Council action to award a purchase order to CHM Industries, in the amount of $321,858.64 for purchasing 41 weathering wood steel transmission poles for the Power & Light Department.

IPL staff recommends issuing a purchase order for the purchase of 41 weathering wood steel transmission poles. construction.

On intervals of about 5 years, IPL has contracted out wood pole inspections to determine the suitability of the poles to sustain the required load. In the fall of 2021, such inspection was completed with results tabulated and corrective action prioritized. For the capital budget in fiscal 2022 plans call for the purchase of the first-year replacement of defective high priority poles. There are 41 such poles that fall into this category and are spread out over several transmission lines. The current practice at IPL is to effect any replacement of transmission poles with weathered wood steel direct embedded poles, which are stronger and have a longer life. The actual replacement is in the capital budget for late fall 2022 in fiscal 2023.

Consulting engineers qualified to perform steel pole analysis were engaged and worked with IPL staff to properly specify the steel poles. The result was that nothing was out of the ordinary and direct replacement of defective wood poles with weathered wood steel is appropriate.

IPL Engineering collaborated with Procurement and T&D staff to prepare specifications and documentation to submit a Invitation To Bid (ITB) for the purchase of these poles. ITB 22033 was placed on Public Purchase, the City’s e-procurement service, on March 30, 2022 with bid opening on April 27, 2022. There were 205 firms that were notified, and of that number 17 downloaded the bid.

The evaluation of the bid by IPL Engineering resulted in that while 4 vendors submitted bids, two were deemed nonresponsive, and one took exception to technical specifications. CHM Industries accepted all COI terms and conditions and there were no exceptions to the technical specifications. CHM was also the low bidder and submitted the quickest delivery schedule. See the attached bid tabulation. IPL staff recommends CHM Industries for the award of the purchase of these 41 poles.

CHM Industries bid of $321,858.64 is $54,541.36 below the engineer’s estimate of $376,400.00. Approval of this item authorizes Power & Light to approve change orders up to 10% of the approved amount.

The fiscal impact to the City is $321,858.64. Funding for the purchase of the weathered wood steel poles is included in the 21/22 fiscal year proposed budget, page number 199, account number 7020 202111 5406 1714.