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EFC firm is Agingan outfall consultant
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Posted on Nov 21 2005
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is hiring EFC Engineers and Architects as consultant for the much-delayed Agingan ocean outfall construction.
CUC grants manager Janice Tenorio said yesterday that EFC Engineers and Architects beat four other bidders.
”All the bidders were responsive [to the request for proposal]. But we went to the lowest bidder due to funds availability,” she said.
The firm’s original proposal was $281,592—over $100,000 less than that of the next lowest bidder. Through negotiation, CUC managed to reduce the amount to $266,329, Tenorio said.
The contract is fully funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The contract is now with the Attorney General’s Office for approval. The deal is expected to be finalized within this week, Tenorio said.
GPPC Inc., which will build the outfall, has started mobilizing equipment and materials. It will commence construction as soon as the A&E contract has been finalized, Tenorio added.
EPA will also provide most of the funds needed for the construction project.
For six years, the federal environmental agency has ordered CUC to construct an ocean outfall to improve the quality of water effluent being discharged from the Agingan treatment plant into the ocean. EPA also required the utility to match its $1.2 million grant for the repair of the Agingan sewer treatment plant.
The outfall project has been the top-ranked project on CNMI’s wastewater project priority list for EPA funding since 2001. It consists of the installation of a sewerline outfall solely by horizontal directional drilling method, according to CUC. It includes land and underwater piping, junction structures, demolition of the existing clarifier, connection to existing system, and diffuser assembly, among other things.
Once completed, the new outfall will lessen the impact of the discharge to the marine environment and to public health, CUC said.
