COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
CITY HALL
10300 TORRE AVENUE • CUPERTINO, CA 95014-3255
TELEPHONE: (408) 777-3308 • FAX: (408) 777-3333
CUPERTINO.GOV
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Date: September 16, 2025
Subject
Approve a Second Amendment to the contract with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. for an increase of $80,000 to provide On-Call Professional Building Services for FY26 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $300,000.
Recommended Action
Authorize the City Manager to execute a second amendment to the existing consultant agreement with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. to provide On-Call Professional Building Services, increasing the contract amount by $80,000 for a new total not-to-exceed contract amount of $300,000.
Background
In 2022, the City undertook a RFQ process for professional building services. The contract was awareded to West Coast Code Consultants based on the firm’s qualifications, past performance on projects, and its talented team of established and experienced individuals and licensed professionals. On June 27, 2024, the City entered into an agreement with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. (WC3) for On-Call Professional Building Services, that included plan review and permit technician services. The agreement covered Fiscal Year 2025 and Fiscal Year 2026, with a total not-to-exceed amount of $195,000.
On April 16, 2025, the City entered a First Amendment with WC3 to increase the total not-to-exceed contract amount to $220,000. Due to a higher than anticipated volume of permit activity, more projects were sent out to WC3 for assistance with plan review and permit technician services. As a result, 99 percent of the total not-to-exceed amount was expensed in fiscal year 2025.
On June 3, 2025, the FY 2025-26 budget was adopted by City Council, which included a budget adjustment to the On-Call Contracts account GL 100-73-714 701-701 in the amount of $440,000. However, because the City anticipates that the volume of permit activity will continue to increase, the City will undergo another RFP process in the next three months for a multi-year agreement for plan review services. We are now allocating $80,000 through the proposed contract amendment to cover expected work through the end of the year and to cover invoices from higher than expected permit activity from the last three months.
Reasons for Recommendation and Available Options
Building permits continue to come in at a high volume and the City must continue to process them within the state-regulated review timeline. AB 2234 stipulates that jurisdictions must ascertain the completion of a post-entitlement phase permit application within 15 days of its submission. Project reviews for developments consisting of 25 units or fewer must be finalized within 30 days, while those with 26 units or more require completion within 60 days. The use of consultant plan reviewers allows the Community Development Department to comply with this mandate while maintaining the daily workflow timelines as expected by our citizens.
Plan Review consultants are utilized for additional assistance as needed. When large projects come through that require a sudden high volume of work and span multiple engineering sectors, the impact would cause a delay in daily operations and services such as plan review for smaller projects for our residents and the Cupertino community, and counter reception and assistance. Having the plan review consultants on-call for larger projects maximizes efficiencies since the consultants have large teams of specialized staff to review and process building permits. The flexibility of having the consultants on-call is advantageous in adjusting to the ebbs and flows of the influx of projects. This flexibility is key to managing the flow of the workload in the most efficient way possible.
If the recommended option is not adopted the turnaround time on building permit plan reviews will not meet the city’s service level agreement nor satisfy the requirements imposed by the state in AB 2234.
Based on the findings outlined above, staff recommend approving the proposed action to ensure continued, uninterrupted delivery of plan review services to the Cupertino community.
Sustainability Impact
No sustainability impact.
Fiscal Impact
Plan Review costs are pass-through and paid for via plan check fees charged by the City and paid by the applicants. There is no actual funding allocation from the city to pay for services. As mentioned above there is sufficient budget authority for this contract amendment in 100-73-714 701-701.
Vendor
West Coast Code Consultants (WC3)
Contract
On-Call Professional Building Services
Current Contract Amount
$220,000.00
FY26 Amendment
$80,000.00
New Total
$300,000.00
City Work Program (CWP) Item/Description
None
California Environmental Quality Act
No California Environmental Quality Act impact.
_____________________________________
Prepared by: Robert Dacanay, Management Analyst
Reviewed by: Benjamin Fu, Director of Community Development Floy Andrews, Interim City Attorney
Approved for Submission by: Tina Kapoor, Interim City Manager