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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7135 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7135 July 1, 1986 top). To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Subject: SELECTION OF OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS Background Attached for your information are the "Principles of Consultant Selec- tion and Compensation for Transportation and Public Works Projects"and "Procedure for Employment of Technical Consultants" by the City of Fort Worth's Transportation and Public Works Department. Staff from the Transportation and Public Works Department and the City Manager's Office have met several times since the successful bond elec- tion in March to prepare this policy and procedures. Careful thought and coordination went into developing a policy that would allow a fair and equitable distribution of consultant work among qualified area firms. The purpose of a consultant selection process is to secure the services of a qualified consultant for the City on a particular pro- ject. Consultants will not be required to have an office within the City limits of Fort Worth; however, to allow for close coordination, an office should be located within a reasonable proximity of the City limits of Fort Worth. Another difference between this policy and past practices is the requirement that on projects $25,000 and over, the consultant will be required to address participation by minority and women-owned busines- ses. It has long been the Transportation and Public Works Department's policy to distribute consultant design work as widely and fairly as possible A review of the 1982-84 Bond Program design effort revealed that since January of 1982, the Transportation and Public Works Department has awarded 101 consultant contracts to 42 different firms for a total of $9,071,589. With Council concurrence of the policy and procedures as outlined, the Transportation and Public Works Department will immediately implement this selection policy. It is anticipated that this or a similar policy and procedure will be used in the future by other City departments that employ consultants. If additional information is desired, it will be furnished upon request. Douglas Harman City Manager DH:kcn ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS June 25, 1986 PRINCIPLES OF CONSULTANT SELECTION AND COMPENSATION ON TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS 1. The purpose of a consultant selection process is to secure the services of a qualified consultant for the City on a particular project. Consultants will not be required to have an office within the City limits of Fort Worth; however, to allow for close coordination, an office should be located within a reasonable proximity of the City limits of Fort Worth. 2. The City's architectural and engineering work should be distributed as widely and fairly as possible among qualified consultants on the basis of indicated interest, capabilities of project personnel, and previous or current experience in the project area. Poor performance on past City projects may be grounds for disqualification. 3. Selection of consultants to be recommended to the City Manager, will be by committee composed of representatives of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, the City department utilizing the design/service, and the City Manager's office. On major projects, the Assistant City Manager whose departmental assignment covers the user department, will also be included on this committee. Based on the project's complexity, the selection committee's size can range from three to seven members of the combined departments listed above. 4. Compensation for consultants services should be on the basis of the T.S.P.E. Manual for "General Engineering Services", A.S.C.E. Manual No. 45, the Texas Society of Architect's Manual for "Services of An Architect" or a fixed fee as may be appropriate. PROCEDURE FOR EMPLOYMENT OF TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS BY THE CITY OF FORT WORTH TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT GOAL: To employ a qualified consultant for each project based on —performance, qualified staff available for the project, and experience in the area, consistent with a fair and equitable distribution of the City's work. POLICY: No qualified firm will be excluded from consideration on City of Fort Worth work. The number and size of previous and current City contracts will be a factor in the selection process, pursuant to the City's effort to distribute work as widely and fairly as possible. For certain projects, proximity of office location may be a consideration to assure close coordination. Information on previous and current City contracts will be provided to the Selection Committee prior to interviews. 1. The decision to use a consultant for project design will be made by the Director of Transportation and Public Works in consultation with the City Manager's Office after appropriate consideration of (1) the nature of the project, (2) the amount of in-house resources available, and (3) the time schedule required for the project. 2. The Director of Transportation & Public Works will maintain a current file of all consultants who have indicated interest in performing work for the City. This file shall contain basic information including but not limited to: size of the firm, professional qualifications of personnel, type of service offered, previous experience and performance on similar and/or related projects and indicated interest. 