City of Allen water infrastructure includes over 530 miles of water mains used to provide water service to approximately 33,201 currently active potable water customer accounts. The City takes treated water delivery from NTMWD at two water-pumping/ground storage tank stations. Wholesale costs for treated water and wastewater treatment from NTMWD have dramatically increased in the past few years. This is due to the need to accommodate water and wastewater demands stemming from population growth in their 1.7 million-person water service area; addressing maintenance, repair, and replacement of aging system infrastructure; and complying with new regulation.

Wholesale cost increase translates into retail cost increases by the City. The City sees no near-term break in the trend of increasing wholesale water costs. The annual increase in customer charges draws concern from residents. Currently, our accurate but not state of the art meter reading technology (Neptune meters - read by touch-read wand into a handheld device for usage data collection), makes it impossible for the City to analyze customer water uses and draw conclusions about high usage issues. This is a dilemma caused by getting only two monthly data points versus the potential of hundreds of readings per month that Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) can offer.

Naturally, high water use complaints peak in the late summer when increased water use for landscape irrigation pushes customers into higher water conservation rate tiers.

The top two (2) State of Texas Best Management Practices to reduce landscape water use are:

1. Twice weekly irrigation limits; and,
2. Implementation of Advanced Meter Infrastructure

With the City of Allen already limiting landscape irrigation to twice weekly, AMI will add the capability to visualize water use over time.  This should help customers discover that they are over-irrigating and thus unnecessarily increasing their water bills.  AMI will also help detect irrigation controller programming errors, a frequent finding in irrigation inspections performed by the City.  Additionally, AMI data granularity allows the system to detect even minor water leaks on the "customer's side" of the water meter.  With AMI infrastructure and a new customer portal, these leaks can be reported to both the City and customer on a near real-time basis.  Early correction prevents unnecessarily higher water bills and is an improvement in the city's water conservation program.

The City views AMI as an enhancement that will provide a means for both the City staff and customer to analyze and understand water uses obtained through the objectives below:

1. Provides remote and near-continuous monitoring for water system problems. We realize that we can get pre-emptive prioritization and management of emergency maintenance issues using data-driven insights.
2. Adds the ability to locate and quantify customer leaks past the meter for water conservation purposes.
3. Provides capabilities to use data and analysis tools to make informed observations about customer behaviors and water usage patterns to improve water conservation in the distribution system as well as in customer homes or facilities.
4. Allows the City to bill water use 12-times per year on a 30/31-day billing interval rather than being subject to the challenges of managing the scheduling of walking meter-reading routes. Inconsistent meter read intervals is a routine customer complaint. Attaining consistent meter reading intervals is achievable using AMI.
5. Decreases the potential for meter reading errors by either touch read or manual input reading.
6. Provides customers the verifiable assurance that meter reads are done monthly, not averaged between several months, and that the reads were obtained "automatically" by AMI infrastructure; or entered "manually" by a meter services technician should AMI fail. The system retains the many monthly read data points for analysis beyond bill preparation.
7. Provides a new customer website or user portal; iOS, Windows and Android based access to a user portal that enhances water use monitoring, allows consumption, data analysis, provides leak alerts, provides high use alerts, provides meter tamper alerts, and other innovative software capabilities.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) process, issued on July 23, 2020, was used to select the most qualified consultant and acquire pricing for this project.  Six (6) responsive proposals were accepted on August 20, 2020.  An Evaluation Committee of key City staff was formed and evaluated each proposal based on the following evaluation criteria:

1. Proposal and Project Team
2. Background and Experience
3. Fee

Of the six (6) proposals evaluated, the committee selected the following two (2) firms to expand on their submitted proposals in a final interview. Cost ranges from the proposers varied, but these two (2) firms received all of the possible first-place votes as well as attaining the top two (2) scores out of all proposals from the AMI Committee.  After their formal presentation, all of the AMI Committee Members selected Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., (Jacobs) as the preferred professional services vendor.  Included below you will find the proposal fee for the two short listed firms:

Employing a comprehensive approach to the development of AMI programs, Jacobs will deliver an AMI solution that enhances customer service and utility operations while providing up-to-date technical knowledge regarding communication networks, system functionality and device-specific capabilities.  The phases to this approach are listed below.  This Phase list is deliberately extensive and includes the many project steps to demonstrate the scope and complexity of this fundamental technology transition. 

