Company Wins Pipe Lining Contract

Insituform Technologies has been awarded a new three-year contract to offer pipe rehabilitation services through the Texas Local Government Purchasing Cooperative. The exclusive agreement, which took effect on August 1, enables Texas municipalities and other state buying entities to work directly with Insituform without seeking multiple bids.

Insituform repairs and replaces deteriorated sewers using a variety of methods that don't require digging. The contract gives Co-op members access to many of these technologies – including cured-in-place pipe, pipebursting, point repairs, lateral lining and related services, all at pre-set prices.

"Public agencies and municipalities often come to us with urgent sewer repair needs," said Tom Rooney, Insituform president and CEO. "This contract allows them to cut through the red tape in individual bids so we can bring our services to their communities more quickly."

The Co-op agreement not only streamlines the procurement process, it also relieves local officials and engineers from burdens of establishing specifications and qualifying contractors. The Co-op pre-evaluates the bids for cost-savings, compliance with Texas State bidding statutes and contractor qualifications.

The Texas Local Government Purchasing Cooperative was created to aid the purchasing activity and increase purchasing power of school districts and other local governments throughout Texas using a customized electronic purchasing system. Members can make purchases on everything from pencils to school buses over a secured web site called the BuyBoard (www.buyboard.com).

Insituform's new contract, which was awarded through a competitive bid process, replaces a previous contract that covered just cured-in-place pipe rehabilitation services.

"With the new contract, our members can really take advantage of a full range of sewer repair services without going through a bidding process," said Steve Fisher, BuyBoard program manager. "It gives municipalities more flexibility in choosing the array of sewer repair services it needs to meet its situation."

On large projects, members may also request a proposal directly from Insituform after establishing a scope of work, Fisher said. That enables them to take advantage of even more cost efficiencies that may be associated with large, bundled projects.

The Cooperative is administered by the Texas Association of School Boards and is endorsed by the Texas Municipal League and the Texas Association of Counties.

Over the past two years, Insituform has helped Texas communities complete more than $2 million in sanitary and storm water rehab work through the BuyBoard, according to Tim Peterie, senior project manager for Insituform.

"It's been a major benefit for the municipalities that use the BuyBoard," said Peterie. "With this new contract, pipebursting and other associated items have been added, enabling us to take a more full-service approach with the Co-op members for repairing sewers of varying conditions, diameters and depths."