WAPA Board Goes With Pricier Known Quantity to Manage AMI Replacement

The V.I. Water and Power Authority approved a nearly $9 million contract to manage the territory’s advanced metering infrastructure replacement to Witt O’Brien’s, whose bid was more than double that of the runner-up and 19% higher than the utility’s own cost estimate.

The approval came during a special meeting of WAPA’s governing board Monday, two and a half weeks after board members first heard the utility’s selection committee recommend going with Witt O’Brien’s. During that meeting, mechanical engineer Star Matthew said WAPA estimated the cost of the work at just over $7.5 million, and the selection committee considered four respondents. Witt O’Brien’s bid came in at just under $8.95 million and received an evaluation score of 450 out of 500. Rival bidder 4Liberty’s bid was less than $3.5 million and received an evaluation score of 439.

The board tabled the matter in May after member Juanita Young pressed Matthew on whether the recommended firm had any experience in AMI deployment. Matthew said Witt O’Brien’s is partnering with Z2Solutions, which has worked with advanced metering infrastructure, and that both companies have project management experience.

“My concern here is that they’ve chosen a partner that really is the one that has the skillset and has the history and has the street cred,” Young said, and that Witt O’Brien’s is “just kind of tagging along for the ride.”