ATTACHMENT 1
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KERMANI CONSULTING GROUP
Disaster Grants - Project Management - Hazard Mitigation Grants 530 Alameda Del Prado STE 132C OFFICE (415) 883-3820
Novato CA 94949 FAX (415) 883-3916
February 20, 2025
Mr. Bryan Bautista
Associate Civil Engineer
City of Pacifica
170 Santa Maria Ave
Pacifica CA 94044
RE: Request for Contract Amendment
FEMA- DR-4683-DR-CA Storm Disaster Projects
Dear Mr. Bautista,
As a follow up to your email, and as requested, we are submitting our request to amend the Master Agreement for Consultant Services with the city dated March 8, 2023 to continue with our consulting services in accordance with enclosed Exhibit I.
KCG has been providing consulting services to the city for the disaster cost recovery for the subject projects. The contract amendment is needed to continue with our consulting services since the funding for most of the projects has not been finalized by FEMA and / or CalOES.
We recommend that the contract be extended for two more years for a budget amount of $50K to make sure all the necessary appeals ( first and second appeals) are filed to maximize the reimbursements for the City and to close out the disaster.
We appreciate the opportunity to submit our request for the contract amendment and look forward to continue working with you and the City to assist with the disaster cost recovery process. Please call me at (415) 328-9446 or email [email protected] if there are any questions.
Sincerely,
Masoud N. Kermani, P.E.
Enclosure: Exhibit “I”
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EXHIBIT “I”
City of Pacifica
Disaster Cost Recovery and Grant Management
A.1 Proposed Scope of Services
The consulting services will be provided to the City of Pacifica (the City) to assist with obtaining the necessary approvals from the State of California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the reimbursement of the costs related to 2023 winter Storm disasters and other eligible activities under the Public Assistance (PA) and CDAA programs.
The scope of services will be performed as authorized by the City. Some examples of the tasks that will be provided are listed below:
1. Meetings /conference calls with the City, FEMA and CalOES staff
2. Monitor FEMA’s portal and report the findings to the City
3. Review of the RFIs requested by FEMA / CalOES and prepare response
4. Review and provide comments on the engineering reports
5. Provide guidance on the eligibility of the expenditures and repairs
6. Review the procurement contracts to complete projects’ scopes of work
7. Review and provide comments on project’s scopes of work and cost estimates
8. Assist with the preparation of FEMA’s Project Worksheets (PW)
9. Review and analyze the Project Worksheets (PW) prepared for each project
10. Review the CalOES Notification of Obligation Packages
11. Work with CalOES and FEMA to expedite funding approval
12. Prepare requests for Time Extension, if needed
13. Prepare appeal packages, as needed, including cost and regulation analyses
14. Coordinate activities between the city, State CalOES and FEMA
15. Prepare requests for PW Versions
16. Assist with the preparation of the Quarterly Reports
17. Financial analysis of the reimbursable funds/ checks received
18. Assist with the Final Inspection Audit
19. Follow up with Cal OES to receive final retention
20. Manage the Audits with the City, State Controller’s Office and Federal Office of Inspector General (OIG)
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A.2 Qualifications and Experience
Kermani Consulting Group (KCG) was founded in 1997 to provide comprehensive disaster consulting services to organizations seeking grant assistance from the State of California and Federal agencies such as the Governor’s California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Masoud Kermani, president of KCG has a Master’s Degree in Civil/Structural Engineering and is a registered civil engineer with over forty years of experience in the field of engineering, disaster response, cost recovery, construction, and project management. For over eight years, he worked for the California Governor’s OES office and was co-located with the FEMA Region IX personnel in their headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco. He managed the Cal OES staff assigned to the disaster cost recovery of all the sites damaged by the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
In the past twenty-six years, KCG has assisted many Cities and Counties with disaster cost recovery of the sites damaged by declared disasters including the floods of 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2017, 2019, the San Simeon, Loma Prieta and Napa earthquakes, the 2017 and 2020 California Wildfires as well as the ongoing Covid-19 disaster.
KCG worked with the City of Pacifica beginning in March of 1997 on ALL declared disasters from 1994 to 2010. We provided disaster cost recovery consulting, technical advice, and project management for all the sites damaged by the various disasters securing over $12M for the City from Cal OES and FEMA.
In 2012, KCG worked with the City of Pacifica to manage the Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of these disaster funds. KCG prepared complete project and financial files for all of the project work sheets requested by OIG. As a result, all of the auditor’s inquiries and requests for information were addressed with no significant findings and the City was able to keep the grant funding.
KCG provided disaster management services to the County of Marin beginning in 1998 as well as the City of Larkspur following the 2005/2006 Winter Storms. The County had a total of 246 damaged sites and the City of Larkspur had 25 sites which included seven major landslides from the storms. As a result of KCG’s efforts, a total of $10.5M was obligated for both applicants. The ratio of the actual cost of the projects to the approved funding by both Cal OES and FEMA was close to 98%. Most of the projects were approved after filing first and/or second level appeals with FEMA. The approval success rate for the appeals was 99%.
