Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, April 02, 2019
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF A CONSULTANT RETAINER AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE ON-CALL ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO THE ENGINEERING DIVISION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
The Engineering Division of the Public Works Department is responsible for the design and construction of a number of projects including several that are grant funded. In consideration of the limited internal staff resources and the significant number of infrastructure related projects, securing On-Call Architectural Professional Services will greatly reduce the time required to develop the necessary plans, specifications and estimates by eliminating the need to prepare separate Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for each project under consideration. A Consultant Retainer Agreement will provide flexibility and enhance the capacity of the Engineering Division to deliver projects in a timely manner.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. APPROVE a Consultant Retainer Agreement with Westberg and White Inc., to provide On-Call Architectural Professional Services for the term of April 2, 2019 through June 30, 2021, in an amount not-to-exceed $500,000.00.
2. AUTHORIZE the Mayor to execute the Consultant Retainer Agreement following approval as to form by the City Attorney.
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III. ALTERNATIVES
1. DO NOT APPROVE the Professional Services Agreement with the aforementioned company.
2. TAKE another action the City Council deems appropriate, consistent with the requirements of the law.
IV. BACKGROUND
The City’s 5-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) was approved by the City Council on June 19, 2018, and the total estimated cost to complete all funded and unfunded projects is $ 45M. Given the number of potential projects and the limited staff resources within the Engineering Division of the Public Works Department, consultants are typically used to assist with the development of plans, specifications and estimates.
Currently, several time consuming steps must be taken to retain a consultant for each potential project. The initial stage is the conceptual phase, which sets a clear definition of the project’s scope of work, funding, stakeholders, potential challenges, and any other significant information that the consultant needs to be informed of. The data from the initial stage is included in details on the Request for Proposal (RFP) document. The RFP must also contain the expected content and format of the proposal as well as the submittal date. The RFP is drafted by staff and reviewed thoroughly with managers and directors, and depending on everyone’s availability, the review process is time consuming and finalization of the RFP document could be delayed. Once the document is in its final format, it is given to the Purchasing Division (Purchasing) in order for them to ensure the document meets their criteria. This review process is also time consuming due to staff’s availability for review and acceptance of the document. Once Purchasing approves the document, it is advertised in Our Weekly and on the City’s web based publication - Planet Bids for a specified time period depending on the magnitude of the services being solicited. While the document is posted, inquiries may arise from interested firms and those inquiries require formal response from the City which may prolong the advertising time. Once the response period has expired, proposals are submitted to the City Clerk for recordation and to Engineering staff for evaluation. The evaluation committee thoroughly reviews and assesses the content of each proposal based on set criteria. Depending on the number of responses, this process can take several weeks to complete. An interview of top candidates may be needed for the committee to finalize its selection. Top candidates are typically given a few weeks to prepare for the interview. Soon thereafter, the committee selects the most suitable firm for the particular professional service and the selection is discussed with the Public Works Director for recommendation of award. Once a firm has been recommended, the contract agreement is circulated to the consultant for review and then routed to the City Attorney’s office for review and approval. The City Attorney’s office requires a minimum of four weeks for review. Sometimes the review is longer, depending on the number and type of exceptions or clarifications. Concurrent with the contract agreement review process, staff prepares a City Council agenda report to award a contract to the most responsive firm. The staff report is considered incomplete until the contract agreement has been approved by the City Attorney’s office as final form. Should the City Council approve the recommended selection, the approved contract is routed for signatures and fully executed prior to the City Clerk’s Office entering the contract into the City’s Enterprise Resource Planning management system (Tyler Munis). Once the contract has been entered into Tyler Munis, it is routed to Purchasing so that a Purchase Order (PO) can be generated. The selected firm is then issued a Notice to Proceed (NTP), which officially allows the firm to begin providing service.
As detailed above, the process of retaining a consultant for a specific project, from the initial conceptual phase to the issuance of the NTP is extremely laborious and very time consuming.
To streamline this process, the Engineering Services Division of the Public Works Department would use on-call consultants to reduce the time spent working on RFPs/RFQs, and allow staff to move quickly on projects without the delays caused by having to process RFPs/RFQs for each individual project. The use of consultants is not in-lieu of acquiring full-time employees, rather these consultants will be utilized to enhance the capacity of the current staff.
The Engineering Services Division solicited Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) by sending a Request for Qualifications (RFQs) to seven civil architectural firms. The firms were given a month to respond. The City only received one SOQ, and based on an evaluation of the submittal, Westberg and White Inc. was selected.
Westberg and White Inc. (W+W) is a full-service architectural firm that has been established for 32 years. They have offices in Tustin and San Diego and provide services to various agencies throughout California, primarily focusing on schools and cities. W+W’s basic services include architectural, landscape design and energy studies, supported by structural, mechanical, electrical and civil engineering disciplines. As part of these basic services, W+W also assists in administering the bidding process and providing inspectors and construction support.
W+W has previously provided architectural services for the City of Carson. They were the designer for the Carson Park Master Plan Project and also designed the interior improvements of the Juanita Millender-McDonald Community Center.
Given that the City is working on approving proceedings to finance the reconstruction and construction of certain local streets and traffic signals from the proceed of the Carson Public Financing Authority Revenue Bonds, Measure R and Measure M local street projects, it is anticipated that multiple public works projects would be added to the current CIP list. Considering the limited staff resources in the Engineering Division, the services of an arhitectural firm to implement the architectural projects will be beneficial. In addition, there are several time sensitive park related projects that currently need the services of consultants in order to meet the associated grant funding requirements.
Staff is confident that W+W is well qualified and will be able to assist the City in efficiently providing the services the division needs.
The consultant’s contract will be exercised on an “on-call” basis. The architectural firm selected will be requested to submit a fee proposal for every service the division needs, and subsequently the Engineering Services Division will negotiate the final fee per service.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
Funds for this item were not included in the FY 2018/19 budget; but the department will be able to absorb the cost for the remainder of this fiscal year. Funds for FY 2019/20 are included in the current budget proposal. Staff will budget accordingly for FY 2020/21.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Architectural Professional Services Agreements (pgs. 5-35)
Prepared by: Raymond Velasco, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer