A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER, PURSUANT TO SECTION 2-391 OF THE CITY CODE, TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE AGREEMENTS FOR THE PURCHASE OF CITY STANDARDIZED WASTE AND STORMWATER PUMP EQUIPMENT, PARTS, SOFTWARE, AND SERVICE FOR THE CITY'S PUMP STATIONS, WITH (1) XYLEM WATER SOLUTIONS USA, THE MANUFACTURER AND SOLE DISTRIBUTORS OF THE "FLYGT" BRAND PUMP EQUIPMENT, PARTS, SOFTWARE, AND SERVICE; AND (2) HYDRA SERVICE, THE SOLE AUTHORIZED MANUFACTURER'S AGENT FOR THE "SULZER" BRAND PUMP EQUIPMENT, PARTS, SOFTWARE, AND SERVICE, WITH SUCH AGREEMENTS HAVING A TERM NOT TO EXCEED FIVE (5) YEARS; FURTHER, AUTHORIZING PURCHASES OF PUMP EQUIPMENT, PARTS, SOFTWARE AND SERVICES FROM THE FOREGOING VENDORS IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED THE AMOUNT APPROPRIATED ANNUALLY FOR THESE PRODUCTS THROUGH THE CITY'S BUDGETING PROCESS.

The City of Miami Beach Public Works Department (“Department”) operates and maintains over 100 submersible pumps within the Infrastructure Division of the Public Works Department. The purpose of these pumps is to convey wastewater from the City of Miami Beach (“City”) to Virginia Key and the stormwater from City streets. Additionally, these pumps help to mitigate and control flooding conditions in the City during the annual King Tides.

Section 2-391 of the City Code stipulates that, when a standardization is determined to be in the City's best interest, the purchase of goods and services may be negotiated with the written approval of the City Manager, and subject to City Commission approval when the amounts exceed the formal bid thresholds established in Section 2-366. 

On March 1, 2017, the Mayor and City Commission approved Resolution No. 2017-29783 and 2017-29784, which established Sulzer and Flygt pump equipment as the City's standard in order to capitalize on the benefits of standardizing equipment which include allowing the City to efficiently and effectively service existing pump stations while lowering costs through a reduction in inventory and maximizing volume for service and equipment contracts. The Resolutions also allowed for the purchase of pump equipment, parts, software, services and related items from Xylem Water Solutions U.S.A, and Hydra Service, Inc., the manufacturer authorized sources for the equipment, respectively, for a term of three (3) years. The three (3) year term is set to expire on February 28, 2020.

The Public Works Department seeks authority to continue to purchase the standardized submersible pumps as the experience over the years with both Flygt and Sulzer has proven to be of exceptional quality and reliability, has expedited the replacement of equipment when necessary, and has eliminated the need to keep a large inventory of parts from various manufacturers.

Flygt Pumps

The City currently has approximately 100 Flygt brand pumps installed in the City’s wastewater and storm water infrastructure that require parts and service. Flygt is a brand of submersible pumps, mixers, and fluid handling technology manufactured by Xylem Water Solutions U.S.A, Inc. The Procurement Department verified Xylem Water Solutions U.S.A, Inc. to be the exclusive authorized agent for the City’s geographic region for Flygt pump brand equipment, parts, and service provider.

Staff negotiated an agreement with Xylem Water Solutions U.S.A, Inc. which established a 5% percent discount from Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for annual sales up to $500,000, a 7.5% percent discount from MSRP for annual sales from $500,001 to $750,000, and a 10% percent discount from MSRP for annual sales over $750,001 with a term of five (5) years.

Sulzer Pumps

Similarly, the City currently has approximately 10 Sulzer brand pumps installed in the City’s wastewater and storm water infrastructure that require parts and service. Throughout the industry, the Sulzer brand manufactured submersible pumps are considered high quality durable pumps and are used by many different municipalities including Miami-Dade and Orange County. Hydra Services, Inc. is the sole supplier of Sulzer pump brand products for the City’s geographic region for Sulzer pump brand equipment, parts, and related items, as well as the service provider. Hydra Services, Inc. offers industry long-term experience, strong technical competencies, and continuous innovation allowing them to provide outstanding reliability and performance.

