REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
September 13, 2022
FROM
BRENDON BIGGS, Director, Department of Public Works - Solid Waste Management
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to Contracts to Provide On-Call General Engineering Services for Various County Landfills and Disposal Sites
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1 to the following five-year contracts, retaining the original term from September 10, 2019 to September 9, 2024, but increasing the total aggregate not-to-exceed amount by $5,000,000, from $5,000,000 to a total of $10,000,000 to provide on-call general engineering services for various County landfills and disposal sites:
1. Geo-Logic Associates, Inc. of Ontario, CA (Contract No. 19-621)
2. Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. of Huntington Beach, CA (Contract No. 19-622)
3. Merrell Johnson Engineering, Inc. of Apple Valley, CA (Contract No. 19-623)
4. Parikh Consultants, Inc. of Commerce, CA (Contract No. 19-624)
5. Project Partners, Inc. of Laguna Hills, CA (Contract No. 19-625)
6. SWT Engineering, Inc. of Ontario, CA (Contract No. 19-626)
7. Tetra Tech BAS of Diamond Bar, CA (Contract No. 19-627)
(Presenter: Brendon Biggs, Director, 387-7906)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost) as the Department of Public Works - Solid Waste Management Division (SWMD) is financed by fee revenue. SWMD establishes fees that are charged to the public and other agencies for utilization of the County’s Waste Disposal System. Sufficient appropriation and revenue have been included in the SWMD 2022-23 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The recommended service contract amendments will provide SWMD with continued as-needed general engineering services to support the County’s projects, including, but not limited to providing design services; construction support; equipment installation, modification and/or service; system(s) evaluations; regulatory assistance; newly implemented State Assembly Bill 1383, and other various engineering needs for the County’s disposal system in compliance with various Federal, State and local regulations.
SWMD manages and operates the County's solid waste disposal system, which consists of five regional active sanitary landfills, nine transfer stations and numerous closed landfills and disposal sites. The five regional active landfills provide refuse disposal for the County's Valley, Mountain, High Desert and Low Desert Regions. As the owner and operator of these facilities, SWMD is regulated by numerous state and local agencies, including the following: three California Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Lahontan, Santa Ana, and Colorado River Basin Regions); CalRecycle; the Local Enforcement Agency; and two Air Quality Management Districts (South Coast and Mojave Desert). In addition, SWMD's operations and capital projects often require negotiations with other federal, state and local agencies, such as United States (U.S.) Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, California Department of Transportation, County Land Use Services Department, and cities located within the County.
In order for SWMD to maintain a disposal system that meets the disposal capacity needs of the citizens of the County and maintain good standing with the aforementioned regulatory agencies, it is necessary to retain technical assistance not available in-house with SWMD staff. Often this assistance is needed immediately, making it impractical for SWMD to proceed with a request for proposal (RFP) for a consultant for a specific project. To this end, SWMD developed an RFP to meet the need for timely technical response and to fulfill the requirements of the County's Procurement Policy.
On September 10, 2019 (Item No. 43), the County entered into contracts with Geo-Logic Associates, Inc., Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., Merrell Johnson Engineering, Inc., Parikh Consultants, Inc., Project Partners, Inc., SWT Engineering, Inc. and Tetra Tech BAS, Inc. to provide on-call general engineering services to SWMD. With the recent changes in regulations, including anticipated activities for implementation of State Assembly Bill 1383, the significantly increased pace at which new airspace capacity is needed and the need for additional engineering support services to respond to time sensitive operational and regulatory issues, the additional resources are necessary to continue to provide timely, quality, and cost-effective engineering services and products. Therefore, SWMD desires to increase the approved aggregate budget and contracts to provide the multiple various engineering services required.
The recommended amendments support the County and the Chief Executive Officer’s goals and objectives of operating in a fiscally responsible and business-like manner by efficiently obtaining the most reasonable cost of services and providing for the safety of County residents by operating and maintaining the County’s disposal system.
Review for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was conducted by the Department of Public Works Environmental Management Division. It was determined that the activities in the contract are not considered a “project” as defined in Section 15378 of CEQA Guidelines and no further environmental analysis is necessary.
The County maintains the right to terminate the Contract(s) for convenience upon 30 calendar days’ written notice.
PROCUREMENT
On January 16, 2019, SWMD released a Request for Proposal for On-Call General Engineering Services for landfills and disposal sites to provide as needed engineering and regulatory support services. As a result of the procurement process, contracts were awarded to the seven consultant firms. The recommended amendments to the on-call general engineering service contracts for these seven consultants will retain the original term until September 9, 2024.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Maria Insixiengmay, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on August 3, 2022; Purchasing (Jason Cloninger, Lead Buyer, 387-8258) on August 3, 2022; Finance (Carl Lofton, Administrative Analyst, 387-5404) on August 26, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Paloma Hernandez-Barker, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on August 29, 2022.