Program Management Services for the Palmdale Regional Water Augmentation Program

The Palmdale Water District (District) is seeking qualified professional engineering firms to provide program management and engineering services for the Palmdale Regional Water Augmentation Program (PRWAP). The District has entered into an agreement to purchase 5,325 acre-feet of tertiary water from the Palmdale Water Reclamation Plant, operated by Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, District 20 (LACSD 20). The program management firm will serve as technical reviewer and leader of PRWAP on behalf of the District, with clear separation between program management and design tasks.

The project involves completing initial studies to confirm aquifer suitability for groundwater injection, updating Bureau of Reclamation feasibility reports with water augmentation alternatives, submitting funding applications, obtaining environmental and regulatory permits, completing demonstration facility documents and testing, and preparing design-build qualification and proposal documents. The District intends to construct a 1.0 million gallon per day (MGD) demonstration facility that will transition to a learning center, brine minimization study facility, and ultimately a full-scale facility with injection wells. The Antelope Valley aquifer is an adjudicated basin, requiring coordination with the Antelope Valley Watermaster.

Key strategic goals include maintaining project schedule to achieve full-scale facility funding and construction by 2025, building public understanding of water purification and augmentation, obtaining grant funding to reduce rate-payer financial commitment, and securing necessary regulatory approvals. The selected consultant must use SmartSheet web-based project scheduling software and provide compatibility with Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Phase 1 program management is defined in the RFP, with potential Phase 2 continuation contingent on Phase 1 performance. Key dates include Pre-Proposal meeting on December 21, 2021 at 18:00, Q&A deadline of December 30, 2021 at 23:00, and proposal submission deadline of January 26, 2022 at 21:00.