HomeMy WebLinkAboutRes-2018-135 Bid Award Water MeteringBOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY OF KITTITAS
STATE OF WASHINGTON
RESOLUTIO~
NO. 2018-/ ,20
RESOLUTION TO A WARD THE BID FOR KITTITAS COUNTY WATER METERS, METER
READING EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE AND TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN'S
SIGNATURE ON THE CORRESPONDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT
WHEREAS, Kittitas County Public Health (KCPHD) published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for
Waters Meters, Meter Reading Equipment and Software to facilitate the County's meter
reading and enforcement activities through the Kittitas County Water Metering Program
and the state mandated Pilot Program in the Daily Journal of Commerce on April 27, 2018
and May 4, 2018 after receiving the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners' (BOCC)
approval on April 17, 2018; and
WHEREAS, KCPHD received four (4) proposals . Three (3) were deemed responsive . KCPHD staff
and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) staff scheduled and attended
metering presentations for those three (3) responders; Metron Farnier, Master Meter, and
Badger Meter Company, to understand what types of meters, meter readers, equipment,
software were available and how they would accommodate the expanding program; and
WHEREAS, it was determined that none of the software systems from the three companies could
"provide the customized data reporting that the county needs to manage a large scale
metering program."
WHEREAS , per vendor suggestions , the County worked with the Information Technology Department
to identify the ability to customize data; and
WHEREAS, Badger Meter Company took the initiative to develop an Application Programming
Interface (API) solution with County data and produced a report that will meet the
County's current needs for reporting;
WHEREAS, Badger Meter Company is the current vendor for the Kittitas County Metering Program
and their reporting solution eliminated the need to retrofit the existing installed; and
WHEREAS, KCPHD hereby recommends the Badger Meter Company because they are the only
company that was able to meet the advanced technology needs for the water metering
program ; and
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of County Commissioners of Kittitas County ,
Washington, in the best interest of the public, hereby awards the bid for Waters Meters,
Meter Reading Equipment and Software to Badger Meter Company.
DATED this 21st day of a J 1 ;3lJ Jt:, 2018, at Ellensburg, Washington.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Commissioner
Kittitas County
Department
To Protect and Promote the Health and the Environment of the People of Kittitas County
Kittitas County Water Metering Program Vendor Recommendation
Background
Since June 2, 2014, mitigation is required for all new uses of ground water in Kittitas County
(within the Yakima River Basin). Mitigation may include obtaining a portion of a senior (pre-
1905) water right appropriate to offset the new ground water withdrawal. Kittitas County
(County) has offered water mitigation through a County-owned and operated water bank since
December 2, 2015. All customers that have purchased mitigation through the Kittitas County
Water Bank have been required to be metered and monitored through the Kittitas County
Water Metering program and reported to Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).
The Kittitas County Water Mitigation and Metering program will soon expand to read, monitor
and report ALL new uses of water in Kittitas County (within the Yakima River Basin), not just the
uses from the Kittitas County Water Bank. The Washington State Legislature required Ecology
to implement a metering Pilot Program in 2018 for all new domestic (residential) water use in
Kittitas County Washington (within the Yakima River Basin). The new legislation requires the
Pilot Program to run until December 2027. This Pilot Program will be administered by Kittitas
County through an lnteragency Agreement between the County and Ecology.
Since December 2, 2015, the homeowner has been required to pay for the meter and
installation costs. Under the Pilot Project all meters will be purchased by the State and all
installation costs will be paid for by the State. At the end of the Pilot Project, Ecology will make
recommendations to the legislature regarding the expansion of metering to other areas of the
state.
Kittitas County Public Health published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for water meters, meter
reading/ programming equipment and software in May of 2018 to facilitate the County's meter
reading and enforcement activities through the Kittitas County Water Metering Program and
the Pilot Program.
Process
After reviewing the responses received from the RFP, Erin Moore and Ron Dixon (Ecology staff)
scheduled and attended metering presentations with Metron Farnier, Master Meter, and
Badger metering companies to understand what types of meters, meter readers, equipment,
software were available and how they would accommodate our expanding program.
507 N. Nan um St Suite. :to2 Ellensburg, WA 98926
T: 509.962 .7515 F: 509 962 7581
www co.kittitas wa .us/health/
Kittitas County
Department
To Protect and Promote the Health and the Environment of the People of Kittitas County
During the presentations, Kittitas County staff gathered information about the types of meters,
meter readers, equipment, software, software development, reporting capabilities,
maintenance, installation, customer service support, annual cost, etc.
It was determined that none of the software systems from the three different companies would
be able "to provide the customized data reporting that the county needs to manage a large
scale metering program."
These metering vendors primarily serve large utilities with thousands of accounts and their
software is designed to interface with a billing system and charge by usage as many municipal
systems do. The software systems are not currently capable of setting thresholds and reporting
overages, as the County needs, although there is the potential for that to be developed in the
future.
To potentially accommodate our needs in the meantime, each vendor instructed the County to
explore the Application Programming Interface (API) to develop our own report based on the
data that is entered into the system.
Kittitas County explored this option and worked with the IT department and the vendors to
identify the ability to customize our data.
