June 24, 2025
Public Works
DATE: June 24, 2025
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Daniel Chavarria, PE, Director of Public Works
Robert Armijo, PE, Deputy Director of Public Works / City Engineer
Hillal Hamdan, PE, Senior Civil Engineer
Subject:
Resolution Approving On-Call Contracts with GHD,
Kimley-Horn, Fehr & Peers, W-Trans and CSWST2 for
Transportation Design Services
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The proposed on-call contracts authorize a maximum not-to-exceed amount of $1,000,000 per firm, per year,
over a three-year term, with two optional one-year
extensions. Funding for services performed under these
contracts will be provided from existing or budgeted
Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) accounts and will be
encumbered at the time of individual Work
Authorizations. No funds are being appropriated as part of this action; all expenditures are subject to budget
availability and project-specific needs.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The City Council is being asked to consider approving
on-call contracts for transportation design services to five consulting firms for a total not-to-exceed amount of
$1,000,000 per firm, over a three-year term, with two
optional one-year extensions, to support the timely
delivery of Capital Improvement Projects.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: ADOPT a resolution awarding five on-call contracts for transportation design services and extensions to the
following consultants—GHD, Kimley-Horn & Associates,
Fehr & Peers, W-Trans and CSWST2—in an amount not
to exceed $1,000,000 per firm, per year, for a three-year AGENDA
REPORT
June 24, 2025
term, beginning July 1, 2025, through July 30, 2028, with two optional one-year extensions – Public Works
Department (Hillal Hamdan 510-621-1612/Robert Armijo
510-620-5477).
DISCUSSION
The City of Richmond continues to experience a growing number of Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects aimed at improving transportation infrastructure, including roadway rehabilitation, pedestrian and bicycle improvements, signal upgrades, traffic calming, and intersection modifications. Transportation engineers play a key role in delivering these projects, providing design expertise related to traffic operations, roadway geometry, signing and striping, signal timing, and multimodal safety enhancements. Their services are essential for preparing plans, specifications, and estimates (PS&E); conducting technical analyses; and ensuring projects are designed in accordance with state and federal standards.
To meet this ongoing and variable workload, the Public Works Department seeks to maintain a pool of qualified transportation engineering consultants available on an on- call basis. This approach is commonly used by public agencies to reduce procurement delays, control costs, and ensure timely access to specialized expertise across multiple overlapping projects. To support this strategy, City staff issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on February 14, 2025, seeking qualified firms to provide on-call transportation design services.
In response to the RFP, the City received 14 proposals from qualified engineering firms (Attachment 1). A panel of Public Works staff with relevant technical expertise reviewed and scored the proposals based on experience with similar projects, understanding of the scope of services, and the ability to meet project deadlines and budgets. Five firms emerged as the top-ranked consultants:
Consulting
Firms
Rater
1 Rater
2 Rater
3 Average
Fehrs & Peers 95 87 94 92
W-Trans 89 86 88 88
Kimley-Horn and
associates 86 88 87
87 GHD 87 89 85 87
CSWST2 89 84 83 85
Each of these firms has prior experience working with the City and has demonstrated the capacity to support the anticipated workload over the contract term. Establishing a pool of pre-qualified consultants allows the City to respond more efficiently to workload demands, avoid the delay of individual procurements, and reduce administrative costs.
June 24, 2025
City staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution awarding three-year on- call contracts to the five selected firms—GHD, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Fehr & Peers, W-Trans and CSWST2—in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 per firm, with two optional one-year extensions (Attachment 2). Work Authorizations will be issued on a task-specific basis, and funds will be encumbered at the time of each assignment. This structure provides flexibility and ensures that qualified consultants are available to meet project needs as they arise.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Bid Summary Report
Attachment 2 – Resolution
Attachment 3 – Standard Contract – GHD
Attachment 4 – Standard Contract – Kimley-Horn & Associates Attachment 5 – Standard Contract – Fehr & Peers
Attachment 6 – Standard Contract – W-Trans
Attachment 7 – Standard Contract – CSWST2