REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
October 9, 2014
FROM: BRIAN R. MARSHALL, Director
Department of Transportation
BY: JIM SCHAAD, Assistant Director
Department of Transportation
SUBJECT
Title
Authorize Amendment No. 2 to the agreement between the City of Fresno and Diversified Transportation, LLC (DBA Keolis Transit America)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council authorize the Director of Transportation to execute Amendment No. 2 to the agreement between the City of Fresno and Diversified Transportation, LLC (DBA Keolis Transit America), revising some of the standards and definitions to ensure compliance with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On January 24, 2013, Council approved a new agreement with Diversified Transportation, LLC (DBA Keolis Transit America), to provide ADA paratransit services. In an effort to address several FTA and ADA compliance issues, provide reasonable and achievable service level standards, and correct some general contract deficiencies, the City of Fresno and Keolis have agreed to changes to several definitions and standards.
BACKGROUND
The City of Fresno Handy Ride service provides demand-response transportation services, offering curb-to-curb transportation for citizens with disabilities in accordance with the ADA of 1990 (49 CFR, Parts 27, 37, and 38). Primarily used by people who are unable to use fixed-route buses, Handy Ride operates seven days per week, with service levels comparable to the fixed-route system. The demand response transportation services are being provided through a contractual agreement between the City of Fresno and Diversified Transportation, LLC (DBA Keolis Transit America).
In December 2007, The FTA Office of Civil Rights conducted an audit of the Department of Transportation complimentary paratransit service (Handy Ride) for compliance with the above-referenced ADA requirements. Federal auditors did not publish their final report until several years later, on June 7, 2012. Shortly thereafter, on August 17, 2012, the City solicited proposals for the provision of demand-response transportation services (Handy Ride) to replace a contract expiring in December 2012. In an attempt to address the audit report findings, several changes to the Request for Proposals (RFP) language were made, including significant changes/additions to performance measures. Since many of the performance measures and associated incentives and disincentives were new, the RFP contained specific verbiage allowing post-award re-evaluation of standards to determine any changes needed to ensure their levels are reasonably achievable while continuing to encourage improvement to services.
In late August 2012, shortly after the release of the RFP, the FTA Office of Civil Rights requested a copy of the document for review, which was immediately provided. The City received additional comments from FTA on September 18, 2012, after bids had been received. In order to continue operations, the City awarded a contract to the most qualified proposer, Keolis Transit America, with the intent to amend the contract as required once the FTA input was carefully reviewed.
The Department of Transportation has since been working with Keolis Transit America to make required amendments to the contract that address FTA concerns, as well as apply reasonable incentives and disincentives for performance. The major changes are summarized below:
· Clarification of the definition for "trip denials" to address auditor concerns that poor definition allows exclusion of denied trips that must be counted when measuring performance.
· Addition of the definition of "Early Pickup" and clarification that early pickups are not considered as on-time, to address auditor concerns that riders might be unduly pressured to accept an early pickup. This added definition essentially reduces on-time window from previous 35 minutes to 30 minutes.
· Revision of definitions for "Late Trip," "Missed Trip," and On-time Pick-Up," to correspond with the above definition for "Early Pickup" and the reduced 30 minute pickup window.
· Addition of separate "On-time Performance" and "Late Trip" tables that adjust for tightened performance windows (above), provide more realistic and achievable performance standards, and progressively increase severity of incentives/disincentives based on the degree the contractor deviates from the performance standard.
· Removal of "Average Telephone Hold Times" measure to address FTA concerns about weaknesses in use of averages to measure performance ("Single Customer On-Hold" measure adequately addresses performance).
· Adjustment of ride-time policy and addition of an associated performance measure that ties ride times to comparable fixed-route lengths. This to address auditor findings that ride length needs to be monitored to ensure performance relative to fixed route services and that trip lengths are not excessive.
· Addition of a drop-off time performance standard to ensure passengers with an appointment not later than the specified appointment time. This is to address auditor findings that there is an implicit obligation to get riders to appointments on time or early, rather than late.
· Removal of Service Delivery Failure Measure based on FTA comments ("Late trip" and "Missed Trip" measures adequately address performance).
· Addition to City roles and responsibilities to "ensure compliance with all requirements of the ADA." This is added to explicitly state ADA compliance in required.
· Addition of statements explicitly prohibiting restriction or prioritization of ADA trips based on trip purpose to address auditor concerns that preference might be given based on passenger preference (this is strictly prohibited by DOT/ADA regulations).
· Removal of references to the "Guide to Ride" and instead reference "City of Fresno Handy Ride policies and procedures" since the "Guide to Ride" is a document directed to riders and does not necessarily encompass all Handy Ride contractor requirements.
In addition to revisions made to address audit findings, Department of Transportation staff and the subcontractor have identified other necessary revisions to the contract:
· Correction of system productivity standard (Passengers per Vehicle Service Hour) in the performance standards table to coincide with estimated productivity levels specified under section 2.1 of the contract.
· Addition of a table that defines productivity levels on actual passenger trips (contractor has minimal control over number of passenger trips and therefore productivity goals should be adjusted based on actual ridership)
· Revision of maintenance manager qualifications to:
o Recognize comparable management experience in non-paratransit bus facilities and not limit experience to the narrow paratransit maintenance industry. This provides for a much larger pool of qualified candidates and is comparable to City hiring practices for similar positions. Note: The City maintains the ability to determine if qualifications are comparable.
o Allow an associate degree/2-year certificate in automotive/truck repair from an accredited college may be substituted for work experience on a year-per-year basis. This is consistent with City hiring processes.
These changes will allow the City to address many of the concerns addressed in the FTA Office of Civil Rights audit; revise key performance measures, incentives, and disincentives to make more realistic; and in general clean up some additional deficiencies/errors within the contract document.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDING
By the definition in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 the amendment of a service contract does not qualify as a "project" as defined by CEQA.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference not implemented because the amendment of an agreement is not subject to a competitive bid process.
FISCAL IMPACT
Incentives are added to the contractor's monthly invoice and disincentives, deducted. While exceeding standards or failing to meet specific performance, criteria would trigger these incentives and disincentives, and potentially increase or decrease the annual cost of the contract. The intent of the incentive and disincentive provisions is to ensure compliance and customer satisfaction, not overly reward or unjustly penalize the contractor. The department may see a reduction in the amounts withheld from the contractor's monthly invoice if performance measures are better achieved; however, appropriations for FY14 and FY15 were budgeted using the full award amount with no incentives/disincentives.
Attachment:
Amendment No. 2 to Agreement between City of Fresno and Diversified Transportation LLC