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Chief Administrative Office, Procurement and Contracts on behalf of the Community Development Agency (CDA), recommending the Board approve the following:
1) Award Request for Proposal 16-918-055 to the successful proposers:
a) CP Landscape Maintenance, Inc. - Gardening, landscaping and irrigation system maintenance and repairs at the Emerald Meadows and Blanchard Estates Zones of Benefit;
b) Dario Mancio - Gardening services at the Placerville Union Cemetery; and
c) Justice Enterprises, dba Yards-R-Us - Gardening services at the Georgetown Cemeteries, and other County-operated cemeteries and facilities; and
2) Authorize the CDA to negotiate Agreements for Services with the three (3) aforementioned entities, each with a term of three (3) years, and a combined not to exceed amount of $165,000; and
3) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute said Agreements, contingent upon County Counsel and Risk Management review, minor revision and approval.
FUNDING: Zone of benefit special taxes and assessments, Placerville Union Cemetery Special Revenue Fund, and General Fund.
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DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
Chief Administrative Office, Procurement and Contracts on behalf of the Community Development Agency (CDA), recommending the Board approve the following:
1) Award Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 16-918-055 to the successful proposers:
a) CP Landscape Maintenance, Inc. - Gardening, landscaping and irrigation system maintenance and repairs at the Emerald Meadows and Blanchard Estates Zones of Benefit; and
b) Dario Mancio - Gardening services at the Placerville Union Cemetery; and
c) Justice Enterprises, dba Yards-R-Us - Gardening services at the Georgetown Cemeteries, and other County-operated cemeteries and facilities; and
2) Authorize the CDA to negotiate Agreements for Services with the three (3) aforementioned entities, each with a term of three (3) years, and a combined not to exceed amount of $165,000; and
3) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute said Agreements, contingent upon County Counsel and Risk Management review, minor revision and approval.
Make findings that it is more feasible and economical to engage an outside contractor for the provision of on-call gardening and landscaping services in accordance with Ordinance 3.13.040.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The CDA is responsible for financial management and oversight of County Service Area No. 9 zones of benefit, including the Georgetown Cemetery Zone No. 98503, Blanchard Estates Zone No. 98145, and Emerald Meadows Landscaping, Lighting and Wetland Related Services Zone No. 98580 (Emerald Meadows), and all of the County’s cemeteries including the Placerville Union Cemetery.
Gardening services at each of the County’s cemeteries includes: mowing and trimming around graves and memorial installations; removing dead floral arrangements and other trash; cleaning debris form public areas, mausoleums and columbaria; and removing green waste.
The Georgetown Cemetery Zone of Benefit provides funding for gardening services at the Georgetown Pioneer Cemetery, the Renke Annex to the Georgetown Pioneer Cemetery, and the Georgia Slide Cemetery through a special tax. Services at Placerville Union are currently funded from a long-term maintenance account from monies provided to the County with transfer of responsibility for and title to the cemetery in 2006. Services at all other County cemeteries are paid from the General Fund.
Gardening and landscape maintenance services at Emerald Meadows and Blanchard Estates include (in addition to mowing and trimming) minor trimming of trees, bushes and shrubs, inspecting plantings for presence of disease or insect infestation, routine sprinkler and irrigation system maintenance and repairs, replacing “seasonal color” plantings, trees and other plants and repairing split rail fencing. Gardening and landscape maintenance services and irrigation system maintenance and repair services for Emerald Meadows and Blanchard Estates are paid from the annual benefit assessments for the zones.
Following its formation, the CDA conducted a competitive process for all contracts for services utilized by the various divisions. Contracts for gardening and landscape maintenance services described herein had been recently executed; therefore, these services were not included in a bid, RFP or request for qualifications at that time.
Gardening and landscape maintenance services are not Public Projects as defined in Public Contract Code section 22002(c). Consistent with the County’s Procurement Policy for Services as revised on 10/22/13 (BOS Policy C-17, Section 7.0) and the County’s Purchasing Ordinance code section 3.12, the CDA submitted a request to the Purchasing Agent to conduct an RFP process for gardening and landscape maintenance services for the County’s cemeteries and zones of benefit.
The following considerations were made prior to requesting the RFP:
• Skills and qualifications required to perform the work are similar to those of grounds maintenance staff; however, the aggregate amount of work required annually is insufficient to warrant the addition of County staff.
• The facilities requiring routine maintenance are located in three distinct areas: Georgetown, Cameron Park, and Placerville. The time required for travel among the three distinct areas, and the seasonal, sporadic, concentrated need for services at the cemeteries before Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day negatively impact the availability of County employees to perform the work.
• Independent contractors are available in each general area to perform the work on an on-call basis.
Some, but not all of the services included in the RFP require a C27-Landscaping Contractor License from the State Contractors License Board, such as irrigation system maintenance and repairs. The RFP was structured so that a proposer could submit the proposal according to the firm’s qualifications and preferred work locations. RFP 16-918-055 closed on April 1, 2016. Four responses were received. One response was incomplete, and was therefore not evaluated.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board may choose to award a single contract for all of the Gardening, Landscaping and Irrigation System Maintenance and Repair Services. However, the single proposer who meets the licensing requirements for all of the services does not desire to perform work at any of the County-operated cemeteries.
The Board may choose not to award a contract, but to have the work performed by County grounds maintenance staff. Where County staff was utilized for this work historically, overall workload with County facilities prevented the level of maintenance desired by community residents from occurring, and resulted in degradation of facilities, which resulted in more costly, more extensive repairs and rehabilitation.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Procurement and Contracts, Community Development Agency, County Counsel, Risk Management.
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Chief Administrative Office concurs with staff's recommendations.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no change in Net County Cost. All on-call and routine gardening and landscape maintenance services in the County Service Area No. 9 zones of benefit, Georgetown Cemeteries, Emerald Meadows and Blanchard Estates, will be paid from zone special taxes and benefit assessments. Gardening services at Placerville Union Cemetery will be paid from the Placerville Union Cemetery Special Revenue Fund. Services at other County-operated cemeteries would be paid from the General Fund. The total of all services will not exceed $165,000 over the three-year terms, and will be authorized within the approved budgeted expenditures for each Zone and Cemetery.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Kate Sampson, Assistant Director
Administration and Finance Division
Community Development Agency