The purpose of this solicitation is to establish a new contract(s) for City Light’s mobile contact voltage testing program which began in 2010 when utility engineers became aware that underground cable and streetlighting failures could energize street level objects and surfaces. The department has jurisdictional responsibility for approximately 85,000 streetlights in its 131-square mile service territory providing lighting on residential and arterial streets. Several factors can contribute to contact voltage including aging infrastructure, weather, improper installation, rodent activity, copper wire theft, and corrosion. Annual testing for contact voltage is being conducted because streetlights are a vital public service. This solicitation will replace our existing blanket contract 6175 with Osmose Utilities Services Inc which was the result of an assignment of the original blanket contract 4656 with Power Survey LLC. Project: Complete a thorough field survey spanning 2,400+ survey miles for contact voltage on approximately +37,500 conductive structures within Seattle City Light’s service territory. Conductive structures shall be understood to mean but is not limited to any structure capable of carrying current, typically metal, or concrete reinforced with rebar, streetlight poles, metering pedestals, handhole covers, grounding conductors, water lines, cable television pedestals, bus stop shelters, sidewalk grates, or even the earth itself. Additional spot surveys in trouble areas could be requested. In addition to contact voltage scanning, the contractor shall also inspect streetlight outages during the survey and provide outage reports to Seattle City Light (SCL).
