City of Lenoir LCRI service line development project.

Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
City of Lenoir, NC
801 West Avenue NW
Lenoir, NC 28645
SCOPE FOR SERVICE LINE MATERIAL FIELD INSPECTIONS
TO SUPPORT THE LEAD AND COPPER RULE IMPROVEMENTS
(LCRI) SERVICE LINE INVENTORY DEVELOPMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................................... 2
2.0 FIELD INSPECTION COORDINATION ................................................................................................ 3
2.1 Field Inspection Site Selection and Inspection Approach ..................................................... 3
2 .2 Progress Meetings ................................................................................................................................. 5
3.0 FIELD INSPECTION STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE ..................................................... 6
3.1 Communication with Residents in the Field ............................................................................... 6
3.2 Leak, Damage, and Incident Reporting ......................................................................................... 6
3 .3 Field Inspection And Service Line Material Identification .................................................... 7
4.0 SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................................................. 8
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
1.0 OVERVIEW
City of Lenoir, NC (hereafter referred to as "the City") is seeking proposals from eligible vendors to perform
service line material field inspections to support the City's Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI)
service line inventory development (Project). The selected vendor to provide these services (hereafter
referred to as "the Vendor") will be paid on a per-site basis.
The field inspections will be meter box inspections or excavations conducted by the Vendor. No
service line replacement activities will be conducted at this time. This scope of work (Scope)
outlines Vendor responsibilities and provides a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for field
inspections.
To be considered by the City of Lenoir, responses to this RFP must be received by 2:00 PM on Thursday,
April 9, 2026. At this time the proposals will be opened publicly in the City of Lenoir's Public Utility
Director's office located at 510B Greer Circle SW, Lenoir, NC 28645.
Field inspection support must be completed by end of Nov. 2026 in accordance with the North Carolina
Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) Funding program.
The City has approximately 2,300 service lines of unknown material (Unknowns) located across its water
service area. Of these Unknowns, the City plans to strategically inspect, via meter box inspections and
excavations, a sample of Unknowns to integrate field-inspected service line material with the City's
ongoing predictive modeling efforts. After completing the strategic inspections for predictive modeling,
there will be an opportunity to complete additional inspections, via meter box inspections and
excavations, to support the City's goals of verifying service line material in Disadvantaged Areas, as
identified by NCDEQ, and where the predictive model was used. The City will select sites for field
inspections as outlined in Section 2.1. The City makes no guarantee on the minimum number of
inspections to be performed.
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
2.0 FIELD INSPECTION COORDINATION
Field inspections are scheduled to begin as soon as possible and be completed within 2026 in accordance
with the NCDEQ LSLR Funding program. A general sequence of field inspection coordination activities is
outlined below. Tasks performed by the City are prefaced by "[City task]" and tasks performed by the
Vendor are prefaced by "[Vendor task]".
1. [City and Vendor task] Schedule a field inspection kickoff (within two weeks of Project start).
2. [City task] Provide training and access to the City's Field Inspection App.
3. [City task] Provide a list of selected sites (flagged in the Field Inspection App) for field inspection
to the Vendor as detailed in Section 2.1.
4. [Vendor task] Perform field inspections (throughout duration of Project) as detailed in Section
3.0.
5. [City task] Review field inspections and perform data entry and service line material verification
quality control throughout the duration of the Project.
6. [City and Vendor task] Attend bi-weekly progress meetings as detailed in Section 2.2.
2.1 FIELD INSPECTION SITE SELECTION AND INSPECTION APPROACH
[City task] The City will provide the Vendor with a list of selected sites for field inspection flagged in the
City's Field Inspection App. The first round of field inspections will be referred to as Round 1 and have
three (3) sample groups. These sample groups will contain up to 400 sites each. Each Sample Group has
sites that are meant to be representative of the City's remaining Unknowns. These sites are located across
the water service area, as show in Figure 2-1. The Vendor is expected to start by conducting field
inspections at Sample Group 1 sites. After the City reviews the field inspections and service line material
verifications from the Sample Group 1 sites, the City will decide from the following options:
1. If the Sample Group 1 sites yield a majority of "complete" (as defined in Section 3.3) service line
material verifications, then the City will pause field inspections. While field inspections are
paused, the City will integrate the field-inspected service line materials with the City's ongoing
predictive modeling efforts. After revising the predictive model, the City will generate a second
round of field inspections, Round 2, within one month for the Vendor. The Round 2 field
inspection sites will also likely be located across the City's water service area. This process will
continue until the City's unknown service lines are eliminated.
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
2. If the Sample Group 1 sites do not yield a majority of "complete" (as defined in Section 3.3) service
line material verifications, then the City will instruct the Vendor to proceed with field inspections
at Sample Group 2 sites and then Sample Group 3 sites, until a majority of "complete" inspections
are available for integration with the predictive model.
