BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Approve Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. A4325G, with Horizon Water and Environment, LLC, for Environmental Planning and Permitting Services for the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project, Project No. 91864005, for a Not-to-Exceed Fee of $2,974,005, Increasing the Total Not-to-Exceed Fee to $7,468,230 (Morgan Hill) (District 1).
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. A4325G with Horizon Water and Environment, LLC for Environmental Planning and Permitting Services for the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project, Project No. 91864005, for a Not-to Exceed Fee of $2,974,005, Increasing the Total Not-to-Exceed Fee to $7,468,230.
Body
SUMMARY:
The Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) is undertaking the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project (ADSRP or Project) to address seismic stability deficiencies, rehabilitate aging appurtenant facilities, and to comply with current dam safety standards. The full reservoir capacity will be restored upon completion of the Project.
Agreement A4325G (Agreement) with Horizon Water and Environment, LLC (Consultant) includes a scope of services to complete environmental documentation and obtain natural resource agency permits for the Project. Since execution of the Agreement, response to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders requires planning, design, and construction of additional major, interrelated elements, expanding the scope of the Project. Amendment No. 1 to this Agreement will increase the not-to-exceed fee by $2,974,005 for the Consultant to perform additional environmental review and permitting services for ADSRP and all interrelated efforts.
Project Background and Previous Board Actions.
The Project will correct dam seismic deficiencies and otherwise meet all current FERC and California Department of Water Resources, Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) dam safety design standards. Through early 2020, Project staff and consultants had been progressing with preparation of design plans and specifications and supporting environmental and permitting documents.
On February 4, 2020, the Board authorized the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to negotiate and execute the Agreement with the Consultant for environmental planning and permitting services for the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project for a not-to-exceed fee of $4,500,000. At the Board’s request, the Agreement was negotiated with flexibility to allow changes to the direction of work without exceeding not-to-exceed costs. The CEO formally authorized the negotiated Agreement on February 25, 2020 for a not-to-exceed fee of $4,494,225.
On February 20, 2020, the Valley Water received a letter order from FERC to immediately implement ADSRP-related interim risk reduction measures. To respond to the FERC order, Valley Water will construct the Anderson Dam Tunnel Project (ADTP), reservoir bank and rim stability improvements, intake structure reinforcement, Cross Valley Pipeline extension, Coyote Creek Percolation Dam replacement, Coyote Creek flood management measures, and Coyote Creek chillers. Further, FERC mandated implementation of avoidance and minimization measures to protect fish, wildlife, and water supply. Collectively, these construction elements and environmental measures are referred to as the FERC Order Compliance Project (FOCP).
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provides a statutory exemption for emergency projects, which include specific actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency (Public Resources Code §21080(b)(4) and CEQA Guidelines §15269(c)). After analysis of the facts and applicable law, staff concluded that the FOCP qualifies for this emergency exemption. Valley Water filed a Notice of Exemption with the County Clerk on June 26, 2020.
On October 1, 2020 and February 2, 2021, FERC issued environmental orders and environmental assessments specifying additional environmental actions required to implement the FOCP. Among the key requirements were specific actions to protect historic resources, development and implementation of twelve environmental management and monitoring plans, and increased consultation with stakeholder agencies.
Consultant Work Performed to Date
The environmental planning and permitting services Agreement with the Consultant for the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit includes the following tasks:
Task 1 - Project Management
Task 2 - Environmental Documentation
Task 3 - Regulatory Compliance
Task 4 - Supplemental Services
Work on Task 1, Project Management, is ongoing. Additional outreach and coordination of environmental aspects due to the increased scope of project activities, new agency requirements, and expedited timelines have resulted in increased project management activities. These increased project management tasks include development and management of task orders, management of subconsultants, weekly team coordination meetings, weekly environmental progress meetings, monthly FERC Division of Hydropower Administration and Compliance environmental and permitting coordination meetings, bimonthly general interagency meetings, monthly fisheries Technical Workgroup (TWG) meetings, and varying focused TWG sub-committee meetings.
Valley Water initiated environmental review to prepare an Environmental Impact Report for the ADSRP concurrent with the FOCP efforts. The Consultant has performed review of background information, preliminary update of project description inputs, organization of the document structure, and environmental investigations and studies for Task 2, Environmental Documentation.
Valley Water has also initiated Task 3, Regulatory Compliance, activities to support permitting requirements for ADSRP. Under Task 3, the Consultant has initiated preparation of biological assessments, performed National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 historical resource investigations and reporting, developed preliminary mitigation plans, and provided technical and administrative support for extensive regulatory agency coordination.
The need to accelerate the FOCP elements ahead of the ADSRP pursuant to the FERC order of February 2020 has also resulted in additional environmental work which has been funded by the Task 4, Supplemental Services, budget. The use of Supplemental Services has been carefully scoped by staff and formalized in individual task orders. Expenditures for these task orders have been closely monitored and deliverables have been reviewed for timeliness and completeness. To date, 25 distinct tasks have been approved via task orders authorizing fees of $1,417,458 from the total Supplemental Services budget of $1,421,875. Major activities supported by Supplemental Services fees include development of the FOCP project description, preparation of an FOCP environmental screening report, preparation of a reservoir drawdown and operations plan, preparation of FOCP permit applications, habitat studies requested by resource agencies, fish rescue and relocation support, cultural resources Programmatic Agreement development and implementation, development of twelve environmental management and monitoring plans, and technical support for increased coordination with stakeholder agencies.
