Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 AGENDA REPORT TO: Jestin D. Johnson FROM: Liam Garland City Administrator Director, Oakland Public Works SUBJECT: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project DATE: February 23, 2026 City Administrator Approval Date: RECOMMENDATION Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution: 1. Amending Resolution No. 88379 C.M.S. To Increase The Professional Services Agreement For Architectural And Engineering Design Services With K2A - Mary McGrath Associated Architects For The Fire Station 29 Project By An Amount Not-To-Exceed Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000.00), Bringing The Total Contract Amount From One Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,800,000.00) To Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00); 2. Waiving The Competitive Request For Proposal/Qualifications Requirements; And 3. Adopting Appropriate California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Findings. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Approval of the proposed resolution will authorize the City Administrator to increase the existing agreement between the City of Oakland (City) and K2A - Mary McGrath Associated Architects (K2A) by an amount not-to-exceed $700,000.00 bringing the total contract amount from $1,800,000.00 to $2,500,000.00 to provide a complete design and construction administration support services for the Fire Station 29 Project (Project), and waive the competitive process for the contract increase. BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY Jestin Johnson (Apr 15, 2026 21:27:44 PDT)
Apr 15, 2026
Jestin D. Johnson, City AdministratorSubject: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project Date: February 23, 2026 Page 2 Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 Fire Station 29, located at 1016 66th Avenue in District 6, is an outdated and undersized facility built after World War II as a temporary structure of approximately 3,900 square feet. The building no longer meets modern operational, safety, or community service standards and lacks adequate space, accessibility, and seismic resilience. Years of deferred maintenance have left ved neighborhoods. To address these deficiencies, the City prioritized a feasibility study through the FY 20172019 Capital Improvement Program and identified a City-owned parcel at 905 66th Avenue as a suitable relocation site. In 2020, the City issued a Request for Proposals, and Council subsequently approved Resolution No. 88379 C.M.S. authorizing a $1.8 million professional services agreement with K2A to provide design, engineering, and community engagement services for a new 16,000-square-foot facility. -directed tasks, evolving code requirements, and scheduled for completion in 2025, the timeline has been extended to 2028 to accommodate added community programming, environmental coordination, easement resolutions, poor soil -electric facilities. In parallel, the upcoming 2026 California Building Code Cycle introduces major design revisions related to energy performance, mechanical and electrical systems, and structural criteria, requiring significant redesign and re-coordination among disciplines already under contract. Additionally, new coordination demands have emerged, including multiple site easement -Mile Broadband Initiative. The required construction of a Fiber Hut within the project site temporarily paused design work and necessitated further environmental review and multidisciplinary engineering revisions. These cumulative changes have substantially increased consultant workload, extended professional service commitments, and driven cost escalation. As a result, a contract amendment is required to align consultant compensation and schedule with the expanded project scope and ensure uninterrupted project delivery. ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES The City requested the project team reallocate funding originally planned for contingency, reimbursables and design support during construction to additional City design and planning tasks that included exploratory work for utility relocation, environmental clearances, additional contract by $700,000.00 is needed to replenish the budget for design support during construction, contingency and reimbursables. The amendment will allow K2A to also perform the following: 2026 code cycle Develop new plats and legal descriptions of six easements that conflict with the Project Cover escalation costs due to the extended Project schedule Waiver Of Competitive Request For Proposal/Qualifications Requirement Jestin D. Johnson, City AdministratorSubject: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project Date: February 23, 2026 Page 3 Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 Oakland Municipal Code (OMC) Section 2.04.051(A) requires a competitive request for proposals/qualifications (RFP/Q) proposal solicitation process. However, OMC Section 2.04.051(B) permits the Council to waive this RFP/Q requirement upon a finding and determination that it is in the best interests of the City to do so. As the consultant selection process in 2020 adhered to the City's OMC for competitive process and the solicitation notice stated that the selected consultant team will provide planning, design and construction administration support services, the proposed amendment adheres to the original intent. To continue the services as originally specified and avoid any project disruption or delay to complete the scope outlined in the analysis above, staff recommend that it is in the City's best interest to waive the competitive RFP/Q requirement and amend the City's agreement with K2A. RELATED PLANNING EFFORTS This project will advance multiple City goals including improvements to holistic community safety and vibrant, sustainable infrastructure by replacing a code deficient fire station with a new code-compliant, sustainable essential services facility. These goals align with several City plans as described in this report section. Oakland Strategic Plan (2025 2028) TStrategic Plan 2025-2028 identifies five priorities: streamlining operations, fostering cross-departmental collaboration, enhancing communication and coordination, optimizing workforce management, and aligning the budget with Citywide priorities. The Project supports the priority to align budget with Citywide priorities by delivering on the City's Measure KK bond commitments for public safety infrastructure investment in East Oakland, and supports cross-department collaboration through the multi-department coordination among Oakland Public Works (OPW), Oakland Fire Department (OFD), Economic & Workforce Development Department (EWDD), and Department of Workplace & Employment Standards (DWES) required to advance the project identified in the Strategic Plan 2025 - 2028. Oakland 2045 General Plan Safety Element The Safety Element aims to protect residents, workers, and visitors from seismic and geologic hazards, fire hazards, hazardous materials, flooding, and other potential hazards that risk life and property. The Element uses an equity lens through its hazards analysis and prioritizes vulnerable communities in the development of its goals, policies, and actions. The Project directly implements the Safety Element's goals by replacing a post-WWII, seismically deficient fire station with a modern, code-compliant essential services facility in a high-social-vulnerability East Oakland neighborhood, improving emergency response capacity and seismic resilience for the surrounding community. Local Hazard Mitigation Plan The Local Hazard Mitigation Plan serves as a meaningful guide to increasing community's resilience in the face of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, extreme heat and fires. This plan strives to document potential hazards that the City of Oakland is most vulnerable to, assess risks to the city's residents, buildings and critical facilities, and develop a Jestin D. Johnson, City AdministratorSubject: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project Date: February 23, 2026 Page 4 Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 mitigation strategy to reduce the risk of exposure and allow a swift and organized recovery should a disaster occur. The Project advances the mitigation strategy for critical facilities by replacing a structurally inadequate fire station which is itself a critical facility under FEMA classification with a new building designed to current seismic and building code standards, ensuring continued emergency operations following a major earthquake or other natural hazard event. 