Authorize the Director of General Services to approve a work authorization with Moniz Architecture to design Crisis Now Modular Building not to exceed $124,830. (No general fund impact) (Pistochini)

The County has conducted extensive efforts to design a crisis stabilization facility that can provide short-term (up to 23 hours) intervention to individuals experiencing behavioral health crises.  This facility will provide specialized intervention and stabilization services to support transitions to lower levels of care.  Previously, the County explored reusing a portion of the Juvenile Detention Facility and a vacant modular building for the full suite of Crisis Now services. Due to costs in facility design, construction, as well as ongoing programmatic cost, this was subsequently revised to a stabilization facility within the vacant modular building.  The vacant modular building is located directly across from the Juvenile Detention Facility and previously housed the Probation Administration and Field units, and also the Day Reporting Center.

During the design of the vacant modular building, the cost to reuse the facility from office use to short-term crisis stabilization use presented many building code upgrades in a facility that has key building systems approaching end-of-life.  County staff evaluated alternatives and believe it will be more cost-effective in the long run and of similar project cost to design and construct a new modular building immediately adjacent to the vacant modular building.  The vacant modular building is being programmed to house a County operated spay and neuter clinic and temporarily house the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) office until such time as the UCCE's new permanent office is ready for occupancy.

This work authorization will encompass all architectural and engineering costs incurred through the design and construction phases of the Crisis Now project.  This includes design and engineering services, obtaining permits, conducting plan checks, performing cost estimates at 50% and 95% of design, and supporting the County during the construction.

The General Services Department and Health and Human Services Agency are jointly working together on this project and both departments concur that a new modular facility is ideal to house the stabilization facility.

Moniz Architecture was selected using a competitive Request for Qualifications process to establish an on-call list for architectural services conducted in 2023.  A number of architectural firms were awarded a contract through this RFQ process.  The County reviewed the qualifications of those firms and current workloads with the County and determined that Moniz Architecture was suited to perform this project.  Moniz Architecture recently completed design, engineering, and construction support for the new Cannabis Modular construction. The work authorization would be approved consistent with the County's current on-call agreement with Comstock Johnson.