Figure 2-1: Round 1 Field Inspection Sites
After completing the strategic inspections for predictive modeling, there will be an opportunity to
complete additional inspections to support the City's goals of verifying service line material in
Disadvantaged Areas and where the predictive model was used. The City will provide the Vendor with a
list of selected sites for field inspection flagged in the City's Field Inspection App. For the sites in
Disadvantaged Areas, they will be concentrated in specific regions of the City, as identified by NCDEQ. For
the sites where predictive modeling was used, they will be across the City's water service area.
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
The City makes no guarantee on the minimum number of inspections to be performed but field
inspections, including the strategic inspections for predictive modeling, may total approximately 1,600
meter box inspections and approximately 700 excavations.
2.2 PROGRESS MEETINGS
[City and Vendor task] Bi-weekly progress meetings between the City and the Vendor will cover the
following topics:
* Update on completed field inspections and their service line materials: total number of positive
identifications and site locations.
* Discussion of field procedures and evaluation of proposed changes to current processes.
* Review of remaining field inspection schedule and budget.
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
3.0 FIELD INSPECTION STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
The Field Inspection SOP includes the following procedures:
* Section 3.1: Communicating with Residents in the Field
* Section 3.2: Leak, Damage, and Incident Reporting
* Section 3.3: Field Inspection and Service Line Material Identification
3.1 COMMUNICATION WITH RESIDENTS IN THE FIELD
All tasks will be performed by the Vendor.
1. If the Vendor is approached by homeowners or other residents during fieldwork, then the Vendor
will direct them to contact the Public Utilities Director or the Distribution and Collections
Superintendent.
2. If faced with residents who delay the work or threaten the Vendor team's safety, then the Vendor
will immediately notify the Public Utilities Director or the Distribution and Collections
Superintendent. The Vendor is to stop work, secure the meter box lid, and move on to the next
site.
3.2 LEAK, DAMAGE, AND INCIDENT REPORTING
The Vendor is tasked with checking for and reporting all leaks, damages, and incidents to the Distribution
and Collections Superintendent/designee. All tasks will be performed by the Vendor.
1. If existing leaks or damages are observed at the site prior to or during the meter box inspections
or excavations:
a. On the customer-side, the Vendor will immediately stop work and notify Distribution and
Collections Superintendent/designee. The City will communicate with the property
owner. Existing damage of service lines on the customer-side will be the responsibility of
the property owner. Work will not continue at the site until directed by the City.
b. On the system-side, the Vendor will immediately stop work and notify Distribution and
Collections Superintendent/designee. The City will work internally to address the leaks
and damage that have occurred on the city side only. Work will not continue at the site
until directed by the City.
2. If leaks or damages are caused by the Vendor during the meter box inspections or excavations:
a. On the customer-side, the Vendor will conduct repairs to damages immediately. If there
are leaks, then the Vendor will immediately notify Distribution and Collections
Superintendent/designee to coordinate repairs. All and any repairs to service lines will be
regular maintenance and will not involve service line replacement. Repairs must occur
within the same shift, and under no circumstances will service be disrupted for any period
greater than three (3) hours or overnight. Vendor is expected to stock adequate repair
materials for a variety of issues that may be encountered or caused through execution of
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
the work. The Vendor must complete the service line repair to be compliant with current
plumbing codes.
b. On the city side, the Vendor will immediately notify Distribution and Collections
Superintendent/designee. The City will work internally to address the leaks and damage
that have occurred on the city side only.
3. If incidents occur (such as hostile residents, accidents/injuries), inspections will not proceed. For
any incidents, then the Vendor will notify the Public Utilities Director. Work will not continue at
the site until directed by the City.
3.3 FIELD INSPECTION AND SERVICE LINE MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION
See Appendix A for a Service Line Inspection SOP with guidance on using the City's Field Inspection App.
Field inspections must be correctly entered in the City's Field Inspection App with service line material
verified on both the system-side and customer-side to be considered "complete". If the Vendor is
inspecting a service line where one side (system-side or customer-side) already has verified material, then
the field inspection will be considered "complete" once the second side is field verified. The expectation
is that if the Vendor is unable to verify service line material via a meter box inspection, then the Vendor
will use excavations to verify service line material. If the Vendor is unable to verify service line material
via a meter box inspection or an excavation, the Vendor will complete the steps in Appendix A to
document the field issue in the City's Field Inspection App. The City will then coordinate on how these
sites will be resolved and re-scheduled for inspection.
Only "complete" field inspections will be included in the Vendor's invoice for payment, and the Vendor
will specify whether a field inspection was "single-side" (system-side or customer-side) or "dual-side"
(system-side and customer-side).
