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Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 3.E
Meeting Date: February 9, 2022
From: Andrew Lee,
Title: Award a two -year Agreement for Services to CASC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. for National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program Consulting
City Council
RECOMMENDATION:
Award a two-year Agreement for Services to CASC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program Consulting Services; authorize the City Manager to execute the Agre ement documents; and authorize the Director of Engineering/Public Works to issue Task Orders as needed to complete the NPDES Program requirements within existing FY 2021 -22 and 2022 -23 budget limits.
BACKGROUND:
Stormwater runoff is generated from rai n and storm events that flow over land or impervious surfaces, such as paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops, and does not infiltrate into the ground. The runoff picks up pollutants like trash, chemicals, oils, and dirt/sediment that can harm our rivers, streams, lakes, and coastal waters. To protect these resources, the City is mandated to comply with the requirements of the Whitewater River Regional Permit and manage its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program. These requirements include tracking best management practices (BMP’s) during and after construction, conducting periodic inspections to the City’s industrial and commercial business es, documenting good housekeeping practices when maintaining its facilities, and recording any investigations conducted for illegal connections and illicit discharges. These activities are summarized and reported annually to the Regional Water Board.
DISCUSSION:
As the City continues to grow, Staff must allocate time and resources to be able to complete the required tasks (inspections, logging and report ing) necessary to comply with this unfunded mandate. The City has found it both efficient and cost effective to biennially bid out for on -call and/or as needed services to provide these specialized services, rather than having full -time personnel specialized in this skill set. Regularly
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called upon to assist the City's Engineering and Public Works Department , certified professionals can support this work on a day-to-day basis.
City En gineering Staff solicited Request for Proposals (RFP) for NPDES Program Consulting Services to support the Engineering Department with managing its NPDES Program. The RFP for these services was posted on the City’s website on December 29, 2021 and advertised in the Desert Sun newspaper on January 5, 2022.
Within the RFP, firms specializing in this type of work were asked to provide their qualifications to be able to perform the work on an on -call basis. Additionally, cost proposals included hourly rates (prevailing wage) and/or unit costs for various services were required to be provided in a separate, sealed envelope. All proposals were to be submitted to the City on January 20, 2022, at 3:00 p.m.
One p roposal was received on January 20, 2022, from CA SC Engineering and Consulting Inc. out of Palm Desert, California, for NPDES Program Consulting Services for various City engineering projects.
Staff is recommending moving forward with a n Agreement for Services with CASC Engineering and Consulting Inc. They have proven over the past contract period to be comprehensive, responsive, and knowledgeable of the required work. In comparison to the prior 2019 agreement, t he cost proposal was evaluated, and the rate schedule (based on modified position classific ations) mostly decrease d by 7% , while some increased slightly by 3%. These cost decreases and increases were evaluated by Staff and are in line with the expectations for these types of services seen in the industry this past year.
FISCAL IMPACT:
These specific consulting services are currently budgeted in each year and included in the City’s FY 2021 – 2022 and FY 2022 – 2023 Biennial Budget under Engineering’s Professional and Technical Services (100-156-8601) line item totaling $220,000, with NPDES inspections services identified in the amount of $35,000.
Using the hourly rates and unit prices from the agreements, the Director of Engineering /Public Works will negotiate and issue Task Orders for each type of service required related to the NPDES/Stormwa ter Management Program. Total costs for Task Orders prepared under the on -call and/or as -needed contracts will be identified as each Task Order is issued and will not exceed $35,000.
ATTACHMENTS:
CASC Proposal
Agreement for Services - CASC Engineering