PWD Water & Sewer Design Manual Section 6: Contract Review (v.4.0)

Section 6: Contract Review

Version 4.0
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For submittals in Section 6, the Manager of Design shall be copied on all physical correspondence. Any electronic correspondence shall be copied to the Water/Sewer Engineering Supervisor and the PWD Project Engineer.

A. Base Plan Review

  1. {77} {110} {119} Base Plans will be reviewed by the Design Branch and the Planning Unit. Consultants shall submit the base plans and the utility information online at the WEXD website. To gain access to the website for the first time, send an email to the Design Project Manager.
  2. A notification of the submittal with a link to the plans on the WEXD website shall be sent to:
  3. For Contracts with multiple locations, the base plans for all locations in that contract shall be completed and submitted together. The Planning Unit will do a thorough review of the base plans along with the sewer hydraulic review (see Sections 5 A.1 [106]) and/or water main sizing (see Section 4 A.1 [107]). Design will do a cursory review. Once the base plans have been submitted to Design, the Consultant shall submit (e-mail) a request to the Water/Sewer Engineering Supervisor to confirm their linear footage. The Water/Sewer Engineering Supervisor shall reply with a preapproval e-mail for the Base Plans. This preapproval e-mail must be included with the consultants invoice (see Section 8 [108]). This preapproval is only for length and general appearance. Any changes required by Planning or by Design during review of the design must be made by the consultant at no additional cost to the PWD.

B. Green Review

  1. In combined sewer system areas only, the PWD Project Engineer will notify the Green Stormwater Infrastructure Unit (GSI Unit) that the water and/or sewer Base Plans are on WED/WEXD once the base plan is approved by the Water/Sewer Engineering Supervisor. Include the PWD Project Number and CIPIT title in the subject line of any email correspondence.
    1. Connie Bird – Connie.Bird@phila.gov
    2. Jessica Brooks – Jessica.K.Brooks@phila.gov
  2. The GSI Unit will determine if there is an opportunity for the inclusion of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI). Where GSI is deemed suitable for a project site, the GSI Unit will provide a design concept and scope of work to PWD Design for implementation on the Water and/or Sewer project. For Consultant projects, the GSI concepts will be distributed by the PWD Project Engineer, and a proposal for the GSI work shall be submitted to Design for approval.

C. PWD Preliminary Design Review

  1. For in-house and Private Cost Contracts, prior to submitting projects to other utilities for review, the preliminary water and/or sewer designs shall be reviewed by the PWD Project Engineer and Water/Sewer Engineering Supervisor. If necessary, submittals to Water Conveyance, Collectors Systems, GSI Maintenance, and/or GSI Design (See Section 6.D.2 [119]) may take place at this stage instead of Utility Review.
  2. For Consultants, upon completion of the preliminary design, the design shall be considered 50% complete (see Section 8 C.3 [111]) and shall be submitted for review. Plans shall be submitted online to the WEXD website. Design shall be notified via email that the plans have been submitted to the website with a link to the plans. If requested by the PWD Project Engineer, submittals to Water Conveyance, Collectors Systems, GSI Maintenance, and/or GSI Design (see Section 6.D.2 [119]) may take place at this step instead of Utility Review. Comments from all the units (Water Conveyance, Collector Systems, GSI Maintenance, GSI Design) will be reviewed by the Design Branch for final approval.
  3. Notifications shall be sent to the following:

