City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Transportation
Meeting Date: February 3, 2025
Report #:2409-3440
TITLE
Approval of Three Professional Services Contracts for On-call Transportation Engineering and Planning Project Support Services, for a Four-Year Term: 1) Contract Number C25191149 with TJKM Transportation in the Amount Not-to-Exceed $300,000, 2) Contract Number C25192647 With Fehr and Peers in the Amount Not-to-Exceed $800,000, and 3) Contract Number C25192646 With Kittelson and Associates in the Amount Not-to-Exceed $800,000; CEQA status - categorically exempt; specific projects will undergo environmental review as applicable.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager or their designee to execute 1) a four-year contract (C25191149) with TJKM Transportation for $300,000 and 2) a four-year contract (C25192647) with Fehr and Peers for $800,000 and 3) a four-year contract (C25192646) with Kittelson and Associates for $800,000 (Attachments A, B and C) for On-Call Transportation Engineering and Planning Services.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff recommends that the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager or designee to execute four-year contracts with TJKM Transportation, Fehr and Peers and Kittelson and Associates (Attachments A, B and C) for On-Call Transportation Engineering and Planning Support Services.
These contracts are on-call contracts that will support the City’s Office of Transportation staff and assist with the implementation of Engineering and Planning projects. Should the City not proceed with this recommendation, work production requiring the disciplines involved would be significantly impacted.
BACKGROUND
On February 8, 2021 1, the City Council approved four-year contracts for On-Call Transportation Engineering and Planning Support Services to support the Office of Transportation staff with 1 City Council, February 8, 2021, Agenda Item, #4, SR#11799
tasks for various small spot improvement projects throughout the city. At that time, staff awarded a four-year contract to both TJKM and Fehr & Peers in the amount of $800,000 each, for Transportation Engineering and Planning Support Services. Over the last four years, the total amount expended from these contracts was approximately $1.2M. Examples of some of the work that was included under these on-call contracts were:
1. Design of traffic signal modifications necessary to address accessibility, aging infrastructure/failures, changing standards, and safety improvement needs
2. Performed Traffic engineering studies and reports
3. Prepared Traffic signal coordination timing analysis using Syncro, SimTraffic, and/or VisSim programs
4. Prepared traffic signal plans, specifications, and estimates
5. Prepared engineering and traffic speed surveys
6. Prepared roadway/highway engineering plans, specifications and estimates
7. Performed transportation planning studies
8. Prepared grant funding applications and associated attachments and exhibits
9. Provided El Camino Real repaving design analysis/peer review
10. Designed spot improvement designs/planning along bike routes in the City On-call contracts enable in-house staff to manage significantly more work than would otherwise be possible. Both contracts ended in December 2024. Staff issued a new Request for Proposals (RFP) on May 28, 2024, for a new On-Call Transportation Engineering and Planning Services contract.
ANALYSIS
Following the completion of the RFP process, the City chose three firms to provide Transportation Engineering and Planning Support Services. The respondents were identified as experienced transportation engineering and planning firms that, taken together, possess a wide range of capabilities to support upcoming Transportation projects.
Each of the selected consultants provides certain strengths and expertise that will support the needs and demands for services involving the Office of Transportation. The consultants will assist staff in transportation engineering including, but not limited to, analyzing service requests, preparing signing and striping plans, developing traffic signal timing plans and modifications, assisting in the implementation of bicycle and pedestrian safety projects, and other transportation capital improvement projects, as needed. Depending upon project needs and staffing, the selected consultant team(s) will provide services including community meeting facilitators, graphic artists (with experience in preparing transportation-focused material for reports and community presentations), grant writers, landscape plans, roadway design engineers, surveyors, traffic data collection, transportation engineers, transportation planners, and utility coordinators.
https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/DocView.aspx?id=91&repo=r-704298fc&searchid=6fd6d987-36b9-4877-8f4c- 32c5384e146e
The Office of Transportation in coordination with the City’s procurement staff requested proposals from qualified engineering consultants for On-call Transportation Engineering and Planning Project Support Services.
Solicitation Process
The City published the RFP for the On-call Transportation Engineering and Planning Project Support Services on May 24, 2024, on OpenGov, the City’s eProcurement platform. The solicitation period was open for 30 days and closed on June 27, 2024. A total of four proposals were received, one of which was considered non-responsive.