• Phase 1: Technical Specifications

   

  Phase 1 is composed of four (4) different tasks to be completed by Jacobs. An initial program kickoff meeting is needed to establish a common understanding between project teams as well as define a chain of command and communication methods.  Existing City systems will be reviewed in the development of technical requirements which will then be used for key recommendations and customization during the procurement process. During this phase, the project will begin with the end in mind by using a holistic approach to technology selection that ensures the technology is matched with near, mid and long-term functional requirements without overpaying for unnecessary options.

   

  Tasks:

   

  1. Program Kickoff
  2. Program Strategy and Cost
  3. Evaluation of Existing Systems, Infrastructure and Organizational Structure Projected Schedule

   

  Key Highlights of Phase 1:

   

  • Development of technical requirements
    • Topics to be reviewed:
      AMI Technology
      • Fixed Network
      • Communication Technologies
      Head End Software/Systems MDMS MDA
      • Endpoint Installation
      • Hosting
      • Staffing

   

  • Jacobs will conduct, review and identify technology options that deliver key functional requirements for the City, including review of the following:
    Wireless Communications
    • Network Service Level Agreements (SLA's)
    • AMI System Data
    AMI Software Applications Meters (mechanical/static)
    • Meter Interface Units

       

  • Jacobs will also review pricing and ownership models to recommend innovative approaches delivering metering services such as:
    • Network as a Service (NaaS)
      
      
  • Require that AMI vendor or meter supplier be identified as the prime contractor or head of consortium, effectively mitigating conflict, integration errors and placing risk on the vendor for meeting scope requirements and attaining a smooth meter installation. 

   

  • Although a project schedule is dependent on several variables such as procurement, the anticipated completion of this project is 21 months (Tentatively: January 2021-October 2022)

   

  • Evaluation Criteria
    • Jacobs will develop and recommend evaluation criteria, criteria definitions, criteria weights and scoring methodology

     

  • Budgetary Cost
    • Key components included in budget:
      • Initial capital cost of:
        Meters Radios Collectors
        • Installation
        • Project Management
        IT system integration and contingency
      • Ongoing operations and maintenance costs for services:
        • Software
        • Licenses
        • Hosting
        • Back-haul
        • Collector maintenance

   

  • Budgetary cost will include both the initial capital and ongoing annual costs through the full life of the system

   

   

• Phase 2: Preparation of RFP and Selection of AMI Bidder

   

  Composed of four (4) tasks, Phase 2 consists of developing an RFP with performance-based specifications and evaluation criteria based on the previously mentioned program strategy and cost range. This will support competitive pricing while meeting defined functional objectives.

   

  Although standard contract language, clauses and legal wording will be required of the City, Jacobs is tasked with assisting the City in vendor selection, negotiations (based on best and final price quotes) and workshops to ensure an apples-to-apples cost comparison. Jacobs will also aid the City in developing a statement of work and will review the final contract to verify that all open items have addressed as intended. 

   

  Tasks:

   

  1. Prepare Bid Documents
  2. Vendor Selection
  3. Vendor Negotiations
  4. Review of Draft and Final Contract

   

  Key Highlights of Phase 2:

   

  • Preparation and development of a Request for Proposal
    • RFP will be customized to incorporate custom City requirements and desired features

       

  • Review any questions submitted by AMI vendors before deadline and suggest responses for functional/specification related questions

     

  • Verify submissions in detail (verifying vendor propagation study results)

   

  • Require "best and final price quotes"

     

  • Develop a statement of work and provide additional support during close out

   

  • Review of contract documents to verify all open items have been addressed

   

   

• Phase 3: Integration & Implementation

In the last phase of the project, a total of eight (8) tasks will be completed. Jacobs will be providing overall management of the contractor's preparations for deployment. Project plans, project schedule, risk matrix and supporting plans (training, integration, etc.) will be routinely shared with the City. The AMI installation schedule will be made a part of the contract documents ensuring installation contractors will be required to meet construction schedules through their contract terms.

