REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
December 10, 2020
FROM: GREGORY A. BARFIELD, Director
Department of Transportation
BY: BRIAN BARR, Assistant Director
Department of Transportation
BRIAN CETTI, Capital Development Specialist
Department of Transportation
SUBJECT
Title
Approve the Fifth Amendment to the professional consultant Agreement with Stantec Architecture, Inc., in the amount of $15,294.00, to revise engineered construction documents to 150KW from 125W output battery electric bus charging equipment which allow for FAX to charge up to three buses per charger in the future, align with maturing industry standards, provide future infrastructure for FAX’s Innovative Clean Transit plan requiring zero emission vehicles by 2040, and authorize the Director of Transportation or designee to execute all related documents. The Amendment brings the total Agreement value to $1,340,081.99 with an original Agreement of $1,007,990.24
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council approve the Fifth Amendment to the professional consultant Agreement with Stantec Architecture, Inc. (Stantec), in the amount of $15,294.00 to revise engineered construction documents to 150KW from 125W battery electric bus charging equipment which allow for FAX to charge up to three buses per charger in the future, align with maturing industry standards, provide future infrastructure for FAX’s Innovative Clean Transit plan requiring zero emission vehicles by 2040, and authorize the Director of Transportation or designee to execute all related documents.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Department of Transportation, FAX Division, seeks the approval of a contract amendment to incorporate revisions in the scope of work associated with the Electric Bus Infrastructure Project. Specific scope inclusions change the battery electric bus charging specification to an output of 150KW from 125W to benefit FAX now and in the future. This will allow FAX to expand the number of electric buses charged overnight to more than 46 vehicles with small incremental capital investments and center around maturing industry equipment standards. The construction documents are currently designed around 125KW output chargers which do not allow for expansion of the equipment and number of buses charged overnight. Additionally, the industry is phasing out this equipment which was introduced during the early phases of battery electric charging equipment.
BACKGROUND
The Department of Transportation, FAX Division entered into a consultant agreement with Stantec Architecture on April 19, 2018, to provide design and engineering services for the FAX Facility Improvement Project Report of 2014. The scope of the project covers improvements being made to the forty year old existing bus facilities located at 2223 G Street. Due to the overall cost of all our FAX’s facility needs, the department has broken down projects as they are funded thus the need to amend the overall agreement with Stantec. Such improvements include upgrades to the fire alarm system, new fare collection building, expansion of the existing bus wash area, replacement of end-of-life bus cleaning equipment, bus entry gate reconfiguration, electric bus charging infrastructure, and redesign of the employee parking area. These improvements are all intended to make the facilities safer and provide better service to customers.
In November 2018, Council approved the First Amendment for $105,077.75 to incorporate scope, approved by a recent grant award, to provide engineering services necessary to replace the administration building HVAC equipment, and expand security requirements. In August 2019, Council approved the Second Amendment for $56,077.00 to separate the HVAC equipment replacement project from the vault building construction documents as a stand-alone project also due to a funding award to cover the HVAC project. In November 2019, Council approved the Third Amendment for $73,987.00 to facilitate FAX acceptance into the PG&E Electric Vehicle Fleet program for electric bus charging infrastructure project to charge up to 23 electric buses and relief vehicles.
The California Air Resource Board issued the Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) regulation, effective October 1, 2019, requiring all transit agencies to gradually transition all bus and paratransit vehicles to a 100 percent zero-emission fleet by 2040. This regulation applies to all transit agencies that own, operate, or lease buses with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 14,000 pounds. FAX’s 116 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses and a mix of 51 unleaded and CNG paratransit vehicles are applicable to this regulation.
As the fleet transitions to zero-emission, FAX plans to utilize a mixture of BEBs and fuel cell electric buses (FCEB) to meet service requirements. The fully transitioned fleet composition will be 67 fixed-route BEBs, 56 fixed-route FCEB, and 48 paratransit BEBs to maximum fleet performance while minimizing rolling stock and infrastructure capital expenditures. By the year 2023, 25 percent of all new bus purchases must be zero-emission technologies. This requirement increases to 50 percent in 2026, and 100 percent in 2029. Council approved FAX’s ICT plan on June 18, 2020.
Specific scope inclusions change the battery electric bus charging specification to an output to 150KW from 125KW to benefit FAX now and in the future. This will allow FAX to expand the number of electric buses charged overnight to approximately 46 with small capital investments and center around evolving industry equipment standards. The industry is phasing out 125KW chargers introduced during the early phases of battery electric charging equipment.
The City Attorney has reviewed the amendment and approved it 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
No general fund dollars will be utilized to fund this amendment. This amendment will be funded from existing State Prop1B PTIMSEA for transit safety, new capital projects, rehabilitation and replacement, and FTA 5339 and FTA 5307 grants.
Attachments:
Fifth Amendment to Stantec Architecture Agreement
Cost Analysis