HomeMy WebLinkAbout20- RFP - Water Supply Optimization and Management Tool
WATER SUPPLY OPTIMIZATION
AND MANAGEMENT TOOL
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
CITY OF BOZEMAN
PO BOX 1230
BOZEMAN, MT 59771‐1230
JUNE 2020
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Bozeman (City) is requesting proposals from qualified
engineering consulting firms to develop and deliver a water supply optimization and
management tool for City use. The City desires to define the monthly reliable yield of its
municipal water rights in order to optimize and manage available water supply against
anticipated water demand. The tool will track the City’s available monthly water supply balance
as development takes place and forecast when supply deficits may occur. The City will utilize the
tool to inform ongoing water supply management decisions as population and water demands
grow over time.
The complete Request for Proposals packet is available for download on the City’s website at
https://www.bozeman.net/government/city‐clerk/bids‐rfps‐rfqs.
All proposals must be provided as a single, searchable PDF document file and be submitted
digitally as an email attachment to the RFP Recipient email address below. Respondents are
advised that Recipient’s email attachment size limit is 25MB and that only one PDF file will be
allowed per response. The subject line of the transmittal email shall clearly identify the RFP title,
company name and due date/time. File sizes greater than 25MB in size may be uploaded to
bzncloud.bozeman.net upon special arrangement of the Recipient; however, it is the
respondent’s sole responsibility to ensure the file upload is completed, and that the Recipient is
separately notified via email of same, prior to the given deadline.
The deadline to submit the RFP response is Wednesday, July 8th, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. MST. It is the
sole responsibility of the responding individual to ensure their email transmittal is digitally
timestamped as being sent to the Recipient’s email address prior to the prescribed closing time as
late submittals will not be accepted.
RFP Recipient Email Address: mmaas@bozeman.net
NON‐DISCRIMINATION
The City of Bozeman is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Discrimination in the performance of any agreement awarded under this RFP on the basis of race,
color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or actual or perceived sexual
orientation, gender identity or disability is prohibited. This prohibition shall apply to the hiring
and treatment of the awarded entity’s employees and to all subcontracts.
As such, each entity submitting under this notice shall include a provision wherein the submitting
entity, or entities, affirms in writing it will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion,
creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or because of actual or perceived sexual
orientation, gender identity or disability and which also recognizes the eventual contract will
contain a provision prohibiting discrimination as described above and that this prohibition on
discrimination shall apply to the hiring and treatment of the submitting entity’s employees and
to all subcontracts.
Failure to comply with these non‐discrimination provisions is cause for the City to disqualify the
firm from selection.
Any administrative questions regarding RFP transmittal procedures or noticing materials shall be
directed to: Mike Maas, City Clerk, (406) 582‐2321, mmaas@bozeman.net.
Any and all questions or clarifications relating to the RFP scope of services, submittal contents,
evaluation criteria, or selection procedures shall be directed solely and exclusively in writing to:
Brian Heaston, Senior Engineer, bheaston@bozeman.net. The respondent, and any of its
associated parties, shall not contact other City staff in the preparation of its response to this RFP.
Emailed questions or clarifications will be accepted until Wednesday, June 24th, 2020 at 11:59
p.m. MST after which time the questions will be compiled, anonymized and provided with a
posted response on the City’s RFP webpage. Further questions will not be entertained after the
question period has elapsed.
The City reserves the right to amend or modify any element of this RFP by issuance of an
addendum at any time prior to the given submittal deadline. Any addenda that may be issued
for this RFP will be individually noticed on the City’s RFP webpage. It is the respondent’s
responsibility to determine if any addenda have been issued.
DATED at Bozeman, Montana, this 7th day of June, 2020.
Mike Maas
City Clerk
City of Bozeman
For publication on:
Sunday, June 7, 2020
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Sunday, June 28, 2020
I. INTRODUCTION
The City of Bozeman (City) is requesting proposals from qualified engineering consulting firms to
develop and deliver a water supply optimization and management tool for City use.
