City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: June 25, 2024
Agenda Item: 5.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Matthew Hallock, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Award of Bid to L.N. Curtis & Sons and Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc. for Purchase of Fire Equipment
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award Bid #4483 to vendors L.N. Curtis & Sons and Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc. for the purchase of fire hoses, tools, and other fire equipment;
2. Authorize the Procurement Manager to issue a separate purchase order with L.N. Curtis & Sons for the purchase of fire hoses, tools, and other fire equipment in an amount not to exceed $750,000 over a term of five years, with future years funding contingent on Council budget approval;
3. Authorize the Procurement Manager to issue a separate purchase order with Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc. for the purchase of fire hoses, tools, and other fire equipment in an amount not to exceed $750,000 over a term of five years, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval; and
4. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Summary
In 2023 the Santa Monica Fire Department responded to over 17,545 calls. Calls for service include fire, medical, hazardous materials, search and rescue operations, homelessness, other emergencies, and non-emergency good intent calls. The department also responds to mutual aid events, such as when there is an emergency in a neighboring jurisdiction which overwhelms their front-line responses or when the city responds with a specialty strike team on a statewide wildland response. The volume and range of responses require the department to outfit its fire apparatus with hoses, tools, and other equipment for emergency response. Following a formal bid process, 2 of 5
two vendors, L.N. Curtis & Sons and Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc. are recommended as the best bidders to provide and deliver tools and equipment. For each vendor, staff recommends the first year of expenditures for vendor will be $150,000, with four oneyear renewal options of up to $150,000 each year, for a total amount not to exceed $750,000.
Discussion
The Santa Monica Fire Department maintains a fleet of twelve fire engines, three trucks, and other vehicles at its five stations and training facility that must be properly outfitted to respond to emergencies. In support of this effort, staff purchases a variety of tools and equipment to ensure the department’s first responders are prepared to provide a response to a variety of emergencies. Tools and equipment include items such as fire hoses, jaws-of-life rescue tools, hand tools, ladders, chainsaws, rescue harnesses, ropes and webbing, search cameras, and hazardous materials field-testing kits.
Personal protective equipment includes items such as helmets, brush coats, gloves, goggles, and masks.
In 2019, the City awarded purchase orders to L.N. Curtis and Municipal Emergency Services for fire hoses, tools, and various pieces of fire equipment. Those purchase orders expired in April 2024 and the department put out a new bid for fire hoses, tools, and other fire equipment.
Vendor Selection
Bidder Recommendation
Best Bidders L.N. Curtis and Allstar Fire Equipment
Evaluation Criteria Price; the quality of the material or services offered; the ability, capacity and skill of the bidder to perform or provide the materials or services; the capacity of the bidder to perform the contract or provide the service promptly, within the time specified, and without delay or interference; the sufficiency of the bidder’s financial resources; the character, integrity, reputation, judgment, training, experience and efficiency of the bidder; the ability of the bidder to provide such future maintenance or service as may be needed; any other factor that will further the intent set forth in Section 608 of the City Charter. The City shall have absolute discretion in determining the applicability and weight of the criteria listed above.
The City is not required to select the bid with the lowest price.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.180
Submittals Received
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Bid Data
Date Posted Posted On
Advertise In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
03/11/2024 City's Online
Bidding Site
Santa Monica Daily Press 35 03/11/2024
Best Bidder Justification
Bid 4483 provided vendors with the opportunity to bid on 1,136 items on OpenGov.
L.N. Curtis and Allstar Fire Equipment were the only vendors to respond and entered prices on between 33% and 41% of the total requested items. Therefore, the department selects both vendors as responsive bidders. City will purchase items from the vendor with the lowest price and availability. For items not available from either vendor, they will be purchased from the cooperative agreement.
Because the Fire Department is awarded various grants and the annual amounts vary based on award, staff recommends that the purchase orders contain enough purchasing authority so that as the department receives the grant funds, it can continue purchasing equipment through these two vendors without delay. Grants have specified performance periods in which the funds must be spent and reported to receive reimbursement.
Although the department recommends the selection of L.N. Curtis and Allstar Fire Equipment, there were over three hundred items that received no bid from either vendor. For these items, staff will seek cooperative purchasing agreements subject to those agreements meeting the City’s procurement guidelines. Because cooperative agreements have been solicited, evaluated, and awarded by another jurisdiction with higher volume, the items purchased with these agreements are often at a lower price.
Utilizing a cooperative agreement for no bid items would enable the Fire Department to purchase items without any delays in service or response. The anticipated spend amounts with cooperative agreements will be within the City Manager’s authority, however if the spend amount approaches such authority, staff will return to Council for approval for the remainder of the term.
L.N. Curtis & Sons $200,204 for 463
items bid Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc. $156,024 for 371 items bid 4 of 5
Environmental Review
The purchase orders for L.N. Curtis and Allstar Fire Equipment for fire tools and equipment are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines. The contract is covered by the commonsense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The purchase orders would provide the SMFD with fire tools and various equipment. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that the purchase orders would not result in adverse physical impacts on the environment, and as such, is exempt from CEQA.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the General Fund and Miscellaneous Grants Fund to award purchase orders with L.N. Curtis & Sons and Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc. for the purchase of various tools and equipment for emergency response.
Purchase Order Request
Vendor FY 2024-25
Request Amount
Future
Years
Amount
Account # Total Contract
Amount
L.N. Curtis & Sons $150,000 $600,000 Various $750,000
Allstar Fire Equipment $150,000 $600,000 Various $750,000 Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Jonathan Tang, Principal Administrative Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. LN Curtis - Oaks
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B. LN Curtis - Levine Act
C. Allstar - Oaks
D. Allstar - Levine Act