REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
December 10, 2020
FROM: GREGORY A. BARFIELD, Director
Department of Transportation
BY: BRIAN BARR, Assistant Director
Department of Transportation
SANDRA CETTI, Capital Development Specialist
Department of Transportation
SUBJECT
Title
Approve the no cost Second Amendment to the professional consultant agreement with SZS Consulting Group LLC, now doing business as SZS Engineering Access, Inc., to extend the time for performance until December 2021, and authorize the Director of Transportation or designee to execute the Second Amendment (Citywide)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council approve the Second Amendment to the professional consultant agreement with SZS Consulting Group LLC dba SZS Engineering Access, Inc (SZS). a California corporation, to extend the time for performance for no additional cost until December 31, 2021, and authorize the Director of Transportation or designee to execute the Second Amendment.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Department of Transportation, FAX Division seeks an amendment to an existing professional consulting agreement to support the creation of a system-wide transition plan to bring FAX bus stops into compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The COVID-19 pandemic has hindered SZS and FAX’s ability to complete the transition plan within the contractual period of performance. Approval of this Amendment will grant a time extension to the original agreement and allow SZS to complete the remainder of the contracted work.
BACKGROUND
FAX hired SZS in 2015 to perform a survey of FAX’s complete bus stop inventory and associated amenities, conduct a FAX self-evaluation, and create a transition plan to outline how to correct any ADA-related deficiencies found in the FAX system. This survey and associated transition plan are required by Title II of the 1991 ADA Regulations for all agencies with greater than 50 employees. FAX had about 1,700 bus stops that needed to be surveyed. SZS compiled all of the information they found through the bus stop survey and self-evaluation into several databases. The information in these databases is being used to develop an ADA Transition Plan of action for addressing these deficiencies. A first draft of the ADA Transition Plan has been completed.
Opportunities for public comment on the plan will be provided prior to finalization of the transition plan. The public comment period is expected to last several months with additional time required to analyze the comments and include them into the final transition plan. All work associated with the public comment period and the remaining work to finalize the transition plan is a part of the original contract work and will not incur any additional cost to the City.
On August 7, 2019, Council approved the First Amendment to the agreement extending the period of performance to December 31, 2020. FAX is seeking to extend the contract performance time until December 31, 2021, due to COVID-19 related delays and to allow SZS time to perform its due diligence in reaching out to the citizens of the city of Fresno while finalizing the bus stop ADA Transition Plan.
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed the Amendment and approved as to form.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDING
This is not a project for the purpose of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not considered as this is an amendment being sought for an existing contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
This project has no fiscal impact to the General Fund. This Amendment is a no-cost change to the original consultant agreement and First Amendment and no additional funding will be needed. The original Agreement is funded by FTA 5307 grant funding.
Attachment:
Second Amendment to Agreement