A water system model development project contract for the city of Williams Lake is being awarded to Associated Engineering Ltd. for a total amount of $109,141, excluding GST.
“It will look at all the parameters of flow, the sizes of pipe, the various pressures on the system and the reservoirs,” explained acting CAO Geoff Goodall. “That way we will know exactly what the impact is going to be on the entire water system rather than what the impact is going to be on a local area.”
While the city’s water system becomes larger and more complex, the project will help with moderating consumption, operating the system more efficiently and examining ways of treating the water.
Goodall said the new system will be completely flexible.
“What you do is build the model that you have today so that you have your entire distribution systems sitting in a computer model,” he explained. “If you say we’re going to do a 100 lot subdivision and you add a pipe onto the end where it’s going to join in, you can size the pipe, put in the topography of the area and it can tell you exactly how that entire subdivision is going to impact the entire system downstream.”
The total budget for the project is $130,000, including software and training totalling approximately $14,500. This leaves a budget of approximately $115,500 to complete the Water Model development as per the RFP,” engineering technologist Jeff Bernardy noted in a report to council. “The proposal of Associated Engineering of $109,141 is within budget.”
Five proposals were received, the four others were from Focus Corporation for $49,160, Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. for $148,190, Omega and Associates Engineering Ltd. for $84,920 and Opus Dayton Knight Consultants Ltd. for $86,627.
Coun. Danica Hughes asked how the contract was awarded and heard staff looked at the proposals and scored them.
“At the end of the day in this case there were two that were pretty close. One was substantially higher than the other, so we took the lower one that met all the criteria,” Goodall said.
Coun. Geoff Bourdon said the criteria system is a good way to go when assessing request for proposals.
“If we pick the lowest bid, that’s not in the best interest if someone’s going to miss the mark in the project. I think we’re going through a really good process so we’re insuring to the best of our ability that we’re going to be getting what we need.”
