Staff recommends the City Council award a professional engineering services contract for W.O. 25-01, Contract 1: 2025 Water Main Replacement, to DOWL in the amount of $486,850.

The City replaces and upgrades its water utilities as part of an annual maintenance program.  This project will replace approximately 3,650 feet of existing 20-inch and 24-inch diameter water mains. The water mains being replaced were selected based on several criteria including age, break history, lead joint pipe, lead services, undersized water mains, and replacement prior to future projects.  This project will replace the water main along Grand Avenue from Division Street to Virginia Lane (5th Street West), including all intersection lateral mains.  The existing water main is bedded in concrete, has a break history, and valves that do not close.  Due to the large diameter of the water main and concrete bedding, breaks are difficult and expensive to repair, and are prone to cause water outages to adjacent businesses and Billings Senior High School.  Additionally, this section of Grand Avenue will need to have pavement overlay performed within the next 5 to 10 years, so the water main will be replaced ahead of the new paving.  

DOWL was selected for the project using the proposal process.  Two other proposals were received from Sanbell and Morrison-Maierle.  The consultant selection was based on Project Team and Availability; Project Approach; and Firm Qualifications and Experience as related to the project needs.

City Council may:

• Approve awarding the Professional Engineering Services Contract to DOWL, or;
• Not approve awarding the Professional Engineering Services contract to DOWL. If the project is not awarded, the City's water main in this area will continue to be unreliable and will likely experience ongoing maintenance problems and expenses.

Water main replacements were budgeted in FY25 using Water Funds in the amount of $4,800,000.  There are adequate funds to award the contract.  The remaining budget will be used for a subsequent engineering services contract for design and construction administration of additional water main replacements (Contract 3), construction, and materials testing.