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Scope for Service Line Material Field Inspections
City of Lenoir, NC
4.0 SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
Responses to this RFP must be received by the City of Lenoir by 2:00 PM on Thursday, April 9, 2026. At
this time the proposals will be opened publicly in the City of Lenoir's Public Utility Director's office located
at 510B Greer Circle SW, Lenoir, NC 28645. To be considered, please submit three (3) hard copies and one
(1) electronic copy in PDF format of the proposal. Proposals can be delivered via postal mail or hand
delivery to:
Dr. Jeff Church
Public Utilities Director
City of Lenoir
510B Greer Circle SW
Lenoir, NC 28645
Email: jeff.church@lenoirnc.gov
Proposals should be limited to fifteen (15) pages and formatted to include a cover letter and brief
understanding of the project scope including an organizational chart and/or staff listing of employees that
will be in direct charge of the project. Provide examples of inventory projects (3-5) of similar scope, and a
draft schedule.
a. Price: [50] The lowest, reasonable, comprehensive proposal will receive all possible points. Other
proposals will receive points proportionately. Please provide unit cost prices for the following
services. Costs should include all field inspection requirements in Appendix A.
i. Meter box inspection (single-side and dual-side)
ii. Hand excavation (single-side and dual-side)
iii. Mechanical excavation (single-side and dual-side)
* Including new sod and soil (single-side and dual-side)
* Including pavement cuts and repair (per square foot)
b. Prior Experience: [25] Experience with service line inventory projects and prior experience with
area municipalities.
c. Project Scheduling: [25] The earliest start and completion time will receive all possible points.
Other proposals will receive points proportionately.
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City of Lenoir Lead and Copper Rule Revision Compliance Program
Appendix A.
Service Line Inspection Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
Field data will be collected using the Diamond Maps Field Inspection Application (Field Inspection App).
The procedure below steps through the full process of how to perform and record a service line inspection,
including site set up, excavations, material inspections and tests, and site restoration. Examples of field
inspection photos to take are attached.
Step 1: Site Set Up
1. Pack all necessary supplies:
* Tablet or mobile device (with cellular service) for accessing and documenting field
inspections in the Field Inspection App
* Mobile device for backup hot spot
* Labels with City and Private service line identifiers
* Safety Vest
* Gloves
* Shovels
2. At each location, safely position the vehicle at a visible location to oncoming traffic.
Step 2: Uncover the Service Lines for Inspection
See Table 1 for a summary of the workflow in a singular table.
1. Identify the meter box of the water customer you are located at
a. In the Field Inspection App, update the meter's feature location to be where the meter
box is located (where you are standing adjacent to the meter box).
b. If the Field Inspection App does not have a meter feature at the customer's address,
then create a new meter feature and populate its field inspection data.
c. If you are unable to locate the physical meter at a site's address, send the site address to
the Public Utilities designee Derek Goble (828-750-5049) for meter location verification.
Please see Figure 1 and Figure 2 for instructions on how to populate the Field Inspection
App. If the meter box is inaccessible for other reasons, such as vegetation, wildlife, or
other obstructions, please see Table 2 for instructions on how to populate the Field
Inspection App. Do not populate any fields besides [Inspection Status], [Action Item],
and [Field Visit Notes].
City of Lenoir Meter Box Inspection SOP March 2026
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City of Lenoir Lead and Copper Rule Revision Compliance Program
Figure 1. Inspection Status - Unable to Locate Meter
Figure 2. Action Item - Unable to Locate Meter
2. Open the meter box lid.
3. If needed, and if possible, remove dirt/debris to uncover the service lines connected to the
meter on the city and private sides of the meter. Attempt to uncover as much of the service line
inside the meter box as possible to capture a clear photo demonstrating pipe material. If able to
view the service line from the meter box, proceed to Step 3: Identify and Record Service Line
Materials.
If unable to view the service line from the meter box due to obstructions or meter box type,
continue the inspection with an excavation Service lines shall be excavated until the service line
is fully visible and the material can be verified. See Figure 3 for a service line excavation
schematic. It is recommended, but not required, to expose the service line a minimum of 18
inches away from the meter box edge, on both the customer-side and system-side. However, if
using hand excavation, the service line can be exposed around or just outside the meter box by
removing the meter box and digging around the vicinity to excavate the service line. If the
Vendor determines that hand excavation is not possible, a utility locate request in accordance
with NC's Underground Utility Safety and Damage Prevention Act, must be submitted to North
Carolina 811 - Dig Safely. Contact 811 Before You Dig before proceeding with mechanical
excavation. If a meter box is surrounded by pavement, then pavement cuts and repair will be
City of Lenoir Meter Box Inspection SOP March 2026
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