The City's existing contract for polyaluminum hydroxychloride (PACL) expires in February 2010. The PACL blends used in water treatment are proprietary products.  These blends supplied by different vendors have differences in composition. The current product supplied by Kemira Water Solutions has proven to be the most cost-effective blend that the City has used. The technical specifications and performance history of this product are the basis for this bid. Potential suppliers must provide a product with essentially the same composition and guarantee equivalent performance.

The purpose of this bid is to obtain a fixed unit price in terms of price per pound ($/lbs) for a one (1) year period, with an option to renew the contract one (1) year at a time, for up to a total of three (3) years. The contract provides for termination of the agreement if the product supplied does not meet performance specifications.

The Council may:

• Approve the bid award; or
• Do not approve the bid award; or
• Delay bid award.

There are sufficient funds in the FY2010 Water Treatment Plant Chemicals account to cover purchases of this chemical. Bid award is based upon the railcar price which is the primary method of delivery.  Bids were publicly advertised on January 28 and February 4, 2010.  Six bids were received on February 9, 2010, as follows:

Supplier	Product	Pricing by Delivery Method ($/lb)
		Railcar	Truck	Tote (275 gal)
Thatcher Co. of Montana	T-Floc B-41	$0.3321	$0.3537	$0.4537
Kemira Water Solutions	PAX-XL3920LX	$0.367	$0.387	$0.60
Brenntag Pacific	Brenn Floc 2010B	$0.39	$0.49	$0.57
Aqua-Pure	AF 61150	$0.384	$0.446	$0.446
Aqua-Pure	AF 81150	$0.403	$0.465	$0.465
Pristine Water Solutions	PHI-2162	$0.405	$0.490	$0.555

Due to bid irregularties in the apparent low bid, staff needs to delay the bid award to allow time for legal review.

Staff recommends delaying the bid award for the contract to supply PACL to the March 8, 2010, meeting.