Development of the tool must provide analyses that conform to Chapter 3 – Source Development
of MT DEQ Circular 1. The City desires to define the monthly reliable yield of its developed
municipal water rights and firm water supply infrastructure capacity in order to optimize and
manage available water supply against anticipated water demand. The City does not wish to
revisit the distribution system analysis completed with the 2017 Water Facility Plan Update. The
optimization and management tool will track the City’s available monthly water supply balance
as development takes place and forecast when supply deficits may occur. The City will utilize the
tool to inform ongoing water supply management decisions as population and water demands
grow over time.
The release of this RFP alone shall not commit the City to enter into a Professional Services
Agreement, to pay any expenses incurred in preparation of any response to this request, or to
procure or contract for any supplies, goods or services.
II. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION
The City completed an Integrated Water Resources Plan (IWRP) in 2013 to evaluate its 50‐year
water supply needs. A substantial water supply gap was identified under the IWRP’s high
population growth with supply/demand climate impacts planning scenario. Since completion of
the IWRP, actual population growth rates in the City are exceeding projections, whereas
observed per capita water demand is significantly lower than the predicted climate adjusted
demand and climate related supply impacts have not (yet) materialized.
The City is diligently implementing the IWRP to develop water supplies and increase the efficiency
of water use. Subsequent and pursuant to the IWRP, the City has created a water conservation
program, developed a drought management plan with a drought tracking tool, installed two (2)
real‐time streamflow gages on Sourdough Creek, installed instrumentation and controls to
optimize the Lyman water diversion system, constructed non‐potable irrigation systems,
purchased additional hyalite reservoir water, and is actively pursuing development of a municipal
groundwater supply. All told, incremental progress is being made to increase available water
supplies and improve water use efficiency.
The “2012 firm yield” of the City’s municipal water supplies as documented in the IWRP was
taken from the City’s 1997 water facility plan. It is these yield values that formed the basis of the
climate adjusted yields evaluated with the IWRP. The 1997 water facility plan reliable yield
evaluation is poorly documented, so it largely unknown what methods were used to determine
the reliable yield quantities set forth in that plan. The City’s 1987 Water Reservation application
contains yield values nearly identical to those in the 1997 facility plan with a source note “City of
Bozeman, 1987”, indicating these yields were originally determined by City staff at that time.
Technical documentation has not been located to substantiate these yield estimates.
The City owns direct flow municipal water rights on Sourdough Creek, Hyalite Creek and Lyman
Creek as well as water stored and purposed for municipal use in Hyalite Reservoir. The combined
flow of the direct flow rights is sufficient to meet the City’s current indoor domestic water
demands but are not adequate to supply domestic and irrigation demands during the entire
irrigation season. The City’s water in Hyalite Reservoir is currently used to augment direct flow
rights in order to meet total peak season demands. A conveyance loss factor of 20% has
historically been applied to the releases of the City’s Hyalite Reservoir water, effectively reducing
the available yield of the stored water by an equivalent factor. The City’s water purchase contract
for Hyalite Reservoir contains no such provision for loss, however, nor does any other contractual
or reservoir operations documentation that is known to the City.
As population growth continues, indoor domestic demands will eventually eclipse the available
supply provided from direct flow rights, which then will require winter releases of Hyalite
Reservoir water or a new municipal groundwater supply to satisfy year‐round indoor water
needs. Hyalite Reservoir operates on a water year running October 1 – September 30, so any
winter releases debit from the City’s available reservoir volume even if the reservoir were to fill
completely in the spring. Securing a municipal groundwater water right that is available for use
year‐round is a challenging endeavor with an uncertain outcome. Winter period releases are
allowable under the City’ Hyalite Reservoir water purchase contract but have not regularly
occurred in the past and may call for capital improvements to the dam’s gate tower and operating
valve. Pursuant to the Dam Operator’s Manual, prior to the reservoir icing over its water level is
drawn down to below the gate tower to prevent ice scour from damaging concrete. This lowering
of the reservoir pool elevation essentially reduces the volume of water available for release over
the winter season until the reservoir fills again in the spring.
