Hillsborough County opens pre-bid for 1,500-unit low-pressure sewer SCADA installation; questions due March 22

Hillsborough County held a virtual pre-bid conference for Invitation to Bid (ITB) 22358 on the installation and monitoring of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) equipment for low-pressure sewer systems serving about 1,500 units.

The county’s procurement analyst, Christy Alessino, said the solicitation will be administered through the county’s ISupplier portal and cautioned that any changes to the bid documents must be issued as a written amendment. “The close date of this bid is April 1st at 1400 hours, 2 o'clock in the afternoon,” Alessino said, and she added that written questions must be submitted by close of business on March 22.

The project scope, described by Chris Jones, Field Maintenance Services Division director, calls for the purchase, installation and initial monitoring of SCADA units across roughly 1,500 low‑pressure sewer sites. “It’s a low pressure sewer system of approximately 1500 units,” Jones said. The county has budgeted the work over four years but said the contract allows finishing sooner; the staff noted an installation pacing of about 500 units per year as a planning assumption.

Jones said the work includes replacement of an obsolete radio-based monitoring system with cellular SCADA units that have battery backup. “We’re looking to get away from radio communications, so we were looking for, 100% cellular,” he said. County staff said they will provide bidders with a sample of addresses and photos for typical installations and that the county can schedule targeted site visits of a few residential and commercial locations rather than visits to every site.

On contract terms and participation goals, a county representative read the solicitation’s language on disadvantaged business participation. “In connection with the solicitation’s resulting contract, a goal of not applicable has been established for participation,” Alessino read from the solicitation materials, adding that the county’s economic development information indicates teams did not set a project-specific goal. She also told bidders she would confirm the policy and post a Q&A clarifying whether the board-authorized base target percentages (for procurements that exceed $200,000) would apply.

A bidder asked about an estimate listed as “3.6” in the documents; county staff said that figure covers the SCADA unit, installation and monitoring as presented in the solicitation but did not specify units or currency in the conference. The county clarified a related technical point: the low-pressure lift stations are mostly single-residence units with shallow wells, “probably no greater than, I'd say, 12 feet,” Jones said, with some larger commercial units possible.

Technical requirements discussed included a minimum of four dry-contact inputs per site, with three priority signals identified as high‑level, pump fail and power fail. Greg Carrington, utilities manager for operations area pump stations, verified the existing control panels provide those signals. The county also said confined-space entry was not expected to be required for normal SCADA installations.

Staff noted contract structure and follow-on monitoring: the awarded contract will cover installation and an initial monitoring period included within the four-year schedule; the county expects to negotiate a continuing monitoring contract to begin after the installation contract’s fourth year. Bidders were reminded that only written amendments will change solicitation requirements and that the online attendance will be posted to ISupplier.

Christy Alessino closed the session by thanking attendees and confirming the process for posting the attendance sheet and any Q&A. “This will conclude our meeting for today,” Alessino said.