Staff Management of Consultant Agreement
Staff has been monitoring and managing the Consultant’s performance to meet the goals and terms of the Agreement. Weekly progress meetings are held with the Consultant to assess progress of the Project. As part of the deliverable acceptance process, Valley Water performs QA/QC review of all deliverables received from the Consultant for compliance with project scope, budget, and schedule. For this Agreement, key Consultant deliverables may also be subject to additional technical review by FERC, environmental regulators, and independent stakeholders. As generally required in all Valley Water consultant agreements, consultants are required to submit detailed monthly progress/status reports with their invoices. These reports are scrutinized by Valley Water staff before approval of any payment to the consultants. To date, the Consultant has met staff’s performance expectations, demonstrating highly qualified support and adaptability within approved task budgets under rapidly changing circumstances.
Amendment No. 1 Additional Scope of Services
Amendment No. 1 modifies the scope to primarily address more extensive regulatory requirements. Amendment No. 1 will increase the fees for Project Management, Regulatory Compliance, and Supplemental Services tasks. The total not-to-exceed fee for Amendment No. 1 is $2,974,005. The task modifications and not-to-exceed additional fees are summarized below:
1. Additional project management for coordination of FOCP elements and increased stakeholder consultation. Consultant will continue extensive meeting schedules throughout ADSRP. (Task 1: $662,205).
2. Additional FERC and resource agency requirements for FOCP and ADSRP. These activities include archaeological and as-built environment surveys, site inventories, and evaluations. Subsequent actions to satisfy FERC’s National Historic Preservation Act compliance, such as cultural awareness training and implementation of appropriate mitigation for adverse effects to historic resources, are also included. Additional work also includes implementation of robust environmental management and monitoring ordered by FERC including phytophthora pathogen management, spawning gravels habitat monitoring, fish rescue activities, amphibian disease and New Zealand mudsnail monitoring, milkweed surveys, western pond turtle monitoring, and sediment discharge event sampling and reporting. The scope is revised to also include bald and golden eagle nesting surveys and permitting and assistance with specialized biological expertise to respond to new regulatory agency requests.(Task 3 :$1,353,670).
3. Supplemental Services to provide funds for unanticipated costs associated with uncertain actions dependent on external agency decisions and unanticipated costs associated with regulatory considerations, additional technical support for FERC application package preparation and processing, additional technical support in responding to future FERC orders or information requests, preparation of National Environmental Policy Act environmental documentation at the request of FERC, and additional consultation support for cultural resources Programmatic Agreement implementation for ADSRP, additional regulatory agency coordination and permitting support, additional mitigation development for the increased project scope, additional efforts to support design and construction, and park landscape restoration support.(Task 4 :$958,130)
A summary of the task fees for the proposed Amendment No. 1 is presented in Table 1.
TABLE 1
|
Task |
Description |
|
Total Fixed Not-to-Exceed (NTE) Fees |
|
|
|
Original Agreement (including administrative revisions) |
Amendment No. 1 |
Revised NTE FEES Total |
|
1 |
Project Management |
$525,413 |
$662,205 |
$1,187,618 |
|
2 |
Environmental Documentation |
$1,634,720 |
$0 |
$1,634,720 |
|
3 |
Regulatory Compliance |
$912,217 |
$1,353,670 |
$2,265,887 |
|
4 |
Supplemental Services |
$1,421,875 |
$958,130 |
$2,380,005 |
|
Total Agreement Not-to-Exceed Amount |
$4,494,225 |
$2,974,005 |
$7,468,230 |
Minor administrative modifications to extend the schedule of environmental documentation tasks, update to fees and payments, update the Agreement’s standard terms and conditions, and administrative updates are also included in Amendment No. 1.
Amendment No. 1 was discussed at the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) board committee meeting held on February 8, 2021. The Committee members supported staff’s recommendation to present this item for approval to the full board.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There are adequate funds in the Fiscal Year 2020-21 (FY2021) Adopted Budget to encumber the anticipated Consultant effort ($400,000) through the end of FY2021. For the Consultant services in FY2022, staff will recommend funding through the FY2022 budget process or via budget adjustment(s) that will be brought to the Board for approval. Funds to cover each subsequent fiscal year services (FY2023 through FY2025), will be recommended by staff during each fiscal year budget process. The impact of this Consultant Agreement would be an increase to the total Project cost, which is not reflected in the Draft FY2022 - FY2026 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP), and would be incorporated into the following year’s CIP (FY2023 - FY2027).
CEQA:
The recommended action does not constitute a project under CEQA because it does not have a potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Amendment No. 1
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Christopher Hakes, 408-630-3796