3. When the Director of Transportation and Public Works determines that a consultant should be hired, the Deputy Director, Transportation and Public Works Department, will cause the roster of consultants to be reviewed by staff to develop a comprehensive list of consultants that appear to meet the necessary qualifications. The resulting list and any additional firms that the City Manager's office or the using department might want added will constitute the "long list". A. For projects that are wholly or partially funded with Federal funds, a request for proposal will be advertised in the official City newspaper in order to meet Federal requirements. Responding firms will also be added to the "long list". B. Pursuant to the City's goal for a fair and equitable distribution of the work, maximum opportunity will be given to qualified minority and women-owned businesses to participate in consultant contracts. 4. The Director of Transportation and Public Works will then appoint a screening committee of Transportation and Public Works staff, user department staff and City Manager's office staff and/or Disadvantaged Business Enterprises staff (DBE), to screen the "long list", review any other information that they may deem appropriate and to develop a "short list" of firms that will be asked to submit formal proposals. While the "short list" may consist of any number of firms that the screening committee may desire, it is suggested that on small to medium sized projects of normal complexity that the "short list" would be approximately three (3) firms and for large and/or relatively complex projects that the "short list" be from three (3) to five (5) firms. 5. Upon approval of the "short list" by the City Manager's office, the Deputy Director, Transportation and Public Works, will have a letter sent to each firm on the "short list" requesting a proposal. 6. The request for proposal would include the scope of the project, preliminary project cost estimate, and other pertinent information. If interested, the firm would submit an unpriced proposal which would include the following information: A. Name of Firm B. Experience with similar type of project work and list of previous clients and projects. C. Project manager, name and experience D. Project engineer/architect, name and experience 0011, E. Design staff assignment, name and experience F. Flow chart which would outline the expected completion times for each phase of the project. G. The consultant's understanding of the scope of the project. H. On projects $25,000 and over, the request for proposal will have specific minority and women-owned business (M/WBE) subcontracting language added and the consultants will submit this information as part of their unpriced proposals. 7. The Director of Transportation and Public Works will then appoint a completely separate consultant selection committee made up of Transportation and Public Works Department representative(s), user department representative(s) and City Manager's office, and/or DBE office, representative(s). The selection committee will review all proposals, provide a numerical selection ranking and make recommendations. 8. The selection ranking and the committee's recommendations will then be submitted to the Director of Transportation and Public Works who will transmit that information to the Assistant City Manager responsible for that department for approval. 9. After approval by the Assistant City Manager, the successful consultant will then be asked to submit a priced proposal for the project. The consultants not selected will also be notified at that time. On certain projects, the Director of Transportation and Public 2 100" Works may request that price information be included in a separate sealed envelope at the time proposals are submitted. 10. The Deputy Director, Transportation and Public Works will attempt to negotiate a suitable fee with the selected consultant. Compensation for consultants services should be on the basis of the T.S.P.E. Manual for "General Engineering Services", A.S.C.E. , Manual No. 45 or the Texas Society of Architect's Manual for "Services of An Architect" as may be appropriate. Since these manuals relate fee to cost of project, it is important that the project scope is defined clearly and cost estimates are accurate. For reconstruction projects involving streets and storm drains, building renovation projects or other instances where scope is not perfectly clear or is subject to change, the preferred method of compensation is on an hourly rate basis with a not-to-exceed fee specified. Fixed fee compensation is preferred where the scope of work can be defined clearly. On large projects where the scope of work is uncertain, a two-step procedure may be appropriate in which a consultant is engaged on a reimbursable basis to perform a concept study to define scope and costs and subsequently engaged for a fixed fee to perform the actual design for the project. 11. If the Deputy Director is unable to reach a fee agreement with the selected consultant, negotiations will be formally terminated by letter and the next highest rated proposal will be submitted to the Assistant City Manager for approval and step No. 10 repeated. 12. Following successful negotiation, the Director of Transportation and Public Works will cause to be prepared an M&C outlining the proposal from the consulting engineer/architect for City Council approval and requesting authority for the City Manager to execute a contract consistent with the M&C. 13. The Deputy Director will issue a Notice to Proceed to the consulting engineer/architect only after all parties have signed an appropriate contract and after appropriate and required insurance certificates have been approved. 14. Each of the steps above that involve screening and/or selection of firms shall be kept separate and will involve different people to the maximum extent possible. 15. Where prior engineering work has already been accomplished on a project or where projects are created as a result of emergency conditions, the use of the above described selection procedure may not be in the best interest of the City. In these cases, the Director of Transportation and Public Works shall prepare a written report detailing the reasons and circumstances and submit the report to its Assistant City Manager for approval. Written approval must be obtained from the Assistant City Manager before any provisions of the selection process can be waived. 3