City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Transportation
Meeting Date: February 26, 2024
Report #:2402-2625
TITLE
Approval of Professional Services Contract with Ecology Action for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $139,968 for City of Palo Alto Safe Routes to School Spring/Fall Programming; CEQA status – categorically exempt (educational program).
RECOMMENDATION
Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute a Professional Services Contract with Ecology Action for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $139,968 for City of Palo Alto Safe Routes to School Spring/Fall Programming.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The vendor will provide comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle safety education to approximately 3,400 Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) students utilizing best practices in terms of age of students, diversity of teaching methods, and course content. The vendor will be responsible for modifying curriculum and teaching techniques to meet the needs of 12 elementary schools. Activities include:
· Kindergarten, First Grade, & Fifth Grade Safety Education Grade Level Assemblies · Second Grade Pedestrian Education Walking Field Trips · Third Grade Bicycle Rodeo Support
BACKGROUND
Every year, the Safe Routes to School program contracts with several vendors who use largely City-developed curriculum to provide pedestrian and bicycle safety education in the Palo Alto Unified School District. This one-year trial of a single-vendor procurement for Safe Routes education services will allow City staff to reduce the amount of time spent procuring and managing multiple contracts so that staff resources can be spent more efficiently to improve locally-developed curriculum, program quality, and reach.
ANALYSIS
The City published the Request for Proposals (RFP) on January 23, 2024. The City received one responsive proposal from Ecology Action.
Table #1: Summary of RFP Process
RFP Name/Number
Safe Routes to School Programming
RFP No. 189849
Request for Proposals Issued December 29, 2023
Proposals Due January 23, 2024
Number of Firms Notified 175
Number of Firms Notified Directly 3
Number of RFP Downloads 11
Total Days to Respond to RFP 25
Number of Proposals Received 1
Public Link to Solicitation https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/palo- alto-ca/projects/73897
Proposal Price Range $139,968
An evaluation committee comprised of three Office of Transportation City Staff that carefully reviewed firm qualifications and submittals in response to the criteria identified in the RFP. The City’s RFP criteria focused on the quality of the proposal; the quality, performance and effectiveness of the services to be provided by the contractor; and the contractor's experience, including the experience of staff to be assigned to the project, with engagements of similar scope and complexity.
The City received one bid under the proposed budget, and the evaluation committee identified that the preferred service provider was sufficiently qualified to conduct the work. Based on this approach, staff recommends contracting with Ecology Action, who provided a comprehensive approach to the scope of work, demonstrated a clear understanding of Palo Alto and its needs, has extensive experience working with Bay Area communities on developing Safe Routes to School Programs, is under budget, and provides exceptional project management.
The scope of work of Ecology Action includes the following tasks, to be completed within 5- months, beginning when the contract is executed, anticipated for February 2024:
Table # 2: Scope of Work Summary
Program Description
2024
Season
Quantity
Requested
Minutes
per Class/
Assembly
Kindergarten
Pedestrian
Education Assembly
30-minute gradewide
assembly teaching pedestrian
safety skills
Spring 12 30
First Grade
Pedestrian
Education Assembly
30-minute gradewide
assembly teaching pedestrian
safety skills
Spring 12 30
Second Grade
Pedestrian
Education Walking
Field Trip
Create & conduct a 60-
minute classroom-based
Walking Field Trip activity to
give students a real-world
exercise in street crossing
safety
Spring 36 45
Third Grade Bike
Rodeo Scanning and
Intersection Station
Leadership
3 staff manage both student
and volunteer participation
for Scanning & Intersection
Stations 1 & 2
Fall 12 120
Fifth Grade Bike
Safety Education
Assembly-style PowerPoint
for 45-70 students
Spring 12 60
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Safe Routes to School Educational Programming improves the quality of active transportation options, takes into consideration important community feedback about the safety of student cyclists, is part of a key City program supporting Comprehensive Plan and Sustainability and Climate Action Plan goals, and is the foundation of more than 30 years of increasing student walking and bicycling to school.
This program is consistent with key transportation goals in the City’s Comprehensive Plan 2030, including creating a sustainable transportation system, reducing congestion, and providing a safe environment for all road users. Specific policies and programs include:
Policy T-1.16: Promote personal transportation vehicles as an alternative to cars (e.g. bicycles, skateboards, roller blades) to get to work, school, shopping, recreational facilities and transit stops.
Program T6.1.2: Develop, distribute, and aggressively promote maps and apps showing safe routes to work, shopping, community services, parks and schools within Palo Alto in collaboration with stakeholders, including PAUSD, major employers, TMA's, local businesses and community organizations.
Policy T-6.2: Pursue the goal of zero severe injuries and roadway fatalities on Palo Alto city streets.
Policy T-6.4: Continue the Safe Routes to School partnership with PAUSD and the Palo Alto Council of PTAs.
Policy T-6.5: Support PAUSD adoption of standard Safe Routes to School policies and regulations that address the five E's of education, encouragement, enforcement, engineering and evaluation.
Program T6.6.2: Continue to provide educational programs for children and adults, in partnership with community-based educational organizations, to promote safe walking and the safe use of bicycles, including the City-sponsored bicycle education programs in the public schools and the bicycle traffic school program for juveniles. Program T6.6.3: Work with PAUSD and employers to promote roadway safety for all users, including motorized alternatives to cars and bikes such as mopeds and ebikes, through educational programs for children and adults.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
This agreement with Ecology Action is in the amount of $139,968. The FY 2024 Amended Operating Budget has sufficient funding to cover the cost of this contract with no additional budgetary action required.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
The City provided the public procurement process through its eProcurement platform and notified 175 firms to encourage participation. Of those notified, 11 downloaded the proposal documents and three were notified directly.
Safe Routes to School programming events will be organized with Ecology Action acting as a scheduling liaison with the PAUSD site administrators, secretaries, teachers, District staff, and parents. Once scheduled, Ecology Action staff will be deployed to conduct in-school educational programming. Teacher evaluations will be completed on-site for each lesson.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This program is exempted under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) regulation 15322 (Educational or Training Programs Involving No Physical Changes).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Contract with Ecology Action; Contract C24189849 APPROVED BY:
Philip Kamhi, Chief Transportation Official