Procurement Process Under Question

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting
September 5, 2024

Items Discussed:
During the public comment period, the vice president for sales of Insituform Technologies USA LLC spoke against the proposed awarding of a bid for the 39th Street conduit rehabilitation –phase II to Michels Trenchless Inc, (Agenda Item #53, File # 24-0786).

• Michels bid was for $42.3 M, while Insituform’s was for $40.4 M.  According to the material with the agenda, Insituform’s bid was rejected for failure to meet the MBE, WBE, and VBE goals.  Insituform had requested a waiver of those goals, but, according to the agenda materials, the MWRD staff determined that the company did not substantiate a good faith effort to comply with the goals.
• Insituform’s vice president said the company felt it had made a good faith effort and has a subcontractor that does not have a WBE certification from Chicago or the MWRD, but does have other national certification.  The vice president also asked whether the MWRD had ever granted a waiver.
• This item was pulled from the Consent Agenda and deferred by Vice-President Flynn.

The only other item discussed was the proposed purchase order for EMS PRISM Compliance Management Software renewal (Agenda Item 27, File #24-0690).

• This item was deferred at the last meeting by Commissioner Davis (see the observer report for the August 8 meeting).
• Commissioner Garcia asked for a second deferral because he had not had all his questions answered.  
• Because this was a second deferral, a vote had to be held, and the motion to defer was passed 8 to 0.

New Business:  Commissioner Davis asked for a status report by the next Board meeting concerning the Environmental Justice Grant received by the MWRD from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Total meeting time:  50 minutes, plus an Executive Session which Vice-President Flynn said was to discuss labor negotiations.
All Commissioners present except Commissioner Spyropolous.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims