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12-21-2004 - Engineering Consultant Services for Public Works Capital Improvement Projects (CIP)City of West Covina Memorandum TO: Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager and City Council FROM: Shannon. A. Yauchzee, Director/City Engineer Public Works Department AGENDA ITEM NO. B-4 DATE December 21, 2004 SUBJECT: ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR PUBLIC WORKS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS (CIP) RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that -the City Council receive and file this report. DISCUSSION: This item was held over from the December 7, 2004 City Council meeting. On December 2, 2003, the City Council considered the issue of consultants to provide contract engineering services (see Attachment No. 1). The staff recommendation was to retain a consultant only for expedited and overflow plan check. The City Council directed staff to prepare a Request For Proposal (RFP) for overflow and expedited plan check only. On July 20, 2004, a contract was awarded to US Infrastructure, Inc. for these services by an RFP process (see Attachment No. 2). The Engineering Division of the Public Works Department utilizes contract consultants for routine design services for Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) that cannot be accomplished in- house. Many of these services are specialized such as landscape design and traffic signal design, etc: Many projects do not require a general engineering firm but can be completed by other professionals such as landscape architects, traffic engineers, surveyors or soils engineers. Currently, the Engineering Division obtains at least three bids for consultant services for each project consistent with the City's purchasing policy. For services that exceed $25,000, a formal bid process and approval of the City Council is required. The Engineering Division contracts out for certain consulting services on an as -needed basis. Many of these contracts are for specialty items requiring soils engineering or landscape architecture and not necessarily general or civil engineering services. The remaining general engineering services such as traffic, civil engineering, surveying, assessment engineering, and Federal fund projects fluctuates from about $15,000 to about $55,000 a year. It should also be noted that even though this design work is contracted out, there is a lot of staff time required to supervise; review, and approve the consultant's work. Councilmember Hernandez has requested that this item be agendized for discussion to see if a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an engineering contract with one consultant providing design of all Engineering Division Capital Improvement Projects would be beneficial.. As an example, such projects would include those such as the upcoming landscaping improvments at Amar Road and Azusa Avenue, and the proposed improvements on North Azusa Avenue after that section is relinquished, would be beneficial- for the City of West Covina Engineering Division. An RFQ is usually used when the scope of services are not clearly defined such as for ongoing staffing or support services and is often used when it is desired to pay hourly fees for consulting. An RFQ can also be used as a preliminary step for very unique projects to pre -qualify firms, wherein once firms are pre -qualified these firms then receive a RFP. An RFP is generally used to obtain specific lump sum bids to perform well-defined projects. Since CIP design projects are well defined, it is more appropriate to obtain lump sum bids on projects by the use of an RFP process. The RFP process also results in compliance with the City policy of soliciting at least three bids for services and ensures the City receives the services at the best prices. ZAAGENDA - 2004\-fp engineering consultant hernandez request.doc 0 Andrew G. Pasinant, City Manager and City Council Page 2 — December 21, 2004 The proposed landscaping on Amar Road west of Azusa Avenue and on Azusa Avenue south of Amar Road is proposed for the 2005-2006 CIP budget. The County of Los Angeles has committed to assist by funding $300,000 for this work. A landscape architect was retained for . this design and the design is 95% complete. Staff will be returning to the City Council for the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding with the County of Los Angeles for this joint project to be completed. It is anticipated that this project can be bid concurrent with approval of funding in the 2005-2006 CIP budget. At the budget study session, the City Council asked staff to expedite the design for improvments to the section of North Azusa Avenue (Route 39) to be competed upon relinquishment by Caltrans. Staff is working on a relinquishment agreement with Caltrans wherein the City would take over the highway and receive $2.2. It is anticipated that the City would receive these -funds about July 2005. On November 15, 2004, staff initiated the RFP process to retain a consultant . for this design. It is anticipated that staff will present the relinquishment agreement to the City Council for approval in February 2005. At that .time, it is expected that a design consultant can also be approved and funded. Under this scenario, the design can be completed and the project bid to be concurrent with the receipt of the relinquishment funds. There is only one remaining major CIP engineering project this fiscal year that may require consultant design services. This