Program Management Services

RBI is providing staff augmentation and senior technical support for the City of Davis’ $90 million Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) expansion capital improvement project. The City is under a compliance schedule from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) to have the WWTP expansion constructed and operational by 2017. The WWTP expansion will replace the current pond treatment and overland flow system with conventional activated sludge reactors, circular secondary clarifiers, cloth filters, and disinfection with chlorine. The City chose to procure the WWTP expansion using an alternative delivery method, Design-Build. Design-Build project delivery allows the City to procure the design, construction, startup, and commissioning with one company. Using a traditional public works procurement process, design-bid-build, would have the City procure separate companies for the design, construction and startup. This Design-Build approach is one of only 20 projects in the State of California delivered under landmark legislation know as CCR 21093. 

RBI’s role as staff augmentation consists of our Principal Engineer, Art O’Brien, attending workshops presented by the City’s procurement team and commenting on the direction of the project. RBI also reviewed work products including technical memorandums, drawings, specifications, and procurement documents.

A key component of this project consisted of procurement of the Design-Build team. The procurement included the preparation of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and subsequent review of the Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) submitted by 10 respondents. RBI (Art) was instrumental in the review of the RFQ and assisted the City in evaluation of the SOQs, the interviews and developing of the three firms on the short-list. 

After completion of the short-list, City staff received approval of the short list and approval to develop the Request for Proposal (RFP) from City Council. Art assisted the City with key input and review of the RFP. The City received proposals from two of the three short-listed companies.  Proposals were reviewed, evaluated and ranked by the selection committee. City Council approved the ranking of the proposals.  RBI assisted City staff during negotiations with the top-ranked firm and requested approval from City Council to execute the Design Build Contract. 

In addition to review and comment on work products and key assistance during the Design-Build procurement, Art was instrumental in supporting City staff on the core project leadership team consisting of the City’s project manager and project counsel. Because of the teamwork and key decisions by the core project leadership team, the City will design and construct an award winning project. RBI’s support to City staff has been vital as the City moves forward toward this goal. 

City of Davis Toxicity Reduction Evaluation (TRE) Support: RBI provided the City with key evaluations related to the chronic toxicity challenges identified at the City’s current wastewater treatment plant. The City received test results that exceeded the trigger for chronic toxicity in 2008. RBI technical scientists and engineers reviewed the results, assisted the City in correspondence with the Regional Water Board, developed the toxicity reduction evaluation (TRE) action plan, implemented the TRE action plan, and prepared summary reports for the Regional Water Board. RBI also prepared plans and managed toxicity identification evaluations (TIEs). These TIEs determined that the source of the toxicity was linked to the overland flow treatment process. RBI was instrumental in communicating that this treatment process will be discontinued following a planned plant upgrade which allowed for an exit out of the TRE process and return to routine monitoring.  Following the City’s most recent NPDES permit renewal, RBI prepared the permit-required toxicity reduction evaluation (TRE) work plan. This TRE work plan outlined the steps and decision points if the City observes chronic toxicity above the permitted threshold in the future. These thresholds were based upon RBI’s TRE findings.