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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-06-2016 Item 04 RFP - Planning, Building & Safety, Fire & Engineering Plan Check & Inspection Services Meeting Date: 9/6/2016 FROM: Michael Codron, Director of Community Development Prepared By: Cori Ryan, Administrative Analyst SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) – FOR PLANNING, BUILDING & SAFETY, FIRE AND ENGINEERING PLAN CHECK AND INSPECTION SERVICES RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Approve the following Request for Proposals (RFPs) to provide planning, plan check, and inspection “on-call” services to supplement Planning, Engineering, Fire and Building & Safety resources to maintain processing times. a. Development Review Services for Building & Safety, Fire, and Engineering Plan Check and Inspection Services (Specification No. 91520) b. General Planning Services (Specification No. 91521) 2. Authorize the City Manager to execute the agreements associated with the selected consulting firms. 3. Authorize the Finance Director to execute and amend Purchase Orders for individual consultant service contracts in an amount not-to-exceed authorized Development Services Fee Revenue carry forward amount. DISCUSSION On September 3, 2013, Council approved the Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide plan check and inspection and planning “on-call” services to supplement development services resources to maintain processing times. Development services departments throughout the City have been utilizing “on-call” consultants for the past three years to assist with increasing development services activities including the simultaneous processing of large complex projects such Avila Ranch, San Luis Ranch, Froom Ranch and various projects within the Orcutt Area Specific Plan. The “on-call” contracts expire November 11, 2016. Two RFPs are being requested to retain outside “on-call” consulting firms to assist with the development review process to replace the “on-call” contracts that will expire in November. The first RFP is for development review services for Building & Safety, Engineering, and Fire plan check and inspection services. These are grouped because there are firms that have all of these technical competencies. Building & Safety, Fire, and Engineering Codes are generally uniform 4 Packet Pg. 33 throughout the state, with exception of limited amendments to account for unique local topographic, geological, or climatological conditions. The second RFP is for planning services which is a unique skill set and requires a stronger understanding of policies found in the City’s General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. The review of planning applications is based on the adopted General Plan and Zoning Ordinance which is unique to the City of San Luis Obispo and reflects the community’s values and adopted development standards. These firms are required to become familiar with the City’s policies and development standards. Why Use Consultants? Consultants add additional resources during peak permit times when activity outpaces available City resources to timely process permits. Moreover, consultants can help ensure that high profile projects bringing multiple City objectives are processed in timely manner including objectives set forth in the Economic Development Strategic Plan and the Community Development Department’s Organizational Assessment. City staff has recently used consultants successfully to plan check the Garden Street/ Hotel Serra, Chinatown Retail on Monterey, and Caltrans building permit plans. Staff is assigned to work with consultants to ensure that institutional knowledge is communicated to the consultant team, projects meet adopted City land use policies and standards and general expectations, and continuity after the consultant has completed the project. By using the consultants, internal staff is able to focus on assigned projects and provide personal services to our local community. Contacts at the public counter remain high, in excess of 18,000 people annually. The volume of work related to projects moving from planning entitlement to construction has consistently exceeded the capacity to provide those services in house during the last three years. Plan check volume has exceeded 600 projects under review for most of that time. Thi s far exceeds the capacity of internal staff for review. Also, due to employee transitions, provision of inspection services has exceeded the capacity of the remaining staff during the recruitment period. Consultants have the ability to get up to speed quickly and take on inspection of construction projects in the field. The RFP Process The RFPs solicit proposals from interested consultants stating their qualifications, experience, and proposal for timely processing of City building permit applications and planning projects. After evaluating proposals, the top consultant(s) will be selected based on their ability to provide the requested services. Once the selected consultants have entered into an agreement with the City, these consultants will provide services for individual projects as needed. The consultants will operate under the conditions of the agreement included in the RFP. For planning projects, individual work scopes and fees will be negotiated on a project -by-project basis. Once a project scope and fee are agreed to, the specific work will then be authorized via a Purchase Order through the Finance Department. The consultant’s fees for Building, Fire and Engineering plan check will be based on a percentage of the City fees (typically 55%). The remaining 45% is retained by the City for general processing and overhead. 4 Packet Pg. 34 These firms would only be used when staff resources cannot meet cycle times and only when there are adequate balances in the Development Services Account. The general approach would be to use additional temporary contract staff to service applications and turn to outside consultants for larger projects and when these resources are needed to meet permit processing timelines. FISCAL IMPACT Issuing an RFP does not obligate any funds for consultant work. When the on-call agreements are executed by the City Manager and projects are identified requiring consultant services, purchase orders will be issued at the discretion of the Finance Director in an amount not -to- exceed authorized Development Services Fee Revenue carry forward amount. As a result, no monies are expended to keep resources on standby and waiting for work opportunities to occur. Current status of Development Services Fee Revenue eligible for designation is as follows: ALTERNATIVES 1. Deny the use of RFPs as requested and require that they be issued for Individual Projects . The Council could direct staff to proceed in a more traditional fashion, issuing RFP’s for each individual project. The use of on-call consultant services is an efficient and effective approach to reviewing projects in a timely manner. Issuing RFPs for individual projects would not be an effective and efficient approach for assigning work quickly on projects to maintain or reduce the City’s published cycle times for review of permits/applications. 2. Deny the use of RFPs and require the use of in-house resources. The Council could direct staff to complete more of the work in-house. Staff does not recommend this approach since this recommendation calls for consultants to be used thoughtfully and strategically achieving multiple City objectives when existing staff resources are exceeded. The ability to use consultants is an important part of the mix to help process the current workload outlined in this report and was successfully used in the last upswing of the economy. Attachments: a - Council Reading File - RFP Plan Check and Inspection Services b - Council Reading File - RFP Planning Services 4 Packet Pg. 35 Page intentionally left blank.