project is for the design of street improvments and paving on Holt Avenue. Since the scope of this project is clearly defined, an RFP for design services is appropriate. Staff could use an RFP to bid all contract work anticipated in each CEP budget year to be completed by one engineering firm. The advantage to contracting all of the Capital Improvement Projects design work to one firm would be that it would save staff time involved in obtaining at least three bids for each project. The disadvantage to this process would be that the cost savings of the bid process might not be obtained since many projects require only a landscape architect or traffic engineer for example. Furthermore, unlike smaller cities that contract out all of their engineering services, West Covina Engineering Division only contracts out on an as -needed basis, therefore, making an RFQ process on combined engineering services unnecessary. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Receive and file this report and continue obtaining bids and contracting for each design project on an as -needed basis through an RFP process. 2. Obtain bids through an RFP process and a contract for all anticipated engineering design services from one engineering firm for all anticipated CIP in each fiscal year beginning 2005- 2006. FISCAL IMPACT: None. r J/ Prepared by: Shannon A. Yauchzee Director/City Engineer Attachment No. 1 City Council Staff Report dated December 2, 2003 Attachment No. 2 City Council Staff Report dated July 20, 2004 ZAAGENDA - 2004\rfp engineering consultant hernandez request.doc N ATTACHMENT NO. I City of West Covina Memorandum TO: Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager AGENDA and City Council ITEM NO, F-1 DATE December 2, 2003 FROM: Shannon A. Yauchzee, Director/City Engineer Public Works Department SUBJECT: ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR PUBLIC WORKS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council direct the Engineering Division to proceed -with a Request. For Proposal (RFP) process to obtain overflow and expedited engineering consultant services. DISCUSSION: The Mayor has asked that this item be re-agendized for discussion to see if a general project management or engineering contract would be beneficial for the City of West Covina Engineering Division. The Engineering Division of the Public Works Department routinely utilizes contract consultants .for services that cannot be accomplished in-house. Many of these services are very specialized such as soils testing, landscape design, surveying, intersection/signal design, etc. Some other functions are routine reports required to set assessments and facilitate the use of Federal funding. Currently, the Engineering Division obtains at least three -bids for consultant services for -each project consistent with the City's purchasing policy. For services that exceed $25,000, a formal bid process and approval of the City Council is required. Attached is an example of consultant services employed by the Engineering Division in the last three fiscal years. It should be noted that a large part of the amounts for Fiscal Years 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 are due. to the Azusa Avenue Traffic Enhancement Study. Currently; the Engineering Division does not have a process for expedited plan or map review. The City of Baldwin Park just recently awarded a contract on October.1, 2003, for Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project management and engineering design for approximately $300,000 a year to a consulting firm. Baldwin Park Engineering Department is a small department, which contracts out almost all CIP design, inspection, and construction management. The City of La.Puente utilizes the same consulting firm, but in addition to providing design, inspection, .and management of their CIP projects, the consultant firm also serves as contract City Engineer and Building Official. The City of West Covina Engineering Division currently performs all CIP project design, management, and inspection in-house utilizing ZD City staff and, therefore, has no need for a consultant in these areas. The Engineering Division contracts out for certain consulting services . on an as -needed basis. Many of these contracts are for specialty items requiring soils engineering or landscape architecture and. not necessarily general or civil engineering services. The remaining general engineering services such as traffic, civil engineering, surveying, assessment engineering, and Federal fund projects fluctuates from about $15,000 to about $45,000 a year. The advantage to contracting all of the remaining work to one firm would be that it would save staff time involved in obtaining at least three bids for each project. The disadvantage to this process would be that the. cost savings of the bid process might not be obtained. Furthermore, unlike smaller cities that contract out all of their engineering services, West Covina Engineering Division only contracts out on an as -needed basis, therefore, making a bid process on combined engineering services difficult. The Engineering Division does have a need to offer expedited plan and map checking services to the development community. Depending on the pace of development, the Engineering plan - checking backlog varies from two to four or more weeks. With a consultant firm providing expedited service, a one -week turn -around can be.offered at an additional cost. ZAAGENDA - 2003\mayor report engineering consultant.doc Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager and City Council Page 2 — December 2. 