Eagle Pass Water Works Board approves 2013 Audit and $1.4M Meter Contract

By:  Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

The City of Eagle Pass Water Works and Sewer System Board of Trustees held a regular monthly meeting on April 3, 2014 at the offices of the Eagle Pass Water Works System, at 2017 N. Veterans Boulevard in Eagle Pass, Texas, approving the 2013 Financial Staements and Audit and awarding a $1.4 Million contract to National Metering for the replacement and installation of new water meters.

An important Agenda item discussed was the the City of Eagle Pass Water Works and Sewer System 2012-2013 Financial Statements and Fiscal Year Ending on September 30, 2013 Audit Report, conducted by Martinez, Rosario and Company LLP of San Antonio, Texas.

Eagle Pass Waterworks General Manager Jorge Barrera presented the Board of Trustees with a brief synopsis of the Audit report presented by Martinez, Rosario and Company LLP.

Board President Hugo Zapata notified the Board and those in attendance that Martinez , Rosario and Company LLP  had presented their final audit report and that the Eagle Pass Water Works System’s 2012- 2013 Financial Statements and Audit Report had qualified for a clean bill of health, or in Auditor terms, an unmodified opinion by Martinez, Rosario and Company LLP.

Board President Zapata then called for a vote to approve the 2013 Financial Statements and Audit Report, which was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees.

Another key Agenda item was the awarding of a bid contract for the Eagle Pass Water Works and Sewer System Meter Replacement Project TWDB ID 62556 for the replacement and installation of new water meters.

General Manager Jorge Barrera presented the Board of Trustees with four bid packages on the replacement and installation of new water meters that were received and evaluated by a five member advisory committee.  Barrera stated that after a thorough evaluation of the four bids received, the Advisory Committee was recommending that the National Metering bid be approved.

“Board, we had a total of four bids presented, the companies who put in their bids were U.S Bronco from Fairfield, Ohio for $1,643,000, National Metering from Kearny, New Jersey for $1,398,000, Pedal Valve from,Luling, Louisiana for $1,959,000 and Fields Engineering from Illinois for $3,377,000,” said Barrera.

Barrera advised the Board that the five member Advisory Committee included Alicia Flores, Jaime Kypuros, Jose Velasquez, Jorge Flores, and himself (Barrera).

“We ranked each bid and gave them an evaluation score. Fields Engineering was ranked at 72.4 %, Pedal Valve was ranked at 77.4%, U.S. Bronco was ranked at 77.8%, and National Metering was ranked at 93.4 %. The recommendation is to award the bid project to National Metering on the highest criteria upon evaluation of all bids on highest points indicated and scored on the following  categories: Executive Summary 10 points, Corporate Overview and Project Team 20 Points, Project Management and Data Planning 30 Points, Local Hiring 10 points, and Proposal cost 30 Points,” said Barrera.

Jaime Kypuros of Tetra-Tech Engineering, the EPWWS Engineering firm, letter of recommendation stated that based on the scoring of the evaluation committee, National Metering Inc. had the highest ranking proposal. In addition to having the best qualifications, National Metering Inc. also had the lowest bid proposal.

The EPWWS Board of Trustees then had many questions on how the evaluation committee had arrived at its recommendation and evaluation criteria.

General Manager Jorge Barrera addressed the Board of Trustees’ questons.  Barrera told the Board that National Metering had much more to offer in services that would be greatly needed during the project and the expected transition from the old to new metering system in resources and support.

After a detailed discussion and inquiry of what the project was to entail, the Bid for the meter Exchange Project was awarded to National Metering Inc. for the amount of $1,398,000 on a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees.

Barrera stated that the entire project was expected to take between six to seven months and that over 13,000 meters were to be exchanged. Further details into how the operation was to be implemented and how to  efficiently work with the community would be forthcoming once all the details were completed and contingent approval of the project by the Texas Water Development Board was granted.