Santa Monica Groundwater Basin Monitoring Program

The City of Santa Monica is soliciting proposals from qualified consultants to implement a comprehensive groundwater monitoring, modeling, and technical support program for the Santa Monica Groundwater Basin, with proposals due October 26, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. and a question submission deadline of October 12, 2026.

Minimum qualifications require proposers to have performed similar groundwater monitoring services for two other California utilities within the past five years, demonstrated expertise with MODFLOW code and Groundwater Vistas software, and a California-registered Geologist (PG) or Professional Civil Engineer (PE) on staff. Submission of a completed Prevailing Wage Job Acknowledgement is mandatory. The Living Wage Ordinance applies, requiring a minimum wage of $25.00 per hour for contracts exceeding $54,200.

The scope encompasses groundwater elevation and water quality monitoring across approximately 67 total monitoring wells distributed among three production well fields (Arcadia, Charnock, and Olympic), including quarterly monitoring events with low-flow sampling, quality assurance and quality control procedures, plume migration modeling and forecasting, well maintenance and redevelopment, quarterly and semi-annual regulatory reporting coordinated with the State Water Resources Control Board and Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, and technical support for groundwater recharge operations. The contractor must arrange traffic control and obtain City permits at specified high-traffic well locations, coordinate with the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project, and arrange disposal of purged groundwater and decontamination waste designated as "Non-Hazardous and contains PFAS" using licensed waste transporters and Department of Transportation-approved drums. Sample analysis must be performed by a State of California-certified analytical laboratory for volatile organics, fuel oxygenates, low-level 1,4-dioxane, and low-level 1,2,3-TCP testing. Draft quarterly monitoring reports are due two weeks prior to the final submission date; final reports must be submitted to the Regional Water Quality Control Board and uploaded to the State Water Board's GeoTracker database by the end of the month following each calendar quarter.

The contract term is five years with a firm-fixed price structure. Evaluation criteria are weighted as follows: Experience/Technical Competence (50 points), Project Team (20 points), Cost (10 points), Ability to Meet Work Plan (10 points), and References (10 points). Insurance requirements include Commercial General Liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence), Automobile Liability ($1,000,000 per accident), Workers' Compensation (Statutory Limits with $1,000,000 Employers' Liability per accident), and Professional Liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 annual aggregate). All insurers must be authorized in California with an A.M. Best rating of no less than A:VII, and the City must be named as an additional insured with a waiver of subrogation.