2003 ALTERNATIVES: 1. The City Council could direct staff to proceed with a RFP for general "as -needed" and expedited engineering design services with the intent of awarding a contract to one consulting firm. 2: The Engineering Division to proceed with a RFP process with the intent of retaining three consulting firms to be on -call for as -needed work. The three firms would then be awarded the consulting contracts based on the lowest bid for each project as the need arises. 3. Another option would be to direct staff not to proceed with a RFP. FISCAL IMPACT: If a consultant firm were chosen to perform expedited plan -and map checking services, the developer would pay a fee equal to the consultant's fee plus an additional percentage (34%) to cover administration and overhead costs. This could result in an unknown decrease in revenue depending on how many developers request expedited services. Prepared by: Shannon A. Yauchzee Director/City Engineer Attachment No. 1- ZAAGENDA - 2003\mayor report en.-ineering consultant.doc L ATTACHMENT NO.1 ' PUBLIC WORKS ENGINEERING DIVISION EXPENDITURES CONTRACT ENGINEERING SERVICES Fiscal Years 2000-2003 T 10 ATTACHMENT NO.2 • City of West Covina Memorandum TO: Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager and City Council FROM: Shannon A. Yauchzee, Director/City Engineer Public Works Department AGENDA ITEM NO. C-5e DATE July 20, 2004 SUBJECT: AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR ENGINEERING PLAN CHECK CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR EXPEDITED SERVICES RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council accept the proposal of USInfrastructure, Inc., West Covina, and authorize the Public Works Director/City Engineer and City Clerk to execute the consultant agreement for engineering expedited plan check services. DISCUSSION: On December 2, 2003, the City Council directed staff to hire a consulting firm for engineering expedited plan check services. By hiring a consulting firm, the Engineering Division will be able to receive better flexibility in handling the fluctuating workload and to ensure a quick plan check turn- around time. Expedited plan check services allows the applicant to have plans reviewed within five working days. In January 2004, the Engineering Division staff prepared and processed a Request for Proposal (RFP) for plan check services. The proposals were mailed to fourteen consultants. The City received proposals from seven consulting firms (see table below). All seven proposals were reviewed and ,a selection process was implemented whereby each company's experience, present staffing referrals, method of approach to work, time to complete, past experience with the City, and cost were evaluated based upon the evaluation. No.:Consulting Firm Infrastructure, Inc. (USI) E edited,Phin Check Fee (%). 60 lldan 80 mle -Horn and Associates, Inc. 85/90 47.KA r man & Heni ar 97 an A. Stirrat & Associates (BAS)112 E, Inc. 127/135 Civil En ineers, Inc. Non Responsive The three final consultants, Willdan, Berryman & Henigar, and USInfrastructure, Inc., were invited to meet with a staff selection committee to discuss their proposals. The selection committee conducted an interview with Berryman & Henigar and with USInfrastructure, Inc. Willdan could not attend the interview due to conflict with another meeting. Both consulting firms are highly competent to provide proposed services. The local consulting firm of USInfrastructure, Inc. stood out based on their prior experience with the City, their lowest cost, and proximity of their local office (walking distance from the City Hall) and familiarity of geographical area of the City. For these reasons, the selection committee is recommending USInfrastructure, Inc. consulting firm. At this time, the City anticipates that the cost for consultant services may exceed $25,000 during Fiscal Year 2004-2005 ALTERNATIVES: 1. One alternative is to re -advertise and re-evaluate the RFP. It is expected that this level of service could not be obtained at a more reasonable cost. However, there would be additional cost for City staff time and mailing cost as well as the disruption of service due to routine and procedures already in place. 2. The other alternative is that the City Council could decide to award the consultant agreement to a consultant other than the recommended consultant. ZAAGEVOA - 200MEngincering Plan Check Award of Contract.doc r Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager and City -Council Page 2 — July 20, 2004 FISCAL IMPACT; The Finance Department will set up a special account for expedited plan check fees such that the applicant pays into this account and the consultant is paid for services from this account. A percentage of that amount, as bid by the consultant (60% in the case of USI), will pay for consulting fees and the remaining amount will cover City staff time and overhead costs. For example, if a fee of $1,000 is collected, the consultant.is paid $600 and the remaining.$400 remains with' the City. This may result in a small -undetermined decrease -in General Fund revenues depending on the frequency that the expedited plan check service is chosen. The amount of expedited plan check services is unpredictable, however, it may exceed $25,000 annually, thus requiring City Council approval. Prepared aresh J. Palkhiwala Reviewed/Approved b : Shannon A. Yauchzee Principal Engineer Director/City Engineer Reviewed/Approved by: " Finance