Phoenix mobilises $100m water engineering consultant pool

Phoenix mobilises $100m water engineering consultant poolPhoenix City Council has authorised up to $100 million in on-call engineering agreements for the Water Services Department. The framework gives the utility access to 10 consultants for work spanning assessment, design, regulatory support and construction administration.

Ten consultants will each receive agreements capped at $10 million, with total authority capped at $100 million.

Each agreement runs for up to five years or until its $10 million ceiling is reached, whichever occurs first.

Services can include modelling, inspections, studies, cost estimation, permit and regulatory assistance, document preparation and construction support.

Water Services Department capital-program funds will pay for task orders; Budget and Research must review funding availability before any task order of $100,000 or more.

Phoenix City Council has approved a $100 million on-call engineering framework for the Water Services Department, establishing a panel of 10 firms to support future water-facility work across the city. The October 7 action authorises separate agreements with Black & Veatch Corporation, GHD Inc., Wilson Engineers, Inc., Carollo Engineers, Inc., Entellus, Inc., Arcadis U.S., Inc., Burgess & Niple, Inc., Hazen and Sawyer, P.C., Civiltech Engineering, Inc. and HDR Engineering, Inc. Each agreement is capped at $10 million, including subconsultant and reimbursable costs. The agreements will run for up to five years or until the individual $10 million ceiling is reached, whichever comes first. Together, the panel has a maximum value of $100 million. The council’s approval does not identify individual capital projects. Instead, it establishes a qualifications-selected engineering resource for work that may include studies and evaluations, data collection, assessments and inspections, modelling, cost estimation and cost-model review, permit and regulatory assistance, document preparation, and construction support. The scope also covers study, design, construction administration and inspection services. Twenty-seven firms submitted proposals under the qualifications-based procurement process set out in Arizona Revised Statutes Section 34-604. The city listed the 10 selected firms by rank, with Black & Veatch ranked first and HDR tenth. The remaining 17 proposers included NCS Engineers, AECOM Technical Services, Brown and Caldwell, Water Works Engineers, CDM Smith and Kennedy/Jenks Consultants. Funding is available through the Water Services Department’s capital improvement programme budget. The Budget and Research Department must review and approve funding availability before the utility issues any on-call task order worth $100,000 or more. The council also authorised the City Manager or designee to execute related design and construction agreements, licences, permits and utility-service requests. The authorisation excludes transactions involving an interest in real property. The item passed unanimously, 8-0. During public comment, one speaker asked staff to disclose how much of the framework would support North Gateway and TSMC-related infrastructure, but no project allocation was specified in the council action.