TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 6, 2013
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 the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Institute of Technology
Body
Dear Sir:
Authorization is requested to enter into a Master Agreement (MA) between the District and the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). The agreement period would commence upon the execution through December 31, 2016.
Under the MA, IIT will provide research and other services in, but not limited to, the following areas: disinfection, nutrient removal, process modeling using GPS-X software, optimizing efficiency of aeration tanks, optimizing secondary clarifier design, polymer usage, energy management, digester gas, odor management, influent monitoring, and technologies to produce Class A biosolids. These areas have been identified because they represent future challenges or potential regulatory changes that the District could face in the operation of its treatment plants.
The District has a long-standing relationship with IIT. The District had the opportunity to collaborate on projects with IIT under a previous MA. One of these was a Water Environment Research Foundation project, initiated by researchers at IIT, entitled "Sustainable Technologies for Achieving Low N and P Effluents." Through this work, District staff gained valuable information regarding nitrogen and phosphorous removal technologies and their potential applications at District Water Reclamation Plants (WRPs). In addition, IIT recently provided technical support to the District regarding settling velocities in primary settling tanks at the Calumet WRP.
In addition to the foregoing advantages, the District could have work performed by any department on the IIT campus under the MA. Furthermore, the terms and conditions of the MA would be flexible enough so that the District would be able to still use the services of other experts or institutions of higher learning, if such was needed.
Therefore, the Engineering, Maintenance and Operations, and Monitoring and Research Departments would benefit from the District's entering into a MA with IIT for consultations and services to the District related to design and operational issues. The terms of the MA are subject to the approval of the Law Department prior to execution. No funding is included with this MA; 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 IIT in an expedient manner.
Requested, Thomas C. Granato, Director of Monitoring and Research, TCG:AC:MPC:KB:kq
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 June 6, 2013