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Home My WebLink About42-Mayor's Office CITY OF SAN BERC::)&RDINO - REQUESTOOR COUNCIL ACTION From: Mayor Holcomb Dept: Mayor's Office Subject: Rejection of bid for pool filtration system. Date: 5/3/1993 Synopsis of Previous Council action: Contract awarded at AprilS, 1993 meeting of Mayor and Common Council. Recommended motion: Discuss and take possible action. Signature Contact person: 'R~y ~;:::a' 17=:t1nnr Phone: "" n Supporting data attached: v.... Ward: FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: N/A Amount: Source: (Acct. No.) (Acct. DescriDtion) Finance: Council Notes: 75.0262 Agenda Item No 7"'c;t.... . o o C I T Y O'F SAN B ERN A R DIN 0 INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: RAY SALVADOR, Administrative Assistant to Mayor At'i< 2 7 'I~::sj 21 t'.ill L:!J nl-~ ;~~ 'I' L.! '---~ r;> f'"'\ r;; n -, r- I~ I., .~ J \" ' l:l U Lo. U l-: FROM: OFFICE OF THE MAYOR ROGER G. HARDGRAVE, Director of Public workAME: City Engineer SUBJECT: Request from Pool Supply of Orange County - Acceptance as Approved Equal COPIES: April 23, 1993 File No. 7.37-82; Reading File DATE: A request was submitted by Tom Berrey, by letter of 3-18-93, for the Miami Tank filter to be accepted as an approved equal to the filter specified for the pool renovation project that was being advertised for bids. This request was reviewed by Kenneth King, Civil Engineer, who recommended that the Miami filter not be accepted as an approved equal. Mr. King reviewed an-rnstalled Miami filter system, and will be submitting another letter detailing the areas in which he feels this system is not comparable to the one specified for this project. Gene Klatt called Mr. Berrey on 3-23-93, and advised him that his request could not be approved. He offered to send a copy of his letter denying this request by FAX, but Mr. Berrey declined. Gene's letter was mailed on 3-25-93, which is before the date bids were opened on 3-30-93. Copies of these three letters are attached for your reference. I trust the above information will be sufficient for you to respond to Mr. Berrey's letter to the Mayor and Council. Please advise if you wo ld like to discuss this matter in more detail. tJ)l1 ROGER G. HARDGRAVE Director of Public Works/City Engineer Attach. t' ,..' .r'-, '! ~-=--- , ~ . o j sac , 2625 South Hickory Street Santa Ana, California 92707 Phone: (714) 545-8245 FAX: (714) 545-5963 J., JOLSUPPLYOFORANGrCOUNTY ,. Aquatic Systems Specialists State Contractors License # 263844 March 18, 1993 City of San Bernardino-Engineering 300 N. 'D' Street, Third Floor San Bernardino, CA 92418 Re: Renovation of various pool (8891) Dear Roger Hardgrove, I spoke with you on the phone yesterday about the possibility of you accepting the Miami Tanke filter as an equal to your proposed renovation project. I would like to set up a meeting with your department and Mr. King, your consultant. The Miami Tanke filter system offers all the features the proposed systems have. Automatic backwash, flow-rate display, temperature read out, system status, these are all standard features. A.S.M.E. approval, ~" wall thickness, lifetime interna1s, warranty and superior local service are features above the competition. Miami Tanke is the only filter company that has total in house manufacturing of their systems. World wide sales and 33 years of experience will ensure that your pools operate efficiently. I would like to set up this meeting for the 24th or 25th of this month. I will be calling you Monday the 22nd to confirm the date and time. Thank you for this opportunity. Sincerely, ~b Tom Berre~ Manager Y U ;:: :..:;;; <C tZ ::: !2 -, ,-? ~~~ - . . - ~. to ;:,.. "= cc: Kenneth King c::;> . _ U" c..> ;-.,' G .- TB/k1 -- Kenneth It KCg · ClvIlEnglnftr ~ -;: 57-?2- 1~ Vine Stmt · Salte 214 . RtlIlancls. CfI 92373 . (t09) 793-3858 . FfIX (tOt) 791-3766 ./ March 23, 1993 Roger Hardgrave, City Engineer City 9f San Bernmdino 300 N. "D" Street San Bernardino, CA 92418 RE: Renovation of Various Pools Submittal for Miami Tank Filter System Gentlemen: We have reviewed the submittal by Pool Supply of Orange County n:questmg the approval of Miami Tank Filter as an equal for the filtration system on this project. .- Based on our experience to date, we ('.Jmnot recommend approval for the following reasons: [ 1. Miami Tank does not have a verifiable lang-tenn experience record in Southern Califomia for cnmmercial. swimming pnnl!O: . 