REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
June 13, 2019
FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
THROUGH: MIKE SANCHEZ, Assistant Director
Development and Resource Management Department
BY: SUMMER CECIL, Management Analyst II
Development and Resource Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to the Building and Safety Services Division professional plan check services:
1. Approve the Seventh Amendment to extend the current Consultant Services Agreement between Brooks Ransom and Associates and the City of Fresno until September 30, 2019 and to increase the contract amount by an additional $30,000.
2. Approve the Seventh Amendment to extend the current Consultant Services Agreement between Interwest and the City of Fresno until September 30, 2019.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council: (1) approve the Seventh Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement (Agreement 1) between Brooks Ransom and Associates (Brooks) and the City of Fresno (City) authorizing an Agreement 1 time extension until September 30, 2019 and allocating an additional $30,000 of the FY2019 departmental budget appropriation for professional commercial structural plan check services; and (2) approve the Seventh Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement (Agreement 2) between Interwest Consulting Group (Interwest) and the City authorizing an Agreement 2 time extension until September 30, 2019 to conduct professional residential plan check services for Building and Safety Services Division customer projects.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In order to continue meeting acceptable plan check processing timelines, the Building and Safety Services Division (Division) of the Development and Resource Management (DARM) Department increases staff capacity by utilizing Brooks and Interwest as plan check consultants for commercial and residential building projects. Although these firms have provided quality and timely reviews, due to the age of the relationship, the Division will be releasing a new Request for Proposals (RFP) the week of June 17, 2019 to solicit additional qualified and competitive firms. In the interim, staff recommends approval of a short-term agreement extension for both firms, as well as an additional $30,000 to the Brooks agreement in order to avoid a disruption of service while reviewing respondent proposals. The Interwest agreement has sufficient funding remaining in order to bridge that time period as well.
BACKGROUND
Since 2015, the Division has engaged with Brooks and Interwest for plan check services. These services include structural engineering review for commercial and industrial buildings (Brooks); and custom single family and standard residential plan check review (Interwest). Both firms have satisfactorily and continuously delivered quality plan reviews within their timeline commitments to the City.
It is anticipated that the level of development activity experienced by the City will continue and potentially increase in the following months; therefore, in order to proportionally increase staff capacity it is important to maintain agreements with qualified engineering firms for plan checking services. DARM understands that changes experienced in the current marketplace may drive a better value to the City; therefore the Division will release a new RFP the week of June 17, 2019 to solicit additional qualified plan checking consultants.
Staff recommends approving the following:
The Seventh Amendment to Agreement 1 which would allow for a short-term time extension to September 30, 2019 and an additional allocation of $30,000 from the current FY19 DARM budget; and
The Seventh Amendment to Agreement 2 which also seeks a short-term time extension to September 30, 2019 and no additional funding.
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
Support for the Amendment to Agreement 1 of $30,000 will be provided by existing FY2019 departmental appropriations previously budgeted for consultant services. Therefore, there is no impact on the current FY2019 budget.
Attachments:
1) Seventh Amendment to Agreement with Brooks Ransom and Associates
2) Seventh Amendment to Agreement with Interwest Consulting Group
3) Original contract with Brooks Ransom and Associates
4) Original contract with Interwest Consulting Group