Fremont City Council Meeting: 06/17/25 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Fire Department
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Agreements and Contracts
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5478) DOC ID: 5478
Updated: 6/12/2025 10:41 AM by Dina Lewis Page 1
PURCHASE OF FIRE APPARATUS - Approval of Purchase Order through a Cooperative Agreement with Golden State Fire Apparatus for the Purchase of two Pierce Aerial Ladder Trucks in the Amount of $4,934,280; Make Findings of CEQA Exemption
Contact Persons:
Name: Corina Campbell Heather Mozdean
Title: Business Manager Deputy Fire Chief
Div/Dept: Fire Department Fire Department
Phone: 510-494-4200 (510) 494-4200
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The purpose of this report is to authorize the City Manager, or designee, to issue a purchase order for the purchase of two Pierce Enforcer Aerial Ladder Trucks for a total amount not-to-exceed $4,934,280 using a cooperative agreement with Golden State Fire Apparatus (GSFA).
BACKGROUND: The replacement schedule for Fire Department apparatus has been established based on service life, reasonable maintenance costs, technology advancement and safe operations. Fire Department aerial ladder trucks have a first-line service life of 15 years; however, a vehicle may be replaced earlier or later if safety and maintenance so warrant.
There is currently one Pierce aerial ladder truck due for replacement that was purchased in 2009 (City vehicle #29015) and has reached its recommended service life. The second truck is needed to ensure that there are adequate apparatus available to serve as both frontline and spare to respond to local and statewide mutual aid requests. There is currently an estimated three-to-four-year construction process to build the fire apparatus, which means these aerial ladder trucks would not be delivered and put into service until FY 2028/29.
The Fire Department has established a standardized fleet of fire apparatus. At the organizational level, apparatus with identical operating and performance features allow Fire Department senior staff to take a consistent operational approach to an incident regardless of which company responds. At the company level, ladder trucks operated and outfitted with identical equipment provide firefighters with a familiar operating environment. Standardized training/outfitting based on a single equipment type also allows Fleet Maintenance Services to stock a smaller inventory of replacement parts and minimize maintenance costs. These benefits to the City, including both higher performance and lower cost, make compatibility with the existing fleet an overriding procurement consideration.
Since 1986 the Fire Department has purchased Pierce Fire Apparatus to outfit its fleet, including both engines and aerial ladder trucks. The recommended purchase of two Pierce Enforcer Aerial Ladder Trucks meets the standardization requirement established by the Fire Department.
Council Staff Report (ID # 5478) Meeting of June 17, 2025 Updated: 6/12/2025 10:41 AM by Dina Lewis Page 2
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: Fremont Municipal Code Section 3.20.310(b) authorizes the City to dispense with competitive bidding and use the terms of another governmental contract (“piggyback”) to buy equipment or services. To qualify, the governmental contract must have resulted from procurement methods similar to those required by the City’s Purchasing Ordinance and the terms of the governmental contract must be consistent with the City’s contract terms.
Sourcewell is a public entity with a national cooperative procurement program offering its member agencies access to publicly solicited contracts. As a member of Sourcewell, the City has the opportunity to realize cost savings by utilizing existing Sourcewell contracts.
Pursuant to a public solicitation in 2021, Sourcewell contracted with Golden State Fire Apparatus (GSFA) for the purchase of fire apparatus, which included Pierce Enforcer Tillers.
The solicitation method meets the requirements of the City’s Purchasing Ordinance and the terms of purchase in the recommended City contract with GSFA are materially the same as those of the GSFA contract with Sourcewell and consistent with the City’s contract terms. As specified in the Purchasing Ordinance, the Finance Director and the City Manager have approved the proposed use of the Sourcewell contract with GSFA.
Staff recommends that the City purchase the Pierce Enforcer Aerial Ladder Trucks using the terms of the Sourcewell contract with GSFA as the City will save $64,073 using those terms.
Staff anticipates receiving additional savings of $709,060 by prepaying the vendor, as well as a $39,676 multi-unit discount, making the total savings $812,809.
FISCAL IMPACT: The budget allocation for this purchase is included in the FY 2025/26 adopted budget for the Fire Capital Replacement Fund (Fund 615).
The price quote of $4,934,280 from GSFA includes a total discount of $812,809. The sales/use tax for the purchase of $458,174 will be paid directly by the City to the State of California though a direct use tax payment upon delivery of the apparatus. This direct payment will benefit the City because the total amount of the City’s share of the sales tax will be allocated back to the City, rather than being shared with all Alameda County cities through the countywide sales tax pool.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The action recommended in this report is not a project subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guideline Section 15378(b)(2) as it is an administrative and funding activity of government.
ATTACHMENTS: None.
RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the City Manager, or designee, to execute a purchase order with Golden State Fire Apparatus for two Pierce Enforcer Aerial Ladder Trucks in a total amount not-to-exceed $4,934,280, using the Sourcewell cooperative agreement and find that the action is exempt from CEQA review per CEQA Guideline section 15378(b)(2) (administrative and funding activities of government).