Report Prepared by: Janet German, Secretary III, Fire Dept.
Title
SUBJECT: Consider Approving a Professional Services Contract with Citygate Associates, LLC and Request for a Supplemental Appropriation From the General Fund
REPORT IN BRIEF
Consider approving a professional services contract with Citygate Associates, LLC for completion of a Standards of Cover Assessment and approve a supplemental appropriation from the General Fund for a not to exceed amount of $8,292 to pay for the cost of the project.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion:
A. Authorizing a supplemental appropriation from the General Fund, FY 16/17 to Account 001-0901-522.17-00 (Professional Services) in the amount of $8,292 to cover the project’s cost; and,
B. Approving the professional services contract with Citygate Associates, LLC; and
C. Authorizing the City Manager or Assistant City Manager to execute all necessary documents.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve as recommended by staff; or
2. Refer to staff for reconsideration of specific items; or
3. Reduce the scope of work and re-advertise; or
4. Cancel the project; or,
5. Continue to a future meeting
AUTHORITY
Merced City Charter Section 1105 Budget - Appropriations.
Merced Municipal Code Chapter 3.04 - Purchases Over Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
As provided for in the 2016-17 Adopted Budget and as directed by the City Council.
DISCUSSION
Introduction
Pursuant to a City Council directive in the 2016-17 Adopted Budget, Fire Department personnel developed specifications for, and conducted a Request for Proposal (RFP) for preparation of a Fire Department Standards of Cover (SOC). Notice of the RFP was published in the Merced Sun-Star Newspaper, Daily Dispatch (a free electronic daily newsletter sent to thousands of Fire Service members), the Merced County Times, and on the City of Merced’s website.
The Merced Fire Department (MFD) desires to award a contract to Citygate Associates, LLC (Citygate) to develop and conduct the comprehensive Fire Department SOC.
SOC Timeline History
• On December 7, 1987, City Council adopted a SOC, which was labelled as the Merced Fire Department Facilities Study (1987-2002).
• On September 11, 2011, the MFD released its Strategic Plan (2011 - 2016) identifying completion of a SOC by August 2013.
• On April 1, 2013, the MFD requested a supplemental appropriation for completion of a SOC, but was denied.
• On June 22, 2015, a RFP for a SOC was released with a deadline date of July 13, 2015.
• Four responses were received from: Citygate Associates, LLC; Emergency Services Consulting International; and Matrix Consulting Group.
• On August 8, 2015, due to lack of funding, letters were sent to the consultants advising them that no contract would be awarded.
• On September 8, 2015, City Council provided the MFD with a $72,778 supplemental appropriation to hire a “960 temporary employee” to complete a SOC.
• On September 15, 2015, MFD’s former Interim Fire Chief Michael R. Wilkinson was hired as an Interim Fire Deputy Chief to complete the SOC.
• On January 3, 2016, MFD’s only fire prevention staff member resigned, leaving the MFD devoid of any fire prevention subject matter experts.
• Due to lack of subject matter experts in fire prevention, the Interim Fire Deputy Chief was directed to focus on managing fire prevention.
• On March 28, 2016, the Interim Fire Deputy Chief had reached his maximum number of “960 hours” and separated from the city prior to completing the SOC.
• On June 20, 2016, City Council directed the MFD to complete a SOC and provided $53,000 to fund the project.
• On August 31, 2016, Fire Chief Shawn Henry retired.
• On November 16, 2016, a RFP for a SOC, Management/Administrative Assessment, and a Strategic Plan was released by Acting Fire Chief Billy Alcorn with a deadline date of December 9, 2016.
• Two responses were received and both exceeded the amount of funding provided.
• On January 4, 2017, a RFP for a SOC was released with a deadline date of January 30, 2017.
• Responses to the RFP were received from four contractors: Citygate Associates, LLC; Emergency Services Consulting, International; Fitch & Associates; and Matrix Consulting Group. Emergency Services Consulting, International’s response was received after the deadline date.
• The three contractors meeting the deadline date, were invited to proposal presentation and interview sessions with an evaluation team comprised of representatives from the Police, Public Works and Support Services staff. Interviews were conducted on February 8th and 22nd. Upon conclusion of the contractor’s meetings, evaluation team members discussed the relative merits of each proposal and concurred unanimously that the best proposal for the City’s interests was that of Citygate.
• Citygate has extensive experience having performed over 300 fire service studies over the last 15 years for a wide array of jurisdictions, including municipalities, districts, townships, State and Federal government. They have a long history of experience with fire departments in California including neighboring fire agencies: they performed a deployment study for the Modesto area fire agencies in April 2015 and a Fire Services Threat Assessment for UC, Merced in March, 2015 and performed fire studies for Madera County, the City of Atwater, Modesto Regional Fire Authority, City of Ceres, City of Stockton, Cosumnes Fire Department, Kings County Fire Department, and the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Districts. Work on the project would commence in early May, 2017 and be completed by October, 2017. The amount of this contract will be up to $60,803, which is above the threshold and requires Council approval.
Citygate’s base proposal is $52,828 and an additional $3,950 may be required if the City’s GIS data is not robust enough to provide needed attributes for the fire department’s units time-over-distance modeling. The MFD experiences significant delays when responding during rush-hour traffic and Citygate can provide data to reflect the impact to fire apparatus travel times for an additional cost of $4,025. The MFD believes that the traffic congestion modeling will benefit the city and therefore recommends the additional cost. It should be noted, that if the City’s GIS data meets Citygate’s requirement, then the $3,905 will not be needed, resulting in a reduced cost.
Discussion
The MFD is an all risk fire department providing a full range of services to the incorporated areas within the city. The MFD also provides a fully trained and equipped technical rescue team for the entire County and aircraft fire protection services to the Merced Regional Airport. The primary goal of the study is to conduct a comprehensive, objective analysis of overall Fire Department emergency response operations, to evaluate the effectiveness of current resource deployment practices, and to ascertain future community needs for emergency response service delivery. The study is designed to evaluate and make recommendations regarding fire protection response capabilities, fire station and fire company resource deployment, staffing to meet critical tasks for each major call type, fire protection services, automatic-aid agreements with other fire agencies and risk assessment.
The scope of services for this project was designed to include, but is not limited to, more specific review of the following:
• Analysis of the effectiveness of its current fire station locations.
• Analysis of the efficiency of the current deployment scheme of resources within the City’s fire stations.
• Analysis of the City’s ability to meet the listed recommendations.
• Analysis of the values to be protected in the City, along with identification of potential hazards.
• Recommendations for changes in fire station locations, if needed, to meet current and future needs and to optimize service delivery.
• Recommendations for deployment of new resources to meet current and future needs.
• Current fire service automatic aid agreements with Merced County Fire Department.
The project deliverables include:
• A final report on study findings that include an introduction, background discussion, methodologies, discussion, conclusion and recommendation.
• Recommendations for fire company and shift staffing levels and any resource modifications, including changes in response/risk paradigms and automatic aid agreements.
• Recommendations for fire station/fire company distribution and concentration.
• Recommendations, with options, for use of “best practices” and a more effective and efficient distribution of current and future fire company workloads.
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
The contract with Citygate Associates LLC for this study was funded under existing program budget and staffing, but may require a supplemental budget appropriation of up to $8,292.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Request for Proposal
2. Professional Services Agreement
3. Insurance