BCWA board delays vote on $2.6 million contract

Board will wait until September for technical details, cost/benefit analysis before voting on water meter bid

By Ted Hayes
Posted 8/31/16

The Bristol County Water Authority’s board of directors has postponed a vote on a $2.6 million water meter contract after a former BCWA employee raised questions about the bid, and whether it is …

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BCWA board delays vote on $2.6 million contract

Board will wait until September for technical details, cost/benefit analysis before voting on water meter bid

Posted

The Bristol County Water Authority’s board of directors has postponed a vote on a $2.6 million water meter contract after a former BCWA employee raised questions about the bid, and whether it is necessary.

Board members last Thursday decided to wait for more answers before they vote whether to award a $2.6 million contract for new water meters and data transmitters to Neptune, one of two companies that submitted bids for the job earlier this year. Their vote to delay was actually the second; in July, they postponed their vote on the contract, saying they needed more information.

That appears to be the case this time as well, as the vote will be delayed until late September so technical questions can be addressed, and a cost/benefit analysis performed.

At issue is a bid to replace nearly 18,000 water meters and transmitters across the BCWA’s coverage area.

At a board meeting in July, BCWA Operations Director Ken Booth recommended that the authority go with a $2.596 million bid submitted by Neptune Water Meters. It was not the highest bid; a slightly lower offer, $2.585 million, came in from Badger Meters in partnership with Itron, a transmitter company. Installing the 17,000-plus devices will likely cost another $700,000 to $1.4 million, bringing the total replacement cost up to $3.3 to $4 million.

At the July meeting, BCWA operations manager Ken Booth told the directors that he has worked with Neptune products in the past. He said that Neptune products carry a 20-year warranty, not the 15 years provided by Badger, and are more easily upgradeable as technology changes.

Mr. Booth also questioned Badger’s future by suggesting the company could soon be sold. It was an assertion later challenged by a Badger account manager, Dan Johnson, who said the firm is healthy.

After the July meeting, recently retired BCWA employee Brian Mellor questioned the proposed bid award, saying the BCWA could update its aging metering system at a much cheaper cost — saving perhaps as much as $2.25 million off the bid amount. Instead of going with Neptune’s bid, he and Mr. Johnson suggested that the current system could be updated and not flat out replaced.

“Why are you going to spend $2.6 million, plus installation, when you can spend $350,000 and complete the system that’s already in place?” Mr. Johnson asked.

BCWA Executive Director Pam Marchand said she is confident that the Neptune system is the way to go. All of the BCWA’s current water meters were manufactured by Badger, but the meters transmit data using two different types of transmitters, she said, requiring the BCWA to run two billing systems concurrently. The system is aging, and as BCWA has upgraded its computer systems, officials determined they would be much better off normalizing and standardizing the data collection system.

“It’s not worth it” to keep the old units in place, Ms. Marchand said.

As for why Mr. Mellor has issues, she would not speculate other than to say that he recently left the company.

Mr. Mellor said he has no axe to grind, and is simply looking out for the ratepayers and thinks money could be saved.

“I’m not a disgruntled former employee,” said Mr. Mellor. “I just want to save the ratepayers money. We’ve got to stop them spending this money.”

No firm date for the September meeting has been set yet, but it will likely be held Thursday, Sept. 22.

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