TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Public Works Director
Joe Parco, City Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Award of Professional Service Agreements for On-Call Utility Design Services (RFP1030-15) to AKM Consulting Engineers; SA Associates; and Quantum Quality Consulting in the Amount of $250,000 for a Three-Year Term for Each Firm (Public Works Director Olmos).
APPROVE
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_________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council:
1. Award Professional Service Agreements for On-Call Utility Design Services to AKM Consulting Engineers; SA Associates; and Quantum Quality Consulting in the amount of $250,000 for a three-year term for each firm.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute agreements
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Payment for work associated with all three agreements will be funded by previously approved projects in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
BACKGROUND:
From fiscal years 2006-07 to 2011-12, City Council approved an average of
$6 Million per year in CIP funding. From fiscal years 2012-13 to 2014-15, City Council approved a total of $59 million in new CIP funding, averaging approximately $19.7 million per year. The major reason for this increase was the addition of significant water, wastewater, and street projects including Sepulveda Widening at $19 million. Without including Sepulveda Widening, the City currently has a carryover amount of approximately $22 million with approximately $10 million in proposed funding for FY15-16.
Approximately $8.5 million of the $22 million in carryover funding relates to Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater projects (Utility). In addition, the proposed FY 15-16 CIP identifies $1.7 million of the $10 million in new funding for Utility projects.
The Public Works Engineering Division does not currently have sufficient in-house resources to design and inspect the carryover and proposed CIP projects. In assessing workload and available resources, staff has determined that in order to make significant progress towards completion of the carryover and proposed CIP projects, it is necessary to move into a full Project Management Model whereby staff is charged with managing and directing a team of design consultants, who are on-call and ready to provide design and inspection services. The City's current Public Works Director and City Engineer have extensively used on-call contracts at their prior places of employment, including County of Orange, Huntington Beach, Brea, Santa Ana, Carlsbad, and Rancho Santa Margarita and recommend the use of this model in Manhattan Beach.
DISCUSSION:
Throughout the years, Public Works Engineering would typically design a number of projects in-house and utilize project-specific consultants for the balance of the work. This model worked fine when the workload was not as large, but this has put a strain on project delivery as the project workload has grown. Within the past couple of years, staff has cut back on the number of projects that are designed in-house and has increased the use of project-specific consultants.
To procure a project-specific consultant, the entire process from issuance of the initial RFP to Council approval and execution of the contract typically takes between 12 to 16 weeks (Attachment 4). Aside from the time it takes to develop an RFP, execution of all the contract agreement requirements including insurance also takes considerable time. To streamline the process, many local agencies have turned to the use of on-call consultants.
On-call consultants are essentially contracts with qualified engineering firms that provide engineering services within a defined general scope of services. Once staff is ready to initiate a CIP project, one or more of the on-call firms would be provided a project-specific scope of work and will be asked to submit a fee proposal for the task(s). The firm that demonstrates that they can immediately meet the project needs and has all of the necessary resources available will be assigned the project. Prior to approval of each task order, staff would ensure that the project fee schedule is within project budget and meets industry's best practices. Staff has identified the potential CIP projects that the selected consultants could be assigned should City Council approve the agreements (Attachment 5). Although the cumulative amount of all three contracts seems high, it should be noted that the City already spends significant funds on project-specific design and inspection services as a matter of regular practice. Having on-call consultants simply expedites initiation of the projects.
The scope of work for this agreement will consist of civil engineering design services resulting in contract documents for various utility, storm drain, water and sewer projects on an as-needed basis. Some specific work items for each project would include, storm drain design, hydrology/hydraulic studies, AutoCAD design drafting, preparation of technical specifications and cost estimates, environmental assessment and documentation, project constructability review and construction support services during the bidding and construction phases.
With the approval of the design consultant agreements, staff can expeditiously execute a scope of work task order and concurrently execute a large number of projects with the aid of the selected consultants. Engineering staff, serving as overall Project Managers, will oversee the consultant's entire design process for each project, and ensure that all projects meet the required schedule and all applicable Engineering and City standards. In addition, City Engineering staff will continue their professional development by staying abreast of the latest project management best practices.
All on-call consultants will be held to high project delivery standards. Aside from demanding competitive fee proposals for the individual task orders, staff will discontinue utilizing services from any firm that has not performed to City staff expectations on prior assignments. The on-call consultant agreements do not require the City to utilize the full amount of the contracts, so subsequent project assignments will be tied to past performance.
RFP #1030-15 for On-Call Professional Utility Designs services was issued on February 20, 2015. It is anticipated that the firms selected as a result of this RFP will be used on water and wastewater projects identified in the CIP. Seven firms submitted responses to the RFP. A committee of four staff members reviewed each of the proposals submitted.
The top three firms as a result of the evaluation are being recommended for a contract award (The complete ratings can be seen in Attachment 4). The selection criteria included:
· Understanding of the work to be done |
· Experience with similar kinds of work |
· Quality of staff for work to be done |
· Capability of developing innovative or advanced techniques |
· Familiarity with state and federal procedures |
· Financial responsibility |
· Demonstrated technical ability |
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
ALTERNATIVE #1:
Staff augmentation through a temporary services agency could be used to augment and assist staff with the delivery of CIP Projects.
PROS:
Staff augmentation could help eliminate or reduce tasks previously performed by engineering staff, freeing up staff time to devote to the delivery of CIP Projects
CONS:
Staff augmentation would require a search and interview of possible candidates, and turnover of temporary staff is a possibility further delaying the delivery of CIP projects until a replacement can be found.
CONCLUSION:
It is respectfully recommended that the City Council award Professional Service Agreements for On-Call Utility Design Services (RFP1030-15) to AKM Consulting Engineers, SA Associates, and Quantum Quality Consulting in the amount of $250,000 for a three year term for each firm.
Attachments:
1. Professional Services Agreement - AKM Consulting Engineers of Irvine CA
2. Professional Services Agreement - Quantum Quality Consulting of Torrance CA
3. Professional Services Agreement - SA Associates of Arcadia CA
4. Typical Design Consultant RFP Process and RFP #1030-15 Consultant Ratings
5. List of Potential Utility Design Projects