HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 3426
City of Palo Alto (ID # 3426)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Consent Calendar Meeting Date: 3/4/2013
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Summary Title: Crossbore Contract Amendment #1
Title: Approval of Amendment No. 1 to Contract #C12140966 in the Amount
of $500,000 with Hydromax USA, Inc. To Provide Additional Services
Associated with the Cross-Bore Investigation Project, for a Total Not to
Exceed Amount of $4,300,000
From: City Manager
Lead Department: Utilities
Recommendation
Staff recommends that Council approve Amendment Number 1 to Contract #C12140966 in the
amount of $500,000 with Hydromax USA, Inc. to provide additional services associated with the
Cross-Bore Investigation Project for a total revised contract not to exceed amount of
$4,300,000. As part of this Amendment, staff also recommends that Council approve a one year
time extension to December 31, 2013, to allow the Contractor to complete the field
investigations.
Background
On July 11, 2011, Council awarded a contract to Hydromax USA, Inc. for the Cross-Bore
Investigation Project. Council approved a total budget of $3,523,950 and a contingency amount
of $276,050 for this project. The request for proposals for this project was sent to ten vendors
on April 13, 2011. Hydromax USA, Inc. was selected because of its specialization in this line of
work, availability of equipment to complete this project and its demonstrated ability to meet
the City’s critical quality assurance methods.
A cross-bore is the unintentional installation of one utility within another. Typically, this can
occur during trenchless pipe installation.
This contract with Hydromax USA, Inc. included cross-bore investigations of 18,000 existing
sanitary sewer laterals within the City. The project started in late July 2011 and was scheduled
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to be finished within 18 months, or by January 2013. As of the start of January 2013, Hydromax
USA, Inc. has attempted to investigate 13,579 laterals in the existing sanitary sewer system,
which is broken down as follows:
Total inspections in quality control review or completed = 6,563
Total properties requiring additional inspection = 7,016
o Incomplete inspection (needs construction or resolution of other access issues) =
3218
o Field inspection in process = 3,798
Field inspection not yet attempted = 4,421
Since the cross-bore program began, there have been 19 gas cross-bores found and corrected.
This is roughly 1 gas cross-bore per 500 sewer laterals inspected.
As the crossbore investigation progressed, the contractor discovered that there were several
aspects of the required work that were unforeseen and beyond the scope of the original
contract. These unforeseen items include the longer than average lateral length, unforeseen
number of branched laterals camera size limiting the ability to inspect 6” and less sanitary
sewer main sizes and poor conditions of some of the existing laterals. Some of the conditions
encountered include buried cleanouts, roots, offset pipes, and no access in the private and
public parts of the laterals preventing completion of inspections. To complete the inspection of
some of these laterals will require construction work outside of the scope of this contract to
remove the impediments in the laterals that are preventing inspection. This work may be
completed by in-house crews or through existing contract construction crews.
Discussion
After the original contract with Hydromax USA, Inc. was signed and accepted by the City (Staff
Report #1615), conditions not covered in the contract resulted in an increase in work needed
by the Contractor. As a result, the project costs have increased by approximately $500,000 and
the project completion date has been extended approximately one year to December 31, 2013.
The following describes the additional work needed in order to see the project through to
completion:
1. For the private side of some of the existing laterals, along with some of the City’s
existing laterals, it has been problematic to complete video inspections due to the
existing condition of the pipes. The original contract does not include construction on
mains or laterals. It has been found that there are several thousand laterals that require:
A) excavation to locate and raise cleanouts, B) installation of new cleanouts, C) lateral
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spot repair and D) other means to complete the investigation. At this time, outside
Contractors and available City staff are being used to resolve these various construction
issues. Once the construction issues are resolved, Hydromax USA, Inc will return to each
site one more time to complete the crossbore investigation at no additional cost.
2. Per the original contract, the average anticipated lateral length was calculated to be
approximately 65 feet. To date, investigations have determined that the actual average
lateral length is closer to 84 feet, requiring 29% more lateral inspections and coding
than originally anticipated. The increased footage requiring inspection is the result of
finding branched laterals servicing multiple structures on a parcel. In addition to this,
the longer lateral lengths have required an additional camera crew with specialized
equipment at the cleanouts to complete some lateral investigations due to the length
limitations of the cameras launched from the mains.
3. The bid documents did not specify the main footages by size. The contractor assumed
that the similar conditions existed as on other jobs they had performed. In the Palo Alto
system the footages of 6 inch mains was higher than anticipated. Additionally, lined
6”pipe and the amount of 6 inch pipe with issues such as offsets, protruding laterals or
blockages due to tree roots have created a significant increase of work. This increased
the cost because the main-launched camera equipment proved difficult to use in the
City’s 6 inch pipes and could not be used in the lined 6 inch pipes. As a result, extra
camera crews with specialized equipment were needed to return to the site and
perform the inspections.
Because even the most diligent technician and complex verification process can miss a critical
observation in the sanitary sewer lateral, City staff is continuing to recommend that customers
call the City at (650) 329-2579 (Utility Dispatch) first before having their laterals cleaned.
The costs associated with the uncompleted out of scope work described above total $500,000
and bring the total cost of this contract to $4,300,000.
Resource Impact
The attached Amendment Number 1, Attachment A, requests an additional appropriation of
$500,000 for the contract with Hydromax USA, Inc. The funds for this project were included in
the FY 2013 Utilities Operating Budget. No additional City resources will be required to manage
this project.
Policy Implications
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Amendment Number 1 does not represent a change to existing policies. This recommendation
is consistent with the Council-approved Utilities Strategic Plan (Staff Report 1880), especially
Key Strategy #1, “Ensure a high level of system reliability in a cost effective and timely manner.”
Environmental Review
This project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
pursuant to CEQA Guideline Sections 15301 (b) repair, maintenance of existing facilities and
15302 (c) replacement or reconstruction of existing facilities.
Attachments:
Attachment A: PA Amendment One to Contract C12140966 with Hydromax USA (PDF)