TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
COMMITTEE ON Procurement
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Authorization to enter into a Master Agreement between the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and Northwestern University
Body
Dear Sir:
Authorization is requested to enter into a Master Agreement (MA) between the District and Northwestern University (NU). The agreement period would be for three years from the date of execution.
Under the Master Agreement, NU will provide research and other services in, but not limited to, the following areas: development, monitoring, and optimization of processes and infrastructure for water pollution control and water quality improvement. These areas have been identified because they represent a commitment towards compliance with regulatory requirements as well as opportunities for improvements in sustainable systems, operations, and energy efficiency.
In accord with the District's goal of energy neutrality, two mainstream shortcut biological nitrogen removal (SCBNR) strategies are under investigation for their potential to significantly reduce energy demand over current operations. The two SCBNR strategies are partial nitritation/deammonification and nitritation/denitritation in the mainstream process. These strategies were selected for further evaluation because they could reduce the amount of aeration-and thus the energy--required to achieve total nitrogen removal (both ammonia and nitrate) versus the current conventional activated sludge process. These strategies have been demonstrated to work in sidestream processes, but require further research to refine the approach to consistently function in the mainstream process, particularly in association with the District's operational parameters, including the incorporation of biological phosphorus removal. The District's goal is to evaluate several SCBNR approaches at the laboratory and pilot-scale levels. The laboratory-scale studies will be performed in collaboration with Northwestern University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The department's research team's past and current research experience involves biological wastewater treatment, microbial nitrogen cycling, SCBNR systems, and nutrient pollution management and abatement, which makes them ideal candidates for conducting this research. The information gained from these pilot- and laboratory-scale studies will provide guidance towards the potential application of SCBNR at all District facilities.
Therefore, the Engineering, Maintenance and Operations, and Monitoring and Research Departments would benefit from the District's entering into a Master Agreement with NU for research and services to the District related to the aforementioned areas. The terms of the Master Agreement are subject to the approval of the Law Department prior to execution. No funding is included with this Master Agreement; however, any actual use of services would occur only after Board approval for projects equal to or greater than $10,000.00, execution of a Research Project Specification, and issuance of a purchase order for a designated purpose, scope of work, and a not-to-exceed amount of funds.
When any of these three District operating departments have a need for services, the department in need would submit a request to the Executive Director, supported with justification, scope of work, and estimated cost. Upon approval by the Board of Commissioners and an executed Research Project Specification, a purchase order would be issued and the work would proceed. We believe this arrangement would be in the best interest of the District and would provide the District staff with direct access to the expertise of NU in an expedient manner.
Requested, Catherine A O'Connor, Director of Engineering, TK
Recommended, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management
Respectfully Submitted, Barbara J. McGowan, Chairman Committee on Procurement
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for September 4, 2014