The City’s water supplies are susceptible to drought and wildfire impacts given its municipal
watersheds are heavily forested, annual supply is largely driven by snowpack and there is a
relatively small quantity of available reservoir storage. The City’s drought management plan
provides a tool to continuously track drought condition of its water supplies such that particular
demand management actions can be taken upon official local declarations of drought. The
drought plan recommends that a “drought reserve” be established from the City’s Hyalite
Reservoir water to provide a supply quantity that is only accessible during periods of severe
shortage. In other words, the drought reserve would not be available to provide water for
continued population growth, but would rather be set aside as an emergency supply. An
evaluation to define the practical quantity necessary for drought reserve in Hyalite Reservoir has
not yet been conducted.
The City’s water utility customer water demands have been characterized in contemporary study
efforts (2017 Water Facility Plan and 2019 Water/Wastewater Utility Rate Study). A wastewater
model update is currently in progress that will characterize wastewater customer sewer loads. A
water conservation plan will soon be underway that will take a detailed look at water utility
customer demands and identify potential conservation measures to reduce annual average per
capita water use. Development of the water supply optimization tool requested under this RFP
should maximize the utilization of these existing and pending demand characterization efforts.
The current evaluation of reliable yield of the City’s municipal water rights lacks sufficient detail
to adequately support ongoing water management decisions in the face of rapid population
growth. Development of the water supply optimization tool must define the monthly reliable
yield of its municipal water rights in order to optimize available water supply against water
demand. The reliable yield evaluation must be based on statistical likelihood of physical supply
availability during each month of the year under an acceptable risk tolerance of the City. This
evaluation must marry the physical monthly availability of the source with its total legal demands
as determined by the position of the City’s municipal priority dates in the source’s overall priority
scheme.
The goal of the effort undertaken through this RFP is to develop and deliver a supply optimization
tool for City use that determines reliable supply availability as population growth occurs with
future development, as well as forecasting capability to identify when (month and year) supply
shortages may occur. Development of the tool must provide necessary analyses that conform to
Chapter 3 – Source Development of MT DEQ Circular 1. The tool will provide functionality for the
City to input predicted water demands from new developments, additions of new supplies (e.g.
Hyalite Reservoir water), and changes to drought reserves. The tool will provide summary
dashboards depicting graphical and tabular information of monthly supply availability and
forecasted supply shortage.
III. PRELIMINARY SCOPE OF WORK
Release of this RFP with the preliminary scope of services contained herein does not commit the
City to contracting with a selected firm for all scope items identified. For purposes of this RFP
the term ‘selected firm’ can mean a single engineering consulting firm, or a prime engineering
consulting firm together with sub‐consultant engineering firm(s) forming a respondent team.
The preliminary scope of work involved for this project is outlined below. The City desires for the
scope of work to be completed in a diligent manner. Additional tasks and work elements may be
inserted into the scope of work during contract negotiations with the selected firm. It is also
possible that tasks or elements could be removed during negotiations or not included in an initial
contract because of regulatory uncertainty, budget limitations, contracting strategy or any
combination thereof. In its proposal, a firm is free to recommend addition/deletion of tasks
and/or modification of tasks in describing its particular understanding and approach for the
project.
Proposals must clearly identify any elements of the proposed scope of work that would not be
provided by the prime engineering consulting firm. Any sub‐consultants which comprise the
respondent team must be identified along with a description of past working history between
the firms.
A. Project Management
1. Develop and manage project schedule and budget.
2. Facilitate meetings with the City and provide meeting minutes for any scoped
meetings.
3. Prepare and submit monthly invoices for progress payments.
B. Water Demand Characterization and Model
1. Develop a supply‐side water demand profile by analyzing water treatment plant
production records. Evaluate peaking factors to calculate max day demand.
2. Develop correlations between supply‐side demand, weather (precipitation,
temperature, evapotranspiration) and City population.
3. Develop water demand profiles for residential and commercial development using
available water end‐use characterization data for the City.
