California WaterFix procurement update 29 Jan 2018

The mega WaterFix conveyance project in California has entered its procurement phase with the first requests for qualifications and proposals released to the industry and more to follow during early 2018 (Figs 1 and 2).

The project moved into its procurement phase late last year 2017 following California State planning approvals in mid-2017 and agreement of its contribution of funding by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as the project’s largest water agency beneficiary. After holding an industry outreach day in early December, the project’s executive division then released requests for qualification to supply the first major contracts for Engineering Design Manager Services; Survey, Mapping, Right of Way Engineering/Title Services; and Geotechnical Engineering Services. Statements of qualification for each of the three service contracts are due by early February 2018.

Fig 3. Principal elements of the project

In late January, requests for qualification were released for the next two service contracts for Real Estate Services and Executive Director Services. Following a mandatory pre-submittal conference for all prospective respondents on Monday 5 February, in Sacramento, statements of qualification are to be received on Friday 2 March.

Once engaged, the selected service providers and contractors will be working on one of the largest tunneling projects to date. In efforts to secure water supply reliability from the Northern California water resources to the large conurbations of Southern California, and to protect the environment and man-made levies of the San Francisco Bay Delta region of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, the estimated $17 billion WaterFix project is based on the excavation of parallel 30 miles (48km) long large diameter segmentally lined TBM bored tunnels and a further 13.5 miles (22km) of smaller diameter intake tunnels from three new water intake structures on the Sacramento River (Fig 3).

Firms preparing statements of qualification for the Engineering Design Manager Services will be bidding to provide expert technical advice and consultation to assist implementation of the project during the design phase and provide limited engineering design and support services.

The geotechnical engineering contractor will provide expert technical advice and consultation subsurface exploration, laboratory testing of soil and water samples, and prepare the Geotechnical Data Reports for the project.

The details for qualification for the Real Estate Services and Executive Director Services contracts are provided in the attached pdf downloads.

Construction is anticipated to begin at the end of 2020 once all required permits are in place, and the full project to be in service at the start of 2035, after 13 years in construction.