City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: November 12, 2019
Agenda Item:
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Bill Walker, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Award Request for Proposal and enter into Agreement with Advanced Problem Solving, LLC for the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs Regional Training Group (LAAFCA RTG) Training Delivery Model
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award RFP# 210 to Advanced Problem Solving, LLC a California-based company for video and curriculum development services for the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs Regional Training Group (LAAFCA RTG);
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Advanced Problem Solving, LLC, in an amount not to exceed $1,800,000 for three years, with two-additional one-year renewal options in the amount of $1,200,000, on the same terms and conditions for a total amount not to exceed $3,000,000 over a five-year period, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval and contingent upon the Fire Department securing the associated grant funding.
Summary
The Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association (LAAFCA) is comprised of thirty-one (31) fire chiefs throughout Los Angeles County. The Regional Training Group (RTG) is responsible for providing training through the Federal Homeland Security Grant Programs. In 2018, the City of Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD) was awarded $600,000 from the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) and Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grants. The Fire Department was awarded funding to be used for facilitation of a Training Delivery Model (TDM) encompassing Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Training, for Hazardous Materials Training (HazMat), and for Urban Search and Rescue Training (USAR). The grant funds will cover the costs of the Fire Department’s facilitation of the RTG TDM; continued facilitation in future years will be contingent on the receipt of additional grant funds.
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The LAAFCA RTG facilitates and provides training videos and curriculum development to fire departments within Los Angeles County. Centralized regional training effectiveness requires continuing education with new curriculum and with streamlined, compatible technology. Local fire agencies are eligible to be awarded grant funding to achieve regional homeland security goals. SMFD has accepted a request by LAAFCA to coordinate and host the grant funding for the Regional Training Group Training Delivery Model (RTG TDM). Sponsorship of RTG TDM ensures that the City of Santa Monica remains a regional stakeholder and participant in upcoming training programming.
Discussion
The SHSGP and UASI programs focus on enhancing regional preparedness and capabilities in major metropolitan areas. SMFD received funds to facilitate the training delivery model to support the region’s core public safety missions as well as regional homeland security goals.
The grant programs directly support 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 grants are intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery from natural or man-made disasters.
The SHSGP and UASI programs fund projects in 29 high-threat, high density areas selected by DHS. The UASI grant program was created to support large, "core" cities and those other cities with contiguous borders to the core city. The City of Los Angeles is the region's core city for the UASI grant and allocates funds to the City of Santa Monica. A regional working group and approval authority, made up of UASI 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.
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The Fire Department would use $600,000 in funds to host Regional Training Group’s Training Delivery Model to provide a regional training platform. The grant programs are 100% federally funded by DHS and managed through the State of California's Office of Emergency Services. The City of Santa Monica has received over $12 million in DHS 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.
The regional training platform’s online training content for use on a Learning Management System is in support of the RTG’s TDM project. Advanced Problem Solving, LLC (APS) will produce six (6) online 30–60-minute training lessons annually that provide training on topics that contain CBRNE, HazMat, and USAR related content.
In addition, APS will provide a Learning Management System (LMS) platform for delivering the online training content to those LAAFCA agencies electing to use the LMS. The online training content will be provided via the Sharable Content Object Reference Model format to upload into existing systems for those LAAFCA agencies electing not to use APS LMS. Furthermore, APS will provide professional project support which includes, but is not limited to, a video producer and video production team as well as an LMS administrator and LMS support team. Lastly, APS will fulfil other general requirements, as required, while providing exceptional customer service to the RTG.
Vendor Selection
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Person/Firm Advanced Problem Solving, LLC Evaluation Criteria
(include all that apply)
Credentials/experience, competence/skill, capacity/ability to perform services promptly, sufficiency of financial/other resources, character/reputation, ability to provide future services as needed and price.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
Advanced Problem
Solving, LLC
MySafeLA Focus EduVation Film Crafter
Blue Ridge Fire Starter Picture Business Mudturtle
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RFP Data
Posted On Posted On
Advertised In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
01/11/2019 City's Online
Bidding Site Santa Monica Daily Press 58 03/27/2019
Justification to Award
An evaluation panel of five interagency representatives reviewed and ranked all eight of the proposals using the criteria set out in the RFP. Based on this criteria and criteria in SMMC 2.24.190, staff recommends Advanced Problem Solving, LLC (APS) as the best qualified firm to provide fire department video and curriculum services. As an industry leader in technology-driven training courses developed in conjunction with subject matter experts, APS offers the ability to fulfill project tasks and to submit a product in a user-friendly format.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the Miscellaneous Grant Fund to award an agreement with Advanced Problem Solving, LLC.
Professional Services Agreement Request
Request Amount FY 2019-20 Budget Account # Total Contract Amount $490,000 2018 SHSGP 20190001.555177 $490,000
$110,000 2018 UASI 20190001.55518C $110,000
$3,000,000
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. Future year expenditures are also contingent on SMFD being awarded either SHSGP or UASI annual grant funds in the amount of $600,000 annually between the 2018 and 2022 grant funding cycles. If SMFD is not awarded these regional grant funds, SMFD is not obligated to fulfil the LAAFCA RTG Training Delivery Model contract. Staff is not requesting a budget appropriation at this time, staff will return to Council to award the grant agreement once the official agreement is received.
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Prepared By: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. APS Oaks expires 6-5-20