2030 Equitable Climate Action Plan This agenda item aligns with the 2030 Equitable Climate Action Plan Building Actions. B-1 - Eliminate Natural Gas in New Buildings B-5 - Require All Major Retrofits of City Facilities to be All-Electric A-2 - Enhance Community Energy Resilience CL-2 - Phase Out Fossil Fuel Dependency in All City Agreements and Contracts The Fire Station 29 Project replaces a gas-dependent City facility with a new all-electric essential services building targeting LEED Silver certification at minimum and LEED Gold as the project goal. As a public safety facility in East Oakland, the new station will also function as community resilience infrastructure with modern energy systems independent of natural gas. These efforts help meet the City's Equitable Climate Action Plan Actions listed above. FISCAL IMPACT Sufficient funding for this consultant contract amendment is available in the funding sources shown below. Table 1: Program Funding Appropriations Fund Source Organization Account Project Program Amount 5335: Measure KK Infrastructure Series 2022 C-1 30234 - Facilities Planning and Development 56999 1004854 - Fire Station 29 New Station Project IN06 -Project Delivery $700,000.00 PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST Staff from Oakland Public Works (OPW) in coordination with Capital Contracts Division (CCD) and the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES), initiated the Professional Services RFP process on January 31, 2020, and distributed notifications through and engineering firms, plan rooms, and builder exchanges including local business organizations; posted on CIPList.com; and sent to Integrated Marketing Systems (IMS) for agency-verified public notice to architecture and engineering sectors. Legal notices appeared in various newspapers. OPW also contacted architectural firms experienced in Bay Area fire station and training center design and held a pre-proposal meeting on February 4, 2020, with 22 participants representing eight firms.
Jestin D. Johnson, City AdministratorSubject: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project Date: February 23, 2026 Page 5 Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 During the initial planning phase, the City conducted significant outreach on the future of Fire Station 29. The neighborhoods within a one-mile radius of the Project Site are highly diverse, prompting the Department of Race & Equity (DRE) to recommend engagement in English, Spanish and Chinese. Outreach included compiling contacts for community-based organizations and mailings to 8,000 households. The City held six community engagement sessions, one community design workshop, and sixteen project advisory meetings to help determine how the Project Site would be used for OFD. COORDINATION The work to be done under this contract has been coordinated with OFD along with the appropriate divisions within OPW and EWDD. The proposed agreement also has been analyzed by Capital Contracts Division and DWES. The Finance Department has reviewed this report, and the resolution has been reviewed for form and legality by the Office of the City Attorney. RACE AND EQUITY equitable opportunities and outcomes for all people and communiprofessional services contract amendment will enhance OFD in East Oakland, who are in a highly disadvantaged area that has been significantly impacted by racial disparities in health, housing, access to jobs and climate change. During the planning phase of this Project, Inclusive Engagement Guidelines were provided by DRE where a vigorous community engagement plan was developed, and a Project Advisory Committee was established that included community-based groups and members located in the project area ensured a robust and equitable design process. Embedding a racial equity perspective in the design and implementation of this project provided concrete benefits to East Oakland communities. CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA) This proposed amendment to the professional services agreement is exempt under CEQA, Public Resources Code Section 21065 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(4) and (5), as they involve government fiscal activities, which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant impact on the environment, and it is also an organizational or administrative activity of government that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes to the environment. The amendment is also exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15268 (Ministerial Projects), 15183 (Projects Consistent with a Community Plan, General Plan or Jestin D. Johnson, City AdministratorSubject: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project Date: February 23, 2026 Page 6 Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 Zoning), 15302 (Replacement or Reconstruction), 15303 (Small Structures), 15304(h) (Minor Alterations to Land), and/or 15061(b)(3) (No Significant Effect on the Environment) given the Fire Station 29 project it supports has already been determined to be exempt under these CEQA exemptions. Each of the above exemptions provides a separate and independent basis for CEQA compliance.
Jestin D. Johnson, City AdministratorSubject: Consultant Contract Amendment For The Fire Station 29 Project Date: February 23, 2026 Page 7 Public Works Transportation Committee April 21, 2026 ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution: 1. Amending Resolution No. 88379 C.M.S. To Increase The Professional Services Agreement For Architectural And Engineering Design Services With K2A - Mary McGrath Associated Architects For The Fire Station 29 Project By An Amount Not-To-Exceed Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000.00), Bringing The Total Contract Amount From One Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,800,000.00) To Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00); 2. Waiving The Competitive Request For Proposal/Qualifications Requirements; And 3. Adopting Appropriate California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Findings. For questions regarding this report, please contact Alan Chan, Project Manager, at [email protected] or (510) 238-6604. Respectfully submitted, Liam Garland Director, Oakland Public Works Reviewed by: Jimmy Mach, P.E. Acting Assistant Director Bureau of Design and Construction Prepared by: Alan Chan, P.E., PMP, CCM, QSD Acting Division Manager Project & Grant Management Division Attachments (1): A. Location Map