Post Falls council OKs sole‑source procurement for dewatering unit at reclamation plant
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Summary
Council approved a procurement contract with BDP Industries for an additional dewatering unit at the wastewater reclamation facility, citing redundancy needs and a long fabrication lead time. The contract price is $738,500 plus a requested 5% contingency, and staff said the equipment is funded from the wastewater fund.
The Post Falls City Council voted Nov. 3 to approve a procurement contract with BDP Industries for the purchase of an additional dewatering unit at the city’s Water Reclamation Facility.
Projects division manager Andrew Arbini presented the item as part of a larger solids‑handling improvements project and described the dewatering process and equipment function. He told the council the equipment purchase is intended to add redundancy and address reliability at the end of the treatment train; staff said the unit has about a year to 15 months of manufacturing lead time. The contract price presented to council was $738,500; staff requested a 5% contingency (bringing the request to $775,425) and said the procurement is funded from the wastewater fund.
John Beach, public works director, explained how the city’s master financial plan is used to smooth rate impacts over a multi‑year horizon and said that small variations in actual project costs are evaluated across the five‑year planning period. Council members pressed staff on whether being under budget in one area would change current rate decisions; Beach said the plan is trued up on the planning cycle and that any surplus or shortfall is folded into the next financial review.
Arbini said the recommendation followed a prior council declaration of BDP as a sole‑source vendor and summarized outreach to at least one alternative vendor whose preliminary pricing was higher by about $100,000. Staff said the city is also soliciting a construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) for later installation and that the additional unit would be assigned to the CMGC when selected. Council asked about technology risk given the roughly one‑year fabrication lead time; Arbini and staff said the selected unit is a technology the city has operated successfully since about 2010 and that the longer‑term solids project will revisit capacity and technology choices for future phases.
A motion to approve the procurement contract and contingency passed on a roll call vote.
