Wood Pole Inspection, Treatment, Repair, and UAV Inspection Services

The City of Pasadena Water and Power Department (“PWP”) is seeking proposals from qualified and experienced firms to provide wood pole inspection, repair, restoration, treatment, and related reporting services for PWP’s electric distribution system. The selected firm will support PWP’s ongoing maintenance and compliance program for wood poles, including visual inspections, intrusive inspections, groundline inspections, preservative treatments, minor corrective repairs, pole reinforcement recommendations, installation of approved repair materials, and detailed reporting of observed conditions.

PWP’s wood pole program is intended to support safe, reliable, and compliant operation of the electric distribution system in accordance with applicable requirements, including California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) General Order 95, Rules for Overhead Electric Line Construction, and CPUC General Order 165, Inspection Requirements for Electric Distribution and Transmission Facilities. PWP’s system includes approximately 11,000 wood poles, including both municipally owned and jointly owned poles. A significant portion of the pole population is located in rear property or otherwise constrained access locations.

The scope of services may include, but is not limited to, pole condition assessment, identification of structural damage or decay, inspection for General Order 95 infractions, groundline and below-ground inspections, preservative and fumigant treatment, installation of visibility strips, guy guards, ground molding, pole tags, and steel truss reinforcement where approved by PWP. The selected firm shall also provide detailed inspection records, photographs, condition ratings, repair recommendations, and electronic data deliverables in a format acceptable to PWP.

In addition to conventional field inspection and treatment services, PWP intends to include drone or other unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) inspection services under the resulting contract. UAV services may be used to supplement field inspections, improve access to difficult or hazardous locations, document pole-top conditions, capture high-resolution imagery, and support more efficient assessment of pole attachments, crossarms, hardware, conductors, insulators, and other visible overhead facilities. UAV services shall be performed by qualified, FAA-compliant personnel and in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local requirements.

The selected firm shall furnish all supervision, labor, materials, equipment, vehicles, tools, technology, software, transportation, permits, methods, processes, and incidentals necessary to complete the work in accordance with the final scope of services, applicable laws and regulations, industry standards, and PWP requirements.

Pasadena Water and Power is a municipally owned and operated utility that provides electric and water service to the city of Pasadena. PWP owns, operates, and maintains a citywide electric distribution system that serves residential, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers throughout an approximately 23-square-mile service area.

PWP’s Power Delivery Division is responsible for the operation, maintenance, engineering, construction, and reliability of the electric distribution system. This work is performed through multiple functional groups, including Engineering, Transmission and Distribution, Meter, Substation Maintenance, Power Dispatch, and related support sections. These groups collectively support system reliability, public safety, emergency response, capital improvement projects, routine maintenance, and regulatory compliance.

PWP’s overhead distribution system includes approximately 11,000 wood poles, including both City-owned and jointly owned poles. The pole population includes poles located in streets, alleys, easements, rear property areas, and other locations that may present varying levels of access difficulty. Many poles support multiple facilities and attachments, including electric distribution conductors, transformers, streetlight equipment, communication attachments, grounding systems, guying, and related appurtenances.

Wood pole inspection, treatment, repair, and documentation are essential to maintaining the integrity of PWP’s overhead distribution system. Properly performed inspections help identify decay, insect damage, mechanical damage, pole-top defects, pole-line hardware issues, groundline deterioration, unsafe conditions, and potential General Order 95 infractions. Preservative treatment and approved reinforcement methods may extend the useful life of serviceable poles, while timely reporting allows PWP to plan corrective maintenance, replacement, or other follow-up work.

The previous contract for these services was established through an Invitation for Bids process. For this procurement, PWP intends to use a Request for Proposals process to allow the City to evaluate proposer qualifications, inspection methodology, technical approach, staffing, data management capabilities, safety practices, quality control procedures, experience with utility wood pole programs, and ability to incorporate modern inspection tools, including drone/UAV services. This approach is intended to provide PWP with greater flexibility to select the firm that offers the best overall combination of technical competence, regulatory understanding, field capability, data quality, and value.