Title/Name/Summary
Water Main Valve Exercising - Proposal
History
In order to maintain the integrity and effectiveness of the potable water system, a Request for Proposal for Water Main Valve Exercising was advertised on Bidnet Direct on Monday, November 9th, 2020. The proposals solicited respondents to perform water main valve exercising within the Village for a total of approximately four thousand two hundred (4,200) valves over a three (3) year period.
The Request for Proposal's scope of service requires that the technical service firm to follow a manufactured sequence of operations to operate each of the valves by hand to prevent valve damage as stem and gate are freed from their open position. Operation by mechanical means is not available during the normal or emergency course of work. The hands-on feel obtained by the manual operation are crucial to provide a better feedback regarding the condition of the valves and to identify inconsistencies in the operation of the valves.
Prior to bid opening, a courtesy email was sent to M.E. Simpson, Utility Service Co., Inc and Wachs Valve & Hydrant Services, LLS based upon previous bids on work. Eleven organizations opened the bid documents to review the scope of work. Only one bidder, M.E. Simpson Co., Inc. provided a bid and met the scope of service of exercising valves manually.
After the bid opening, Public Works completed a market evaluation to determine if the single proposal pricing was fair and reasonable.
Public Works contacted two vendors that specialize in this type of work and reviewed their method and pricing. Wachs Valve and Hydrant Services. After repeated calls with no responses, Public Works reviewed Wachs' previous bid in March 2015. While Wachs’ costs were lower than M.E. Simpson, their bid was rejected due to using mechanical equipment only to operate the valves rather than performing the work manually. Public Works believes that Wachs' did not submit a bid in November due to this requirement. Associated Technical Services, LTD (ATS) was also contacted via email. A sales representative noted they did not get notified through Bidnet Direct because they are not members of that service. While ATS indicated that they would be interested in work, they noted their approach was similar to Wachs in using a mechanical device to operate the valves which would not meet the contract specifications.
Public Works contacted two neighboring municipalities, Village of Tinley Park and Village of Mokena. Both of them use M.E. Simpson for their Valve Exercising programs, not only due to being the lowest cost, but also for their performance and excellent customer service record.
Public Works also reviewed the previous contract pricing that was awarded in 2015 to the pricing provided in November. M.E. Simpson’s contract costs were:
2015 $60,200.00
2016 $60,200.00
2017 $61,000.00
Based on these figures, M.E. Simpson's price has only increased 1% over three years. Based on the increases in labor and equipment costs, the 1% increase is reasonable.
Public Works further reviewed M. E. Simpson's past performance. They have been working for the village for the past twenty years and have provided quality service through detailed project management and project field management. They also are the only vendor that meets the required manual valve operations. An additional benefit is their historical information on the Village of Orland Park water system. All valve data in their “Pro Maps Database” is updated annually and transferred to the Public Work GIS database.
Based upon this market evaluation, staff therefore recommends that the proposal from M.E. Simpson Co., Inc. of Valparaiso, Indiana be accepted.
Financial Impact
Funds for this work are available in FY21 budget account 031-6002-471250.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve the proposal for Water Main Valve Exercising from M.E. Simpson Co, Inc., of Valparaiso, Indiana, for an amount not to exceed $61,950.00 in 2021 and the Board approved budgeted amounts in 2022 and 2023.