City of Powell River Council has approved two more expenditures for the consolidated wastewater treatment plant.
At the November 19 city council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to expend $4,914,066.83, plus GST, on the two bids for the secondary clarifier equipment supply. The first was from Ovivo Inc. in the amount not to exceed $1,373,013.30, plus GST, and to Dennerik Engineering, in an amount not to exceed $3,541,053.53, plus GST.
Manager of engineering services Nagi Rizk said the city has been working through a series of contracts for necessary equipment for the consolidated wastewater treatment plant so a tender for the general contract can be let, which was scheduled to be at the end of November. There are still some outstanding purchases that need to be made before that can be put out for bid.
Rizk said the contract before council is for the fifth piece of equipment that had been brought before the assembly and it was the largest piece of equipment. He said the purpose of the equipment is the biological consumption of the sludge from the liquid waste treatment process.
Rizk said the tender for proposals was put out in May. In a report to council, Rizk said there were three proposals received. One of the proposals was disqualified because it did not meet the city’s requirements. Regarding the two proposals that were evaluated, the two scored one percentage point apart, favouring the recommended contractors.
“The design we selected is better for our purpose and it is customized,” said Rizk. “When you put all this together in the equations and the matrix that we use to score the proposals, if you put the fact that the recommended proposal is also in Maple Ridge, versus the one in Utah, that is a big factor. The general contractor will now have the ability to go down to the Lower Mainland and watch the equipment being assembled and they can learn from that. It’s much more accessible and convenient.”
Councillor George Doubt asked if there were more of these proposals to come before city council, and how many.
Rizk said there were three more proposals that have to be considered for the consolidated wastewater treatment plant. According to the city’s purchasing policy, any purchase valued at more than $500,000 must come before council.
Doubt said it sounds to him that the proposals have been exhaustively looked at in terms of the contractors’ ability to complete the process, including examining their histories.
“All of that is to your satisfaction and you believe they can do the job and complete it properly, and that they have a good record,” said Doubt.
Rizk said those scrutinizing the bids have not just looked at the proposal; they have met with the proponents by virtual meeting on more than one occasion. He said through the process, cost-saving measures have been arrived at and they have arrived at a better product.
“We are very comfortable with the process,” said Rizk.
Doubt said he had driven by the construction site, the clearing and the marshalling area, and his question was how the scheduling is going with the contractor working on the outfall pipe.
“I’d certainly like an opportunity to come down and see what they are doing once they get underway because I think it will be an interesting project,” said Doubt.
Rizk said that as of November 19, the outfall contractor was mobilizing and the pipe was in the process of being shipped.
“Hopefully, by the end of next week, the full load will be delivered,” said Rizk.
Councillor Jim Palm said this is a time-sensitive project with a specific window for construction from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Palm said he wanted to say to the public that he knows the project is being watched intensely and he could guarantee there was fine work being done by staff.
Rizk said he was hoping the city could put out the tender for the footprint on the consolidated wastewater treatment plant as soon as the final contracts for the necessary equipment have been let.
“Most of the design is completed so we are just waiting to get the pieces of equipment finalized and we know exactly what we are going to be building, and we can include it in the tender and put out the general contract,” said Rizk.
Council unanimously endorsed the two contracts.
