Ardurra Group Inc., will design the replacement of the Rancho California Water District’s Redhawk Parkway recycled water pipeline.
The RCWD board voted 7-0 March 9 to award Ardurra, which is headquartered in Tampa and has an office in Temecula, a $249,841 professional services contract for the design and bid phase engineering services. The board also approved total new appropriations of $375,000 which will cover RCWD staff labor costs, permitting, and bid advertisement expenses along with a $40,000 contingency amount.
The project will replace approximately 3,600 linear feet of 16-inch diameter polyvinyl chloride recycled water pipeline which is located within Redhawk Parkway. The section of pipe has experienced three pipe failures since 2017, including two within the last 20 months. RCWD staff issued a request for proposals for final design and bid phase support services on Nov. 22 and received three responses by the Jan. 12 deadline.
The Ardurra bid amount was $249,841. Krieger & Stewart had the lowest bid at $228,000, but the California Government Code requires professional services agreements to be awarded based on demonstrated competence and the professional qualifications necessary for the satisfactory performance of the services required rather than on the lowest price. RCWD staff deemed that Ardurra provided the best and most complete proposal for the work because Ardurra’s proposal demonstrated a strong understanding of the project including identifying potential issues with proposed solutions along with a detailed scope of services, Ardurra’s project manager has successfully worked with the district on five relevant projects, the Ardurra proposal highlighted the importance of selecting a pipeline alignment which minimizes traffic-related issues during construction and provided an appropriate level of effort to prepare detailed traffic control plans, and Ardurra’s project team includes an in-house traffic engineer with 36 years of experience who will be responsible for developing a traffic control strategy which minimizes impacts on the community.
The current estimated cost for the actual construction is $2.7 million. California Environmental Quality Act analysis and documentation will be prepared during the final design, although the replacement of an existing facility with no expanded use will likely result in a Notice of Exemption.
