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BPU recommends $409,207.95 contract for Abiquiu hydro plant firewall, office additions to address fire risk
Summary
The Board of Public Utilities voted 5-0 to recommend awarding task order AGR22-18C to GME General Building LLC for fire mitigation and modest office additions at the Abiquiu Hydroelectric plant. The project came in about $59,200 over budget; staff proposed covering the overrun by postponing a separate El Vado penstock bypass valve project.
The Los Alamos Board of Public Utilities on May 21 voted 5-0 to recommend that County Council award task order AGR22-18C for the Abiquiu Hydroelectric plant firewall and office project to GME General Building LLC for a total amount of $409,207.95, including applicable gross-receipts tax.
The project follows a previous electrical failure at the plant in which a motor control center (MCC) exploded; an outside loss-prevention review recommended several mitigation options. Staff told the board they selected a less-expensive retrofit — two layers of overlapping 5/8-inch gypsum board on the exterior wall — plus modest administrative-space additions, a concrete pad over an existing septic area, and a new restroom. The work was originally budgeted at $350,000 in FY2025 but bid at $409,207.95, a $59,207.95 overrun that staff proposed covering by moving funds previously earmarked for the El Vado penstock bypass valve project into this task order and re-budgeting the penstock work for a later fiscal year.
Utility staff member James Martinez, presenting the project, said the outside review offered three mitigation options and the gypsum-board retrofit was chosen as the most practicable. He also described added site work: “the concrete pad was about $64,000 so we did some calculations on the thickness that it needed to be…we're calling for like a 5 or 6 inch thick pad with reinforcement,” and said the pad and delivery/labor costs were the principal drivers of the cost increase.
Board members asked about technical alternatives and project timing. Member Eric Stromberg asked whether the transformer used mineral oil or an FR3 vegetable oil replacement; Martinez answered, “I am not entirely sure, I think mineral oil.” Ben Ulbrich (utility management) told the board staff would evaluate other systems as part of an upcoming condition-assessment contract and that the El Vado penstock bypass valve work could be deferred and re-budgeted to FY2027 if needed.
Board members also pressed staff on procurement and budgeting. Martinez said the project solicitation produced only one responsive bid (GME General Building LLC); two other on-call contractors either declined to bid or did not reply to repeated outreach. Chair Gibson, after discussion, expressed concern about recurring project overruns and the need to budget realistically: “I guess I'll vote for it reluctantly. I think there's, we need to do a more deliberate job of either predicting our costs to put in the budget,” he said during the vote.
The motion forwarded the task order and its contingency to County Council for approval. Staff said the recommended funding approach uses $59,207.95 from the El Vado penstock bypass valve allocation (part of the DPU CIP) to cover the Abiquiu overrun; the El Vado work would be re-budgeted in a future year. The board recorded a 5-0 roll-call vote in favor.
County Council will consider the task order and the funding change; the board did not set an implementation date pending Council approval.