2. At the one ;nctallation that we have seen, the quality ofwe1ding on ~.. . steel tank shell was not acceptable. . If you have any questions, please call me. ^ Kenneth R. King Civil Engineer cS 0'""\ "2 ft/ri~: CITY OF. San Bernardino March 25, 1993 DEPARTIIEIlT OF PU.LIC WORK./EIlDIIlEERIIlD ROGER G. HARDGRAVE. R.C.E. DIRECTOR Pool Supply of Orange county 2625 Hickory st Sant~ Ana, CA 92707 Attn: Tom Berrey RE: Request for Alternate Approval Pool Filters - Specification 8891 Gentlemen: You have made a request for approval of the Miami Tank filters as an approved equal to EPD filters as specified in the project drawings and specifications. The City has requested the design engineer to review the submittal, and City staff has also considered the submitted material. Unfortunately, the Miami Tank system IS NOT AN APPROVED EQUAL for this project. I spoke with you on March 23, 1993, and we are fully aware of your concerns and comments. However, without a proven record in public installations, the City is unwilling to give blanket approval as an approved equal. We will maintain the information you submitted and as you build a client base and track record, this condition may change in future projects. Please be advised that no addendum will be prepared on this issue, and that any bidder submitting a bid based on your product will not be allowed to use this system in the project. Cordially, ROGER G. HARDGRAVE Director, Public Works/City Engineer GENE R. KLATT Assistant City Engineer cc: Parks and Recreation Ken King (/ 300 NORTH' D' STREET. IAN BERNARDINO. CALIFORNIA 1241' ~ 0001 .........1111_.....". PRIDE -I t_?ESS o 2625 South Hickory Str.~et Santa Ana, California 92707 Phone: (714) 545-8245 FAX: (714) 545-5963 Aquatic Systems Specialists State Contractors License # 263844 Subject: Refusal to consider Miami Tanke as an equal to the swimming pool filtration systems being specified by local swimming pool consultants and agency engineering departments. Brief History of Swimming Pool Filtration Evolution: Since the early 1900's large aquatic facilities operated quite efficiently with vertical rock and sand filtration systems. The detriment of this system was the large filter rooms they required and they became laborious to backwash. The manufacturers improved on the bachwash function with a 'single linkage' system. With one pull of a lever, what use to take hours to perform was now done. These systems are still being sold today. One concept was developed from the irrigation industry. They used considerably smaller tanks set in a series that automatically backwashed themselves, displayed water temperature and water flow rates. These systems didn't catch on in their eary stages as the cost to operate was easily twice that of the manual system cost. Their selling advantages were to automate pool operation and the task of cleaning the filters. Less man power was required to clean the water, thus less cost to operate the facility. The one major manufacturer behind this filtration concept was Environmental Products Division, hereafter referred to as EPD. which is located in Southern California. EPD has been very successful creating a market for this type of pool water filtration system. Over the years EPD has changed its distribution networks from companies that could sell anywhere to protected territories. California is divided into two sections, North and South. Each company protects the other's territory by complimentary bidding. As the years went by people who worked for EPD went on to form their own design and consulting firms. With them they took their knowledge of EPD and to list its specifics on projects. These companies now control the Southern California commercial pool market. o o EPD grew because engineers and architects specified these systems. Anytime another company with a similar product tried to penetrate the market they would be turned away because these consultants and engineers claimed there were no equals. Three years ago there were no exact equals, because: oEPD tanks are made of carbon steel OStark Aquatic Filters are fiberglass OHydro Clean are stainless steel oMiami Tank is carbon steel Altough these systems were like in concept they were always turned down, thus sustaining EPD's momentum. Miami Tank took a look at what EPD was doing and created its own design, submitted it to all testing laboratories and passed. Miami Tank has 33 years experience manufacturing the large vertical filtration systems and has now created a quality automatic hi-rate sand filtration system. National testing laboratoris were created to ensure that manufacturers created products to the minimum standards of the industry. U.L. was created to ensure electrical safety. NSF was created to set standards of sanitation in water filtration. ASME regulates the pressure tank manufacturing. Do these pool consultants and agency engineers have standards set higher than those of UL, NSF and ASME? Do they have the right to discriminate? The State of California requires that all pressure vessels installed must be ASME certified. Each Miami Tank~ has this certification, is serial numbered and has a record of its inspection on file. EPD does not offer this safety feature. Most of the engineering departments that we have asked to review our products have not actually called the manufacture. They rely solely on EPD's responses to our questions. . Bid packages copy the EPD manufacturers specifications precisely. These specifications are written so tight that it is impossible to equal. Why even go out to bid? The engineering