D. Utility Review

  1. Once preliminary designs are approved by PWD, Utility Review submission may occur. Under certain circumstances as required by PWD, the Utility Review will be split into two phases to coordinate more complex jobs with impacted agencies. This allows the impacted agencies to review and modify designs prior to a general Utility Review. All Utility Review transmittal letters should contain information relating to foreseen conflicts or questions that the designer may have.
  2. The amount of time to complete the utility review process may vary greatly depending on the complexity of the project. Included in the utility review process may be further explanatory correspondence and/or meetings which may be required to satisfactorily coordinate the PWD’s proposed work with other utility companies and agencies. Coordination with the Streets Department regarding traffic maintenance, paving requirements, and ADA ramp designs (where ramps will be impacted) is also a big part of the utility review process. See Appendix IVc for guidance regarding ADA ramp design requirements and submittals [92]. Requests for project reviews shall be sent to D.1 through D.8 of this section if applicable. Also see Appendix VI if additional contact information is required [35].
  3. Utility Review (All Jobs)
  4. Utility Review (All Jobs where the PWD Project Engineer did not request an Operations submittal as part of the Preliminary Design Review)
    1. A letter of transmittal and a link to the plans on WED/WEXD will be sent to:
      1. Philadelphia Water Department Water Conveyance:
      2. Electronic set (only water sheets):
    2. Philadelphia Water Department – Collector Systems
      1. Erin Williams, Chief, Collector Systems
      2. Copy: Nicholas.Maliha@phila.gov
      3. Electronic set (only sewer and green infrastructure sheets)
    3. Philadelphia Water Department – GSI Maintenance
      1. gso_design_review@phila.gov
      2. Electronic set (only green infrastructure sheets, include the PWD Project Number and CIPIT title in the subject line of this email).
    4. Philadelphia Water Department – GSI Design
      1. GSI Contact – Ask PWD Project Engineer for information.
      2. Electronic set (all GSI deliverable except GreenIT, include the PWD Project Number and the CIPIT title in the subject line of this email)
  5. Utility Review (all jobs except out of the right of way work)
    1. Streets Department (Paving Requirements)
      1. Create Submission using eCLIPSE Web Portal
      2. Electronic set
      3. For Consultant projects the Consultant will create the application making sure to list the PWD Project Engineer as a Co-applicant.
      4. For guidance on the use of the Eclipse system see the Eclipse Guide (eCLIPSE_Guide.pdf).
    2. Streets Department (Traffic Conduits)
      1. Nick Kulp
  6. Utility Review (all jobs)
    1. One set of prints (except as noted) and a letter of transmittal are sent to the following utilities on all projects.
      1. Verizon (Electronic set)
      2. PECO Energy (Electronic set)
      3. PGW (Electronic set)
      4. SEPTA (Electronic set)
      5. Comcast Cablevision (Electronic set)
  7. Utility Review (on all jobs with water mains or if a fire hydrant will be moved)
    1. One electronic set of all water sheets marked according to the instructions as described in Section 4 B.9.i [102] and Appendix IVa [93], are sent for Fire Hydrant Location Approval to:
      1. Lt. Dwayne Culbreth – Dwayne.Culbreth@phila.gov
      2. 215-686-1354
  8. Utility Review (on all jobs with water mains)
    1. An electronic set is sent for corrosion control requirements to ONE of the following (ask PWD Project Engineer which corrosion contact should be used for the job):
      1. Cor-Trol Services, Ltd. (Electronic set)
      2. UTRS (Electronic set)
  9. Utility Review (when located in Fairmount Park)
    1. When the proposed water main or sewer is location in Fairmount Park, one set of paper plans shall be sent to:
      1. Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (Enclosure: 1 set of paper plans)
        • 1515 Arch Street, 10th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102
        • Attn: Stephanie Craighead
        • 215-683-0210
  10. Utility Review (when expected to Impact a street tree)
    1. Submissions are required for all projects that include a new street tree.
    2. Submissions are where a street tree is to be impacted within a certain distance of its trunk, relative to the dbh (diameter at breast height).
    3. If trenching or excavating is proposed to happen within a 6″ radius for every diameter inch of the tree, Parks & Rec review will be required.  They will determine if they think the tree can survive the potential root damage, or if it makes more sense to remove the tree preemptively.  All GSI projects will require review since trees are proposed.
    4. Examples:
      • Excavation within 18″ of a 3″ dbh street tree should be reviewed.
      • Excavation within 6′ of a 12″ dbh street tree should be reviewed.
      • Excavation within 15′ of a 30″ dbh street tree should be reviewed.
    5. One set of plans shall be sent to:
  11. Utility Review (when located within a State Route)
    1. If a project has work within the limits of a State Route, a Highway Occupancy Permit will be needed for said work. After the design is completed, PWD will use PennDOT’s Electronic Permit System (EPS) to apply for the permit. In order to facilitate that process the Pre-EPS Submission Checklist must be filled out and submitted to PennDOT with the 70% Utility Review submittal, see the checklist and instructions in Appendix IVi [117]. This will give PennDOT an opportunity to review it (even though some of the information will be missing at this stage) so that when PWD submits for the permit the review process will be quicker.
    2. The 70% submittal, including the checklist and highlighted PDFs of the plans, shall be emailed to Calene Maroski (camaroski@pa.gov) and Matthew Miele (mmieie@pa.gov) at PennDOT for review.
