for the duration were presented, because of the lessons learned. the contractors wanted to -- we wanted them to be the best. the best experts we could get. the people selected for this term are prohibited from bidding on other work planning design and construction management. we will be a partnership for a 15-year duration to implement the sewer system improvement program. two of the projects that are the biggest that would be out of the day immediately will be the southeast improvement and the project. they total $3 billion worth of work. the rfp was drafted after we met with the commission. we had input from sfpuc, department of public works, and local 21. it was advertised for march 14 and we had a pre bid meeting on

april 4. over 200 consultants attended that. it was standing room only. we have over 225 firms down loaded the refp from the website. three consultant teams were formed. proposals were received on may 5. all three teams proceeded onto the interview process. we did have interviews at the southeast plant. we have a qualified, amazing panel that treated this refp as if it was their own. we had the general manager. we have the director of san jose waste water. we had our waste water asset manager and retired wastewater engineer who managed the oceanside plant, which was our biggest project on record. scoring was based on the proposal.

commissioner torres: how many african-americans were on the panel? w>> we had one white male, an indian female -- commissioner torres: i asked how many african-americans. >> i do not think there were any. there were african americans involved in producing the rfp, rfp process -- commissioner torres: i am talking about the people who made the decision. there was not one african- american on that panel when they made the decision? >> no. indian --, indian commissioner torres: i got that. so of the companies that have been brought an chosen by may 17

-- are those the people you're referring to that were in the room? >> we have many people in the room, from contracts, from our staff. commissioner torres: how many of those were african-american that were in the room? >> at least four. we have mr. kelly. commissioner torres: he works for p.u.c. and very well, i might add. i want to know how many companies were african-american own. we heard testimony this afternoon about the fact that there are not enough. i agree with that. i want to know what companies were present that are african- american owned? >> there are several, actually. >> as part of each team, i do

not know how many for each team, but there were african american companies on each one. i know that -- i'm just going off the top of my head. commissioner torres: i can wait. i'm not a supporter of proposition 209. i think it is embarrassing that a minority person sponsored a that initiative. be that as it may, i think it is our duty as a public agency to make sure that when we go over all of these proposals and, in fact, there is some concern, and some concern i shared over the years, that we need to make sure we have out reached so that not only african-american, but latino-owned companies are included, especially with the local hire provisions that i know will be difficult to implement. you have done an incredible job of doing that. how are we going to get to that

point so mr. walker can stay at home? [laughter] commissioner torres: and does not have to come to this hearing to tell me that nothing is being done. that's what i'm talking about. >> we have mr. shirley walker''s daughter as part of the team. i'm sure he will not say much about that. i know what you're saying. it is important to me is inclusive. commissioner torres: i just want to make sure that this community understands that we're not just here to have a public hearing. we're here to ask serious questions. i know that comes from his heart. i know it comes from the heart of my fellow commissioners. i also want to make sure the public knows where we're coming from and why we are here today,

not as show, but to increase and encourage more folks of color -- especially african americans in a dwindling population in this city -- that needs to be improved. president vietor: thank you, commissioner. >> thank you. the selected team scored number one on both the written and the interview section. no protests were filed. they met the requirements. they bring expertise in climate change, a watershed management, and communications. the biggest thing they bring is successfully delivering capital improvement programs for other cities, waste water programs, under budget and on schedule. we have some of our folks here today from the team. some of them are already

standing. could you just raise your hands, if you're here from our team? kinfolksgive people an idea of u are. maybe you can stand. we will be working on a very integrated basis. they will be part of our office staff. several of the folks will be working with us in the office and we also have a field service. commissioner torres: excuse me. who is the point person for the company we are seeking to approve today? >> the point person who will be working with me on a daily basis is eric. i have several key staff positions. she will be doing community

benefits. davis will also be doing communications with us. i do not think we have our program controls person. duane will be doing local business hiring and our reach. commissioner torres: once we approve this, those are the people who stood up, who will be implementing the issues we have talked about today. >> they are signed and committed. these people are not moving anywhere. commissioner torres: i do not care if they move or not. it will create jobs and other opportunities. >> this is unlike any other type of consultant arrangement we have. they are part of the team. they are an integrated part of the team. i think that's what makes this work very well. all right. work will be initiated through task orders on a regular basis.

