SR-11-11-2014-3DID
City of City Council Report
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City Council Meeting: November 11, 2014
Agenda Item: 5D
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Martin Pastucha, Director of Public Works
Subject: Purchase of Water Meters for Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) Pilot
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council award a purchase order for the purchase of
approximately 1,700 water meters to Badger Meter, Inc., a Wisconsin -based company,
in the amount of $220,000 for participation in an Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI)
pilot program.
Executive Summary
The City has been invited to participate in an AMI pilot program with Aclara
Technologies, in partnership with Southern California Gas Company (SCG), to test
reliability and feasibility of receiving water usage data using AMI - enabled water meters.
AMI would allow for remote transmission of meter data and allow current staff assigned
to meter reading to perform more efficient maintenance of the existing infrastructure and
respond more quickly to water leak alerts generated by the AMI system, assisting in
water conservation and improved customer service. The AMI pilot would replace about
1,700, or 10 %, of the City's water meters and is planned to last for one year. Staff
recommends a purchase order to Badger Meter, Inc. in the amount of $220,000 to
provide about 1,700 water meters for the AMI pilot.
Background
The City owns and maintains approximately 17,000 water meters throughout its water
distribution system. The City maintains an inventory of water meters when replacement
needs arise. On March 12 2013, Council awarded a sole- source bid to Badger Meter,
Inc. for the purchase of replacement meters in various sizes and repair parts in the
amount of $60,000 per year, for a total amount of $180,000 over a three -year term, to
rebuild or refurbish existing Badger meters within the City's distribution system.
The approximate 17,000 meters in the City's water distribution system are currently
read manually by City staff on a bi- monthly cycle.
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Discussion
The City has been invited to participate in an AMI pilot program with Aclara
Technologies to test the reliability and feasibility of receiving water meter data through a
transmitter on each meter. Aclara provides the software that would be used in the pilot
program. AMI uses radio -based technology to read water meters, thus allowing more
frequent collection of water usage data and eliminating the need for manual meter
reads. AMI would assist with early leak detection and meter diagnostics by transmitting
meter data to data collection units located around the City. AMI would aid in water
conservation and improve customer service by alerting staff and customers to irregular
fluctuations in water usage immediately and allow current staff assigned to meter
reading to perform more efficient maintenance of the existing infrastructure and respond
to AMI - generated water leak alerts with timelier repairs. In the proposed pilot program,
the City would use SCG's network of data collection units to receive the meter data and
reduce the cost of the AMI program. Staff believes a one -year program should allow for
sufficient time to collect data and analyze the reliability and feasibility of the AMI
technology.
About 6,300, or 37 %, of the City's water meters are manufactured by Badger. A typical
water meter has a useful life of 20 to 25 years. All water meters currently available on
the market are AMI - enabled. As the older meters reach their useful life, they are
replaced with AMI - enabled meters; however, their replacements are based on needs
rather than strategic locations for a test program.
The pilot would consist of replacing approximately 1,700, or 10 %, of water customers'
meters with new, AMI- enabled meters that can transmit meter read data remotely.
Meter locations for the pilot program have been selected to represent residential and
commercial areas throughout the city and have been pre- determined based on their
proximity and accessibility to SCG's data collection units. Part of the pilot would be to
test the reliability of meter reads if there are obstructions in data transmission.
FA
Vendor Selection
Pursuant to section 2.24.080(b) of the Santa Monica Municipal Code, Exception to
Competitive Bidding, competitive bid procedures have already been utilized, such as in
purchasing from Federal, State, County, City or special district government agencies,
and these materials and services are supplied to the City at the same or better price, as
was obtained through competitive bid procedures of Federal, State, County, City or
special district government agencies. Staff recommends piggy- backing on the bid of
another public agency as opposed to issuing a Request for Bid (RFB).
The Public Works Department determined that the meters available through the City of
Santa Barbara's Bid No. 5262A, dated October 17, 2013, which solicited bids for water
meters of similar technical specifications, meet the City of Santa Monica's
specifications. The contract awarded to Badger Meter, Inc. is valid through November
4, 2018. The Public Works Department worked with the Finance Department to confirm
that these materials and services would be supplied to the City at the same price and
were obtained through competitive bid procedures comparable to the City's. The Public
Works Department also contacted another vendor who stated that they could not match
or beat the Badger contract awarded by the City of Santa Barbara. The documentation
was compared to City bids done prior to confirm that pricing was below market pricing.
Staff recommends awarding a purchase order to Badger Meter, Inc. in an amount not to
exceed $220,000.
Public Outreach
SCG is conducting its own pilot to test the AMI technology. Depending on the timing of
SCG's pilot, staff would either jointly or separately conduct a public outreach campaign
to water customers who would be affected by the pilot program. The outreach would
include notifications to water customers whose meters would be replaced through the
pilot program, education on the AMI technology and its benefits, and how to get help
when issues arise.
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Next Steps
If the pilot proves successful, staff would propose an expanded capital improvement
project to upgrade the City's infrastructure and deploy the AMI system citywide. If
approved, the project would likely have to be implemented in phases due to the overall
cost of a system -wide upgrade. If implemented, AM] would eventually allow for monthly
water billing, increasing the Water Fund's cash flow and streamlining utility billings for
customers by aligning the frequency of the City's utility bills with other utilities' bills such
as electric and gas.
If the pilot proves unsuccessful, the new meters used in the pilot can be reverted to
manual modes and manual data collection would resume.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The purchase order to be awarded to Badger Meter, Inc. is for an amount not to exceed
$220,000. Funds in the amount of $220,000 are available in the FY 2014 -15 Capital
Improvement Program budget in C250388.589000.
Prepared by: Gil Borboa, Water Resources Manager
Approved: Forwarded to Council:
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Martin Pastucha
Rod Gould
Director of Public Works
City Manager
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