Lift Station 9 rebuild to upgrade wastewater service in Lacey

The City of Lacey awarded a $2.57 million contract to rebuild its largest wastewater lift station and modernize equipment that handles more than 5,000 sewer connections. 

The Lacey City Council voted to approve a contract that calls for Pacific Civil & Infrastructure of Tacoma to do the work. The city council made the decision at a meeting on Sept. 2. 

The Public Works Department recommended the award after disqualifying two apparent low bidders for failing to meet qualification requirements. 

Lift Station 9, located at 4905 Ruddell Road SE, was constructed in 1979 and is known as the city’s largest-flowing submersible station.  

The station directs wastewater from thousands of homes and businesses, and has undergone several rehabilitation projects, most recently in 2017. 

Also, several components, including the generator and electrical systems, are outdated. 

Bidder qualification rules 

The project was advertised for four weeks before bids were opened on Aug. 13. 

Nine firms submitted offers ranging from $2,303,359.93 to $3,198,833.41. The Public Works Department estimate for the work came in at $2,552,609.30. 

The two lowest bidders were Western United Civil Group of Yacult and Eadon Prairie Construction of Winlock. Both were rejected for not meeting the criteria.  

According to Utility Engineer Nate Ensley, the first pillar requires a superintendent or foreman with on-site experience on comparable projects within the past seven years. 

“The low bidder did submit some comparable projects of similar scope. However, the employee that they reference on those projects … we didn’t feel that they were in the role … the on-site superintendent. They were more of like a business owner or project manager. That’s to us, very different than the person that’s responsible for quality of work on-site,” Ensley said. 

The second pillar requires bidders to have completed two public works contracts valued at $1.5 million or more. 

Ensley revealed the second-lowest bidder provided information on projects, but failed to meet the dollar threshold. 

“The low bidder number two submitted two public works projects that they’ve worked on, but neither of those cleared the bar of $1.5 million and, so because of that, we rejected bidder number one based off that pillar number one, bidder number two based off that pillar number two, and we inevitably went to number three,” he stated. 

Pacific Civil & Infrastructure, the third-lowest bidder at $2,569,661.06, was determined to be qualified and capable of performing the contract.  

The contract allots 220 working days for completion. Construction is expected to begin this winter after procurement of long-lead equipment. Completion is projected by late 2026. 

Mayor Andy Ryder noted the rarity of rejecting two apparent low bidders, raising concern that smaller firms could struggle to compete if they cannot show prior experience at the required scale. 

“If you’re a new construction company, and you’re getting off the ground, you’re trying to do something, and here’s an opportunity that comes along, but you can never get there, because you can never get a project this expensive. You’re sort of stuck in this situation where you can never grow,” he said. 

Ryder also said the city is obligated to award complex projects only to firms with proven capacity. 

Facility upgrade plan 

The Lift Station 9 improvements contract calls for demolishing the existing controls building and replacing it with new facility housing upgraded electrical panels and a trailer-mounted bypass pump.  

The contractor is going to install a new valve, bypass and meter vaults to replace aging units, while a new generator and odor control system are going to added. 

Ensley said construction will be contained mostly within the station site at the southeast corner of Rainier Vista Community Park. Deliveries could trigger minor traffic restrictions.  

“At most, I would expect maybe a lane closure because our site is very tight, and there might be some semi-truck deliveries of equipment and material. But I think last time we did this project, all we had to do was close one of those four total lanes … and I would expect the same for this,” he said. 

Public Works confirmed no service interruptions are expected for the roughly 5,000 connections tied to the lift station. 

Funding for the $2,569,661.06 contract comes from the city’s Wastewater Capital Fund. The Lacey City Council approved the appropriation in the 2025 budget under the line item “LS9 Improvements.” 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify the bidding process and scope of work done by the contractor.