City Council is asked to award a professional engineering services agreement to HDR Engineering for all phases of the W.O. 19-12, West End Reservoir Project to include preliminary design, final design, construction bidding and construction administration services.  Project scoping and fees through the preliminary design phase in the amount of $1,564,000.00 are under current consideration.  Project scoping and fees for the remaining project phases will be presented to City Council through future contract amendment proposals.

The Preliminary Design phase of this project includes all required work to evaluate, develop the preliminary design and drawings, and complete a detailed preliminary design Report for raw water storage reservoir(s) located at the current Knife River gravel pits on the north and south sides of Hesper Road between Shiloh Road and 48^th Street West.  The reservoir(s) would supply water to an associated future water treatment plant and serve as an attractive community amenity.  The primary goals of this preliminary project phase are to further define the project and develop a planning level cost estimate.
 
Identifying and securing an alternate source of raw water for City of Billings is a priority to the Public Works Department.  A West End source location most efficiently meets the City’s needs for long-term drinking water service capacity and system redundancy beyond which the existing Water Treatment Plant on Belknap Avenue is able to provide.  The Public Works Department is currently in negotiations with Knife River to acquire the gravel pits adjacent to Hesper Road which cover approximately 300 acres.
 
This preliminary project design will evaluate several raw water sources including direct use of the BBWA canal, a diversion from the Yellowstone River with an associated pipeline facilities, a diversion off Canyon Creek and potential combinations of these.  Several options of seepage control from the reservoir will also be evaluated, including cut-off wall(s) and embankment liners.
 
The project scope outlines a process to:

• identify the preferred configuration for conveyance of raw water to the reservoir,
• perform initial geotechnical evaluations of the site,
• initiate required permitting,
• complete a preliminary assessment of groundwater impacts,
• prepare a preliminary design report and design drawings,
• develop a master plan and conceptual designs for end-land use improvements, and
• complete a planning level cost estimate.

A Request for Proposals for this project was publicly advertised on November 2, 9, 16 and 23, 2018.  Proposals received from Jacobs Engineering, Stantec Consulting and WWC Engineering were also evaluated by the project selection committee.

City Council may:

• Approve award of the engineering contract to HDR Engineering, or;
• Disapprove award of the engineering contract to HDR Engineering.  If this project is not completed, the City will be unable to proceed with the evaluations and development plans needed to provide for the future drinking water capacity needs of City of Billings residents.

The W.O. 19-12, West End Reservoir Project is in the amount of $1,564,000.00, and funding for this project has been approved by City Council in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and the budget for the Public Works Department.  The project will use water funds.
 

Staff recommends that Council approve a professional engineering services contract with HDR Engineering in the amount of $1,564,000.00 for W.O. 19-12, West End Reservoir Project.