it will go through program staff and harlan kelly's approval. our goal is to make the southeast treatment plant a state-of-the-art facility, which is an asset to this community. working with tommy and his staff, we will start off with initiating a project office at the southeast facility where all the treatment engineers, project managers, and project control staff, as well as program management staff, will be situated. we have an office in the community, as well as our office at 525 golden gate. today, for your consideration, an item to approve the selection an award of the program management services to assist with planning, implementation, technical support, controls, and construction. the next stopping point for us, after receiving your approval to move forward, will be to go to the board of supervisors.

we will be going in july and probably have the consultant on board by the very beginning of september. are there any questions for myself or any of the program management team? president vietor: commissioners? commissioner moran: karen, we have talked from time to time about the need to take some of the program elements that are not terribly well defined at the moment and make sure that goes with the same level of scrutiny that the program did in the form of making sure that the value was maximized. i know that some of the projects are pretty far along. others will need some additional work. can you talk about the structure of the contract and

specifically, how the full efforts of the consulting team can be brought to bear in making sure that the program that we have is as good as it can be? >> that is a good question. those opportunities exist in the first few years of planning. we have talked a lot about the project. where we can save a lot of money is seen where technology can be deployed, and how we buildings and where we build things. product delivery methods, as well. the first few years will be focused on the southeast improvement. the other activities will do things like the watershed assessment 3 we will be conducting a watershed assessment and coming up with the list of projects. they will be working with us to help define what is in the

program. by the commission adopting the level of service ahead of time has been a great gift to the program. we know where we are going and where we are aiming. the consulting team brings a new aspect. how we validate the program? what will be in? what will be out? what's the sequencing? what's the delivery method? how do we reduce the cost to make this affordable and something that we can implement? i think that's the big challenge. by having the consultant on now, we are in very good shape. they will be with us in the early planning. i can picture us coming back to you in about a year-and-a-half with the program, with the schedule of the budget, and the scope, and possibly some modifications will be looking for in the levels of service. maybe going to the next level with things like energy

recovery. hopefully that answers your question. commissioner moran: yes. you touched on the nature of the partnership over an extended period of time and the ability to not bid on other work. that has come out of some discussions on how we make sure they are not in any way compromised in their ability to give us the best advice that they can. i think that has been structured well. i appreciate your work. >> we bent over backwards. all the lessons learned and then some. i really have to compliment harlan and the contracts group. a lot of work went into this and a lot of effort by city staff to get to this point. there are a lot of people from waste water enterprise here today who are looking forward to this opportunity to having a system that we can be proud of and take us into the future. hopefully we can get your consent today to move forward. thank you. president vietor: commissioners?

do not run away. commissioner moran: i was curious about your lessons learned. can you talk a little bit about that and what specifically? >> harlan kelly, assistant general manager. one of the things we have learnt is having a continuous relationship with the program manager. one of the things that happened in the past is we had a contract started with that gbechtel. bechtel left, for a variety of reasons. i believe jim jefferson had the contract. that was bought out by jacobs.

jim jefferson was bought out by persons. that happened in the first five years. after that, jacobs and parsons formed two teams. we had to decide -- a locked t f them had to decide which side to be on 3 at the end of that marriage, they competed against each other. aecom won the second five years. every time we went through this process, you had to retrain, rework, get acclimated with the team. that was one of the big lessons. we wanted someone who would work with us for the long term. the other thing we wanted to do was look at a contract in strategy. one of the things we have learned here is that we want to be more inclusive free we want

to look for opportunities to bring contracts down to making sure people with small businesses can participate. that's one of the first things we are going to do on this contract and we are going to work with aecom and parsons to help us identify the opportunities to do that. it's a whole bunch of other lessons learned. those are some of the things we have learned. there are a lot of things we deployed for the end of that we want to pull in early, like risks. we want to assess risks early. we want to do that early. there are a lot of things we are going to apply up front. commisssioner caen: i can certainly say that parsons has been a wonderful partner. it might be good to continue on. president vietor: commissioners?

comments or questions on this? before we open it up for public comment, is there a motion to approve this item? >> second. president vietor: now if we could open up to public comment. >> we have one speaker card. president vietor: please. >> commissioners, harland kelly explained to you about what happens with our water system improvement projects. we lost over $100 million. people should be agitated.

we know exactly what happened. what disturbs me -- i suppose it is linked with parsons. you says aecom and aecom and parson have satisfy your needs, and that maybe so. why is it that we have so many people from the east coast, over here and making millions of dollars? i see a company making millions of dollars. the local people get nothing. if you look at yourselves, commissioners, i do not see it reflective of the diversity of

san francisco. we have astute engineers who are black and asian, but they do not form part of the commission. what is happening here is business as usual. if you want to get a contract, all you have got to do is go downtown. there are consultants there. you pay them a certain feet and they give it to you. behind the scenes, right now, we have some consultants that have been formed to invade and be part of the process. i worked for the united states law enforcement and i am very deeply involved in the process.

