Title:
Title
Agreements: Purchase of Mass Spectrometers from Thermo Electron North America LLC & Agilent Technologies (Two-Thirds Vote Required)
End
FileID
File ID: 2019-00296
Location
Location: Citywide
Recommendation:
Recommendation
Adopt a Resolution authorizing the City Manager or City Manager’s designee to: 1) suspend competitive bidding in the best interests of the City; and 2) execute an Agreement with Thermo Electron North America LLC for the purchase of a Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) in an amount not-to-exceed $107,030; and 3) execute an Agreement with Agilent Technologies for the purchase of a Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) in an amount not-to-exceed $166,199.
Contact: Mark Severeid, Superintendent, (916) 808-8667; Stacy Larkin, Program Analyst, (916) 808-6356; William Busath, Director, (916) 808-1434; Department of Utilities
Body
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Resolution
3-Supplies Agreement: Thermo Electron North American LLC
4-Supplies Agreement: Agilent Technologies
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: Due to the age of the current mass spectrometer equipment, servicing and parts replacement issues, the Water Quality Lab needs to purchase new Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) systems to stay compliant with drinking water regulations to ensure public health.
Policy Considerations: City Council approval is required for contracts of $100,000 or more.
Economic Impacts: None
Environmental Considerations: The Community Development Department, Environmental Services Manager has determined that the proposed activity is not a project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b). The activity is a continuing administrative or maintenance activity, such as the purchase of supplies, and is not subject to CEQA. CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c)(3).
Sustainability: Equipment purchased under this contract complies with Section 8 of the City’s Sustainability Master Plan to continue to treat and protect the quality of the City’s drinking water.
Commission/Committee Action: Not Applicable
Rationale for Recommendation: In order to stay compliant with Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, the City of Sacramento is mandated to perform routine and consistent monitoring of its drinking water to ensure public health. The GC-MS and the ICP-MS are analytical instruments used for the analysis of drinking water samples to demonstrate compliance with Title 22.
The existing GC-MS system was purchased in 2007 and originally slated for replacement in 2017. The existing ICP-MS system was purchased in 2009 and was originally slated for replacement in 2016. Careful maintenance and upkeep by the City's chemists combined with regular manufacturer service has enabled the City to keep the instruments in operation beyond their useful life. However, the instruments are no longer supported by their manufacturers. Difficulty with procurement of parts and service make the instruments unreliable and unsuitable for regulatory compliance testing. The new GC-MS and ICP-MS will also deliver increased sensitivity and reliability over the outdated instruments.
Replacement instruments were selected by the City's Water Quality Chemists. For each instrument, selection was based on suitability for the workload, analytical requirements of the City’s Water Quality Laboratory, and on each manufacturer’s industry-wide reputation for reliability and excellent customer support based on our survey of known users.
City Code Section 3.56.230 allows the City Council to suspend competitive bidding when the City Council determines that it is in the best interest of the City to do so. These two specific instruments have been tested and used by other agencies and have the capabilities needed to stay compliant with Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations. The vendors are extending the same pricing to the City of Sacramento as they did with other agencies. Approving these purchases will allow the Department to perform routine and consistent monitoring of its drinking water to ensure public health.
Financial Considerations: Sufficient funds are available in the Drinking Water Quality 3330 Project (Z14001500) to execute these agreements with Thermo Electron North American LLC for a not-to-exceed amount of $107,030, and Agilent Technologies for a not-to-exceed amount of $166,199.
There are no general funds allocated or planned for this project.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Thermo Electron North American LLC and Agilent Technologies are not LBEs. The minimum LBE participation requirement is waived as the City has suspended competitive bidding and utilized an alternate procurement method to select a vendor.