Authorize the County Administrative Officer (CAO) or the CAO's designee to execute a work authorization for construction management of the Wild Wings County Service Area's Wood Duck Pump Station Project (Phase I) in the amount of $119,833. (No general fund impact) (Webb/Pavlova)

Authorize the County Administrative Officer (CAO) or the CAO's designee to execute a work authorization for construction management of the Wild Wings County Service Area's Wood Duck Pump Station Project (Phase I) in the amount of $119,833. 

The Wild Wings County Service Area (CSA) operates two groundwater well stations, the Canvasback and Pintail wells.  The Canvasback well is currently on standby status, meaning it cannot be used for potable water except in limited emergencies.  The Wild Wings CSA therefore only has one potable water well, the Pintail well.  In the past few years, the local groundwater levels in the Wild Wings CSA declined at an accelerated rate due to prolonged drought conditions, leading to concerns about the long-term viability of only one drinking water well. 

In August 2021, County staff applied for grant funding for the construction of a new potable water supply well (the Wood Duck well), and an arsenic treatment system program at the community's existing Pintail well. The goal was to increase water supply reliability and create redundancy. In November 2021, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) awarded Small Community Drought Relief program grant funding to support the projects, in the amount of approximately $3.8 million. Design work for the projects began, and the Board of Supervisors adopted an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration and approved the projects on January 24, 2023. On July 11, 2023, the Board adopted the plans and specifications for the Wood Duck well construction and authorized the Community Services department to post bids for the project. 

Bids for both the Wood Duck well project and the Pintail arsenic treatment system project opened on September 14, 2023. Unfortunately, bids came in significantly higher than expected, and significantly higher than DWR grant funding allowed. The lowest bid for the Wood Duck well construction was approximately $5.7 million, which exceeded both the remaining grant funding and the community water fund's ability to cover the expense. As a result, the arsenic project and the Wood Duck well project had to be bifurcated. Construction on the arsenic project began in late 2023 and is anticipated to conclude in Spring 2025. Work on the Wood Duck well was stalled while the CSA Manager considered how to move forward in light of high cost pressures. In Summer 2024, the CSA Manager began exploring the option of phasing the Wood Duck well project with Luhdorff and Scalmanini Consulting Engineers (LSCE), the engineering firm behind the design of the well.  The parties worked on a two-phase solution, where Phase 1 would consist of installation of the well pump station and Phase 2 would include a raw water and/or drinking water transmission line. The Wood Duck well is anticipated to be fully operational as an irrigation source after the completion of Phase 1, but would not be fully integrated into the drinking water supply until Phase 2 is completed. 

The Board of Supervisors approved the plans and specifications for Phase 1 of the Wood Duck well on November 5, 2024.  The CSA Manager and Procurement Department solicited bids for construction of Phase 1 in winter 2024. The bidding period closed on December 20, 2024 and only one bid was received, from TSI Engineering, with the base bid price of $1,910,786. County staff met with DWR staff in January to discuss the results of the Well Project bid. The parties agreed to re-bid the project (for the third time) and to discuss the possibility of additional funding. (The County had made several additional funding inquiries throughout the previous months.) On March 19, 2025, the County received four bids for Phase 1 of the Wood Duck well. The lowest responsive and responsible bidder, TNT Industrial, Inc.'s bid was $1,611,249.

Since the bid was still high when compared to existing funding, the CSA Manager negotiated a grant funding increase with DWR for the completion of Phase 1. In May 2025, the County and DWR executed an amended agreement with $640,070 of additional funding. The funding increase included an allocation for construction management of the Project. The CSA Manager collaborated with the Procurement Department to create a work authorization for construction management using one of the County's on-call construction management contracts, Alpha CM.  After negotiating costs with Alpha CM, the CSA Manager received the cost proposal included in Attachment A, for $119,833.  County staff recommend approving the work authorization for Alpha CM in Attachment B so that Alpha CM can proceed with construction management of Phase 1 of the Project. 

County Procurement Division, DWR, Wild Wings CSA Advisory Committee

A competitive process was conducted for on-call construction management companies. Please refer to Agenda Item No. 18 of the January 9, 2024 meeting of the Board of Supervisors.