SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Approve a work order with Excergy Corporation of Denver Colorado, for a fee not to exceed $170,715.00 for phase one (of three) in determining the feasibility of implementing Advanced Metering Infrastructure, and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same. (consent)
Body
SUMMARY:
The City of Clearwater Public Utilities department is seeking to determine the feasibility of implementing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for potable, irrigation and reclaimed water accounts, under City Project 14-0050-UT.
AMI is an integrated system of smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems that enable two-way communication between the smart meter and a utility company. The goal of an AMI is to provide utility companies with real-time data about water consumption, which, in turn, allows utility companies to provide a higher level of service to the customer. AMI would eliminate the need for manual, monthly meter reading.
In order to refine the direction of the city's AMI initiative, this Work Order with Excergy Corporation addresses the initial phase only (first of 3), and includes:
- Evaluation and summary of the feasibility of alternative Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions;
- Business case development;
- Strategic assessment; and
- Summary of all related technology and associated financial packages available.
Based upon the City's evaluation of the results achieved from Excergy, the completion of Phase I will be the basis for direction whether to proceed to a subsequent phase. Only if, in the opinion of the City, it is determined to be in the City's continued best interest to pursue AMI implementation, will Excergy be directed to proceed to the next phase through another work order. Later, Excergy will be able to provide projected costs for Phases II and III. The cost of equipment, hardware or software to implement AMI will be identified in a future phase.
Qualifications: Public Utilities, through the Purchasing department, published a Request for Qualifications (RFQ 33-14) in June 2014. Eight companies responded. Using a formal rating process, a review committee composed of representatives from Public Utilities, Utility Customer Service, Information Technology, Engineering, and Finance departments. The submittals were narrowed down to the top three, who were invited to return to make a formal presentation to the review committee. Excergy Corporation was selected as the highest rated presentation.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
Funds are available in Fiscal Year 2015 Capital Improvement Program project 0315-96774, Automated Meter Reading, for the amount of $170,715 to fund this work order.
USE OF RESERVE FUNDS:
N/A