Recommend approval to renew an annual contract for water meters with Badger Meter, Inc. in the estimated amount of $1,466,100.00. The water meters will be used by the Public Works and Water Resource Department to replace meters that are past their useful life and for the installation of new water services for public and private developments.  Most of the meters are stocked in inventory at the Central Warehouse and some are stocked by the Public Works and Water Resource Department .  In addition, some meters are also purchased by contractors for private developments. The existing City of Savannah water meters are a combination of both automated meter-radio read (AMR) units and direct read meters. This contract allows for installation of new automated meter-wireless-infrastructure units to replace the AMR and/or direct read meters. The low bidder was selected for all items except one, where the apparent low bidder did not include the cost for cellular endpoint in its cost proposal.

Council has adopted a strategic priority that encourages efficient government operations.  The specifications for this large water meter project were prepared to address concerns brought up in the 2017 KPMG City of Savannah Utility Billing and Collection Assessment Report.  Currently the City operates 70,000 small water meters to serve the needs of our residential customers.  This action expands our radio read and advanced meter infrastructure to over 37.5% of the City water service area. 

Automating this function of government will both assure that City customers have accurate water meter readings, and move the City closer to its goal of building a customer portal tool that will ultimately help customers and the City effectively manage water resources.  From an organizational viewpoint, this contract also helps streamline the billing process, and allows engineers the ability to better manage the maintenance needs of the system.

Bids were originally received August 29, 2017 and approved in Council on November 21, 2017 in the amount of $1,466,100.00.  This is the first of two renewal options available.

The contract term shall be January 31, 2019 through January 30, 2020.

Approval