Meter Box Inspection Program

City of Newport News - Waterworks has issued request for proposals, solicitation 27-1694-3103.

The City of Newport News (the “City”) is seeking proposals from qualified firms (the “Offeror” or “Contractor”) to furnish the goods and/or services described herein and proposals will be received via the City’s e-Procurement Portal, OpenGov Procurement ( https://secure.procurenow.com/portal/nnva ), to be received no later than October 2, 2026 at 5:00 PM (local prevailing time). The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to establish a Contract with a qualified Contractor to perform yearly comprehensive inspection of the City's water meter boxes and associated customer service connections.

The City of Newport News Waterworks (NNWW) supplies drinking water on a retail basis to approximately 410,000 people on the lower Virginia Peninsula, including the Cities of Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, York County, and parts of James City County. For FY 2025, the system's average daily demand was approximately 33.4 million gallons per day (MGD). Water is distributed through a water pipeline transmission and distribution system covering 250 square miles and extending over 1,700 miles in length. Waterworks successfully completed its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) initiative in May 2024. With the implementation, Waterworks has significantly reduced the need for routine field visits to customer meter boxes. Most of the City's AMI water meters read automatically and are equipped with internal remote service valves, allowing many service functions, including water turn-on and turn-off operations, to be performed remotely. Prior to AMI implementation, meter readers visited each meter box monthly to obtain manual readings, providing regular opportunities to locate, inspect, and identify issues with meter boxes and service connections. As routine manual meter reading is no longer required, many meter boxes now go several years without being physically inspected. As a result, meter boxes are increasingly becoming obscured by accumulated soil, grass, mulch, landscaping, and other encroachments, making them more difficult to locate and access when maintenance or emergency service is required. This reduction in routine field presence has created the need for a proactive inspection program to ensure meter boxes remain visible, accessible, and in good condition, and to identify leaks, damage, tampering, and other deficiencies before they become larger operational or customer service issues. The inspection program will provide the City with current condition data and support a proactive asset management strategy that improves system reliability, reduces response times, and helps preserve critical water distribution infrastructure.

Responses are due October 2, 2026 at 5:00 PM EDT.

Questions must be submitted by September 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT.

Commodity categories: Meter Boxes and Concrete Pull Boxes; Meter Boxes, Meter Vaults, and Valve Boxes (See 210-45 for Concrete Type); Sewer Inspection Equipment; Inspection and Certification Services; Inspection Services, Construction Type; Inspection Services, Electrical Instrumentation and Control.

Contact: Vernest Rice, Senior Contract Specialist (ricevo@nnva.gov, (757) 926-8032).

4 documents are attached to the notice: Sample Contract; 27-1694-3103, Meter Boxes 1-3 (Question 5); 27-1694-3103, 4-A-013_Carson_TrussT_WEB-1 (Question 5); IT Standards Policy.

The full solicitation document, addenda and the question-and-answer thread are on the agency's OpenGov portal at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/nnva/projects/296106. Responses are submitted electronically there, and a free vendor account is required before you can upload one.