City of Corona
Staff Report
400 S. Vicentia Ave.
Corona, CA 92882
File #: 22-0595
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 07/06/2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Services Department
SUBJECT:
Professional Services Agreement with LDM Associates Inc. for general planning, administration, and implementation of the City of Corona’s Community Development Block Grant, and HOME Investment Partnership Program, and COVID recovery activities under the HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan program.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City of Corona issued a Request for Proposals, RFP 22-071SB, seeking consultant services to assist staff with planning, administering, and implementing activities under the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan programs. LDM Associates Inc.’s proposal met the required elements of the City’s scope of work, provided the most competitive hourly rates, and demonstrated professional experience and knowledge in grants planning, grant administration, and implementation services for local agencies. As a result, a contract is being presented to City Council to consider retaining the services of LDM Associates Inc.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council
a. Award Request for Proposal 22-071SB to provide consulting services for the planning, administration, and implementation of the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership Program, and other related federal, state, and local grants. b. Approve the Professional Services Agreement with LDM Associates Inc. in an annual amount not to exceed $250,000 to provide consulting services and authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to issue a purchase order.
c. Approve the Professional Services Agreement with LDM Associates Inc. in a total amount not to exceed $269,979 to provide consulting services for the HOME Investment Partnerships City of Corona Page 1 of 4 Printed on 6/30/2022
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File #: 22-0595
to exceed $269,979 to provide consulting services for the HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) and authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to issue a purchase order.
d. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute the Professional Services Agreements with LDM Associates Inc. and to approve necessary change orders up to the amount provided by Corona Municipal Code Section 3.08.070(I).
e. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, and the City Attorney to negotiate and execute any amendments to these agreements which are non-substantive or are otherwise in compliance with the City Council’s actions hereunder.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The City of Corona is an entitlement jurisdiction that receives annual allocations from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for federal grant programs under its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME). As an entitlement jurisdiction, the City may receive additional appropriations from HUD for housing, community, or economic development purposes. Most importantly, HUD funds must be used to benefit low- and moderate-income persons.
CDBG and HOME funds are disseminated through a variety of projects and activities, such as providing social services through partnerships with local and regional service providers, affordable housing development in partnerships with developers, owner-occupied residential rehabilitation assistance for health and safety improvements deployed under the City’s Residential Rehabilitation Program, homeless services, and capital improvement projects conducted in eligible target areas.
In order to ensure appropriate and efficient use of these funds, proper planning for the use and administration of CDBG and HOME funds is a paramount activity. This is achieved through extensive efforts that include preparation of a five-year consolidated plan, analysis of impediments to fair housing choice, a citizen participation plan, annual action plans, and consolidated annual performance and evaluation reports. The priorities and goals outlined in the five-year consolidated plan are detailed in each annual action plan.
Administration and implementation of these grant programs require technical support and monitoring in order to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local statutes, regulations, professional agreements, and other obligations. Consultant services are needed to assist City staff by providing expertise in this specialized field and support to ensure the City’s compliance and continued eligibility for the receipt of program funding.
Request for Proposal 22-071SB
The Request for Proposal 22-071SB, or RFP, was posted on the City’s PlanetBids bidding website on April 27, 2022 and advertised in the Sentinel Weekly on April 27, 2022. A total of ten prospective consultants expressed interest in the RFP by registering on the City’s website, and two proposals were received by the due date on May 31, 2022. The two proposals were submitted by LDM Associates Inc. and Willdan Engineering.
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File #: 22-0595
ANALYSIS:
The evaluation team consisted of four internal staff members familiar with these programs. Proposals were evaluated using the following criteria.
1. Completeness of Response - Pass or Fail Grade.
2. Qualification of the Firm - 10 Points Maximum (per evaluator): This includes strength and stability of the firm, technical competence, demonstrated knowledge of the scope of work required and capability of performing specific tasks outlined in the RFP, adequacy of staff to provide required services, and reputation of firm in providing similar services.
3. Qualification of Personnel - 40 Points Maximum (per evaluator): This includes qualifications, education, technical competence, and experience of staff.
4. Work Plan/Project Understanding and Approach- 40 Points Maximum (per evaluator): This includes depth and thoroughness of consultant’s understanding of the project and the City’s requirements, identification and understanding of project issues and challenges, quality and logic of work plan, logic of project organization, appropriateness of resource estimate, labor distribution among the tasks, adequacy of system or process for managing cost and budget, adequacy of system or process for managing project schedule, and adequacy of system or process for communicating with the City.
5. Value - 10 Points Maximum (per evaluator): This includes the appropriate number of hours budgeted for Project tasks, reasonableness of consultant’s hourly rates, labor hours, and fee required to perform the work in relation to the scope of work.
Purchasing gathered each evaluator’s scores and provided an average tally. The final ranking is shown in Table 1, below.
TABLE 1 PROPOSAL RANKINGS
NAME OF FIRM PROPOSAL SCORERANK
LDM ASSOCIATES INC 95 1
WILLDAN ENGINEERING 79 2
Staff recommends awarding the contracts for RFP 22-071SB to LDM Associates Inc., in an annual amount not to exceed $250,000 for CDBG and HOME, and $269,979 one-time award for HOME-ARP services. LDM’s proposal met the required elements of the City’s scope of work, provided the most competitive hourly rates, and demonstrated professional experience and knowledge in grants planning, grant administration, and implementation services for local agencies. LDM also holds a specialized role of providing trainings across the country on behalf of HUD and Department of Labor which demonstrates the firms high level of knowledge and expertise.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will not create any additional appropriations or financial impacts to City funds. The $250,000 funding for the professional services agreement for the planning, administration and implementation of the Community Development Block Grant, HOME City of Corona Page 3 of 4 Printed on 6/30/2022
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File #: 22-0595
planning, administration and implementation of the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership Program, and other related grants is included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget, within the CDBG and HOME funds.
Funding in the amount of $269,979 for the professional services agreement for the planning, administration, and implementation of the HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) was previously approved by the City Council on May 4, 2022. The funds were appropriated in FY 2022 and will roll forward to FY 2023.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the action is not subject to CEQA. This action considers awarding a professional services contract for consultant services and there is no possibility that approval of the report will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: LAURA HUERTA, MANAGEMENT ANALYST II AND CYNTHIA LARA, COMMUNITY
ASSISTANCE MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: ANNE TURNER, COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Professional Services Agreement HUD Services LDM
2. Exhibit 2 - Professional Services Agreement HOME ARP program LDM City of Corona Page 4 of 4 Printed on 6/30/2022
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