Accordingly, staff negotiated an agreement with Hydra Service, Inc. which established a 10% percent discount for pumps and parts for annual sales from the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) with a term of five (5) years.

Additionally, the Public Works Department has established the standard for these submersible pumps and recommends continuing with these submersible pumps in efforts to improve the City’s wastewater and stormwater systems. These pumps have proven to help prevent the streets from flooding and sewage from flowing on the streets. Both vendors have demonstrated the ability to service the submersible pumps in a timely manner and provide products with the adequate support needed for long-term operational use of the equipment. Moreover, through standardizing the Public Works Department was able to remove the submersible pumps throughout the City from previous vendors that are no longer in business, for which these items are not available to properly repair and service these pumps.

Since the standardization of these products, approximately $1.2 M, has been spent in the purchase of pumps, parts and other services to assure optimal performance of the City’s wastewater and stormwater pump stations. Further, as a result of the expedited procurement process established by Resolution No.2017-29783 and 2017-29784 for the standardizing of said equipment, on November 2018 the Public Works Operations team completed in-house restoration of Terminal Island Sewer Pump Station #30 which included amongst other things the replacement of obsolete sewer pumps with Flygt submersible pumps. For years this pump station remained in incomplete moratorium status and building permits for new construction were denied. Since the restoration, the stations moratorium status was lifted. Most recently Sewer Pump Station #31 on Washington Avenue and 3rd Street was also restored and the scope included the overhauling of the existing Flygt pumps which was completed without issues in an expeditious manner. As a result the stations downtime during restoration was significantly reduced.

Overall, our experience in dealing with these vendors has been a positive one, parts are easily available compared to other brands, spare pumps are now in stock for most pump stations thereby reducing the lead time for delivery of pumps and equipment, and more importantly reducing pump station downtime during pump failures. Flygt is able to perform preventive maintenance of Flygt pumps on-site which reduces time and cost associated with the removal and transportation of pumps to pump shops or other facilities. Both vendors offer free training of our technicians and Sulzer recently completed training of our personnel on the operations and maintenance of Sulzer pumping equipment. The outstanding customer service provided by these vendors continues to play a significant role in the advances and improvements made to the City’s wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.

Lastly, the Public Works Department believes that if the established pump standard were not to be continued the efforts to this point and benefits highlighted herein would be lost.  The City's wastewater and stormwater systems are starting to function the way they were originally designed to operate. As a result, the Public Works Department does not want to lose the progress that has been made.

Therefore, this item seeks approval to continue to purchase Flygt pump equipment, parts, software, service and related items from Xylem Water Solutions U.S.A, Inc., and Sulzer pump equipment, parts, software, service and related items from Hydra Service, Inc.

Results from the 2019 Resident Survey related to services that are most important for the City to provide rated efforts to manage stormwater drainage and flooding at 22%, and reliability of sewer (wastewater) services at 8%.  In order to continue maintaining excellent standards in this area, the Administration recommends to continue the purchase of standardized sewerage and stormwater pump equipment, part, software and service for the City's pump stations.

The purchase of Flygt/Xylem and Sulzer brand manufactured submersible pumps will be funded by Operating Expenditures Accounts No. 425-0420-000343 and 427-0427-000674.

In consideration of the above, I believe it is in the best interest of the City to continue the standardization and purchase of Flygt and Sulzer manufactured submersible pumps for the City’s wastewater and stormwater pump stations, which will improve as well as simplify equipment maintenance, repairs, and reduce operational costs in keeping the City’s wastewater and stormwater pump stations fully functional and to assure the provision of related services and wellbeing of our residents.

Therefore, I recommend that the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Miami Beach, Florida, authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute agreements for the purchase of City standardized sewerage and stormwater pump equipment, parts, software, and service for the city’s pump stations, in a form acceptable by the City Attorney, with Xylem Water Solutions USA, the manufacturer and sole distributors of Flygt brand pump equipment, parts, software, and service, and Hydra Service, the sole authorized manufacturer’s agent for Sulzer brand pump equipment, parts, software, and service, for a period not to exceed five years, in the not to exceed amount appropriated annually for these products through the City's budgeting process.