4. Develop a system that predicts and accounts for annual water demands from new
subdivision developments and large site redevelopment projects.
5. Disaggregate demand analyses above into baseline (indoor only) and irrigation
(outdoor uses).
6. For items 1‐4 above, utilize to the extent practicable existing analyses in 2017 Water
Facility Plan Update (and its distribution system model), Drought Management Plan,
and pending Water Conservation Plan.
7. Develop a supply‐side monthly water demand model that integrates the foregoing
items and provides user inputs for key variables to simulate future demands.
8. Document work completed under this task in a technical memorandum.
C. Direct Flow Water Rights ‐ Reliable Yield Evaluation
1. Given the availability and relevance of historical flow measurement data, assess
various hydrologic methods or approaches available to develop reliable yield
hydrographs for each of the City’s direct flow water rights sources (Lyman Creek,
Sourdough Creek, and Hyalite Creek) that conform to requirements in Chapter 3 of
MT DEQ Circular 1. Select an appropriate hydrologic method or approach for each
supply source and document rationale.
2. Perform reliable yield evaluation and develop monthly reliable yields for each supply
source. Work with City staff to define the hydrologic likelihood of flows
underpinning the term “monthly reliable yield”.
3. Assess physical reliable yield of each source against the legal availability of each
source given the priority dates, periods of use, and other stipulations of the City’s
water rights.
4. Evaluate firm supply capacity for respective water diversion and transmission
infrastructure delivering water to Sourdough Treatment Plant and Lyman Tank.
5. Document work completed under this task in a technical memorandum.
D. Hyalite Reservoir Operating Model
1. Develop an operating model for Hyalite Reservoir that accounts for, at a minimum:
the October 1 to September 30 water year; reliable inflow to reservoir; losses such
as evaporation and siltation; flowthroughs to downstream water rights;
flowthroughs for fish and wildlife; minimum pool and dead pool;
drought/emergency reserves; spills; releases of stored water; conveyance loss
between the reservoir outlet and City’s Hyalite intake; and end of month storage.
The model will allow user inputs to adjust the quantity of stored water held by the
City and Agricultural users, drought/emergency reserves, flowthroughs, and
conveyance losses.
2. Evaluate an effective quantity of the City’s Hyalite Reservoir water to set aside as a
drought/emergency reserve. Document criteria used and rationale applied to arrive
at the recommended reserve amount.
3. Determine if minimum year‐over‐year storage is necessary to fill the reservoir given
the reliable yield of its contributing watershed and existing senior demands on the
source and current patterns of stored water releases.
4. Assess the viability of constructing offsite storage of remaining portions of the City’s
Hyalite Reservoir water at the end of the October 1 – September 30 water year.
5. Assess the physical validity of the 20% conveyance loss factor applied to the City’s
Hyalite Reservoir water supply.
6. Document work completed under this task in a technical memorandum.
E. Water Supply Optimization and Management Tool
1. Develop a water supply optimization and management tool for City use that
integrates the work completed in the above tasks and provides functionality
requested below.
2. Optimization of Hyalite Reservoir water supply releases to fill the gap between the
monthly reliable yield of direct flow sources and monthly water demands.
3. Graphical and tabular dashboard display of future water demand projections with
user inputs for population and per capita water use. Provide forecasting display
showing at what future point in time water supply is eclipsed.
4. Graphical and tabular dashboard display of declining balance of monthly reliable
yield under predicted water demand increases as new subdivisions and major
redevelopment projects are input.
5. Prepare a user manual for the water supply optimization and management tool.
IV. PROPOSAL CONTENTS AND FORMAT
Proposals must contain the following information and be organized under the headings below.
A. Proposal Contents
1. Firm Background
2. Project Overview
3. Project Approach
4. Management Approach
5. Staff Qualifications
6. Related Experience on Similar Projects
7. Proposed Schedule
8. Nondiscrimination Affirmation Form (see Attachment A)
i. Failure to provide a signed Nondiscrimination Affirmation is cause to disqualify
the firm from selection.
B. Proposal Format
Respondents shall provide proposals as a single, searchable PDF document file format.
