City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: November 15, 2022
Agenda Item: 5.J
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Danny Alvarez, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Award RFP to provide professional services to assist Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association Regional Training Group Fire Service Training Officer hosted by Santa Monica Fire
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award RFP #325 for professional services to Fire Resources LLC, to assist Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association Regional Training Group hosted by Santa Monica Fire Department; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional service agreement with Fire Resources LLC, in an amount not to exceed $370,000 for a twenty-four month period, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval and state homeland security grant funding.
Summary
Each year, the Federal government allocates grant funding to enhance regional preparedness for disasters, emergencies and other threats to homeland security. In grant years 2020-2022, $370,000 was awarded to the Santa Monica Fire Department as a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP) grant.
The $370,000 has been awarded to Santa Monica Fire on behalf of the Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association (LAAFCA) to enter into an agreement with the training officer consultant group Fire Resources to assist the Regional Training Group fulfill LAAFCA’s regional training mission.
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The SHSP grant funds are administered by the County of Los Angeles on behalf of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, which includes Santa Monica. City Council has already accepted the 2020 SHSP funds totaling $185,000, and the Fire Department has a pending agreement to award the remaining funds from the 2021 SHSP grant in the amount of $185,000. These funds have been granted to Santa Monica for the engagement of professional services to assist the Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association Regional Training Group achieve its mission of fulfilling its homeland security goals. The agreement with the selected consultant, Fire Resources, would be for a term of two years.
Discussion
About the SHSP Grant Program
The focus of the SHSP program is to enhance regional preparedness and capabilities in major metropolitan areas. The Santa Monica Fire Department was asked to host funds to assist the RTG with facilitating county-wide trainings that support Fire’s core public safety missions as well as regional homeland security goals. The following are the ten major regional homeland security focus areas of the SHSP grant program, known as Investment Justifications (IJ):
lJ # 1: Strengthen Capabilities of the State Threat Assessment System; IJ # 2: Protect Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources; IJ # 3: Enhance Cybersecurity;
IJ # 4: Strengthen Emergency Communications Capabilities Through Planning, Governance, Technology and Equipment;
IJ # 5: Enhance Medical and Public Health Capabilities; IJ # 6: Preventing Violent Extremism Through Multi-Jurisdictional/InterJurisdictional Collaboration and Coordination; IJ # 7: Enhance Community Resilience, Including Partnerships With Volunteers and Community Based Organizations and Programs;
IJ # 8: Strengthen Information Sharing and Collaboration; IJ # 9: Enhance Multi-Jurisdictional/Inter-Jurisdictional All-Hazards Incident Planning, Response & Recovery Capabilities; and
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IJ #10: Homeland Security Exercise, Evaluation and Training Programs The SHSP program directly supports the national priority of expanding regional collaboration within the National Preparedness Goal, which defines what it means for the whole community to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. The SHSP grant is intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery from natural or man-made disasters.
The County of Los Angeles is the region's grant administrator for the SHSP grant and allocates funds to the City of Santa Monica. A regional working group and approval authority, made up of SHSP stakeholders from throughout the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, are the governance bodies that determine which regional projects to submit to DHS for grant funding.
The SHSP grant program is 100% federally funded by DHS and managed through the State of California's Office of Emergency Services. There is no requirement of a local match. The City of Santa Monica has received close to $20 million in federal security grant funding since 2003. These funds have been used to purchase necessary interoperable communication and infrastructure equipment, supplies, and training in direct support of overall regional goals to promote effective information gathering, sharing, and response to threats and/or acts of terrorism.
Agreement with Fire Resources, LLC
The City of Santa Monica Fire Department has been awarded funding to host a professional services contract with a subject matter expert to assist in fulfilling the Los Angeles Fire Chiefs’ Association Regional Training Group’s mission to provide unified, innovative, quality training to enhance firefighter safety and responder effectiveness.
The contractor will develop, direct, and execute strategies to ensure effective delivery of training to and for Los Angeles area fire service agencies and stakeholders. The contractor will assist with, support, and further develop the training and response readiness of Los Angeles area fire agencies for incidents of national significance 4 of 6
including, but not limited to: acts of terrorism, natural disasters, public health threats and other large-scale incidents that pose a threat to public or first-responder safety. The contractor will perform detailed and comprehensive research, collaborate on, develop, and disseminate periodic and regular finished reports, advisories, bulletins, presentations, and briefings for executive and other fire service audiences on relevant fire service issues.
Consultant Selection
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Person or
Firm and Only Bidder
Fire Resources, LLC
Evaluation Criteria The proposal, Fire Resources LLC, was evaluated based on the criteria in SMMC 2.24.190, including experience, understanding of scope of services to be provided, quality control, training, references, and compliance with City specifications.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFP Data
Date
Posted Posted On
Advertise In
(City Charter &
SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
8/19/2022 City's Online Bidding Site Santa Monica
Daily Press
4 09/07/2022
Justification to Award
An interview panel consisting of one SMFD Deputy Chief and two Chiefs from other local Fire agencies interviewed the three parties who submitted proposals. Based on this criteria and criteria in SMMC 2.24.190, staff recommends Fire Resources LLC as the best qualified vendor to provide professional services to assist the Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association Regional Training Group based on their extensive RFPs Received
Fire Resources, LLC Cisneros Business Services, LLC The Safe Community Project 5 of 6
subject matter expertise in the Fire service, experience with similar projects, the results of their reference checks, and their ability to provide the services within the project budget.
Environmental Review
This is not a project for the purpose of the California Environmental Quality Act.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the Miscellaneous Grants Fund to award a professional services agreement with Fire Resources LLC to provide professional services to assist the LAAFCA Regional Training Group.
Professional Service Agreement
FY 2022-23 Budget
Request Amount Department Account # Total Contract Amount $185,000 20190001.555179 $370,000
Future funding in the amount of $185,000 will be appropriated to the 2021 State Homeland Security Grant Fund account 20190001.55517A when the 2021 Grant Agreement is accepted by City Council at a date in the near future. These funds have been allocated by the State; the City is waiting for the formal contract agreement from Los Angeles County. Future contract funding is contingent on Council budget approval and future homeland security grant funds.
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Prepared By: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Fire Resources Oaks exp 9.27.23