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CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
City of Anaheim
PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
DATE: SEPTEMBER 26, 2023
FROM: PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: GENERAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS TO PROVIDE
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL
SERVICES FOR ELECTRIC UTILITY PROJECTS
ATTACHMENT (Y/N): YES ITEM # 14
GOVERNMENT CODE § 84308 APPLIES: YES
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council, by Motion,
1) Approve the General Services Agreement (GSA) for Civil and Electrical Engineering and Technical Services (Attachment 1) and authorize the Public Utilities General Manager or designee, on behalf of City of Anaheim (City or Anaheim), to execute the GSA separately with the consultants prequalified by the Anaheim Public Utilities Department (APU), as listed in Attachment 2, for a five-year term with up to two one-year extensions; and with such other civil and electrical engineering consultants prequalified by APU during the five-year term of this Agreement;
2) Approve a not-to-exceed award amount of $500,000 per work order package with authorization for up to 15% in extra work, with a limit per consultant of $1.5 million in total awards during each fiscal year of the Agreement’s term, inclusive of extra work.
3) Authorize the Public Utilities General Manager, on behalf of the City, to take any and all actions as are necessary or advisable to implement and administer the GSAs, including extension of the term when necessary to complete Services; and
4) Authorize changes to the GSA that do not substantially change the terms and conditions of the GSA, so long as such changes are determined to be de minimis by the City Attorney’s Office.
DISCUSSION:
The Public Utilities Board, at its August 23, 2023 meeting, recommended that the City Council approve Agreements for prequalified professional engineering and technical services to support electric utility projects.
General Services Agreements to provide Professional Engineering and Technical Services for Electric Utility Projects September 26, 2023
Prequalification of professional civil and electrical engineering firms to perform technical services has been instrumental in supporting APU’s capital improvement projects and for compliance requirements. Judicious use of technical consultants provides the flexibility needed to leverage different engineering expertise specific to a project such as designing new or replacing aging infrastructure, acquiring utility easements, performing technical studies, and preparing or evaluating wildfire mitigation plans.
General Services Agreement (GSA) Process
The process of entering into a GSA with prequalified consultants, and later awarding specific projects to those consultants, has been used with approval of City Council since 2002. This approach is an effective way to identify and prequalify a number of consultants so they are eligible to submit proposals for services commonly needed for budgeted projects. By prequalifying consultants, APU is able to streamline the proposal, evaluation and award process, improve project efficiencies and compress schedules. Due to increasing project costs, APU is recommending increasing the limit from $400,000 to $500,000 per project award, with a not-to exceed limit on the total amount awarded to a single consultant of $1.5 million for each fiscal year to foster competition among firms.
When engineering consultants enter into the proposed GSA with the City and become prequalified, it means they have reviewed and agreed to accept the City’s general conditions for consulting services, have met the City's insurance and indemnification requirements, and have met APU’s basic requirements for qualifications and utility- specific experience. This eliminates the need to check qualifications and references each time a request for proposal is issued, and it also eliminates the need for consultants to review and negotiate contract terms every time they submit a proposal to APU for a project. This levels the playing field for the consultants for proposal submittals and enables APU to streamline the bid evaluation and award process.
Under the terms of the GSA, prequalified consultants will be invited to submit project- specific proposals when services are required. Evaluations are performed in accordance with Council Policy 4.1: Selection of Professional Consultants, which considers each firm’s ability to perform the work, relevant experience on similar projects, project- specific criteria, and reasonableness of fees. The table below shows APU’s use of GSA consultants for projects during the past five years.
Fiscal Year Number of Projects Average Award Amount
FY 18-19 6 $280,496
FY 19-20 5 $293,897
FY 20-21 9 $267,046
FY 21-22 10 $316,533
FY 22-23 10 $231,666
General Services Agreements to provide Professional Engineering and Technical Services for Electric Utility Projects September 26, 2023
Request for Qualification (RFQ) to Prequalify Proposals from Consultants The City issued a Request for Qualification (RFQ) to prequalify proposals from civil and electrical engineering firms on May 11, 2023. The RFQ was issued via the City’s electronic bidding system to more than 125 firms and was also posted on the City’s website. Proposals from 22 consulting firms were determined to have the requisite qualifications and demonstrated experience in completing utility projects. Consultants are required to have utility-specific experience and for construction plans, firms are required to provide a licensed professional engineer who is authorized to approve and stamp engineering plans in California.
APU has found the use of GSAs to be an effective tool for gaining efficiencies to support its budgeted projects and to address reliability and compliance requirements in a timely fashion. The proposed GSA will remain in effect for five years from the date of execution with an option to extend the GSA for up to two one-year terms.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
There is no budgetary impact to prequalifying the GSA consultants. Sufficient funds for projects awarded through the GSA in the current fiscal year are included in APU’s Fiscal Year 2023/24 budget in the restricted Electric Utility fund budget, and funds for subsequent years are subject to City Council approval of budget appropriations.
Respectfully submitted,
Dukku Lee
Public Utilities General Manager
Attachments:
1. General Services Agreement – Civil and Electrical Engineering and Technical Services
2. Proposed Prequalified Civil and Electrical Consultants List 2023-2028