Drift Road Stormwater Project and Final Designs
Active Stormwater Engineering Services RFR
Stormwater treatment at Drift Road in Westport, MA
Last update: August 21, 2013 (applicants posted)
Announcement: Buzzards Bay NEP hires Polaris Consultants
In August 2013, the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program awarded a $20,000 contract to Polaris Consultants, LLC to develop stormwater treatment plans for the Drift Road drainage system in the Town of Westport, MA.
Background
In partnership with the Town of Westport, and the Westport River Watershed Alliance, and as part of our municipal grant program, in September 2012, the Buzzards Bay NEP committed $20,000 to the Town of Westport for design services in anticipation of providing engineering services to assist the town to develop stormwater treatment designs to reduce stormwater volumes and pollutants discharging at Drift Road to the East Branch of the Westport River. The BBNEP will oversee and administer the engineering contract on behalf of the town. We are posting this information to increase awareness of this initiative, and in support of the Request for Responses (RFR) which is now posted on the CommBuys website (search open solicitations for “Plans for Main Street”). For your convenience, the document is also available in this link: env13_czm09_drift_rd_stormwater_rfr_final.doc.
Status and key dates
RELEASE OF RFR: April 18, 2013
INFORMATION SESSION: A Bidders’ Conference was held at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 on Drift Road at Sam Tripp Brook crossing. Representing the Buzzards Bay NEP were Joe Costa and Bernadette Taber, representing the Town of Westport were Town Administrator Jack Healy and Highway Department Foreman Chris Gonsalves, and representing the Westport River Watershed Alliance were Betsey White and Roberta Carvalho.
Click to open the Bidders Conference Sign-In Sheet. The only handout provided was a sheet listing the key dates provided here.
INQUIRIES ABOUT THE RFR: The Regional Planner will accept questions about this RFR in writing by mail, fax, or email (to: Sarah Williams) through 4 PM, Friday, May 10, 2013. The Buzzards Bay NEP will post responses to questions (including those received at the bidders site visit meeting), if any, on this page by Friday May 17, 2013 and Comm-Pass.com soon after. These answers are for clarification purposes only and do not constitute an amendment to the RFR unless expressly stated as such.
APPLICATION DUE DATE: Thursday, May 30, 2013 by 4:00 PM.
ESTIMATED CONTRACT START DATE: The estimated contract start date is mid-July 2013. All work must be completed by December 31, 2013.
Overview
The Town of Westport is seeking to treat stormwater discharges from Drift Road to the East Branch of the Westport River. The upper East Branch is currently permanently closed to shellfishing due to numerous sources of pathogens. Because of the number of sources of pathogens to the river, the Town of Westport and the Buzzards Bay NEP recognize that water quality improvements will be achieved only through the systematic treatment or elimination of many sources that discharge bacteria to the river. Such an undertaking will remediate the largest sources over many years. The town, property owners, and non-governmental organizations, like the Westport River Watershed Alliance, have been working toward these long term solutions.
The area of the Westport River in the vicinity of Sam Tripp Brook has a shellfish resource area rainfall conditional closure. The goal of this project is to provide stormwater treatment to the Drift Road drainage system, thereby reducing stormwater-related pollutants from discharging into the East Branch of the Westport River, which together with other other actions to reduce pollution to the Westport River, can eventually lead to reductions in closure status and ultimately lead to changing the shellfish resource areas from conditionally approved to open. The Buzzards Bay NEP staff will work with the selected vendor, the Town of Westport and the Westport River Watershed Alliance (WRWA) to decide upon the most practical stormwater management solutions given the constraints of the site. The focus of this remediation effort is to reduce stormwater volumes and bacteria discharges associated with discharge to Sam Tripp Brook on the map shown here. The Buzzards Bay NEP expects to make available $20,000 in federal funds to hire an engineering or environmental service firm. The selected firm will produce stormwater designs for the Town of Westport that reduce stormwater discharge volume and pollutants from these sites. The funding of these designs fulfills a previous award commitment to the Town of Westport under the Buzzards Bay NEP Municipal Grant Program.
Designs may include infiltration biofilters, or various other LID techniques. The Buzzards Bay NEP staff will work with the selected vendor, Westport Board of Selectmen, and the Westport Highway Department to decide upon the most practical and cost effective stormwater management solution given the constraints of the sites. After final designs are complete, the BBNEP will work with the Town of Westport to obtain funding for the construction of the stormwater designs.
Proposal Excerpts
[referenced figures not shown]
Sam Tripp Brook (STB) flows in a southwest/west to east direction under Drift Road via culvert and eventually discharges into the East Branch of the Westport River. The culvert under Drift Road has recently undergone renovation due to a collapse of the old culvert system. Stormwater from Drift Road flows from the north (relatively flat) and south (fairly steep) to all four corners of the new headwall culvert. All of the discharges, with the exception of the southeast, are roadcuts. The southeast drainage system consists of a catchbasin that discharges into a concrete waterway. This waterway then flows into another catchbasin and then into the outlet pipe.
