Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes a non-competitive purchase from the Ford Meter Box Company, Inc./ Core & Main Inc. for up to $120,000 for water meter lab testing equipment. The 2020 Adopted Capital Budget for the Water Utility Vehicles and Equipment program includes funding for this purchase (Munis 12339). No additional appropriation is required.
Title
A Resolution to authorize the noncompetitive purchase of goods from Ford Meter Box Company, Inc. / Core & Main Inc. as a sole source provider of water meter lab testing equipment for the Madison Water Utility.
Body
PREAMBLE:
Madison Water Utility owns and maintains over 60,000 water meters which are installed at customer properties and used to bill customers and provide them with their water use data through Madison Water Utility’s online conservation tool. To ensure accuracy, water meters are regularly exchanged and tested in Madison Water Utility’s lab or “Meter Shop.”
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) sets regulatory compliance codes for meter testing operations. Madison Water Utility is modernizing its Meter Shop to bring testing standards of practice up-to-date, allow for electronic record retention, and to perform water audits as required by the PSC.
This resolution is for a noncompetitive purchase of a retrofit kit from Ford Meter Box, Inc. (Ford) to modernize an existing Ford bench in the Meter Shop. This bench currently uses outdated “cubic foot” measurements, volumetric tanks, and sight glasses. The kit from Ford would retrofit this bench to a gravimetric scale and sensor conversion to electronic registration, automate the testing process, and allow digital documentation of the data.
Madison Water Utility has standardized its lab testing procedures and their meter facility’s internal infrastructure was designed and built to accommodate Ford equipment. The use of a single manufacturer allows Madison Water Utility staff to test, rebuild and retest meters more efficiently an...
Click here for full text