TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF NOVEMBER 5, 2015
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Report on advertisement of Request for Proposal 15-RFP-27 Liquid Organic Waste Supply Chain Manager at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant
Body
Dear Sir:
Request for Proposal (RFP) documents have been prepared for Liquid Organic Waste Supply Chain Manager at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant, at the request of the Engineering Department.
The Calumet Water Reclamation Plant (CWRP) has anaerobic digesters which stabilize and reduce the volume of primary and waste activated sludge produced at the plant. A beneficial by-product of the anaerobic digestion process is digester gas, also known as biogas. The District’s overall objective is to reduce its energy footprint by maximizing the production and beneficial use of biogas as a renewable energy source. On September 2, 2015, the District issued Request for Expression of Interest 15-EOI-02 Liquid Organic Waste Delivery at the Stickney and Calumet Water Reclamation Plants. The purpose of that Request for Expression of Interest was to quantify the availability of liquid organic waste material available in the region, and identify the potential suppliers who would find it economically beneficial to dispose of the liquid organic waste in the District’s anaerobic digesters. Information received from 12 proposers revealed that there appears to be sufficient quantities of liquid organic wastes (also known as “high strength wastes”) and fats, oils, and greases (also known as “FOG”) available in the region to fill the approximately 200,000 gallons per day of excess capacity in the anaerobic digesters at the CWRP.
The organic waste supply chain manager will have commitments for identified sources of high strength waste and FOG, demonstrate an ability to supply high strength waste and FOG, will be responsible for identifying new sources of high strength waste and FOG, securing agreements from these sources to discharge their wastes in the CWRP digesters, pre-screening the waste material to demonstrate compliance with District requirements, ensuring deliveries are in compliance with applicable regulations, and maintaining records and providing periodic reports to the District.
By contracting with an organic waste supply chain manager, the District will benefit by receiving a long-term, consistent supply of organic feedstock for the anaerobic digesters. Furthermore, the District would not have to take on the additional work of program management, marketing, pre-screening, and documentation. Finally, there will be one single point of responsibility for the District to manage, not multiple points. There would be no financial obligation to the District; rather, the organic feedstock supply chain manager would pay the District a tipping fee as remuneration for the District’s collecting and treating the organic waste material.
The successful proposer will clearly define in the proposal, its experience in similar activities, a commitment to long-term supply of liquid organic wastes, and a demonstration of its ability to procure liquid organic wastes in sufficient quantities and of sufficient quality to increase the CWRP’s biogas production.
The District’s review panel will review and score these proposals based on pre-determined criteria. A request for “Best and Final Offers” will then be issued. The District will select the proposer that will provide the best long-term benefit to the District.
A bid deposit is not required for this RFP.
Since the services are for material supply, and there are no direct out-of-pocket expenses for the District, neither the Multi-Project Labor Agreement nor the District’s Affirmative Action policy with regard to MBE, WBE, and SBE utilization goals would apply.
The tentative schedule for this contract is as follows:
Advertise December 2, 2015
Pre-proposal Meeting: December 16, 2015
Proposals Received January 8, 2016
Award of Contract February 18, 2016
Requested, Catherine A. O’Connor, Director of Engineering, CAO:TK
Respectfully Submitted, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management