1. RFP responses shall contain a cover letter, not exceeding one page in length, signed
by an officer or principal of the responding prime firm. Digital signatures are
allowed.
2. RFP responses must be contained within 20 total pages or less, including whatever
graphics, charts, tables, figures and text narrative the firm deems necessary and
appropriate. Page size shall be no larger than 8‐l/2 x 11 inches, with margins no
smaller than 0.75 inches, and text information no smaller than 11‐point type.
3. The following pages are exempted from the maximum 20 page limit: Cover Page,
Cover Letter, Table of Contents Page, Divider Pages, and Resumes. Page size for
exempted pages remains limited to 8‐l/2 x 11 inches, with no smaller than 0.75”
margins, and text no smaller than 11‐point type.
4. An exception is granted to the otherwise required 8‐l/2 x 11 inches page size for a
project schedule sheet, which may be provided at a page size of 11 x 17 inches, but
the schedule sheet does apply towards to maximum 20 page limit.
V. RFP DEADLINES & SELECTION TIMELINES
EVENT DATE/TIME
Publication dates of RFP Sunday, June 7, 14, and 28, 2020
Deadline for RFP questions & clarifications Wednesday, June 24
th at 11:59 p.m. MST
City Response to questions & clarifications By July 1
st, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. MST
Deadline for transmittal of proposals Wednesday, July 8th at 3:00 p.m. MST
Evaluation of proposals July 9
th – July 17th, 2020
Interviews (if necessary) and Selection Week of July 20, 2020
Contract Negotiation July 27
th – August 27th, 2020
Contract Authorization & Notice to Proceed September 14
th, 2020
The timeline of events following deadline for transmittal of proposals is aspirational and is not
predetermined. The City endeavors to conduct these post‐deadline events diligently in order to
arrive at contract authorization and notice to proceed by the date shown. Failure to reach the
notice to proceed milestone by the date shown imparts no liability on the part of the City.
VI. SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL
By submitting its proposal the consulting firm makes an incontrovertible and unequivocal
representation that it understands, respects, and agrees to be bound by the terms and processes
described herein that the City will employ in its review, evaluation, selection and contract
negotiations occurring under this RFP procurement action. The proposal shall be submitted as
stated in the notice.
VII. SELECTION PROCEDURE
Procurement of engineering services under this RFP is governed by Sec. 18‐8‐201 MCA et. Seq.
and the specific processes contained within this RFP. Proposals meeting the submittal
requirements and deadline will be distributed to a project selection committee for review and
evaluation. The selection committee will consist of no fewer than three (3) City staff members
whose identities will remain anonymous ahead of the submittal deadline.
Proposals will be distributed to the selection committee where they will be individually evaluated
against the selection criteria below. Upon review, each member will assign an ordered ranking
of the proposals from most‐qualified to least‐qualified. The most‐qualified proposal will be
assigned a ordinal value of one (1), the second most‐qualified an ordinal value of two (2),
continuing in this fashion until the least qualified proposal is found and given an ordinal value
equaling the total count of proposals received. Ordinals assigned to each proposal by each
committee member will then be summed together and sorted from lowest ordinal sum to highest
ordinal sum, producing the selection committee’s initial ranking list from most‐qualified to least‐
qualified. The selection committee will review the initial ranking list and determine at its sole
discretion whether it will conduct interviews with the top ranking firms of its choosing, or it may
determine that it will forego interviews and simply select the most‐qualified firm from the initial
ranking list to enter contract negotiations. Should the selection committee determine it will
conduct interviews, it will select the firm it determines to be most‐qualified upon a combined
evaluation of the firm’s written proposal and interview performance.
Contract negotiations will proceed after selection and will take into account the estimated value
of services to be rendered, as well as the scope, complexity and professional nature thereof, in
order to arrive at a contract that the City determines to be fair and reasonable. If the City is
unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the consultant initially selected at a price the City
determines to be fair and reasonable, negotiations with that consultant will be formally
terminated and the City will select another consultant in accordance with Sec. 18‐8‐204 MCA and
continue until an agreement is reached or the procurement process is terminated.
