Title
Transportation Department recommending Chairman be authorized to sign Agreement for Services AGMT 08-1690 with Wood Rodgers, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $500,000 for the term July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2010 to provide construction support, geotechnical, environmental, and design services for erosion control and water quality projects in the Tahoe Basin; and adopt recommended findings for same.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve.
FUNDING: California Tahoe Conservancy, United States Forest Service and United States Bureau of Reclamation Grant Funds and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Mitigation Funds.
Body
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BUDGET SUMMARY: |
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Total Estimated Cost |
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$500,000 |
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Funding |
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Budgeted * |
$317,192 |
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New Funding |
$ |
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Savings |
$ |
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Other** |
$182,808 |
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Total Funding Available |
$500,000 |
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Change To Net County Cost |
$0 |
$0 |
* Proposed FY 2008-09 budget
** The Department anticipates budgeting $182,808 in the Fiscal Year 2009-10 budget.
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost:
The Transportation Department (Department) included $317,192 in its proposed FY 2008-09 budget for this Agreement. The Department anticipates budgeting the remaining $182,808 for this contract in FY 2009-10. Funding will come from grants from the California Tahoe Conservancy, United States Forest Service, and United States Bureau of Reclamation, and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Mitigation Funds. There is no Net County Cost.
Background:
On July 5, 2007, the Department issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and Statement of Interest to various consulting firms to provide project delivery services for transportation, erosion control and water quality projects in the County. Staff within the Department, including outside review and participation by the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC), reviewed and rated the firms' Statement of Qualifications for criteria such as experience, depth of personnel, and expertise. Five (5) firms were chosen to interview with Department personnel. Wood Rodgers, Inc. (Wood Rodgers) was selected from this group to provide construction support, geotechnical, environmental, and design services.
Reason for Recommendation:
The Department is proposing to enter into an Agreement with Wood Rodgers. Under the subject Agreement, Wood Rodgers will perform professional services to assist Department staff in the delivery of Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) projects. Tasks may include, but are not limited to, construction support, construction inspection, materials testing, surveying services, including construction staking, geotechnical services, environmental services, including biological studies, wetlands delineation and studies needed to prepare California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents, and all other services necessary to design and implement EIP projects in the Tahoe Basin, including engineering design, project support, project delivery, mapping, and hydrology and hydraulic calculations.
Need for staff augmentation
The Department requires these professional services to facilitate completion of the design and delivery of EIP projects and to augment existing staff due to the short duration of the construction season (which does not justify hiring additional full-time employees) and also due to fluctuations in the annual allocation of grant funds. The Department has an immediate need to advance many of its projects to meet various grant and regulatory deadlines.
The Department is planning to have eight (8) to nine (9) construction projects under construction in the Tahoe Basin this summer and next, and it does not have sufficient staff to perform all of the required construction support/inspection and other engineering services required for all of these projects. Additionally, the geographic locations of each project make it difficult for staff to easily travel back and forth between project sites while performing the required duties for each project. Because of the upcoming heavy construction season workload, the distance between project sites, and time variables of project initiation and completion, the Department believes entering into this Agreement is the prudent strategy.
The Department’s EIP in the Tahoe Basin is supported entirely by grants from various local, state and federal agencies. There is a competitive component among the California EIP implementers with regard to receiving certain CTC grant monies, which is one of the Department's main funding sources in the Tahoe Basin. Each year, the Department receives a jurisdictional allocation of grant funding, which allows the Department to set sustainable staffing levels. The Department also has an opportunity to compete for additional grant monies with the other California EIP implementers. This fluctuation in grant funding from year to year makes it extremely difficult to adequately assess Department staffing levels in the Tahoe Basin. Given the short construction season in the Tahoe Basin and the seasonal nature of construction support/inspection services, it is more practical and feasible to hire consultants than to hire staff, since this funding fluctuation precludes the ability of the Department to support this large staff during the winter season. Because the Department's Tahoe Engineering Division is staffed to handle predictable levels of grant funding, it is anticipated that there will be a continued need for some level of resource augmentation in the form of consultant services contracts.
Relative to the broad geotechnical and geological aspects of Tahoe projects, it is of additional significance to note that the Department does not have in its inventory and professional expertise the unique equipment required to accomplish the complex and essential services associated with these projects. Therefore, the Department has included geotechnical services in the proposed Agreement. The Department anticipates that Wood Rodgers will provide materials testing services in conjunction with construction inspection services for the Angora 3A and 3B Erosion Control Projects in the 2008 construction season and for the Angora Creek Fisheries Enhancement Project in the 2009 construction season.
Need for unanticipated services on short notice
As outlined by the Department at the March 13, 2007 Board meeting for the West Slope’s geotechnical contracts, there may be instances in the Tahoe Basin where geotechnical services are required for situations that can not be anticipated either during the design or construction phases. The Department has also included design services in the proposed Agreement for any unanticipated changes in the field during construction, which require redesigning and Department staff is unavailable to perform the redesign within the short time frame necessary to avoid delay charges from the Contractor.
Some of the tasks to be performed under this Agreement are bargaining unit work, while others, such as geotechnical and environmental services, require specialty skills which are not expressly identified in County classifications. The environmental support services are needed where there is a narrow window of time in which to perform the work and keep the project delivery on schedule. An example of this need would be if one of the regulatory agencies issued a new list of special status plant species that require field surveys during a specific time frame during which the plants are identifiable. In this instance, and in similar unanticipated instances, there would not be time to do a new contract.
The ongoing aggregate of work to be performed under this Agreement, coupled with the uncertainties of grant funding levels, make the addition of permanent staff unwarranted. The Agreement will cover spikes in the workload and the need may be temporary and sporadic since the majority of the work involved will need to be done during the spring and summer months.
The Purchasing Agent has reviewed the RFQ, responses received, and the evaluation criteria. The Purchasing Agent concurs that it is appropriate to enter into an Agreement with Wood Rodgers for the provision of construction support, geotechnical, environmental, and design services for erosion control and water quality projects in the Tahoe Basin, and that this Agreement is in compliance with Board of Supervisors Policy C-17, Sections 7.5 and 7.10.
The Department recommends the Board make findings pursuant to Article II, Section 210 b (6) of the El Dorado County Charter that there are specialty skills required for the work performed under this Agreement that are not expressly identified in County classifications, and that the ongoing aggregate of the work performed under this Agreement is not sufficient to warrant the addition of permanent staff.
The El Dorado County Employees Association, Local #1, has been informed of this proposed Agreement.
Action to be taken following Board approval:
1. The Chairman will sign the two (2) originals of the subject Agreement.
2. The Board Clerk will forward one original of the fully-executed Agreement to the Department for further processing to Wood Rodgers.
Contact:
Richard W. Shepard, P.E.
Director of Transportation
Concurrences: Approved by County Counsel and Risk Management