Memorandum 17-045 Fish Pump RFP

Memorandum 17-045

TO:                         MAYOR BRIAN ZAK& HOMER CITY COUNCIL

CC:                         KATIE KOESTER, CITY MANAGER

FROM:                  BRYAN HAWKINS, PORT DIRECTOR/HARBORMASTER

DATE:                    MARCH 7, 2017

SUBJECT:            FINDINGS OF THE FISH PUMP RFP REVIEW TEAM AND RECOMMENDATION FOR CONTRACT AWARD       

BACKGROUND: Fish pumps at the Fish Dock have been a topic of many discussions at the Port Commission, there was even a special meeting in January dedicated to the subject. My staff and I reviewed the minutes from these meetings and outlined the RFP to meet the goals of the Commission’s recommendations and comments from these many meetings.  City Staff advertised a Request for Proposals in the Homer Tribune for the purpose of seeking bids from qualified firms for installing and operating a fish pump on the City’s Fish Dock in Homer harbor.

Two locations on the dock were detailed in the RFP, North trestle and South trestle.  Bidders could make proposals for either one or both locations but the RFP made it clear that not just one entity would be allowed to control both fish pumping locations on the dock. The RFP laid out the goals and objectives that the City wished to achieve and provided a scoring metric from which the proposals would be judged.

The City received three proposals, two from Auction Block and one from Icicle Seafoods.  I put together a review panel of three from my staff and we appraised the proposals on Monday the 6th using the scoring criteria detailed in the RFP.

Staff recommends accepting the proposal from Icicle Seafoods and entering into a contract allowing them to operate a fish pump at the North Trestle location detailed in the RFP. The Icicle proposal scored very well and worked to meet the goals of the RFP.

 Based on our scoring of the Auction Block proposals, staff does not recommend accepting either proposal.  The review team believes that Auction Block’s proposal for fish pumping was beyond and outside the concept and objectives stated in the RFP.  The proposals represented a much bigger project than what had been discussed in the Commission meetings and for that reason we believe the proposals did not meet the goals of the advertised RFP.     

RECOMMENDATIONS:  Staff recommends that the City enter into a MOU with Icicle Seafoods for the purpose of installing and operating a fish pump under the dock and at the dewatering and tote loading station on the North trestle of the Homer Fish Dock. The term of the contract will be three years with two one-year options.

Further, Staff recommends declining both proposals from the Auction Block for the purpose of installing a fish pump on either the North Trestle or the South Trestle of the Fish dock.