The runoff from the Drift Road drainage system is primarily generated from Drift Road. Several driveways are evident along the west side of Drift Road and will need to be investigated for contributing runoff. Based upon discussions with the Town Administrator and the Highway Department, other than the drainage system along the northeast side of the road, the town does not provide any additional infrastructure (such as sewer and water). All abutting properties are on septic systems and individual wells.
The goal of this project is to provide stormwater treatment to the STB/Drift Road drainage system thereby reducing stormwater-related pollutants from discharging into the East Branch of the Westport River and contributing to water quality degradation. The Buzzards Bay NEP staff will work with the selected vendor, the Town of Westport and the WRWA to decide upon the most practical stormwater management solutions given the constraints of the site. WRWA has been in contact with abutting landowners regarding the potential of using privately-owned land for stormwater treatment.
Questions Received to this RFR and Draft Responses
Questions received (which may be paraphrased), and draft answers to those questions. These responses should be considered tentative, and for informational purposes, and will be finalized about May 17, 2013.
Question 1: How are the proposals scored and ranked?
Response to Question 1:Each reviewer scores the proposals using the 20-point scoring sheet as indicated in the RFR in Appendix B. Using their scoring sheet, each reviewer then ranks all the proposals. The ranked scores among all the reviewers are tabulated, and the proposal with the best average rank score among all the reviewers is selected. In the case of tied best scores, the lowest cost proposal among the tied scores is selected.
Question 2: Who scores the proposals?
Response to Question 2:The selection committee will consist of state, local, and federal government employees. Other non-participating observers may be present during the selection committee meeting. The identity of the selection committee is not disclosed before proposal selection.
Question 3: Should the bid cost be sealed in a separate envelope?
Response to Question 3: No. This is an RFR process, and the best scoring proposal is selected as per the criteria in Appendix B. The proposed price should be specified in the proposal cover sheet along with other required information.
Question 4: Will the stormwater treatment be in the road layout, or are there any adjoining properties available for stormwater treatment?
Response to Question 4: Our hope is that some abutters will agree to an easement by the town for stormwater treatment, and this issue will be clarified before a contract is enacted with the selected vendor. Bidders should consider both contingencies in their response. If a proposed BMP is on private property, the plan should included a surveyed easement. The Westport River Watershed Alliance is currently working with abutters in the catchment areas of the culvert crossing discharge regarding property easements for BMPs. Additional discussions with respect to BMP easements may be needed in the upper sections of the watershed. Designs should include contributions from impervious areas on private properties. The selected contractor should include recommendations for potential BMPS that the town could pursue with private landowners.
Question 5: With respect to the area of the recent culvert replacement and road crossing repairs, is the town willing to consider modifications to this area?
Response to Question 5: Yes, the town is willing to consider further modifications to the area adjoining the culvert overpass area.
Question 6: What existing data is available.
Response to Question 6: The Buzzards Bay NEP has gathered some information on water quality from the Westport River Watershed Alliance. We have received some plans for the culvert crossing, and a deed plan. Below in the section titled “Available Data Sets” are links to all the relevant data sets we have available.
Question 7: What stormwater maintenance equipment does the town have?
Response to Question 7: The town tries to clean their catch basins twice a year using a “clam shell.”
Question 8: What types of utilities are in the road layout.
Response to Question 8: There is no sewer or water service. There is a gas line on the west side of the road.
Response to a Question from past RFR: It is not required that a vendor be a SBPP-participating business to apply, but it is a requirement (pursuant to Executive Order 523) that our program first evaluate bid responses from SBPP-participating businesses), and award the contract to the highest ranking SBPP-participating business that submits a bid that meets or exceeds the solicitation criteria. If determined that there is no SBPP bid that meets or exceeds the solicitation criteria, or if no SBPP-participating vendors provide a responsive bid, then the Department will evaluate and award bid responses received from non-SBPP businesses.
List of Respondents
Five proposals were received and we are in the process of evaluating them based on the selection criteria. Once we have selected a vendor, EEA must approve our selection, which may take several weeks. We are prohibited from discussing our preferred vendor selection until EEA has finalized it. Below is a list (in alphabetical order) of the respondents to this RFR:
- ESS Group of Waltham, MA
- G.A.F. Engineering, Inc. of Wareham, MA
- Green Seal Environmental, Inc of Sagamore Beach, MA
- Polaris Consultants, LLC. of Plymouth, MA
- Tibbetts Engineering Corp. of Taunton, MA
Available Data Sets and Information
Plans for culvert at Sam Tripp Brook (25 MB pdf)
LiDAR data (2 ft contours and digital elevation models with, 1 cm precision and 15+/- cm accuracy) is available for this study area on our FEMA Firm and LiDAR data page.
WRWA proposal for water quality testing on Sam Tripp Brook
WRWA data from water quality testing on Sam Tripp Brook
Bristol Deeds Drift Road Layout Plan
WRWA video showing road runoff during a storm on 13 April 2011 (MOV file).
For more information on this project or to report broken links, contact: Sarah Williams