January 13, 2026
Agenda Item No. 8
TO:
HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM:
David A. Webb, Public Works Director - 949-644-3311, [email protected] PREPARED BY:
Michael J. Sinacori, Assistant City Engineer - 949-644-3342, [email protected] TITLE:
Approval of On-Call Professional Services Agreements for Civil Engineering Services ABSTRACT:
A large portion of the City of Newport Beach’s Capital Improvement Program requires the services of professional consultants for planning, design and construction support services. Accordingly, staff issued a request for proposals for professional civil engineering services and requests the City Council’s consideration to enter into three on-Call professional services agreements. Each professional civil engineering services agreement would be for a term of five years and a total not-to-exceed contracting authority amount of $500,000.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
a) Determine this action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines because this action will not result in a physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly; and b) Approve On-Call professional services agreements with Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., DMc Engineering, and Q3 Consulting, Inc. for professional civil engineering planning, design and construction support services, with each agreement being for a term of five-years and a total not-to-exceed amount of $500,000 and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the agreements.
DISCUSSION:
The City’s proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget anticipates more than $112 million in facilities, parks, harbors and beaches, streets and drainage, and water and wastewater improvement projects through individual CIP projects starting in Fiscal Year 2025-26. Almost all these projects require some level of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, and/or construction management services. The City relies on a host of professional consultants, in addition to in-house engineering, construction management, and inspection staff.
The City traditionally contracts out a large portion of necessary engineering services, and for larger projects, separate requests for proposals (RFPs) are issued to the engineering community. However, for smaller projects, a formal RFP is not cost-effective or time-efficient for the City nor the consulting community. To address these types of projects, the City uses on-call professional services contracts. Over the past three years, five engineering firms with existing on-call agreements with the City have provided design services for a total of $1.5 million.
In March 2025, staff requested statements of qualifications (SOQs) to provide civil engineering planning, design and construction support services to replace the existing group of on-call consultants, whose agreements are set to expire or have reached their not-to-exceed fee limits. Forty-four firms submitted SOQs to the City. Based on the submittals, staff requested on-call proposals from 12 of those firms, of which 12 submitted responses and were reviewed in detail. The following is a ranking of the firms that submitted responses:
Firm Name
Total Score
Rank
Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.
282
1 Dudek
274
2 Michael K. Nunley & Associates, Inc. (MKN)
273
3 DMc Engineering
269
4 Tait & Associates, Inc.
268
5 Q3 Consulting, Inc.
265
6 Tetra Tech
256
7 Dokken
251
8 X Engineering
250
9 NV5
248
10 Rick Engineering
247
11 Ardurra Group
246
12 The City’s proposal review team consisted of three staff members from the Public Works Department. Using a qualification-based selection process, the proposals were evaluated by the review team independently. Proposal evaluations were based on the consultant’s understanding of the scope of work, experience, qualifications and availability of staff. While many firms met the minimum qualifications outlined in the request for proposal, the top six consultants were selected by the review team as the most qualified and responsive firms. All six of these firms have successfully completed similar services for other local agencies, and their billing rates are consistent with industry standards and their peers.
Three of the top six firms already have existing on-call civil engineering contracts with the City and are performing design work, however their contracts will expire in June 2026. In an effort to have continued service until the on-call contracts are due for renewal, staff is requesting approval of three new separate on-call professional services agreements with Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., DMc Engineering and Q3 Consulting, Inc., for professional civil engineering planning, design and construction support services. If approved, each of these agreements will have a total not-to-exceed amount of $500,000 and term of five years, expiring on June 30, 2030. Projects will be assigned on a rotating basis to the on-call civil engineering firms based on their expertise or depending on the City’s requirements and the project type.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact related to this item as the award of the on-call contract does not create an obligation to expend funds. Funding for the work done under these on-call contracts will be expensed to individual projects within the City’s approved Operating and CIP budgets.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly.
NOTICING:
The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item).
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A – PSA with Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.
Attachment B – PSA with DMc Engineering
Attachment C – PSA with Q3 Consulting, Inc
Approval of On-Call Professional Services Agreements for Civil Engineering Services January 13, 2026
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