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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/19/2007, C8 - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS-DESIGN SERVICES, SPECIFICATION NO. 90703. council MJune 19, 2007 j acEnaa aEpom CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO FROM: Jay D. Walter, Director of Public Works Prepared By: Barbara Lynch City Engineer SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS —DESIGN SERVICES, SPECIFICATION NO. 90703. CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Approve the Request for Proposals to provide Design Services for the Capital Improvement Program. 2. Authorize the CAO to execute agreements with the selected consulting firms. 3. Authorize the Finance Director to execute Purchase Orders for individual projects to consultants under agreement, in an amount not to exceed the authorized project budget. DISCUSSION The City is on the verge of launching a very aggressive Capital Improvement Plan (CIP.) This is largely the result of the passage of Measure Y, which provided an influx of funding, as well as the expected adoption of the City's 2007-09 Financial Plan, containing a significant number of construction projects. The soon to be adopted Financial Plan provides a distinct management challenge for the Public Works Engineering Section of a CIP larger than any previously undertaken. Planning for this undertaking has made one thing clear, the use of consultant services by, the Public Works Engineering Section is required. The City has traditionally used consultant services for specialty work such as building construction or landscaping. This is because City staff are largely generalists, experienced in design of maintenance projects such as pipelines, street paving, and treatment plant repairs. This Request for Proposals (RFP) will expand the use of consultants, for a least a while, to address the expected volume of work. To get the new CIP program moving, staff recommends the advertising of this RFP prior to the start of the fiscal year. The RFP contains a list of projects to give the proposers a good idea of the type of work they would be involved in. Staff has grouped the work into three basic types, Architecture, Engineering and Landscape Architecture projects. It can be anticipated that more than one firm will be on contract as a result of this RFP. Although there are multi-discipline firms in the area, there is no certainty that they will be interested in proposing on the anticipated work or be found the most qualified. The management of the consultants will be assigned to Public Works Engineering staff. The consultants will operate under the conditions of the agreement included in the RFP. Individual projects will be scoped with the City department most involved and the consultant. By hearing the scoping first hand, the consultant can develop a detailed work proposal for the specific project. The specific project work will then be authorized via a Purchase Order through the Finance Department, referencing the signed agreement. Where consultants are used, they are Request for Proposals for Design Services Page 2 . integrated into the City process via a staff person. Researching information, plan checking, environmental review, permitting, reporting to the Council or City Administrator and handling construction typically fall to the staff person. Staff will continue to do other project work in addition to managing consultant work. Unless firms clearly state they can not deliver the volume of work proposed, staff intends to contract with a single firm per specialty. There will be a learning curve for consultants to deliver products in proper City formats with the level of detailing we require to minimize construction changes. The goal is to minimize this training effort through strong, consistent.relationships with a minimum number of consultants, thereby maximizing the ability to deliver projects. Because of the need to have consultants who will provide quality service with a minimum of oversight, staff will routinely evaluate the performance of the consultant — was the proposal cost reasonable, did they meet their schedule, were there few plan check comments, were construction change orders for items that could not be foreseen — and determine if additional work is to be given to the consultant. If the performance is not satisfactory, staff will discontinue use of the individual consultant. Staff is looking for firms that are interested in becoming an extension of the City Engineering Section. Without that commitment, delivery of the CIP will be even more challenging. FISCAL FAPACT The RFP agreement, in and of itself, does not obligate any funds. By the time the agreements are executed by the City Administrator, the budget will be adopted. At that time, staff will begin scoping meetings and issuance of Purchase Orders. Work will be billed to the individual project accounts, not to exceed the design funding authorized by Council without additional approvals. Based on the current draft of the 2007-09 Financial Plan, Purchase Order amounts for design will typically range between $5,000 and $30,000 with a handful of projects in the $60,000 range. ALTERNATIVES 1. Traditional Approach The City Council could direct staff to proceed in a more traditional fashion, issuing RFP's for individual projects. On the plus side, a company with greater experience in the specific work might be attracted. On the minus side, this involves considerable work by the engineers, who will have their own projects to design in addition to managing consultant design work. The RFP does provide for the use of sub-consultants to address the issue of specialized work. Certain projects can also be pulled out for a project specific RFP if it is determined the consultant will be unable to provide the expertise needed. 2. In-house Approach Another alternative is to have the City Council direct staff to complete more of the work in- house. At this time, Public Works Engineering is not staffed to deliver the proposed volume of work. Staff does not believe that hiring additional staff, at least at this time, is an answer because of the time it takes to hire a qualified engineer and because it typically takes an engineer Request for Proposals for Design Services Page 3 one to two years to become fully productive depending upon their skill level and prior city-type experience. AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE Request for Proposals for Capital Improvement Plan Design Service, Specification No. 90703 g:\Mfl-rePor-agendasminuresLcaA2007\cipM703 eng_designrl*703 aW.dDc