    3. After the 90% submission, permit applications will be created by PWD on PennDOT’s EPS website (https://www.dot14.state.pa.us/EPS/home/home.jsp). Therefore, if there are no ADA ramps on state routes, the completed Pre-EPS submissions checklist must be included with the 90% submittal to PWD. If there are ADA ramps, proceed to Section 6 D.8.b below and the Pre-EPS submissions checklists are not required with the 90% submittal since PWD will already have them.
    4. After the paving letter from the Streets Department is received with the location for the ADA ramps, the locations shall be confirmed with the PWD Project Engineer. If any ramps are within the limits of a State Route, once designed, the ADA ramp plans and form CS 4401 shall be submitted to the Streets Department as well as the PWD Project Engineer. The PWD Project Engineer will use PennDOT’s Electronic Permit System (EPS) to forward the design to PennDOT.
    5. In order to facilitate that process, the Pre-EPS Submission Checklist that was submitted to PennDOT with the 70% Utility Review submittal and the highlighted PDFs of the plans (Highlight sewer, water and /or green only within the limits of the State Route. Do not highlight ADA ramps.) must be submitted to the PWD Project Engineer along with another Pre-EPS Submission Checklist just for the ADA ramps (For the Work Summary, write ADA Ramps).
    6. Submissions for ADA ramps that are on State Routes (submitted to the PWD Project Engineer) should be concurrent with the Streets Department submission. Both reviews should go in parallel because PennDOT and the Streets Department communicate with each other during the review process. Also, PennDOT would prefer the ADA Ramp designs and CS4401 forms to be combined into one pdf for state routes. Additionally, limit the number of ramps per package to 6 intersections or no more than 40 ramps.
  12. Utility Review (when Public Property-Communications (Formerly Electric Bureau), Public Property-Transit, or Western Union present in job area)
    1. One set of plans shall be sent to:
      1. Eric Boone, Communications Operations Manager (Enclosure: 1 set)
        • City of Philadelphia Office of Innovation and Technology
        • Communications Division
        • 1234 Market St., Suite 1800, Philadelphia, PA 19107
        • 215-686-4577
  13. Utility Review (Other Utility or Agency)
    1. One set of plans shall be sent to any other utility or agency at a particular location.
  14. Railroad Review (if affected)
    1. When the proposed water main or sewer parallels or crosses any rail structure or Right-of-Way belonging to and/or operated by the railroads, the requirements of that specific railroad shall be followed. A call to that railroad should be made in order to determine how many sets of plans they require for their review. The railroad’s pipeline occupancy specifications and requirements and the railroad crossing form (Pipe Data Sheet) shall be requested from the railroad (they may also be attained from their web page). Some railroads require eight (8) sets of the appropriate plan (rolled not folded) showing elevations and profile in accordance with the railroad’s pipeline occupancy specifications and requirements, along with three copies of a completed Railroad Crossing Form (Pipe Data Sheet). Contact information for railroads is listed below:
      1. Consolidated Rail Corp. (www.conrail.com) (Enclosure: As requested by RR)
        • 1717 Arch St., 32nd Fl., Philadelphia, PA 19103
        • Attn: Anthony R. DiArezano (Real Estate)
        • Phone: 856-231-7233
        • Fax: 856-231-2432
      2. CSX Transportation, Inc. (www.csx.com) (Enclosure: As requested by RR)
        • 301 West Bay Street, Suite 900, Jacksonville, FL 32202
        • Attn: Corridor Occupancy Service (J180)
        • Permitting Contact: Charlie Myers
        • 904-633-1503
      3. Norfolk Southern Railway Company (www.nscorp.com)
        • Applications for pipe crossings are submitted to:
          • AECOM (Enclosure: As requested by RR)
          • Attn: NS Pipe and Wire Administrator
          • 1700 Market St., 16th Fl., Philadelphia, PA 19103
          • NSUtilities@aecom.com
      4. AMTRAK (www.amtrak.com) (Enclosure: As requested by RR)
        • 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, PA 19104
        • 215-349-1108/4848
      5. SEPTA (www.septa.org) (Enclosure: as requested by RR)
        • 1234 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
        • Attn: Philip Asabere (PAsabere@septa.org)
        • 215-964-4773
    2. A copy of the correspondence sent to any railroad shall be sent to the following without any sets of plans:
      1. Philadelphia Water Department
        • Jefferson Center, 4th Fl.
        • 1101 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
        • Attn: Mr. Vahe Hovesepian, Manager, Capital Program
        • 215-685-6278
      2. Philadelphia Water Department
        • Jefferson Center, 2nd Fl.
        • Attn: Mr. Williams Dobbins, Manager, Design Branch
        • 215-685-6279
    3. All projects involving railroad review shall be discussed with the Water/Sewer Engineering Supervisor during the design phase.
  15. Assessments (only for extensions to the system that are not private cost projects)
    1. For assessable jobs (those having an “A” (that are not Private Cost), “B,” or “C” (that are not Private Cost) in the suffix of the Work No.) two sets of prints are sent to the appropriate District Surveyor (see Appendix VIb for a list of survey districts [79] to obtain the preliminary assessment and “deducts.” This information shall be added to the Contract Drawings (see Section 2 D.2.c [103] and Section 3 D.2.d [104]).
  16. Streets Department Right-of-Way Unit Review
    1. In any situation where the curbline is moved horizontally, a set of plans in PDF format will be sent to:
      1. Streets Department
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