REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Award of Contract to the Metropolitan Planning Group for Consultant Services to Update the Precise Plan for El Camino Real (F15-64)
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Approval is requested to award a contract to Metropolitan Planning Group (M-Group) of Mountain View in the amount of $533,638 for professional services to update the Precise Plan for El Camino Real, including the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Approval is also requested for a contract contingency in the amount of $53,362.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The award of a contract for professional services to update the Precise Plan is not a project as defined in Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). However, part of the M-Group's work scope is to prepare an EIR in conjunction with the Plan update.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City Council combined and highly ranked two study issues (CDD 14-09 and CDD 14-14) in January 2014 to update and clarify policies in the Precise Plan for El Camino Real in order to effectively guide development. The Precise Plan for El Camino Real, originally adopted in 1993, was updated in 2007 in an effort to enhance the vision for the Plan area and provide guidelines for more efficient, sustainable and pedestrian-oriented development.
In April 2014, the City applied for a Priority Development Area Planning Grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to secure funding for the Precise Plan Update, and was notified in May 2014 that funding in the amount of $587,000 had been approved. Council authorized the acceptance of the grant in December 2014 (RTC No. 14-0974).
Request for Proposal (RFP) specifications were prepared by Community Development and Purchasing staff, and RFP No. F15-64 was directly distributed to six urban planning firms and posted on the Demandstar public procurement network. Thirty-six firms requested the RFP documents. Three responsive proposals were received on March 6, 2015, as follows:
Metropolitan Planning Group (M-Group), of Mountain View
Freedman Tung+Sasaki (FTS), of San Francisco
Urban Design Innovations/Raimi+Associates, of Berkeley
In order to utilize available grant funding, proposers were provided with the grant award amount and encouraged to demonstrate how they would maximize the available funding to provide the best value solution for the plan update. Consequently, each proposer submitted a cost proposal that was at or near $587,000.
Proposals were reviewed by a team consisting of Planning and Transportation and Traffic staff. The firms were evaluated on qualifications and experience, programmatic approach to scope of services, and overall proposal value and comprehensiveness within the available budget. All three firms were invited to interview with the evaluation committee. At the conclusion of the evaluation process, M-Group was unanimously selected as the highest ranked proposer based on the comprehensiveness of their proposal and the strength of the team they assembled for the project.
The M-Group team includes the following subconsultants: Pacific Municipal Consultants for environmental analysis; Nelson\Nygaard for multimodal access and circulation analysis; Hexagon Transportation Consultants, Inc. for traffic and transportation analysis; Land Econ Group LLC for land use economics, financing and fiscal analysis; Karen Warner Associates for housing production and anti-displacement strategy; and Aliquot Associates, Inc. for infrastructure analysis and engineering. The M-group team differentiated themselves in their thorough understanding of the assets, opportunities and challenges of the Sunnyvale El Camino Real corridor, their familiarity with factors unique to Sunnyvale, and their strong focus on engaging residents, businesses and other stakeholders throughout the planning process.
Through clarifying the proposed scope of work, staff was able to reduce M-Group's proposed cost from $587,000 to $533,638, without compromising the level of effort required to successfully complete the project. Staff therefore recommends awarding a contract in the amount of $533,638 to the M-Group for a comprehensive Update of the Precise Plan for El Camino Real and preparation of the associated EIR. Staff also recommends the award of a 10% contract contingency in the amount of $53,362. Use of the contingency, if necessary, will ensure that all available grant funding is utilized for the project and no City funds will be required to complete work under this contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
Project costs are as follows:
Professional services to Update the El Camino Precise Plan $533,638
Project contingency (10%) $53,362
Total cost $587,000
Budgeted funds are available in Capital Project 830980 (Comprehensive Update of the Precise Plan for El Camino Real), mainly funded by an MTC/ABAG Priority Development Area Planning Grant in the amount of $587,000. The total budget for Capital Project 830980 is $667,000, leaving a balance of $80,000 for other project-related expenses that will occur while the update is progressing, and providing the needed matching funds for the grant.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1) Award a contract, in substantially the same format as Attachment 1 to the report and in the amount of $533,638, to Metropolitan Planning Group (M-Group) for the subject project, and authorize the City Manager to execute the contract when all the necessary conditions have been met; and 2) Approve a 10% contract contingency in the amount of $53,362.
Staff
Prepared by: Pete Gonda, Purchasing Officer
Reviewed by: Grace K. Leung, Director, Finance
Reviewed by: Hanson Hom, Director, Community Development
Reviewed by: Robert A. Walker, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Deanna J. Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENT
1. Draft Consultant Services Agreement