Placentia Cit Council
AGENDA REPORT
TO: CITY COUNCIL
VIA: CITY ADMINISTRATOR
FROM: DEPUTY CITY ADMINISTRATOR / PUBLIC SERVICES & INFRASTRUCTURE DATE: NOVEMBER 21, 2023
SUBJECT: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS FOR ON-CALL
PROFESSIONAL ARBORIST SERVICES
FISCAL
IMPACT: EXPENSE: $150,000 TOTAL CONTRACT NOT -TO -EXCEED AMOUNTS (VARIOUS CIP PROJECTS)
SUMMARY:
On October 19, 2023, Staff solicited qualifications from professional arborist firms to create a bench list of professional consultants to provide on-call arborist consultation services. The City has traditionally created bench lists of qualified professional consultants to provide a number of services typically related to capital improvement projects such as engineering, architectural design, landscape architectural design, and construction management and inspection services as examples. The method of procuring consultant services via a formal qualifications process provides greater flexibility and allows the City to more quickly advance projects by utilizing the services of pre-screened professionals whom are already under contract to the City.
The proposed agreements and consultant bench list for these services include advising staff on matters related to tree planting, removals, tree health evaluation and inspections, and corrective root pruning strategies for the City's inventory of trees. A total of three (3) qualification proposals were received and after a comprehensive review of each proposal, all firms were selected to be placed on an on-call bench list. These firms possess the experience and expertise to deliver arborist services for the purpose of protecting and expanding the City's Urban Forest.
Staff recommends that City Council award contracts to the three (3) firms for a 3 -year term with an option for a two-year term extension based upon performance and at the discretion of the City. Each consultant shall serve on an on-call basis with a not -to -exceed contract amount of $350,000, the cost of which will be charged to individual project budgets. The purpose of having multiple firms on a bench list is to ensure efficient delivery of multiple capital improvement and tree maintenance -related projects some of which may run concurrently. This action will provide the City with available on-call services for all the arborist services in support of multiple CIP and maintenance projects over the next 5 years.
1.f.
Nov 21, 2023
City Council Agenda
November 21, 2023
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that City Council take the following actions:
1. Approve a Professional Services Agreement with ArborPro, Inc., for professional consulting services to provide on-call professional arborist services for a term of three (3) years with one (1) two-year term extension based upon performance and at the discretion of the City, in an amount not -to -exceed $150,000; and
2. Approve a Professional Services Agreement with Lasting Images Landscape for professional consulting services to provide on-call professional arborist services for a term of three (3) years with one (1) two-year term extension based upon performance and at the discretion of the City, in an amount not -to -exceed $150,000; and
3. Approve a Professional Services Agreement with West Coast Arborists, Inc., for professional consulting services to provide on-call professional arborist services for a term of three (3) years with one (1) two-year term extension based upon performance and at the discretion of the City, in an amount not -to -exceed $150,000; and
4. Authorize the City Administrator to approve the available contract term extensions based upon consultant performance and amendments up to 10% of the contract not -to -exceed amount, or $15,000 on each contract; and
5. Authorize the City Administrator to execute the above-mentioned Professional Services Agreements, in forms approved by the City Attorney.
STRATEGIC PLAN STATEMENT:
This item conforms with the overall City Council Strategic Plan Goal 6 for improving City beautification.
DISCUSSION:
On October 19, 2023, Staff solicited qualifications from professional arborist firms to create a bench list of professional consultants to provide on-call arborist consultation services. The City has traditionally created bench lists of qualified professional consultants to provide a number of services typically related to capital improvement projects such as engineering and architectural design, plan check services, and construction management and inspection services as examples.
The method of procuring consultant services via a formal qualifications process provides greater flexibility and allows the City to more quickly advance projects by utilizing the services of pre-screened professionals whom are already under contract to the City.
The City plans and budgets for capital projects and maintenance projects as part of the annual Budget adoption. The Budget allocates funds for not only the construction of each project but also for soft costs such as professional services. In preparation for delivery of the City's various CIP and maintenance projects, Staff prepared an RFQ for on-call professional arborist services. A
City Council Agenda
November 21, 2023
total of three (3) proposals were received from qualified consulting firms with extensive experience in arborist services. The cumulative composite score for each firm's proposal is noted below:
On -Call Arborist Services
Ranking Consultant
1 West Coast Arborists
2 ArborPro
3 Lasting Images
Landscape
TOTAL SCORE
90 85
80 Based upon each firm's extensive experience and expertise in providing professional arborist services, all three (3) ranked firms were selected to be included in the on-call consultant bench list. By utilizing more than one firm to provide these services, the City can achieve greater flexibility in delivering capital and maintenance projects wherein professional arborist services are utilized.
Individual projects are assigned based upon the type of work to be performed as the expertise and experience of each firm will vary. For instance, firms with greater experience in tree assessments and preparing arborist reports would be assigned those types of projects, whereas firms with greater experience in preparing maintenance plans or tree inventories would then prepare those types of projects. Assigning projects in this manner will ultimately ensure the individual experience and expertise of the design to the City's projects are closely matched to the unique scope of work to be completed on each project.
The consultants providing arborist services will work on an on-call basis and the contracts are structured on a time and materials basis, with a not -to -exceed amount. Each firm will submit a separate cost proposal for each project for which they will provide these services. Since payment for these services is on a time and materials basis, the overall cost to the project is dependent upon the allotted working days afforded the contractor along with the complexity of the project.
The complexity could require more consultant hours applied to the kind of services needed for each project. The hours allocated by each firm to the projects to which they have been assigned are negotiated and based on actual project need, the cost of which is allocated within individual project budgets and is controlled by the hourly rates provided by each firm. The overall cost to provide professional arborist services will vary from project to project and is based upon the scope of work of each individual project. The proposed not -to -exceed contract amount for each agreement is an estimate of what the City could potentially pay for these services over an initial contract term of three (3) years.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The cumulative not -to -exceed contract amount for each proposed agreement is $50,000. The award of these contracts does not commit the City to expending a specified amount for these services since the consultants will serve on an on-call, project by project basis. Funds for design
City Council Agenda
November 21, 2023
services are budgeted as part of individual project budgets funded within the City's annual CIP Budget.
Prepared by:
Reviewed and approved:
Chris Tanio v Jennifer Lampman
Deputy Director of Public Works/City Engineer Director of Finance Reviewed and approved:
Luiz Estevez
Deputy City Administrator
Reviewed and approved:
Damien R.-Arru"la
City Administrator
Attachments:
1. Agreement with ArborPro, Inc.
2. Agreement with Lasting Images Landscape, Inc.
3. Agreement with West Coast Arborists, Inc.