just give me half a minute. the grand jury brought out a statement on what happened at the shipyard. i think is right to initiate inquiry into what is going to happen here with billions of dollars. this nation of ours that we say -- that purports to have justice -- that justice is done to our constituents. san franciscans are very astute, but they have been taken for a ride for too long. thank you very much. president vietor: thank you. next comment, please. >> that was great that we got an opportunity to talk about other

job opportunities and i'm glad francisco led it off. a lot of people in our community -- a lot of them like to use their mind and their communication skills. we have been meeting with rebel prograreputable management firmt are on the same page, understanding that those opportunities need to be open to the community, as well. i'm looking forward to the team that will take on considering hiring quality people in our community that have the skill set to do the work. i do not find people coming in from out of town, but it has to be win-win. thank you. president vietor: thank you. please. >> it's kind of humorous.

i think it is very ill prepared for a person to come before the board and make a statement and when asked a question, they have to get help from some other others -- from some of the others. if he is going to give the presentation, he should give it. i'm still interested in knowing -- they talk about the group that got the job. they literally refused to hire any african-american contractors paid when you ask the question -- when i asked the question, people start laughing. i'm the only one bringing up this subject. when you look at a community that has close to 40% unemployment, all black men, and then you look at the violence in this community, and then you look at the rate of african- americans going to prison, and

then no one wants to talk about it. the problem is clear. white people are making millions of dollars and our people are sitting around. our young people -- this is an inexcusable for us not to take this matter seriously. when i was with a young man the other day, 19 years old, with no right leg and no left arm, fighting for a country that we do not even have the privilege that white kids got. this has gone too far. this is over the top. this is not a laughing matter when i say we are not getting any money. the hundreds of millions of dollars -- black people got less than one-half of 1% of what you spend. we are not talking about anything but money. black people talk about social issue. a social issue is not anything but begging white people for

money. we have got to have our young people working and becoming productive in this community. it isn's inexcusable. not one black person has made over $5 million. something is wrong with this. if we are going to be serious about this and if you are serious about coming here to show the community what you're going to do, you have to do more than talk about it. i do not understand it. i do not know anyone who does understand this. it is a simple matter. we do not have no wealth. we do not have opportunities to businesses. banks do not load us money like they do to white people. there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed. you can do it, if only whyou

would. president vietor: thank you for your comments. >> my name is shirley. i am a very concerned native san franciscan, who is black male brother has struggled to get into the system that has historically kept him out. he is a licensed contractor. my brother had to go to the east bay to speak with a pre bid contractor. he is lbe, located right there on fairfax. he had to go to this european to

ask him if he could work in the city in which he was raised in. i find that. to be. -- i find that to be deplorable. it made me sick to my stomach. i think francisco and charlie for being very nice in their presentation of the problem. the problem is deeper than that. it is systemic. me, for one, i think that it is an emergency situation. we certainly need to address this immediately. i do not want to have to see my brother going to the east bay to sub with someone who is not even bested in san francisco, because they get millions off the top. if you want to get the details on who the european contractor is -- he told us he's not

necessarily interested in an lbe. he said he could also have one of his relatives rent an apartment in san francisco, a white woman, and then go ahead through the lbe certification process and eliminate hiring the african-american males in this community. i just wanted to bring this home to you and let you know. put a real face with this problem. thank you. president vietor: very. thank you. i just want to make a quick response. i appreciate these comments. it's helpful for us at the conditiocommission to hear from. it will continue to better inform our decision making. i feel like this commission is

committed in a way that probably never happened. i remember when i was here 12 years ago as part of the environment commission and we were talking about some of the same issues, but now there are significant dollars and programming coming into this community. it really is a partnership. with our community benefit programming and all the things we will talk about in the joint meeting, it's very helpful to hear your comments, and for you to keep bringing it home to us. i just want to acknowledge that and thank you. any more public comment on this item. seeing none, we have a motion on the table to approve the contract for the sewer system improvement program. all those in favor? opposed? the motion carries. thank you. next item. >> discussion of possible action

to approve a resolution directing the general manager to enter into a memorandum of understanding consistent with the p.u.c.'s goals, policies, and priorities. >> juliette ellis. here we go. i will start. i'm ve