REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
April 27, 2017
FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
THROUGH: MIKE SANCHEZ, Assistant Director
Development and Resource Management Department
BY: BRIAN T. LEONG, Building and Safety Services Manager
Building and Safety Services Division
SUBJECT
Title
Approve an amendment to the contract with Brooks-Ransom Associates, not to exceed $325,000 for professional engineering services to conduct structural engineering plan check services for Building and Safety customer projects.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends approving the amendment to the contract with Brooks-Ransom Associates in an amount not to exceed $325,000 for professional engineering services to conduct structural engineering plan check services for Building and Safety customer projects.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Brooks-Ransom Associates is structural engineering consulting firm originally contracted on November 2015 to provide structural engineering plan check services for the Building and Safety Division for customer development projects. Due to the volume of new development projects along with an increasing volume of submittals triggered by State mandated enforcement of the 2016 California Building Standards Codes, there is a need to continue services with said consultant to meet acceptable processing timelines.
BACKGROUND
On October 2015, the need for an additional resource to provide structural engineering plan check services arose due to a retirement of existing staff in the Building and Safety Services Division. After an exhaustive recruitment for a Professional Engineer to fill the vacant position in the Division, and projects not meeting acceptable timelines, it was determined that a third party consultant should be retained for structural engineering plan check services to supplement the increasing backlog. This amendment is to provide an additional $175,000 to the current agreement. The additional funds proposed will amend the original contract to an amount not to exceed $325,000.
Due to the number of projects related to High Speed Rail relocations with specific timelines, as well as large scale developments with complex structural engineering components, the volume of plan checks continue to rise to the levels that existing staff are challenged to meet acceptable timelines. The increased focus on Economic Development job creator projects has also impacted the ability to meet acceptable processing timelines due customer commitments to meet critical project timelines. Furthermore, effective January 1, 2017, enforcement of the new 2016 Building Standards Codes were mandated by the State of California, which traditionally with new code cycles produces a surge in projects submitted prior to the end of the year so they are not subject to Code changes effective January 1, 2017. The additional funds proposed will amend the original contract to an amount not to exceed $325,000. This will give the Division the ability to retain services to meet the timelines as outlined in the Business Friendly Fresno Initiative as well as for special projects that require more attention and shorter timelines due to customer commitments.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
By the definition provided in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 the amendment of an agreement does not qualify as a “project” for the purposes of CEQA.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented because this item is an amendment to an existing contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
No additional fiscal impact as DARM’s existing appropriations will be utilized for this contract amendment.
Attachment:
Third Amendment to Agreement