Financial system integration will also occur in this phase, with the contracted vendor working with the City to build interfaces between software applications that are needed (Meter Data Management Systems) and our existing Munis and Cityworks systems.  A customer portal may be independently bid, or the City may require AMI vendors to propose a customer portal system with their preferred customer portal allowing the City to select a portal that best suits our functional requirements.

Jacobs will also assist the City in organizational change management, training implementation management and a QA/QC Plan. Prior to full-scale installation, the contractor will be required to conduct a slow-start installation on several hundred meters so that all parties can verify system performance as well as installation and quality control procedures, including inspection, logistics, data audit, installation acceptance, handling of anomalies (inaccurate data or shutoff valves that need replacement) and the data interface to the Customer Information Systems (CIS).

  Tasks:

1. Provide Overall Management
2. Integration with Financial System
3. Organization Change Management
4. Training
5. Implementation Management & QA/QC Plan
6. Post-Implementation Support
7. Unforeseen Future Work

Key Highlights of Phase 3:

• Once we issue the final contract and notice to proceed, Jacobs will manage the Contractor's preparations for deployment

   

• The following project management documents will be routinely shared with the City:
  • Project plans
  • Project schedule
  • Risk matrix
  • Supporting plans (testing, training, communications, integration, field deployments, cutover, etc.)

     

• AMI installation contractor(s) will be required to meet construction schedules through their contract term

   

• Quality and accuracy of AMI data-installers will be required to provide the following:
  • Bar codes
  • Scanners
  • Handheld computers
  • Digital photos of old meter registers and installation settings to ensure a more foolproof data management procedure system

   

• Installation work will be released route by route to avoid poor productivity associated with scattered meter readings on the same street

   

• Jacobs, the City and selected vendor will conduct a workshop to ensure a system specific integration methodology will be identified and confirmed to assure alignment with City needs

   

• Vendor solutions will be reviewed for:
  • Hardware and software architecture
  • Platform
  • Integration
  • Design
  • Configuration
  • Functionality
  • Scalability

   

• Once interfaces are designed and in place, user acceptance and testing activities will be conducted using Jacobs developed test plans and test scenarios with results documented
  • This will ensure systems interfaces are designed, developed and tested prior to real world deployment

     

• An initial workshop will be held to discuss impacts to common Meter-to-Cash processes and provide input into how those processes will change

   

• A communication plan will be developed to help keep both internal and external stakeholders informed of the implementation program. Execution of Communications Plan will be performed by the City.

   

• Vendor will provide AMI-related training following the training plan incorporated in the contract statement of work.
  

• At the start of the implementation phase Jacobs will conduct a meeting with selected vendor to review and finalize their proposed solution architecture, design and configuration
  • Including a review of the proposed meter locations and network deployment plan.
  • To minimize disruptions to meter-to-cash process, a pre-emptive schedule will be created that defines the period for each cycle and route when installations are not permitted to occur.

   

• Before beginning full-scale installation, contractor will be required to conduct a "slow-start" installation on several hundred meters:
  • Allowing system performance to verified

   

• The "slow start" consists of:
  • Appointment scheduling
  • Logistics
  • Inspection
  • Data audit
  • Installation acceptance
  • Anomalies (i.e. inaccurate data/shutoff valve that needs replacing)
  • Data interface to Munis

   

• Jacobs will also provide ongoing data tracking and reporting of progress, and:
  • Scheduling of new routes for release after successful completion of installations
  • Approve payment for installation based on system acceptance criteria
  • Provide support for issue resolution throughout deployment

   

• Effective transitioning from project to operations requires experienced resources. A cutover and readiness plan includes the following:
  • Documentation on training, job aids, and how-to guides for self-help tools
  • Training of utility users for their appropriate roles
  • Conducting post-training assessment
  • Identification of and performing advanced training for an internal Subject Matter Expert to be the first point of escalation for internal users
  • Retraining for new users (new to the City organization) and existing users requiring refresher training
  • Documenting lessons learned for future projects
  • Providing advisory services in monitoring system and business process performance

   

• Mitigation plan will be developed and executed
  • Instances that require specialized equipment or unique scheduling concerns

Staff recommends that Council Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Contract with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., for Consultant Services for Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) Planning and Implementation in the Amount of $821,708.

I make a motion to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Contract with Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., for Consultant Services for Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) Planning and Implementation in the Amount of $821,708.