TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Michael A. Hursh, General Manager
SUBJECT: On-Call Architectural and Engineering Services
ACTION ITEM
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider approving a modification to the release of a solicitation for On-Call Architectural and Engineering (A&E) services approved on October 10, 2018, to include a three-year offering period and a five-year period of performance.
Body
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no immediate impact to budget, as this solicitation will simply create a pool of contracts available as needed for future individual contract task orders. Funding for the task orders will be identified when the services are required.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
On October 10, 2018, the Board approved the release of a solicitation for on-call A&E contracts. That request included a three- year term for both the offering period and the performance period. In preparing the solicitation, the General Counsel and the Director of Capital Projects determined that it would be in the best interest of the District to extend the period of performance beyond the offering period so that task orders issued late in the offering period could be completed within the contract period of performance. Accordingly, the request for permission to solicit is modified to include a three- year offering period and a five year period of performance. With this modification task orders can be issued up until the end of the third year of the contract and all work from task orders must be complete by the end of the fifth year of the contract.
On October 10, 2018, the Board approved the release of a solicitation for on call A&E contracts. That request included a three year term for both the offering period and the performance period. In preparing the solicitation, the Director of Capital Projects determined that it would be in the best interest of the District to extend the period of performance beyond the offering period so that task orders issued late in the offering period could be completed within the contract period of performance. The General Counsel and the Procurement Director concurred with this request. Accordingly, the request for permission to solicit is modified to include a three- year offering period and a five- year period of performance. With this modification, task orders can be issued up until the end of the third year of the contract and all work from the task orders must be completed by the end of the fifth year of the contract.
This District requires architectural and engineering (A&E) services to prepare and complete project engineering and bid packages for a variety of capital projects. Continuing to have an on-call pool of A&E firms will permit the District to respond quickly to projects requiring these services. These newly solicited contracts would become effective when the District’s current pool of on-call A&E contracts expire in 2019.
On April 8, 2015, the District awarded a series of on-call A&E contracts, which will expire on August 31, 2019. Re-competing these on-call A&E contracts now will permit the District to continue to engage the required services by issuing task orders when necessary without a gap in availability.
The District intends to enter into up to 5 on-call A&E contracts with a three- year offering period and a five year period of performance. Each selected firm will be limited to an annual amount of $1,000,000 with a maximum aggregate of $3.0 million for three- year offering period. The per task order minimum will be $2,500.
The resulting contracts will be on-call, multiple-award task order- based contracts. When the need for services under these contracts is identified, the District will engage the services via the existing requisition/purchase order system, in the same manner the existing On-Call Architectural and Engineering contracts are used. The procurement approach used for the subject contracts will be qualifications-based, price not determinative, Brooks Act, as defined by FTA Circular 4220.1F Rev 3. An aggressive Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE) and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) outreach campaign will be aimed at increasing the level of DBE/SBE participation.
The procurement is expected to proceed according to the timeline in Table 1.
Table 1. Procurement Timeline.
An evaluation panel will be convened to assess proposals based on the evaluation criteria listed in the solicitation and shown in Table 2. Price will not be a factor while evaluating the proposals. Panel interviews of the prospective candidate firms will be optional as determined by the evaluation panel.
Table 2. Evaluation Criteria and Scoring
When in need, the Project Manager will develop the scope and the independent cost estimate for each task order, determine the best qualified firm from the pool using the same evaluation criteria that was used when the pool was created, negotiate a fair and reasonable price, and coordinate with the procurement staff to issue the task order and purchase order.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES:
There are a number of advantages associated with continuing the use of on-call A&E contracts, including:
1. Relatively quick access to specialized skills when necessary;
2. Pay as you go approach so the District pays only for the services utilized; and
3. No cost to the District if the services are not required or used.
There are isno immediate no disadvantages to re-soliciting these on-call contractsmodifying this solicitation to allow a longer period of time in which to complete the tasks.
ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS:
Staff considered not establishing a period of performance beyond the offering period but that would have limited the effective offering period to just over a year because A&E engagements typically run the entire life cycle of a project. That would force AC Transit to resolicit these contracts annually rather than every three years. Staff considered this impractical.
Staff also considered establishing a separate period of performance for each individual tasking but that was determined unacceptable as it would have required multiple contract amendments. Staff identified three alternative approaches to obtain the services intended for these on-call contracts. It is important to note that having these on-call contracts in place would not preclude the District from using any of these alternatives methods.
Hire additional employees. Adding staff to handle the wide range of technical specialties and paying them full-time wages and benefits when they are only needed part-time is not cost-effective.
Individual Procurements. The District could elect to solicit proposals for each individual A&E engagement as specific needs arise. This would result in delayed project implementation and increased workload among project managers and contract specialists with no value added.
Temporary Employees. The District could use temporary employees hired through a placement agency for the duration of a particular project. This approach is not generally a good fit because the irregular workload would not align well with the steady full or part-time schedule of a temporary employee.
PRIOR RELEVANT BOARD ACTION/POLICIES:
Board Policy 465, Procurement Policy
Staff Report 18-230, October 10, 2018, Approve Issuing Solicitations for On-Call Architectural & Engineering (A&E)
Staff Report 15-083, April 8, 2015, Solicitations for On-Call Architectural and Engineering (A&E) Contracts in support of District projects
Staff Report 15-083a, May 25, 2016, Award of on-call A&E contracts
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
Approved by:
Click to select.Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
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Reviewed by:
Click to select.Denise C. Standridge, General Counsel
Click to select.Claudia L. Allen, Chief Financial Officer
Click to select.Chris Andrichak, Director of Management and Budget
Click to select.Gene Clark, Director of Procurement and Materials
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Phillip Halley, Contracts Compliance Administrator
Prepared by:
Joe Callaway, Director of Capital Projects