Title/Name/Summary
USIC Street Light Locates - Contract Award
History
Whenever digging or excavation takes place on a property, residents or contractors contact J.U.L.I.E. to have underground utilities located. Currently, when those requests come into the Village, Streets personnel locate all Village-owned street light cables, and Utilities personnel locate Village-owned underground utilities (i.e. water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer). In order to complete these duties, a designated Streets maintenance worker in a dedicated locate vehicle with locating equipment and materials, such as flags and spray paint, is required. Along with marking the underground cables, the Village assumes liability to properly mark our facilities within eighteen (18) inches of each side of the wire. If something is mismarked, and the wire is damaged by a contractor, the costs to repair our cable is borne by the Village. The Village averages eleven thousand (11,000) J.U.L.I.E. locates per year.
Public Works has engaged in conversations with a contractor to perform these services for the Streets Department. US Infrastructure Company (USIC) is currently the locate service that marks natural gas, electric, and telecommunications for other public utilities. Since USIC would already be onsite, they have proposed a simple fee of $5.00 per street light locate, which includes all time and materials to complete this task. Emergency locates which have to be completed within two (2) hours will be at a flat fee of $40.00 each. USIC will provide the Village access to their ‘real time’ ticket management system which houses all ticket data and pre-dig photographs, which can be used for confirmation of markings in the event of a damage claim, as well allows Staff to verify as-built records. USIC stands behind their marks, and provides a restoration cap of $2,000 per hit in case our infrastructure was mismarked and subsequently damaged during a dig, as well as provide investigative services for all damage claims.
To determine if other locate companies were available, staff reached out to GPRS that perform locates on private properties. After speaking with GPRS, they decided they would not be able to provide the services to the Village at a reasonable cost compared to USIC, and opted to not provide a proposal.
Staff is recommending the street light cable locate work be contracted out, which will allow a Maintenance Worker to focus full-time on other sidewalk repair duties as Staff gears up for the busy summer season. A contractor would also provide the Village with 24/7 support, eliminating problems when locate staff is on vacation or sick. To offset costs, this additional support will allow all concrete and sidewalk repairs and replacement to be performed in-house, foregoing contractor support. The current locate vehicle will be utilized solely for irrigation, and will take the place of a current vehicle request for a new separate irrigation vehicle. There will be a cost savings in no longer needing to purchase flags, spray paint, or a new set of locating equipment that was budgeted for 2022. This also moves the liability for mismarked utilities from the Village to USIC. Annually, we pay close to $10,000 in repairs due to mismarked cables. Safety of the employees is also prioritized, in that they will no longer deal with electricity, which is always a concern due to the lack of a licensed staff electrician.
Financial Impact
Funding is available in 010-5002-443300 and 010-5002-443700 for this project.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to waive the bidding process for utility locating and marking services;
AND
Move to approve awarding USIC of Indianapolis, IN a contract for one (1) year, with the option to extend an additional two (2) years, in an amount not to exceed $55,000 for 2022, or the Board approved budgeted amount thereafter;
AND
Authorize the Village Manager to execute all related contracts, subject to Village Attorney review.