HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/17/2001, C9 - CONSULTANT SERVICES-REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS council July17, 200.1
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CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Michael D. McCluskey, Director of Public.W rks` �,_
Prepared By- Barbara Lynch Civil Engineer
SUBJECT: CONSULTANT SERVICES —REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS
CAO RECOMMENDATION
1. Approve Requests for Qualifications for Survey and Construction Management Services
2. Authorize the City Administrator to execute an agreement with the top selected consultants
for each field.
3. Authorize the City Administrator to execute purchase orders up to $50,000 for individual
service agreements where funding is available in the project account for those services.
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 can make
a lot of sense 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 Manual allows consultants to be hired without any special
requirements, for services totaling less than $5,000. The Department is responsible to prepare
vouchers, or a purchase order, for payment to the consultant. Between $5,000 and $15,000, a
Department obtains 3 written quotes and a Purchase Order is authorized by Finance. Requests
for Proposals (RFPs) are issued for those services over$15,000.
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 work load. The purpose of issuing these
RFQ's 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 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
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Council Agenda Report—Request for Qualifications—Consultant Services
Page 2 _
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 as interested and available to do work for us.
This improves competition and brings us new ideas and expertise.
Engineering has been doing this successfully on a small scale with surveying services for the last
five years. The number of building projects in the budget, coupled with a large construction
load, prompted staff to look at expanding this process to other services. Construction
management services are anticipated to be above the $5,000 limit of department approved
purchase orders.
Qualification Requests:
Surveying
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.
Construction Management
This work will augment the City's engineering field personnel by performing inspections
for building construction projects. Engineering is also requesting the selected firm to be
available during design to review the plans for build-ability and to provide an
independent check of the cost estimate prepared by the architect prior to the Council
authorizing advertising for construction.
FISCAL IMPACT
The RFQ process itself, does not have any fiscal impacts. When projects are identified which
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 the 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. Construction
management services typically range between $15,000 and $25,000. Staff's recommendation is
for the Council to delegate award of project agreements to the CAO in all cases up to $50,000.
This gives some latitude for larger projects or projects needing special attention.
Council Agenda Report—Request for Qualifications—Consultant Services
Page 3
ALTERNATIVES
Staff can continue under the current practice of obtaining services for individual projects, hiring
them 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.
ATTACHMEEENTS—Available in the Council Office for Review
RFQ—Survey Services
RFQ—Construction Management Services
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