental impact assessments under the California Environmental Quality Act, and debarment and suspension verification. The contract term extends from the Notice of Award through the FEMA BRIC Phase I Design performance deadline of March 2027, with potential extension at CalOES discretion, and includes liquidated damages of $1,000 per day for project completion delays beyond the scheduled deadline. All design services must comply with CEQA, Caltrans standards, and City of Santa Cruz regulations, and must integrate with existing San Lorenzo River Channel Improvement Project as-built plans and preliminary basis of design documents previously prepared by Schaaf & Wheeler, which establish the technical foundation for both pump station rehabilitation and new construction initiatives.