BACKGROUND
As part of the 2023 Appropriations Act, Session Law (S.L. 2023-134), the State Budget allocates $18,000,000 to CFPUA for drinking water extensions to unserved communities in New Hanover County impacted by PFAS. This funding, which will be administered by NCDEQ Division of Water Infrastructure (DWI), will allow us to advance our ongoing work with New Hanover County to connect residents currently served by private groundwater wells to CFPUA water services.
GENERAL
The CFPUA is seeking an engineering firm experienced in planning, design, permitting, bidding, and construction management for the installation of public water main extensions into existing neighborhoods to include the public and private-side water service connections. In addition, the firm should be experienced in managing DWI-administered projects of this nature. The work will be assigned by delivery order and include, but may not be limited to, professional engineering design, permitting, construction services, coordination and public outreach, preparation of reports and/or documents to meet applicable state and federal funding requirements and schedule milestones, and to ensure accuracy and consistency with all applicable local, state, and federal regulations including CFPUA Technical Standards. Potential tasks include:
• Preparation of Engineering Report/Environmental Information Documents (ER/EID’s) and other documents and forms as required by DWI.
• Planning, design, permitting, bidding, easement and right-of-way mapping, etc. for water main and service installations in accordance with applicable technical standards and administrative requirements of the CFPUA, New Hanover County, City of Wilmington, NCDOT, DWI, etc. Experience with water distribution projects in an active urban environment is required.
• Assistance with the development and/or administration of a public outreach and communication plan to help provide pertinent information to impacted customers. This work will include the installation of water service lines on private property. Our planned approach should minimize water service disruption and impacts to amenities/features on private property (i.e. landscaped areas, trees, fences, decorative walls, etc.) to the extent possible.
• Construction administration and construction observation (CA/CO) services shall include, but may not be limited to, conducting project meetings, field observation, coordination, submittal review, pay request review, change order review, etc. The construction observer will report directly to the engineer of record.
• Supplemental exploratory excavation (SUE) to identify/confirm water main diameters,
alignments, materials, etc.

Demonstrated capacity to accurately estimate project costs and effectively deliver DWIadministered projects on time and within budget is relevant to the selection.
Please see http://www.cfpua.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/370 for CFPUA’s MWBE Outreach Plan for project goals.

Consulting engineering firms are invited to submit a Statement of Qualification (SOQ) to the CFPUA to be received no later than 2:00 PM on March 21, 2024. Submittals received after this deadline will not be considered.

DRAFT RFQ – DRINKING WATER EXTENSIONS TO UNSERVED COMMUNITIES (DRAFT)