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The Board of Water Commissioners for the City of Detroit Water Sewerage Department approves DWSD Contract No. 6005174 for Project CS-1982 with Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency for Water Affordability Program Administrative Services for the new Lifeline Plan for a term of nine months and a total contract not-to-exceed amount of $2,500,000. This also authorizes the Director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
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Agenda of March 15, 2023
Item No. 2023-71
Contract No.: 6005174 (CS-1982)
Contractor: Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency
19258 Kelly Rd, Harper Woods, MI 48225
Contract Amount: $2,500,000
Term: 1/1/23 - 9/30/23 (9 months)
TO: The Honorable
Board of Water Commissioners
City of Detroit, Michigan
FROM: Gary Brown, Director
Water and Sewerage Department
RE: Administrative Support Services for DWSD Lifeline Plan
Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency
MOTION
Upon recommendation of Director Gary Brown, the Board of Water Commissioners for the City of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department approves DWSD Contract No. 6005174 for Project CS-1982 with Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency for Water Affordability Program Administrative Services for the new Lifeline Plan for a term of nine months and a total contract not-to-exceed amount of $2,500,000. This also authorizes the Director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
On June 28, 2022, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced the Lifeline Pilot Plan to address water affordability for low-income customers. Initially, Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (Wayne Metro) administered DWSD’s Lifeline Plan through its contract with the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) to administer the Water Residential Assistance Plan (WRAP). GLWA has revised the WRAP in a manner that differs from DWSD’s Lifeline Plan, and as such, DWSD requires a separate administrative services contract with Wayne Metro.
Wayne Metro provided and will provide services from January 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023, at which time we will enter into a new contract with the entity. The termination date for this contract is linked to the State of Michigan’s budget year and funding resources currently available. We await the outcome of the Governor’s approved budget for fiscal year 2024 to determine funding sources for Lifeline in the future. From January 1, 2023, to date, Wayne Metro has processed approximately 2,706 approved applications for a total of just over $508,000.
This contract will be funded with Detroit’s allocation of dollars for the Water Residential Assistance Program (WRAP), Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) dollars, State of Michigan supplemental appropriations for Fiscal Year 2022-2023, and Detroit Water and Sewerage Department budget allocations for conservation. If additional funding sources become available for water affordability and/or conservation programs, they will be committed to the administration of this contract.
Wayne Metro will charge DWSD $188 per approved enrollment. They will not be compensated to process applications for customers who are deemed ineligible for the Lifeline Plan. We estimate 20,000 customers will eventually join Lifeline from date of rollout. Approximately 9,000 have been enrolled prior to January 1, 2023. GLWA compensated Wayne Metro for those enrollments. Wayne Metro invoices for enrollments from January 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023, are estimated to total $2.1 million (11,000 additional enrollments); however, additional funds in the amount of $400,000 have been added to account for enrollment higher than 20,000 customers (an additional 2,000 approved applications). If a customer is not income eligible for the plan, but has a delinquent balance, the customer is directed to DWSD to enter the 10-30-50 Payment plan. Wayne Metro provides the following services:
1. Application intake,
2. Income verification to determine eligibility,
3. Providing Direct Assistance:
a. Determining the allowable amount of arrearage forgiveness based on funding source,
b. Assigning customer to a capped monthly payment tier,
4. Providing Conservation Assistance:
a. Water audits
b. Determining eligibility for conservation services using available funding,
5. Monitoring compliance and recertifying household income every two (2) years,
6. Providing wraparound services,
7. Ensuring multilingual capacity,
8. Providing weekly and monthly reports at DWSD’s request, and
9. Remitting assistance payments to City from the various funding sources.
PROCUREMENT METHOD
This proposed contract was procured as a single/sole source exception to competitive bidding in accordance with item 5 of the DWSD Procurement Policy to support operational and administrative needs with processing of the Lifeline Plan applications. DWSD is now separating out the same types of services, but for a different water affordability plan with different funding sources.
SUMMARY
A. Contract No.: 6005174 / CS-1982
B. Contractor: Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency
C. Contract Term: 1/1/23 - 9/30/23 (9 months)
D. Contract Amount: $2,500,000
E. Anticipated FY Breakdown: FY 22-23: $1,950,000
FY 23-24: $ 550,000
This contract was walked on to the DWSD Finance Subcommittee Meeting on 3/1/23. Per DWSD procurement protocol, Mayoral review will also be obtained.