Amend contract with Polydyne, Inc. to add funds and extend term of price agreement for bulk supply of sludge processing polymer (amend Contract 31000397)

The City of Portland ordains: Section 1. The Council finds: The Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) established a price agreement, contract number 31000397, with Polydyne, Inc., on March 1, 2013, for bulk supply delivery of sludge processing polymers. BES utilizes polymer at both of the City’s treatment plants in the solids processing systems to aid in the thickening and dewatering of solids in order to produce biosolids. Once thickened and dewatered, these biosolids are beneficially reused through land application. These systems are always operational in order to continuously treat and remove solids from the waste stream. The contract has been amended four times for unit price increases and contract period extensions. The price of sludge processing polymers increased due to a c ontinuous high demand for finished polymers, coupled with a tight global supply of raw materials. Rising trucking rates have impacted both the cost for raw materials delivered to Polydyne ’s manufacturing facilities and the cost to ship finished polymers to their customers. The contract requires an amendment to extend the term for an additional 24 months and add contract value to allow a competitive bid solicitation for supply of sludge processing polymers. The contract was due to expire February 28, 2023, after a 10-year term. Procurement Services solicited an invitation to bid (00002011) for polymer for dewatering and thickening on December 28, 2022. Proposals were due January 31, 2023. BES received feedback that the onsite bench testing required for bid submittal would pose a high risk for a bid protest. BES structured the bid based on the previous solicitation method and, since then, confirmed that full scale polymer testing would yield more accurate bid results and better pricing and reduce the risk of protest. BES cannot conduct full-scale testing until the new Solids Facility (SOFA) goes online around July 2026. It is not practical to conduct full-scale testing now on the current polymer feed setup due to the large amount of construction work in that process area. It would be unsafe and greatly disruptive to plant operations. It would also not allow for a timely bid process. The plan is to solicit new bids when the SOFA is online. T he contract should be amended to extend the contract period to February 28, 2028, and to increase the contract amount by $7,200,000.00. The new, total, not-to-exceed amount of the contract will be $16,132,336.00. The funds are available in the Sewer System Operating Fund, FY2024 Budget, BES, Cost Center ESOM000003, WBS Element, Internal Order. NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs: The Chief Procurement Officer is authorized to execute an amendment to Contract No. 31000397 with Polydyne, Inc., for the purposes described in Section 1 by an amount not to exceed $7,200,000.00, provided the amendment has been approved as to form by the City Attorney. The Mayor and Auditor are hereby authorized to pay for the contract from the Sewer System Operating Fund Budget when demand is presented and approved by the proper authority.