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Committee advances SFPUC capital actions: URS contract amendment for Irvington Tunnel and release of funds and CEQA findings for Bay Division and San Joaquin "5
Summary
The Budget and Finance Committee approved staff requests to amend an engineering contract with URS for the Irvington Tunnel ($3.9M increase, one-year extension) and to release approximately $470.1 million for the Bay Division pipeline reliability upgrade while adopting CEQA findings; the committee also forwarded San Joaquin pipeline CEQA findings to the full board with recommendation.
SFPUC staff asked the committee to approve several Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) actions: an amendment to the URS Corporation engineering services agreement for the Irvington Tunnel (CS-820) increasing the contract by $3,900,000 to a total of $13,898,561 and extending the term by one year; release of $470,088,574 in reserve funds for construction of the Bay Division pipeline reliability upgrade; and adoption of CEQA findings and mitigation monitoring and reporting programs for the Bay Division project and the San Joaquin Pipeline System project.
SFPUC project managers explained that geotechnical investigations on the Irvington Tunnel uncovered previously unmapped fault/shear zones that required a redesign and a change in construction methodology (from a single tunnel-boring-machine approach to multiple headings with conventional mining/road-header methods) to reduce schedule and cost risk. The PUC argued continuity with the existing design team and technical knowledge justified a noncompetitive amendment to the existing URS contract; budget analysts noted URS had been on the project since 2006 and that prior amendments kept the contract below the $10 million board threshold until now.
For the Bay Division pipeline reliability upgrade, SFPUC said the project will add a fifth pipeline and a 5-mile tunnel under the bay to increase delivery reliability and seismic resilience; staff acknowledged unavoidable impacts (noise, tree removals estimated at ~200 trees, traffic and aesthetic impacts) but said design changes were implemented to minimize environmental harm. Budget analysts recommended the PUC provide contractor bid results for comparison to estimates; the committee asked for quarterly reports on contract awards and agreed to release reserves now with a request that the PUC report awarded contractor names and amounts post-bid.
The committee moved all PUC items forward with recommendation to the full board and scheduled quarterly updates as part of oversight.
