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AGENDA BILL Agenda Item No. 5(F) Date: April 16, 2013 To: El Cerrito City Council From: Yvetteh Ortiz, Engineering Manager Jerry Bradshaw, Public Works Director / City Engineer Subject: On-Call Engineering and Project Management Services – Professional Services Agreements ACTION REQUESTED Adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute professional services agreements with three consulting firms: Avila Project Management, BKF Engineers, and Coastland Civil Engineering, Inc. to provide engineering and project management services for three years with options to extend for an additional two years. DISCUSSION The Public Works Department currently has several vacancies in the Engineering Division. As the City reviews its overall organizational structure and funding with respect to the vacancies that exist in various departments, Public Works staff has considered soliciting consulting firms to provide as-needed engineering support during this process as well as project management services for a longer three-year term. The services are needed for a variety of capital improvement projects and city programs. The position of Associate Engineer, in particular, has been vacant since April 2012. This position served as the primary project manager for the City’s capital improvement projects. The City currently has a wide variety of active capital improvement projects that are in the environmental, design, construction, and close-out stages. As such, in February 2013 under the authority of the City Manager, the City entered into an agreement with Avila Project Management to provide project management services. On April 2, 2013, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2013–15 authorizing the execution of a contract amendment allowing the continued use of the services of Avila Project Management at least through the end of May 2013 for the necessary delivery of several projects. This gave City staff sufficient time to complete a thorough consultant solicitation as described below. The City has previously used consultants to assist Public Works staff to provide various types of engineering services and deliver capital projects. Government Code Section 4526 requires the State and local agencies to select consultant firms such as these on the basis of “demonstrated competency and on professional qualifications.” Because of this the consultant selection is not based on cost proposals. That approach is reinforced by ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 5(F) Page 2 the nature of an on-call agreement where the exact scope of work is not specified ahead of time. Therefore, in soliciting these services, staff issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) instead of a Request for Proposals (RFP). Because the work will be unusually variable in scope and may be short-term assignments or may be part of larger capital or planning projects, on-call agreements with consultant firms are appropriate to assign work as needed. Many cities choose to enter into on-call agreements with multiple firms in order to assure that a consultant’s workload issues will not get in the way of a city’s critical-path needs, and also to allow staff to best fit the expertise of a particular firm with the specific needs of an assignment. For certain projects, a city may ask for task proposals from more than one of their on-call firms to further ensure compatibility. The selected firms will provide services and have staffing within the specialized categories listed below: Street Infrastructure Evaluation and Improvement Pavement Management and Improvement Storm Drain Evaluation and Improvement Erosion and Sediment Control Design City Building and Park Repair and Improvements Private Development Review Utility Coordination and Permitting Master Planning and Budgeting Staff sent the RFQ to 55 firms on March 25, 2013 requesting Statements of Qualifications (SOQs), which were due on April 4, 2013. Staff received 20 responses. The list of 20 was reduced to seven, who were interviewed on April 5, 2013. From this selection process, three firms emerged as the most qualified: Avila Project Management, BKF Engineers, and Coastland Civil Engineering, Inc. All three firms possess several key or all requested areas of expertise, have demonstrated experience handling on-call services for municipalities, and are available to commence services immediately. The agreements are crafted as master agreements, with specific scope of work and cost to be determined on a task order basis. The agreements have an initial term of three years with the option to extend for up to two additional years. This time frame will allow the City and the respective consultants to develop significant relationships to better serve the City’s residents. All firms have submitted fee schedules for the various skill levels and specific team members listed in their SOQs along with other charge conditions such as direct costs and mileage. As needs arise, one or more of the firms will be asked to propose on the scope for an individual task. Once a proposal and fee are agreed upon, the Public Works Director will issue a task order for the specific assignment. ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 5(F) FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS The on-call agreements do not have dollar amounts directly associated with them. The agreed upon proposal for each task will be subject to funding available for that project or operational need. The fiscal controls are the various budgets for related projects and operations accounts. Scott Hanin, City Manager Attachment: 1. Resolution Page 3 ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 5(F) Attachment 1 RESOLUTION 2013–XX RESOLUTION OF THE EL CERRITO CITY COUNCIL AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS WITH AVILA PROJECT MANAGEMENT, BKF ENGINEERS, COASTLAND CIVIL ENGINEERING, INC. FOR ON-CALL ENGINEERING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES WHEREAS, the City requires the services of a consultant firm to perform engineering and project management services for various efforts in the City of El Cerrito; and WHEREAS, it is customary for a city to enter into one or more agreements for these services on an as-needed basis; and WHEREAS, Government Code Section 4526 requires the State and local agencies to select professional services firms such as these on the basis of demonstrated competency and on professional qualifications; and WHEREAS, the City issued a Request for Qualifications to 55 firms for on-call engineering and project management services; and WHEREAS, Avila Project Management, BKF Engineers, and Coastland Civil Engineering, Inc. were selected from a field of twenty responding consultants, as the most qualified for the requested services. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of El Cerrito hereby authorizes the City Manager to execute professional services agreements with three consultant firms, Avila Project Management, BKF Engineers, and Coastland Civil Engineering, Inc., for on-call engineering and project management services for periods of three years with options to extend for an additional two years. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution shall become effective immediately upon passage and adoption. I CERTIFY that at a regular meeting on April 16, 2013 the City Council of the City of El Cerrito passed this Resolution by the following vote: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: IN WITNESS of this action, I sign this document and affix the corporate seal of the City of El Cerrito on April XX, 2013. Cheryl Morse, City Clerk APPROVED: Gregory B. Lyman, Mayor