Badger Meter Company, which is the current vendor for the Kittitas County Metering Program,
took the initiative to develop an API solution with our data and produced a report that will
meet the County's current needs for reporting.
Staff Recommendation: Badger Meter Company
After review of the information presented, Kittitas County Public Health Department
recommends that the County continue to contract with General Pacific, lnc./Badger Meter for
the Kittitas County Water Metering Program. Badger Meter took the initiative to create the
reporting function that we need and continuing with them would eliminate the need to retrofit
any of the current meters installed.
Kittitas County has an established contract with General Pacific, Inc., who is a licensed
distributor for Badger Meter. We've appreciated the willingness for these companies to work
with us to identify and develop a solution for our reporting needs.
There are approximately 35 meters deployed throughout the County, and to date, have not had
any reported issues with the meters or endpoints.
507 N Nanum St Suite . 102 • Ellensburg, WA 98926
T: 509.962.7515 F: 509.962 7581
www.co. kittitas wa us/health/
Kittitas County
Public Health
Depa,tment
To Protect and P!Omote the Health and the Environment of the People of Kittitas County
Meter Reading
Badger Meter Company (Badger) was founded in 1905 and has earned an international
reputation as an innovator in flow measurement and control products. Badger Meter Company
offers an Orion Cellular Endpoint technology for meter reading that eliminates the need for
fixed network infrastructure or reading collection hardware.
Orion Cellular Endpoints (meter reader installed on the meter) utilize existing cellular networks
to broadcast their reading data multiple times per day. The Orion technology allows Kittitas
County staff to receive reads without ever leaving the office. The Cellular Endpoints can store
120 days of hourly data. These endpoints can be deployed in indoors, outdoors and in pit
installations. The Orion Cellular Endpoints include:
• Leak detection
• Cut-wire indication
• Reverse flow indication
• No usage indication
• Encoder error
• Low battery indication
• Remote programming
• Remote clock synchronization
• Firmware upgrades
• 10 year battery life
Meter Equipment
Badger offers a Recordall® Disc Series Meter which combines the accuracy of positive
displacement meters with the reliability and economy of nutating disc technology.
General Pacific, Inc. is Badger Meter Company's licensed distributer in Washington State for the
meters and has a warehouse in Fairview, Oregon. Normal order time from the Badger Meter
Company factory in Wisconsin or Oklahoma is 3-4 weeks, but due to the extended life of the
battery and the product shipping in "Pause" mode, General Pacific, Inc. can stock the product at
the warehouse in Oregon. UPS ground could ship the product to Kittitas County in one to two
working days.
Software
The Badger Record all® meter and Orion Cellular Endpoint technology are part of a
comprehensive system managed by Beacon Advanced Metering Analytics (Beacon). Beacon is a
user-friendly, intuitive software that would allow Kittitas County to set up and manage
accounts and create customizable reports u:t!~jngth e API. Beacon will host 2 years of metering
:l:: ~~-.::.t
-. 'l" -.
I
507 N. Nan um St. Suite. 102 Ellensburg, WA 98926
T: 509 962 .7515 F: 509 962 7581
www,co kittitas wa us/health/
Kittitas County
Department
To Protect and Promote the Health and the Environment of the People of Kittitas County
data, with the option to upgrade to additional years of storage for additional cost. Beacon
software is developed in Badger's Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Los Gatos, California. All
software upgrades for the meter readers and software are developed there.
Support
Badger Meter technical support is available Monday-Friday 5:00AM-3:00PM PST and also has
after-hours support within a thirty minute response time. The support center is located in
Milwaukie, Wisconsin. In addition, the contracted distributor, General Pacific, Inc. offers
technical support Monday-Friday 7:00 AM-5:00 PM PST. Support costs for the Orion Cellular
technology and supporting Beacon software are built into a monthly fee of $.89 per month per
meter.
Customer Portal
One attribute of Badger Meter's system that sets them apart from the other companies is its
customer portal, Eye on Water. Customers can access their meter use information via a
browser based web portal or smart phone application, using account data provided by Kittitas
County. This application offers water management features including graphics showing recent
usage with a comparison against average usage, usage trends, detailed charting of historical
usage, leak alert function, and recommendations to conserve water. Customers would have
the ability to set up a customized profile to receive personalized tips and access to a savings
calculator. During our Water Metering Focus Group, one of the important notes was to have
some sort of customer interface for metering data. The Eye on Water application would fulfill
that request. Kittitas County would encourage all new users to utilize this feature during each
new meter installation inspection.
Summary
To fulfill the metering requirement of the Kittitas County Water Metering Program, Kittitas
County Public Health Department recommends Badger Water Meters because they offer a
simple solution with advanced technology to fit the needs of the water metering program.
Kittitas County has established a good working relationship with General Pacific, lnc./Badger
Meters and they have made an effort to accommodate the County's unique qualities that are
not the traditional utilities that they service.
507 N Nan um St Suite 102 Ellensburg, WA 98926
T: 509.962 75i5 • F: 509 962 758l
www .co. kittitas. wa .u s/hea Ith/