Tampa Bay Water currently has 94 capital improvements projects (CIP) in various stages of design and construction with a budget of $1.2 billion. At its September meeting, Tampa Bay Water’s board awarded a contract to Black and Veatch as the agency’s integrated program manager consultant (IPMC) to assist in managing these projects effectively and optimizing staffing resources.
IPMCs are commonly used to execute large capital programs throughout the country, and they help enhance resources of agencies such as ours during high peaks of work to keep projects on track and on time. This contract has an initial 8-year term, averaging $2-3 million per year, not to exceed $25 million over the course of the initial eight-year contract, and allows for two potential two-year extensions. Under the contract, Black and Veatch will not be allowed to separately provide engineering design or professional services for the design of CIP projects.
Also, during the September meeting, the board approved the utility to pursue 12 as-needed professional engineering contracts to support various agency needs over the coming five years, and five as-needed hydrogeological services contracts over the next three years. These contracts will allow staff to proceed on projects efficiently.
The as-needed hydrological services contracts are for up to $250,000 each over an initial three-year term with two one-year renewal options of $100,000 for each additional year. The as-needed professional engineering contracts are up to $2 million each over the five-year contract term, with individual assignments up to $500,000. Funding for the as-needed professional engineering contracts will be approved separately through annual agency budgets or individual project budgets. Several of the engineering firms are new to Tampa Bay Water.