KCG worked with the City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) OES from December 2000 to October 2005 on various sites damaged by the 1996 State disaster and by the storms of the Federally declared 1997 and 1998 disasters. KCG was able to obtain reimbursement exceeding $10 million from Cal OES and FEMA. The additional funds secured by KCG were considered 4 | P a g e
“dead money” that the City had given up hope of receiving. KCG also coordinated the response and the activities for the final audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the approved funds. OIG’s auditors issued their final report with no findings.
In March 2000, the City of Millbrae experienced a massive and dangerous landslide on private land that damaged a public sewer line, destroyed one home, and threatened ten others. KCG provided comprehensive disaster consulting services and helped the City obtain $9 million dollars in public assistance funding from the State of California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) under the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA).
KCG assisted the City of Paso Robles with disaster cost recovery following the 2003 San Simeon earthquake, managed the disaster grants, and filed the necessary appeals and requests for supplemental project worksheets to maximize the grant funding for the City.
KCG also filed an appeal for the City of Atascadero’s City Hall requesting that FEMA pay for the seismic upgrade and repairs in the amount of $35 million dollars. As a result of the arguments presented in the appeal the City was ultimately able to obtain approval and restore the historic City Hall to its pre-disaster function in accordance with the applicable codes and standards.
At the request of the City of San Rafael, KCG reviewed the City’s existing policies and procedures for managing State and Federal disasters and provided recommendations to improve cost recovery. In October 2013, KCG prepared a comprehensive report on the FEMA- CalOES Public Assistance Guide for the City of San Rafael’s disaster cost recovery process.
At the invitation of Cal OES’s California Specialized Training Institute (CSTI), Masoud Kermani taught a course on State of California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA) and FEMA’s Public Assistance programs to local government representatives for seven years.
KCG was hired by Napa County to file all the necessary appeals for the sites damaged by the 2014 Napa earthquake for which funding was denied by FEMA.
KCG worked on the 2016-2017 and 2019 storm disaster projects with Sonoma County and the Cites of Mill Valley, Vallejo, Santa Cruz, San Rafael, and Larkspur and the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) to provide FEMA-Cal OES consulting services for disasters declared by the State and FEMA in 2017 and 2019.
KCG assisted the Sonoma County Department Transportation and Public Works (TPW), the Cities of Vallejo, San Rafael, Mill Valley and Santa Cruz with disaster cost recovery from the 2017 and 2019 Severe Winter Storms, the 2020 California Wildfires, and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
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A.3 Key Project Professionals
KCG will draw upon the collective experience of diverse professionals to provide comprehensive consulting services to the City on an as-needed basis to complement City’s staff. The professionals selected to work on this project have extensive experience in disaster cost recovery management.
The following Key Project Professionals will be available to work on the projects, as needed:
➢ Project Leader: Mr. Masoud Kermani, Professional Civil Engineer ➢ Project Manager: Ms. Thea Liskamm, MPP, Senior Consultant ➢ Project Fiscal Specialist: Mr. Dwight Steeves, Auditor A.4 List of Major Clients
Client Contact Title Phone #
City of Santa Cruz Mr. Paul Horvat Emergency Admin
Manager
831-420-5280
City of San Bruno Mr. Matt Lee DPW Director 650-226-6382 City of Vallejo Mr. Terrance Davis DPW Director 707-649-3559 Marin County DPW Mr. Michael Frost Deputy Director 415-473-3725 San Mateo County Mr. Brian Molver District Coordinator 650-766-4245 City of Larkspur Mr. Julian Skinner DPW Director/City
Engineer
415-927-5017
Napa County Mr. Kerry Whitney Risk Services Manager 707-253-4821 Sonoma County Mr. Johannes
Hoevertsz
DTPW Director 707-565-3585
City of San Rafael Mr. Bill Guerin DPW Director 415-485-3389 City of Mill Valley Mr. Ahmed Ali DPW Project Manager 415-384-4830 East Bay Dischargers
Authority (EBDA)
Ms. Jackie Zipkin General Manager 510.278.5910
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A.5 Hourly Rate of Services
The following hourly fee schedule shall be charged to perform the consulting services plus actual cost for other expenses including travel based on Time and Material (T&M). A rate of $0.60 per mile shall be charged when traveling using personal vehicle. It is expected that the hourly rate will also cover typical expenses such as software and insurance. Other expenditures, if needed, will be charged with prior approval from the City.
TITLE RATE
Project Leader $225
Project Manager $165
Project Fiscal Specialist $95
A.6 Budget
It is difficult to estimate the budget for the full scope of services at this time, however, it is recommended that approximately $50K be budgeted for the next two years to complete the scope of work outlined in Section A.1 to file the necessary appeals and to close out the disaster.
A.7 Compensation
Consultant shall submit a statement of account, for the hourly professional services and the reimbursable expenses every month. The payments shall be due within thirty (30) days of its receipt.
Approved: Date:
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