departments as well as the purchasing departments should always investigate the availability of competing products to justify and varify competitive pricing. They must also be wary of exclusive territories. The Fullerton Union High School purchase in June of 1992, was given 4 of the EPD dealers. Two have exclusive territories out of the state, the other two were the North and South California State dealers. As you look to our recap of jobs you can see Fullerton spent $20,000.00 more than they should have. Competitive bidding certainly would have reduced this cost. Time after time we submitted our documents by bid guidelines. Time after time we were rejected. No offer as to the reasons why, or the reasons have no significance to the specifications of the job. The following is a list of projects we asked for equals and the amount of money spent that could have otherwise resulted in lower construction cost. ~ 0 0 Location Date EPD Cost MTM Cost ,. 1. Long Beach Unified School District Milliken Sr. High School (EPD 301) Nov.'91 $22,521.00 $15,875.00 2. Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Salazar Park (EPD 301) Apr.'92 $22,!i21.00 $15,875.00 Val Verde Park (EPD 401) Apr.'92 $29,186.00 $21,906.00 3. Coast Community College District Orange Coast College (EPD 401) Mar. '93 $29,186.00 $21,906.00 4. City of Santa Clarita Newhall Park (EPD 301) May '92 $22,521. 00 $15,875.00 5. City of San Diego (EPD 301) Feb. '92 $22,521. 00 $15,875.00 6. Santa Barbara Unified School District Ventura High School (EPD 501) Feb. '92 $29,355.00 $26,311. 00 7. Fullerton Union High School District Sonora High School (EPD 301) Jun. '92 $22,521.00 $15,875.00 Sunny Hills High School (EPD 301) Jun.'92 $22,521.00 $15,875.00 Fullerton High School (EPD 401) Jun.'92 $28,703.00 $21,906.00 8. City of San Bernardino Boys & Girls Club (EPD 301) Apr. '93 $22,521. 00 $15,875.00 Rudy Hernandez Center (EPD 201) Apr. '93 $16,003.00 $11,845.00 Mill Community (EPD 201) Apr. '93 $16,003.00 $11,845.00 9. Riverside County Parks and Recreation Lake Cahuilla Park (EPD 401) Apr. '92 $28,703.00 $18,500.00 10. Sweetwater Union High School District Mar Vista High School (EPD 401) Mar. '93 $28,703.00 $21. 906.00 11. Desert Sands Unified School District Indio High School (EPD 301) Jul. '92 $22,521.00 $15,424.50 12. San Bernardino City Unified School District Pacific High School (EPD 401) Jan.'91 $28,703.00 $21,906.00 Total $414.693.00 $304.580.50 ($110.112.00) o o As you can see by the list abov.e the amount of money we are dealing with is quite substantial. This company has alot to lose if competition is allowed to enter it's own little market. The time has come for someone to really look at this and put an end to this monopolized system. The issue at hand is not that these two companies make equal products, it is how can any agency justify, without proper investigation, the purchase of equipment at these costs? We rely upon industry experts for consultation to offer examples of equipment that the industry has to offer. We also rely upon our testing laboratories to set standards that the manufacturers will produce by. Ultimately we hope that through a fair bid process that we may purchase these products at a fair price. Sincerely, Pool Supply of Orange county o o APR-l~-92 WED 12:1~ MIAMI TANK MFa: P.09 :: ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS DIVISION Industrial'Commorcial Filtration '- I "V to ...)( ,IJ fl, '" EPO DISTRIBUTOR'S TERRITORIES }lli~lfO . TERRITORY DtSTRIllUrOa PHONE NUMBER _. 1 Environmental Product. Divioion (714) 987-1.741 2 HYdro Equipment, Inc. (303) 781-8125 $ lien. co , Inc. (916) 741-3432 ) Knorr Pool By.teme, Inc. (714) 7)4-4044 KPS AI.oeiete., Inc. (602) 951-10&6 6 Environmental Product. Division (14) 987-4741 7 Recreation Supply Company (70)) 222-4860 (North & South Dakota Only) 8* Iowa Pool & Plumbing Supply, Inc. (515) 223-1637 8* Pool Tech, Inc. (319) 365-8609 9 Environmental Prodlcts Division (714) 987-4741 10* Poolquip-HcNeme (214) 235-7795 10* Hayfield Pool Supply (915) 532-1483 11* Kubiak, Inc. (414) 494-1141 (Upper Penineuta of Michigan) II Haloaen Supply Company (312) 286-6300 (Lower Michi!en) 12 Halogen Supply Company (312) 286-6300 13 The Whitmer COlllpany (216) 749-4350 ~ 14 Tom Hunt Sales Company (901) 388-5350 . 15 Thoms. A. Welch A.,ociates (315) 926-5755 (New York Stste Only 15 Environmental Product. Divi.ion (714) 987-4741 16 Duffield Inc. (803) 669-7551 17 Environment.l Products Divi.ion (714) 987-4741 18* Kubiak, Inc. (414) 494-1141 *Non-,xcluslve Territory ....... ....:. - ... F ! .,,"-...........1lI .,,,,,*1,,,.. -".... -.... " I ~Ji' B 0.% I i~ . -.0 I't~: L{\ -C I !-I i~ ~ -<''' 1~ ..c ~ B I I .. I ~ ~ ."", , t tG): I /. . . . : L.~_._...... .' I' I i. i o I. : " j I i I.,,'@: .r . I ( .. . It. I I II' " , , ,1.. ' ',' I ._,,' ,. 'e' ....-.-. ; . ,-. N ....' : , . I I' I . . 'r.LJ., ,'j' . I .' i .---- , . . .. I: . . (, I . i . . !'l ~ ., I '" .. ~ i c a .. ; . l/I ;! :Ill :Ie i ~ ! I ., .' II ~ '. '.'~B' .1 ..., I I . C/I I R .. i