VIII. SELECTION CRITERIA
Proposals will be evaluated on the criteria listed below. These are minimum criteria listed in Sec.
18‐8‐204 MCA as well as an additional criterion capturing the consultant’s specific project
approach and understanding. These criteria are not assigned point values for relative weighting
in the evaluation and ranking process. Instead, selection committee members will review and
evaluate the proposal as a whole to assign proposal rankings from most‐ to least‐qualified.
The consultant’s specific project approach and understanding;
Qualifications of professional personnel to be assigned to the project;
Capability to meet project time and budget requirements;
Location of the consulting firm;
Present and projected workloads;
Related experience on similar projects;
Recent and current work for the City.
IX. CITY RESERVATION OF RIGHTS / LIABILITY WAIVER
A. All proposals submitted in response to this RFP become the property of the City and are
considered public records and, as such, may be subject to public review.
B. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals; to add or delete
preliminary scope items and/or quantities; to amend the RFP; to waive any minor
irregularities, informalities, or failure to conform to the RFP; to extend the deadline for
submitting questions or proposals; to postpone contract authorization and notice to
proceed for any length of time it determines necessary; to award one or more contracts,
by item or task, or groups of items or tasks, if so provided in the RFP and if multiple
awards or phases are determined by the City to be in the public interest; and to reject,
without liability therefore, any and all proposals upon finding that doing so is in the public
interest.
C. The City reserves the right to reject the proposal of any person/firm who previously failed
to perform properly to the satisfaction of the City, or complete on time agreements of
similar nature, or to reject the proposal of any person/firm who is not in a position to
perform such an agreement satisfactorily as determined by the City.
D. The City reserves the right to determine the most‐qualified consultant and negotiate a
final scope of service and cost, negotiate a contract with another consultant if an
agreement cannot be reached with the first selected consultant, or reject all proposals.
E. This RFP does not commit the City to award a contract. The City assumes no liability or
responsibility for costs incurred by firms in responding to this request for proposals or
engaging in the selection process, prior to the issuance of a contract. The consultant, by
submitting a response to this RFP, waives all right to protest or seek any legal remedies
whatsoever regarding any aspect of this RFP.
F. The City reserves the right to cancel, in part or in its entirety, this RFP including, but not
limited to: selection procedures, submittal date, and submittal requirements. If the City
cancels or revises this RFP, all consultants who submitted proposals will be notified using
email.
G. Projects under any contract are subject to the availability of funds.
X. ATTACHMENTS
The attachments below are incorporated in this RFP:
Attachment A: Non‐Discrimination Affirmation Form
XI. OTHER RESOURCES
The following documents are available upon request. Due to large file sizes the documents are
available as a secure download link on the bzncloud.bozeman.net. To request a download link
email bheaston@bozeman.net.
2013 Integrated Water Resources Plan
1987 Water Reservation Application
1997 Water Facility Plan
2017 Water Facility Plan Update
City Drought Management Plan
DNRC Hyalite Dam Manual for Operation and Maintenance
Below are documents, information or data that may be germane to the preliminary scope of work
contained in this RFP and are publicly available on the internet, or housed by other government
agencies, so they are not being provided by the City with this RFP.
MT DEQ Circular 1
MT Water Court Basin 41H Preliminary Decree
DNRC streamflow data for Sourdough/Bozeman Creek
USGS streamflow data for Hyalite Creek
NRCS Snotel Data
Planning and design documents related to original Hyalite Dam and 1991 dam raise
END OF RFP EXCEPT FOR ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A
NONDISCRIMINATION AFFIRMATION
____________________________________(name of entity submitting) hereby affirms it will not
discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin,
or because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability and
acknowledges and understands the eventual contract will contain a provision prohibiting
discrimination as described above and this prohibition on discrimination shall apply to the hiring
and treatments or proposer’s employees and to all subcontracts.
______________________________________
Name and title of person authorized to sign on behalf of submitter