REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
January 15, 2015
FROM: SCOTT L. MOZIER, PE, Director
Public Works Department
THROUGH: SCOTT W. KRAUTER, PE, Assistant Director
Public Works Department, Street Maintenance Division
BY: AARON A. AGUIRRE, Public Works Manager
Public Works Department, Street Maintenance Division
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to Requirement Contracts for weekly landscape maintenance for the Southeast, Downtown/Southwest, Northwest and Northeast quadrants of the City (Citywide)
1. Approve a Requirements Contract with All Commercial Landscape Service DBA ACLS in the amount of $1,035,572 to provide weekly landscape maintenance service in various City of Fresno ("City") turf landscapes located in the Downtown/Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast quadrants of the City
2. Approve a Requirements Contract with Elite Maintenance and Tree Service, Inc. in the amount of $213,692.64 to provide weekly landscape maintenance service in various City turf landscapes located in the Northwest quadrant of the City
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends an approval of a Requirements Contract with All Commercial Landscape Service ("ACLS") in the amount of $1,035,572 to provide weekly landscape maintenance service in City landscape areas located in the Downtown/Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast quadrants of the city. In addition, staff recommends approval of a Requirements Contract with Elite Maintenance and Tree Service, Inc. ("EMTS") in the amount of $213,692.64 to provide weekly landscape maintenance service in various City owned landscape areas located in the Northwest quadrant of the city.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Fresno solicited proposals for professional maintenance services for landscape areas that are located throughout the City and currently provided through different agreements individually managed by the various departments, including Public Works, Police, Airports, and Public Utilities Departments. The landscapes areas managed by these departments total 5.2 million square feet Citywide (119 acres).
Due to the large amount of landscaping and the potential savings from consolidating these agreements, staff decided to divide the city into four quadrants and to solicit proposals for each of the quadrants so that both large and small service providers could have the option to submit proposals for all four quadrants and/or for only one quadrant. It is estimated that approval of the requirements contracts will decrease the cost of City landscape services by $590,000 (31%) compared to existing services.
BACKGROUND
The landscape maintenance contracts provide for routine weekly maintenance in City owned facilities and right-of-way landscapes located throughout the City. Prior to this award, weekly landscape service contracts were individually managed by different City departments under separate agreements.
By consolidating this work, the City is able to take advantage of efficiencies by allowing well-qualified vendors to service all City facilities located within four specific geographical areas/quadrants rather than through individual agreements. Consistency of service as well as addressing quality issues with will also improve as there will be only two contracts that will need to be managed. It is also important to note that the quality of work of the two selected vendors was observed through unannounced site visits by committee members as a part of the selection process.
A Request for Proposal ("RFP") was advertised on July 21, 2014 and specifications distributed to 34 prospective proposers, ultimately resulting in submissions from seven proposers for all four quadrants. Of the seven proposers, ACLS and EMTS submitted proposals that conformed to all the RFP requirements and were determined to be the most capable of meeting all requirements of the City's published specifications. These contracts shall be in effect for five (5) years from the date of the Notice to Proceed and may be extended, at the City's sole discretion, for three (3) one-year increments.
Specifically the landscapes are maintained by the following Departments who are participating in the contract. Also, the existing service provider is described and compared to the proposed contract services.
Public Works Department/Street Maintenance
Includes Community Facilities District ("CFD") landscapes along major streets and neighborhood pocket parks and greenways in all four quadrants are included. Currently these landscapes are maintained by the Local Conservation Corps. These contract awards represent a reduction of $580,000 (42%) compared to the current cost of service and is comparable to the level of service currently being provided.
Public Works Department/Facilities Maintenance
Facilities in all four quadrants such as City Hall, Memorial Auditorium, Meux Home and Santa Fe Depot as well as Pinedale and Highway City Community Centers are included. Currently these services are performed by City staff. The award amounts for both contracts total $205,000 for all quadrants. This contract total is about $7,700 less than the City's direct costs plus estimated overhead. However, with the award of the contracts to maintain these smaller locations, an improvement in overall service levels is anticipated by the fact that existing staff will now have more time to maintain the City's larger city parks and other landscapes (e.g., median islands).
Police Department
Facilities such as headquarters, substations, and the regional training center in three of the quadrants are included. An existing vendor has been maintaining most Police facilities, while temporary labor and adult offenders have maintained the regional training center. These contract awards represent a slight increase in the cost for the service (about $8,000), but a substantial improvement in service is expected over the current service providers.
Airports Department
Includes all landscape services associated with the Fresno Yosemite International Airport in the Southeast quadrant. Currently ALCS is performing the service for the FAT landscape services. Airports anticipate that the service level will remain unchanged. While there is a $4,700 (4.6%) increase over current Airport landscape service cost, the current contract had expired and was already subject to rebidding.
Public Utilities Department/Wastewater Division
Regional Wastewater Treatment plant in the Downtown and Southwest quadrant is included. Currently this service is being conducted by a different vendor. The contract award represents a $15,000 decrease (15%) than the existing vendor cost. Also, an improvement in the service is expected over the current service provider.
Evaluation Committee/Review Process
The Evaluation Committee was comprised of staff from the five participating departments. The Committee evaluated the proposals based on the following criteria: conformance to the terms and conditions of the RFP, ability to meet the stated service requirements, past performance, and experience, stability, and cost of service. The committee selected ACLS as the vendor with the best overall value for both facilities and right-of-way ("ROW") landscapes in the Downtown/Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast quadrants; and, EMTS as the vendor who offers the best value to the City and meets all the criteria as specified in the RFP for the mostly ROW landscapes in the Northwest quadrant. The attached Bid Evaluation provides more detail on the received proposals and the selection process.
It should be noted that the RFP was advertised without prevailing wage requirements. During the proposal evaluation period for these new contracts, the City Council passed legislation that required prevailing wage be included as part of these contracts. Pursuant to that policy the prevailing wage requirements were negotiated through the addendum process with both ACLS and EMTS. Both ACLS and EMTS agreed that they could meet prevailing wage requirements for routine landscape labor without a change in their original proposals.
Finally, a small amount of these services are currently being performed by City employees on a part time or full time basis. The approval of these contracts will not have any impact on existing employees as they will simply be re-assigned to perform other landscapes related duties as appropriate. Nevertheless, the City met with Local 39 regarding plans for mowing services pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Fresno and Stationary Engineers Local 39. The Union concurred with the City's plans as awarding of these contracts will not impact any of the City's existing workforce.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
Routine landscape maintenance is not defined as a project under the California Environmental Quality Act and does not require an environmental finding.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
The local preference did not impact the vendor selection of this services contract, as all seven submitted proposals are local businesses as defined by the Fresno Municipal Code.
FISCAL IMPACT
These contracts represent savings to the Public Works Department and the Public Utilities Wastewater as detailed in the background sections. However, the contracts represent modest cost increases to the Airports and Police Departments. As stated above, the approval of the requirements contracts will decrease the net cost of City landscape services by $590,000 (31%) compared to existing services. The funds for these contracted services are included in the existing FY 2015 budgets for the individual departments.
Attachment: Bid Evaluation Information (2 pages)
Committee Report (5 pages)