Approve twelve (12) agreements for as needed consulting services for special inspections, asbestos/hazardous testing, environmental engineering and planning, and permitting and plan check services, through June 30, 2026. (No general fund impact) (Pistochini)

Approve and authorize the Chair of the Board of Supervisors to sign twelve (12) agreements for consulting services for asbestos/hazardous testing, environmental engineering and planning, and permitting and plan check services with the following firms:

Ascent Environmental, Inc.
BPR Consulting Group, LLC 
Bureau Veritas North American Inc. 
CSG Consultants, Inc.
Consolidated Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
ECORP Consulting, Inc.
4Leaf, Inc. 
FlowWest, LLC
GeoConConsultants, Inc.
Laugenour and Meikle 
Ninyo & Moore Geotechnical and Environmental Science Consultants
River City Geoprofessional dba Universal Engineering Science UES 

The approval of the 12 agreements will create a pre-qualified pool of consulting services for inspecting and planning check firms for the County to make use of through June 30, 2026. The County has historically used this process to successfully eliminate the lengthy consultant selection process that delays projects from moving forward in a timely manner. The action today is a continuation of this successful tradition for implementing projects. These contracts also allow immediate response for emergency or urgent facilities issues and will create workload efficiencies by reducing multiple requests for qualifications. 

In order to provide various consulting services for the County and create a pool of pre-qualified consulting services for asbestos/hazardous testing, environmental engineering and planning, and permitting and plan check services firms, proposals were sought from the qualified individuals and firms. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for consultant services was released in January 2023. A review panel, comprised of representatives from the County Counsel, Department of Community Services, and General Services Department (GSD), reviewed and scored the 12 responses and recommended issuing contracts to all of those who submitted. Services covered under these contracts include, but not limited to:
 

The firms being recommended offer the County the best combination of experience and skill for the projects and services required. 

By selecting more than one firm to provide the desired services, projects can be divided among the selected firms on a rotating basis at the sole discretion of the County. On-call consultant contracts are typically utilized on an emergency basis or for small non-emergency projects and are intended to allow the General Services Department or Community Services Department to quickly respond to infrastructure related issues. Any project that is awarded to an on-call consultant is subject to a review process that, depending upon the size of the contract, may include the County Procurement Agent or the Board of Supervisors. The contracts allow the County's General Services Director or Community Services Director to authorize services for emergency work and other non-grant funded repairs, construction, and /or urgent design projects under $100,000 with approval from the County Purchasing Agent and/or the Board of Supervisors depending upon project funding.  All projects awarded that are over $100,000 or any grant funded work will be brought to the Board of Supervisors for approval. On-call consultants contracts may be utilized for work on a non-emergency basis, but they do not preclude the County from seeking other firms on the basis of requests for qualifications for any other major project. In the event other firms are required for a project, the General Services Department would seek the approval of the Board of Supervisors in a separate action. All contracts are on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. 

County Administrator's Office, County Counsel, Department of Finance, Department of Community Services, General Services Department

Request for Qualifications (RFQ) Service Requested: For As-Needed, On-Call Consulting Services

Evaluation Criteria Included in RFP

The County issued five groups of on-call contract solicitations, and the results of Group 2, 3, and 4 are presented to the Board of Supervisors today.  The County received four responses in Group 2 (Special Building Inspections and Materials Testing), five responses in Group 3 (Environmental Engineering) and five responses in Group 4 (Plan Check Services).  Of the 14 responses received, 12 received scores above 80% of the total possible points and received a notice of intent to award and are recommended to this Board to approve the attached contracts.