Title
Transportation Department recommending Chairman be authorized to sign Agreement for Services AGMT 06-1331 with HDR Engineering, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000 for a term effective upon execution and expiring with the completion of multiple Plans, Specifications and Estimate packages for the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes of Highway 50 for program/project management services for the development and delivery of projects on U.S. Highway 50 from the Sacramento county line east to the Placerville city limits, and adopt recommended findings.
FUNDING: 2004 General Plan Traffic Impact Mitigation Fee Program.
Body
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BUDGET SUMMARY: |
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Total Estimated Cost |
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$2,000,000.00 |
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Funding |
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Budgeted |
$ 250,000.00 |
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New Funding |
$ |
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Savings |
$ |
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Other * |
$ 1,750,000.00 |
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Total Funding Available |
$2,000,000.00 |
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Change To Net County Cost |
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$0.00 |
* to be included in future fiscal year budgets estimated to be approximately $600,000 per year.
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost:
These consultant services will support projects that are funded by the 2004 General Plan Traffic Impact Mitigation Fee Program. The Department has sufficient revenues budgeted in those accounts to fund this Agreement.
There is no net cost to the County General Fund associated with this agenda item.
Reason for Recommendation:
This Agreement is necessary to complete improvements along the Highway 50 corridor in order to meet the current and future transportation needs of the County’s residents as well as commercial and industrial users. These improvements, valued at over $270 million, include interchange improvements at 7 freeway interchanges and the addition of HOV lanes from the county line to the proposed Casino Interchange just west of Greenstone Road.
A previous Agreement (AGMT 04-752) with HDR Engineering, Inc. was approved by your Board on February 15, 2005 and amended on October 25, 2005 to provide the necessary programming, project management, and engineering services through February 15, 2007. Rather than issue an amendment to extend that agreement, this new agreement was drafted to further clarify the scope of services, add new indemnity language and provide an expiration date that coincides with the completion of the PS&E packages for the Highway 50 HOV lanes (estimated to be at least 3 years).
Due to the critical needs along the Highway 50 Corridor, project delivery within the corridor is a high priority for the Department. Services provided under this Agreement include project coordination and project control activities necessary to facilitate the delivery of programmed projects along the corridor. HDR will be required to perform corridor operations studies, detailed local traffic studies associated with complimentary interchanges, and engineering feasibility and constructability studies with cost estimates for the phasing aspects of the interchanges. The engineering services provided will also include oversight and peer review of design consultants’ work on the various interchange and mainline projects.
More specifically, these tasks will include the following: analyzing the financial status and fund projections for each project; identifying project scope, sequence, and delivery mechanisms; providing oversight of contracts for the design of the various projects; providing assessments of project issues and recommending courses of action to resolve them; and serving as the County’s liaison and coordinating with project stakeholders (primarily Caltrans and adjacent jurisdictions) to facilitate the delivery of projects.
The Department selected HDR Engineering, Inc. for this Agreement because this Agreement is a continuation of work that was performed by HDR under Agreement # 04-752 which has expired. HDR was originally selected for Agreement # 04-752 because it is a full service architectural, engineering and consulting firm that excels at managing complex transportation projects. As an integrated firm, HDR provides a total spectrum of services, and its staff professionals represent several disciplines to provide solutions beyond the scope of traditional architectural, engineering and consulting firms. In addition to selecting HDR based on its full spectrum service abilities and the unique expertise of its staff, the Department chose this firm because HDR agreed to not propose on any other project development / design work within the Highway 50 Corridor. The Department believes this commitment is critical because proposing or accepting additional projects along the corridor could be perceived to be in conflict with the role the Department hired HDR to perform - overall management of the Department’s Highway 50 corridor projects and project programming.
The Department is recommending that 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 the agreement that are not expressly identified in County job classifications. Although some of the skills required to accomplish these tasks are found in County classifications, a substantial amount of the work to be performed under this Agreement requires specialty skills not identified in County classifications. This portion of the work requires expertise in freeway geometry and state highway project management, to specifically include coordination with Caltrans and an intimate understanding of Caltrans’ requirements.
Further, this contract will be used to augment staff to enable the advancement of these priority projects and issues, as identified by the Board. The Department continues to recruit for key vacant positions, and is hopeful that it will improve its ability to attract candidates with the engineering experience that is commensurate with its needs. As existing vacancies are filled, the Department’s need for consultant services may be reduced, although work requiring specialty skills will still need to be performed by this Consultant. As the subject Agreement provides for the use of the Consultant’s services at the Department’s discretion, as positions are filled during the term of this Agreement, the Department will consider the overall workload / resource relationships as they relate to the use of these services. The work to be performed under this Agreement will proceed pursuant to Task Orders associated with specific projects included in the Department’s Capital Improvement Program and issued by the Contract Administrator in accordance with the requirements of the Scope of Services.
The El Dorado County Employees Association, Local #1 has been informed of this proposed Agreement. To date we have not received a response from Local #1.
Action to be taken following Board approval:
1) The Board Chairman will sign Agreement for Services #06-1331 HDR Engineering, Inc.
2) The Board Clerk will forward one original of the fully executed Agreement to the Department for further processing.
Contact: Russ Nygaard ext: 3551
Concurrences:
County Counsel approved 01-26-07
Risk management approval 01-26-07