you know, will be suitable for everyone so we can participate. it's very important that that happens, and we definitely want to see that in this process of whatever goes down that the community is really a strong part of it and making sure that opportunities, job opportunities work for you, construction, whatever kind of jobs are made available. and you know, historically, our young people have always been left out of the process, and i'm really hoping that you would dig deep down and use all those talents that you have there and come up with some creative ways to make sure that the young people in this community are not left out of the process and that can have an opportunity to find a way in life that could be sustainable for them. so hopefully i'm sure that we have plenty more time to

discuss this in the future, but we need to you look at these issues now and make sure and a.b.u. will be watching always in this community. thank you. president vietor: thank you. and i wonder -- i would like to remind everyone we are on the p.u.c. portion of the agenda and that there will be other people joining us when we have the joint meeting and so some of the comments you might want to wait until some of the other folks that might be interested in the joint meeting in the southeast facility portion of it are here to continue to talk about some of these issues. so that we could get through our agenda and get to that piece. but as such, if there are public comments at this time, hopefully on the p.u.c. agenda, there will be lots of opportunity later on to continue the discussions that we started. any other public comment? hearing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> the next item is

communications, letters, events calendar, all correspondence has been given to the commission. any questions? commissioner moran: the list of pending questions is kind of long, beyond a page now. if we can try to work those out . did staff get that or do i need to repeat that? >> we got that. president vietor: other questions or comments on the letter summary from the events calendar? hearing next, next item, please. >> other commission business. president vietor: any other commission business? next item, please. >> report of the general manager. >> good evening, commissioners. i want to make this brief so we can hear from the community tonight. i want to thank the southeast community facilities commission

for coming out and having your folks welcome us to this facility. appreciate it very much. and especially on what is now officially the wettest day ever in june in san francisco. it is the second wettest june in history and today was the wettest day in the history of san francisco for any day in june. so great that you're all here. thank you very much. turn it back to you. president vietor: thank you. that is it on the general manager's report. request to take the citizen advisory committee report a little bit later, after 5:00 p.m., when people from that group will be joining us. if there are no objections, we will move onto the consent matters. >> all matters are considered to be the san francisco public utilities commission and will be acted upon by a single vote of the commission.

there will be no separate discussion of these items. as a member of the commission -- the matter will be removed and considered as a separate item. can i go ahead and read? president vietor: police. >> the first item is item 9a to approve the plans and specifications, local water repair and replacement. it is located on mason street, taylor street, and auburn street. item b is to approve the plans and specifications. the improvement program contract, wd2640, bio-regional habitat restoration to the lowest qualified responsible bidder.

this would be the bio-regional habitat. item nine c. were new and replacement program, funded and department of public works. contract ww455. various locations. sue or replacement and pavement renovation to replace existing street pavement. the modification to pave the streets or sewer repair to make sure is consistent from curb to curb. 9d, to accept work performed for waste water enterprise, contract

number ww489 for the amount of -- $2 million. president vietor: thank you. is there a request to remove any of these items from the consent calendar? hearing none, is their emotion? >> motion. >> second. president vietor: public comment? all those in favor. opposed. thank you. the consent calendar is adopted. >> next item is to approve the selection of waste water enterprise sewage center program to parsons a joint venture to provide program services including personal and authorize the general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission to

negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with aecom. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am the director of the source system improvement program. it is an honor to be before you today in the southeast community facility that was billed as part of our last wastewater capital improvement program. especially in this program, with mr. alex fisher watching us, because he was part of our program from the 1970's to the 1990's and he is a very good man. as we begin the next chapter, it will be the source system improvement program. half of the $6.9 billion program will be invested in this community and invested in projects that occur in this community. we will be looking to the bayview hunters point community as we move forward to implement this program. in february, our cfo and i

presented several different options for the summer system improvement -- for the sewer system improvement program. each of theses were involved, technical, and there are a lot of decisions that have to be made that would affect cost, schedule, and delivery options. it was that mean that we received direction to proceed with the detriment of a program manager. the reason to bring on the program manager is to work with the city and to bring waste water program management technical expertise to assist us with the planning and validation of the program and to employ the valuable lessons we've learned, and make sure we have high quality assurance, a high quality control, and the best technical and program control expertise. the commission, at that time, directed us to move forward

quickly, as quickly as possible. today, we have a contract, 15- year in duration, not to exceed $150 million. as you may recall, the reasons 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. es