TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF OCTOBER 15, 2015
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Report on advertisement of Request for Expression of Interest, Beneficial Use of Biosolids and Composted Biosolids
Body
Dear Sir:
Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) documents are being prepared for Beneficial Use of Biosolids and Composted Biosolids, at the request of the Engineering Department.
The District produces an average of 165,000 dry tons per year of biosolids from its seven water reclamation plants. The District produces a number of high quality biosolids products that meet or exceed all applicable state and federal regulations. The biosolids products have marketable attributes, such as organic matter, nutrients, and energy potential, making them valuable for resource recovery. Currently, the District spends approximately $7 million annually for contracts to process and distribute biosolids. The District is interested in evaluating options and opportunities to eliminate or possibly reverse the biosolids processing and distribution costs.
The purpose of this Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) is to identify the most beneficial approach or approaches for an outside party to remove anaerobically digested biosolids and composted biosolids from the District’s facilities, and either distribute them for beneficial reuse, such as land application, or further process them for the purpose of resource recovery, including energy recovery, in a manner that is environmentally responsible and financially beneficial to the District. The processing of biosolids and composted biosolids may be done on the District’s site or off site.
The overall goal is to eliminate the current operational cost of hauling and distribution of biosolids and composted biosolids. Therefore, the District is seeking proposals for which there is no financial obligation to the District. The District will review the proposals for the soundness of the business plan, technical merit, experience of the proposer, and overall benefit to the District. Upon selection of the proposal that best suits the District’s needs, the District’s will execute a Contract of Commitment with the selected proposer to provide the proposer with the first opportunity to further develop and demonstrate the viability of their approach. The District may select more than one proposer and enter into more than one Contract of Commitment if the selected multiple approaches offer the best benefits to the District.
While staff has a comprehensive understanding of the available technologies and pathways, this REOI will help determine the product demand, market conditions, and interested parties. The Board of Commissioners will be kept apprised of the implementation approach or approaches that are ultimately determined to be the most beneficial to the District and authority will be sought from the Board prior to entering into a Contract of Commitment with any party.
A bid deposit is not required for this Expression of Interest.
Agreements which may ultimately be made with an outside party or parties through the RFP process would require conformance with the Multi-Project Labor Agreement and potentially the District’s Affirmative Action policy for attainment of Protected Class Enterprise (PCE) participation goals; however, demonstration of compliance with the Multi-Project Labor Agreement and the District’s Affirmative Action policy is not required in the initial Expression of Interest.
The tentative schedule for this REOI is as follows:
Advertise November 4, 2015
Pre-proposal meeting November 18, 2015
Expressions of Interest Received December 11, 2015
Requested, Catherine A. O’Connor, Director of Engineering, CAO:TK
Respectfully Submitted, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management