Table #1: Summary of Request for Proposal
Proposal Description On-call Transportation Engineering and Planning Project Support Services; RFP 191149
Proposed Length of Project 4 years
Number of Proposal Packages Downloaded 17
Total Days to Respond to Proposal 30
Pre-Proposal Meeting No
Pre-Proposal Meeting Date NA
Number of Proposals Received 4
Proposal Price Range Hourly rates:
Ranges from $100/hr to $315/hr
Non-responsive bidders/ Responsive bidders 1/3
Public Link to Solicitation https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/palo- alto-ca/projects/97743
Office of Transportation Staff evaluated the proposals based on qualifications and experience of the staff assigned to the project, proposal quality and completeness, response time, and ability to perform the work. Staff recommended Fehr and Peers, TJKM, and Kittelson and Associates, based on criteria identified in the RFP, including proposal content, knowledge of traffic engineering, and the ability to complete the projects in a timely fashion.
These consultants have working and technical experience giving them insights into best practices and emerging trends in transportation as they work for various municipal organizations and bring deep industry knowledge to City projects. In addition, they can provide unbiased insights with an outside perspective that is valuable to address community concerns.
The services also provide flexibility to scale the staffing on an as needed basis such as with grants opportunities to procure funding and implement projects. Finally, consultants provide the ability to lower the liability risks for the City.
Work is assigned on an as-needed basis by the city’s project managers, and assigned tasks will be spread out to each of the consultants to ensure that project deadlines can be met. Staff negotiates the cost and timeline of each project based on the scope of work and expected effort. The scope of work and expected hours are used to calculate the total costs based on the hourly rates included in the contract to prepare a task order. Based on the cost proposals for each task, staff will choose the most cost-effective consultant. All task orders will be reviewed and approved by a separate manager or Chief Transportation Official overseeing the assigned project manager.
TJKM has demonstrated strong expertise in traffic signal and Intelligent Transportation System design; while the other two consultants, Fehr and Peers and Kittelson and Associates, have stronger capital improvement engineering and transportation planning backgrounds. These consultants have demonstrated successful completion of various traffic studies, supported development and implementation of transportation projects, and have demonstrated strong skills in completing traffic engineering projects. Some upcoming tasks for which staff will require on-call support are:
•Development of construction design plans for the Crescent Park Traffic Calming Project and for other upcoming neighborhood traffic calming projects •Micromobility feasibility study - data collection, analysis, and support for programmatic recommendations
•Vision Zero Program - data collection and analysis, Safety Action Plan updates, community engagement and education, roadway safety project design and implementation, funding identification, and support for policy changes •Efficient Downtown Parking Management
•Traffic Signal Improvements & Transit Signal Priority Projects •Car-Free Streets Design and Implementation
•Caltrans Encroachment Permit Support
•South Palo Alto Bike/Ped Railroad Crossings Design and Implementation •Transportation Demand Management Ordinance Update
•Transportation Impact Fee Update
•2025 Engineering and Traffic Surveys to certify posted speed limits and allow for radar enforcement by PAPD (On-going effort)
•San Antonio/Middlefield Road – Signal and PG&E Remediation (Urgent, unplanned modification need)
•School Safety intersection modifications (response to recent incidents and community discussions)
•Embarcadero/E. Bayshore signal modification (unanticipated failing infrastructure and ADA Accessibility needs)
•Quarry Road ITS project
•Safe Routes to School program evaluation and analysis
•Walk and Roll Suggested School Route Map edits and development •Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) review of reports assessing project impacts on local and regional transportation systems
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
Funding for these contracts is available in the Fiscal Year 2025 Adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP) from the following sources as they require on-call support:
•PL-00026 (Safe Routes to School)
•PL-04010 (Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Plan – Implementation Project) •PL-12000 (Parking & Transportation Improvements)
•PL-05030 (Traffic Signal and ITS upgrade)
Staff anticipates total spending of about $200,000 on an annual basis. Funding for future fiscal years is subject to City Council approval through the annual budget process.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Stakeholder engagement for this contract consisted of the request for proposal and bidding process described above. Staff will conduct required community/stakeholder engagement for any projects that result from these on-call contracts.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Approval of these contracts is exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it can be seen with certainty that the contract approval alone will not have a significant effect on the environment; no specific projects are being approved or funded through this action. Environmental review may be required and will be completed as necessary for specific projects utilizing consultant services under these contracts.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: TJKM Contract No. C25191149
Attachment B: Fehr and Peers Contract No. C25192647
Attachment C: Kittelson and Associates Contract No. C25192646 APPROVED BY:
Lily Lim-Tsao, Interim Chief Transportation Official