July 28, 2026
Agenda Item No. 11
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 (City) Capital Improvement Program requires professional civil engineering services for project planning, design, and construction support. To efficiently provide these services for smaller projects, the City uses on-call professional services agreements. Following a qualifications-based selection process, staff recommends approval of five-year agreements with Ardurra Group, Inc., Dudek, and TAIT & Associates, Inc., each with a total not-to-exceed amount of $500,000. These firms were among the six highest-ranked respondents from 44 firms that submitted qualifications and will supplement the three on-call consultants previously approved by the City Council. Approval of the agreements does not obligate the City to expend funds; services will be assigned as needed and funded through individual projects within the City’s approved Operating and Capital Improvement Program budgets.
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; b) Approve On-Call Professional Services Agreement with Ardurra Group, Inc. for Civil Engineering Services, 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; c) Approve On-Call Professional Services Agreement with Dudek for Civil Engineering Services 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; and d) Approve On-Call Professional Services Agreement with TAIT & Associates, Inc. for Civil Engineering Services, 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 CIP budget anticipates more than $95 million in facility, park, harbor & beach, street and drainage, and water and wastewater improvement projects through individual CIP projects starting in Fiscal Year 2026-27. Almost all of 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 the 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 agreements (PSAs). Over the past three years, five engineering firms with existing on-call PSAs have provided design services for approximately $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 were set to expire shortly or reach 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 firms, of which 12 submitted responses were reviewed in detail. 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 independently evaluated by each member of the review team. Proposal evaluations were based on the consulting firm’s understanding of the scope of work, experience, qualifications and the availability of its staff. While many firms met the minimum qualifications outlined in the request for proposals, 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.
The following is a ranking of the top six firms that were found most qualified:
Firm Name
Total Score
Rank
Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.
282
1 Dudek
274
2 MKN (recently purchased by Ardurra Group)
273
3 DMc Engineering
269
4 Tait & Associates, Inc.
268
5 Q3 Consulting, Inc.
265
6 Three of the top six firms were awarded on-call PSAs at the City Council meeting on January 13, 2026. Staff is now requesting approval of on-call PSAs for the three remaining consultants: Ardurra Group, Inc. (formerly MKN), Dudek and TAIT & Associates, Inc. If approved, each PSA will have a total not-to-exceed amount of $500,000 and a term of five years, expiring on June 30, 2031. 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 PSAs does not create an obligation to expend funds. Funding for the work done under these on-call PSAs 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 – Professional Services Agreement with Ardurra Group, Inc.
Attachment B – Professional Services Agreement with Dudek Attachment C – Professional Services Agreement with TAIT & Associates, Inc.
Approval of On-Call Professional Services Agreements for Civil Engineering Services July 28, 2026
CITY OF CITY OF
CITY OF
CITY OF
City Council Staff Report COUNCIL STAFF REPORT City Council Staff Report COUNCIL STAFF REPORT NEWPORT BEACH NEWPORT BEACH City Council Staff Report COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
City Council Staff Report COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
NEWPORT BEACH
NEWPORT BEACH