HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/06/2003, C5 - REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS FOR ON-CALL TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY SERVICES Councit ay 6, 2003
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C I T Y O F SAN LU I S O B I S P O
FROM: Michael D. McCluskey, Director of Public Work0i Fok
Prepared By: Barbara Lynch, Civil Engineer
SUBJECT: REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS FOR ON-CALL TOPOGRAPHIC
SURVEY SERVICES
CAO RECOMMENDATION
1. Approve Requests for Qualifications for On-Call Topographic Survey Services.
2. Authorize the City Administrator to execute an agreement with the top selected consultants.
3. Authorize the City Administrator to approve individual purchase orders.
DISCUSSION
The City staff uses consultants for two main purposes. The first is to complete work for which
there is no internal expertise. Examples of this are architectural work or bridge design. The
second is to allow project work to continue or be expedited when staff is unavailable due to other
project work. Examples of this are surveying, construction inspection and preliminary design.
Traditionally, staff has hired individual consultants on a project by project basis. This is a
sensible approach when the project dictates very specific talents or innovations or there is only
one project of that type in the budget. On high profile and specialty projects, the City needs the
opportunity to see what a consultant can bring to a particular project. In the case of ongoing
needs, where a more routine service is provided, using a pre-qualified list of consultants can
reduce staff time considerably without compromising project results.
The City's Financial Management Policy allows consultants to be hired without any special bid
requirements, for services totaling less than $5,000. The Department is responsible for preparing
vouchers, or a purchase order, for payment to the consultant. Under recently approved financial
management guidelines, a Department is required to obtain 3 written quotes for contracts
between $5,000 and $25,000, and a Purchase Order is then approved by the CAO. Requests for
Proposals (RFPs) are issued for those services over$25,000.
When consultants are hired, Departments collect insurance and establish general conditions for
the agreement. This is a time consuming endeavor in a division such as Engineering, where
project management is a significant portion of the workload.
The purpose of issuing Requests For Qualifications (RFQ) is to shorten the purchasing process
without compromising its purpose. If the City has an agreement with a group of consultants for a
variety of specialties, then their insurance is on file with the City and an agreement has been
executed outlining the conditions under which the consultant must work, such as
indemnification, non-discrimination and conditions for termination. When a need for services is
identified, staff needs only to review the list and specialties of the consultants, find a match to
Council Agenda Report—Request for Qualifications—Consultant Survey Services
Page 2
the project requirements and contact the firms to determine if they have staff available for the
work and what the cost and time frame for completion will be. Once a written cost proposal is
received from the consultant, a purchase order can be approved, and work can begin.
The RFQ process and the execution of an advance agreement allows staff to obtain needed
services, in a greatly reduced time frame, basically, under the guidelines for services less than
$5,000, but in compliance with the City's purchasing policy. Additionally, the RFQ process
invites new companies to be recognized by the City if interested and available to do work for us.
This improves competition and brings with it new ideas and expertise. Engineering has been
doing this successfully for the last seven years.
The work required in this request is primarily the collection of topographical details for design of
capital projects. On occasion, the consultant is requested to set a new survey marker for
elevation or horizontal control. This is usually the result of the loss or damage of an existing
marker during maintenance repairs to City facilities.
FISCAL IMPACT
The RFQ process itself does not have any fiscal impacts. When projects are identified that need
the services of a consultant retained through the RFQ process, project funds will be impacted.
The availability of funds is monitored by the Project Manager, in conjunction with the Finance
Department. If an account is not adequately funded at the time work is needed, staff will return
to the City Council to request a supplement to the budget prior to issuing any purchase order for
the work. Survey services for projects typically range between$2,000 and$10,000.
ALTERNATIVES
Staff can obtain services on a project-by-project basis, hiring in accordance with the purchasing
policy guidelines for the estimated cost of the services. This alternative is not recommended.
No benefits are obtained over the RFQ process proposed and additional staff time is required to
comply with the City's purchasing policies.
RFQ for Survey Services - Available in the Council Office for Review
L\Council Agenda Reports\2003 agenda reports\CAR RFQ Survey Services 03.doc
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