Fort Pierce utility waives sealed‑bid rules to secure $6.25M transformer after Garden City failure

The Fort Pierce Utilities Authority board on Jan. 20 approved a waiver of the utility's formal sealed‑bid process to accelerate purchase of a 200 MVA replacement transformer for the Garden City substation after a Dec. 6 internal failure temporarily disabled the unit but caused no customer outages.

Keith Stevens, director of gas and electric, told the board the transformer experienced an internal explosion of the 69 kV bushing and that protective relays and breakers isolated the event so customers were not interrupted. Contractors cleaned debris, processed and filtered the transformer oil, ran vacuum treatment to remove gases and conducted electrical testing before returning the asset to service. Stevens said the unit is roughly 35 years into an expected 40‑year life and that independent review showed evidence of prolonged overheating that raises the risk of a higher‑consequence, unplanned failure.

"This was a Christmas miracle," Stevens said, describing the contractor response that allowed the unit to be returned to service after oil treatment and testing. He warned that a full failure of the aging unit could leave the system in an "n‑minus‑1" condition — with reduced redundancy that could force rolling outages if another major asset failed.

To avoid lengthy manufacturer lead times, staff asked the board to waive the sealed‑bid process and begin concurrent procurement activities. Stevens read the formal request into the record: a waiver to engage a vendor for purchase of a 200 MVA transformer for the Garden City substation at 1819 North 21st Street, with an estimated total cost of $6,250,000 covering procurement, engineering, manufacturing and delivery.

Staff described a planned payment schedule if approved: $1.9 million upon approval (to be funded from a 2026 bond line), another $1.9 million the following fiscal year, and a final $2.4 million to be rate funded in fiscal 2028. Procurement staff said they will advertise the requirement for three weeks (longer than the charter minimum), evaluate best‑value bids with emphasis on lead time, and — if no better alternative appears — proceed with Virginia Transformer to hold a production queue slot and shorten delivery time.

County attorney and procurement counsel confirmed the process would meet charter requirements and explained that staff is running two processes concurrently to reduce lead time risk. Stevens said some manufacturers cite 36–48 month delivery windows; staff had identified a potential 24‑month timeline with cooperative scheduling.

The board voted unanimously to approve the waiver and procurement approach on a roll call that recorded Miss Bennett, Missus Davis, Mrs. Gibbons, Mayor Hudson and Mr. Fee voting yes. Staff said it will return to the board if a lower‑cost respondent later supplies a best‑value bid that meets the utility's timeline; otherwise, the approved vendor will be ratified with chair signature when the quote is finalized.

Next steps: staff will post the advertisement, evaluate submitted quotes against lead‑time and technical criteria, and negotiate contract terms. Delivery timing was discussed as likely in late 2027 if the shorter lead‑time option holds; most manufacturers remain in the 24–48 month window.

Funding and procurement details were read into the public record at the meeting; no dissenting votes were recorded.