Atlanta seeks $15.6 million more for watershed consultants, with no added contract time

Atlanta’s City Utilities Committee is scheduled Tuesday, Oct. 13, to consider adding $15.6 million to a watershed program-management agreement—raising its ceiling to $47.6 million without extending its term. The contract amendment and a matching budget transfer are listed for first reading at the committee’s 10 a.m. meeting, not as completed approvals.⁠[1][2]

The proposed money would support the management side of Atlanta’s water and sewer work: capital-project delivery, cost estimating, regulatory compliance and digital systems. The legislation identifies work on water meters and water loss, Stormwater Utility implementation, Consent Decree activities and Georgia Environmental Protection Division compliance among the services the funding would support.⁠[2]

The agreement with Stantec/SG Joint Venture has already grown substantially. The pending ordinance recounts an original $11 million authorization in 2024 and a $21 million addition authorized in March 2026, bringing the ceiling to $32 million. This second amendment would take that limit to more than four times the original authorization. Those figures are contract ceilings, not a tally of payments already made.⁠[1][2]

Watershed Management projects about $20.90 million in third-year needs: $11.91 million for planned base and special-initiative services, plus $8.98 million for new service requests. With about $5.30 million available for that contract year, the department says it needs approximately $15.6 million more to support anticipated work through April 24, 2027.⁠[2]

The department says it is moving program-management functions into multiple operational units and needs the existing contractor to preserve institutional knowledge and avoid disruption during that transition. It attributes the additional funding to the level and intensity of third-year services, rather than a material change in the agreement’s fundamental scope.⁠[2]

Ordinance 26-O-1582 also would waive the city’s procurement source-selection provisions. Its stated justification is that the increase exceeds the authority available for an administrative contract modification, while continuing the existing agreement is needed for time-sensitive operational and regulatory obligations. That is the department’s rationale for retaining the incumbent—not evidence of a new competitive award.⁠[1][2]

The companion budget ordinance, 26-O-1581, would move $15 million from watershed reserves through the water and wastewater commercial-paper fund and $600,000 through a subordinate-lien revenue-bond fund into the program-management project. The budget’s Stantec task label reinforces the connection: the two measures provide funding and contract authority for the same proposed addition, not two separate $15.6 million purchases.⁠[1][2]

The legislation describes categories of work but does not provide an initiative-by-initiative allocation or staffing breakdown for the added money. Both measures remain pending in the packet reviewed. Even if the contract ordinance becomes law, its text requires the mayor or a designee to execute and deliver the amendment before it binds the city.⁠[2]