DATE: July 5, 2016
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Development Services Director
SUBJECT
Title
Adoption of a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute Agreements with West Coast Consultants (WC3); 4Leaf, Inc.; Shums Coda Associates; TRB & Associates; Kutzmann & Associates; and CSG, Consultants to provide plan check, inspection services, and permit technician services, for an amount not to exceed the total budget appropriation of $340,000
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the City Council adopts the attached Resolution authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute agreements with six firms to provide building plan check, building inspection, and building permit technician services for a combined total amount not to exceed $340,000.
Body
BACKGROUND
The City of Hayward currently has executed agreements with multiple private firms to provide building plan check services and inspection services in order to support customer demand that exceeds the availability or capacity of City Building staff. Such arrangement allows the flexibility of utilizing multiple qualified firms or persons on short notice, according to the skill set needed and/or the availability of the firm. The current contracts were executed August 1, 2013, with a term not to exceed June 30, 2016.
On April 1, 2016, RFP #1627-033116 was released, soliciting proposals to provide plan check and building inspection services for the Building Division. Staff felt it would also be beneficial to include permit technician services to assist with front desk coverage in the Permit Center when needed. Nine firms submitted proposals before the April 21st deadline, which were reviewed by staff. Plan check and inspection services were evaluated individually, and selections were based on past performance, price, availability to provide on call service, and turn-around times.
DISCUSSION
The Building Division currently includes one Supervising Plan Checker, one Plan Check Engineer, one Senior Plan Checker, one Plan Checker, who, along with outside plan checkers, are responsible for building plan check review associated with building permit applications. The existing staffing levels and continued high demand for permit plan check reviews necessitates the need to continue to utilize outside services. These services allow staff to assure large projects, such as complex commercial and industrial projects or subdivisions that involve multiple sets of plans, can be reviewed in a timely manner.
The Building Division also currently employs three Building Inspectors and three Senior Building Inspectors to handle all residential and commercial building inspections to ensure safety and compliance with the California Building Code. Given staffing levels and in order to continue to accommodate a heavy workload and comply with the standard of conducting inspections the next business day after they are requested, it is necessary to continue to contract for inspection services from outside firms. Also, a new set of codes will be adopted this fall as part of the normal three-year cycle of code adoptions, to be effective January 1, 2017. As with other code adoptions, training and education of in-house staff regarding the new codes will further necessitate the need for outside services.
Based on the solicitation and review process, the following firms were selected:
• West Coast Code Consultants (currently provides services to the City for inspections, plan check and permit technicians)
• 4 Leaf Inc. (currently provides inspection and Building Official services to the City)
• Shums Coda Associates
• TRB & Associates
• Kutzmann & Associates (currently provides plan check services to the City)
• CSG Consultants (currently provides associate level engineering services to the Planning Division)
Because most of these firms also provide permit technician services, staff felt that the ability to have on-call Permit Technicians available would be beneficial to assist with coverage in the Permit Center as needed during periods of heavy activity and/or during training/conference activities or other extended City employee leaves. The City would maintain an option to extend individual contracts on an annual basis, not to exceed a total of three years. Work will be distributed to each vendor in a manner that best serves the needs of the City and its customers. Having multiple firms available provides maximum flexibility.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff seeks Council approval to authorize the City Manager to execute agreements with the identified six firms for building plan check, inspection and permit technician services for a combined total amount not to exceed the approved budget of $340,000 for FY 2017. That amount is equal to the amount approved for such services for the FY 2016 budget, which was increased this past February by an additional $400,000, reflective of the high level of construction activity. Should the need arise at mid-year in FY 2017 to again increase the budget for such services, the costs of which are borne by permittees, staff will return to Council for such a request.
The cost of contracting for consultant plan check services is offset by the fees paid for plan check by the permit applicant at the time plans are submitted. Inspection costs are offset by the permit fee at the time the permit is issued. Costs for plan check and inspection fees incurred by the consultants shall not exceed the City’s plan check and inspection fees collected for permits by the City. Consultants are hired for review or inspection services on a per project basis, so there is no cost to the City if demand for plan check or inspection services either increases or is diminished.
The cost for any permit technician services is anticipated to be minimal and can be absorbed in the approved FY 2017 budget.
PUBLIC CONTACT
No public contact has occurred associated with this action.
NEXT STEPS
Should council adopt the attached resolution, staff will prepare agreements for execution.
Prepared by: Jade Kim, Management Analyst I
Staff contact
Recommended by: David Rizk, AICP, Development Services Director
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Approved by:
Francis David, City Manager
Attachments: