AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 09/16/2020
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration to award Request for Proposal 21-004SB and approval of a Professional Services Agreement with Rincon Consultants, Inc. in the amount of $151,723 for the General Plan Housing Element Update for the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment for Planning Period 2021-2029.
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
a. Award RFP 21-004SB for the General Plan Housing Element Update for the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment for Planning Period 2021-2029 to Rincon Consultants, Inc. of Los Angeles, CA in the amount of $151,723 pursuant to Formal Bidding Procedures for Non-Public Projects, Corona Municipal Code 3.08.110 based upon the findings noted in this report.
b. Authorize the City Manager or the Community Development Director to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Rincon Consultants, Inc. in the amount of $151,723 for the General Plan Housing Element Update for the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment for Planning Period 2021-2029.
c. Authorize the City Manager or the Community Development Director to negotiate and execute agreement renewals and any extensions and/or amendments to this Agreement which are either non-substantive or are otherwise in compliance with the City Council actions hereunder.
d. Authorize the Purchasing Manager to issue a purchase order to Rincon Consultants, Inc. in the amount of $151,723 for the General Plan Housing Element Update for the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment for Planning Period 2021-2029.
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ANALYSIS:
Reason for RFP21-004SB and Professional Services Agreement
The proposed Professional Services Agreement (PSA) is for the preparation of the City’s General Plan Housing Element Update. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65588, state law requires regional and local General Plan Housing Elements to be updated periodically to reflect a community’s housing needs. The General Plan Housing Element is mandated by the State to be updated every eight years in accordance with the State’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment cycle, commonly known as RHNA. The City of Corona’s Housing Element was last updated in October 2013 for the 5th Cycle RHNA for planning period 2013 through 2021. The City’s Housing Element was also certified by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
The regional housing needs for the entire state is determined by HCD. The regional housing needs identifies the number of housing units that need to be built within each regional and local jurisdiction according to income category. The income categories include very low, low, moderate, and above moderate incomes based on the county’s average median income. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65584.01, HCD is required to issue each regional association of governments a regional housing needs determination. Riverside County, which includes the City of Corona, is located within the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region. HCD in October 2019 issued SCAG its final 6th Cycle RHNA determination of 1,341,827 housing units and approved SCAG’s RHNA methodology in March 2020. The 6th Cycle RHNA is for planning period October 2021 through October 2029.
Although the City has not yet been issued its official RHNA allocation, SCAG’s Regional Board adopted the final draft RHNA allocation on March 5, 2020. SCAG’s draft RHNA allocation for the City of Corona is 6,078 units. The breakdown includes 1,748 very low income, 1,038 low income, 1,094 moderate income, and 2,198 above-moderate income units. The City expects to receive its official RHNA allocation from SCAG in February 2021. Based on experience, the City needs 12 months to complete the Housing Element Update in order to meet the October 2021 deadline assigned by HCD.
The Housing Element Update will be prepared in accordance with state law and will address housing needs, sites inventory and analysis, evaluation of housing constraints and program requirements that implement the goals and policies of the Housing Element to encourage and facilitate the production of housing units for all income sectors of the population including housing for special needs groups. Public outreach is also included as part of the process. Pending the status of the health crisis associated with COVID-19, public engagement will occur online using surveys and virtual public workshops. However, the City will be prepared to transition to in-person public workshops when the time permits.
RFP21-004SB
The Purchasing Division on July 8, 2020, issued RFP20-004SB. The RFP was advertised in the Sentinel Weekly News on July 8, 2020 and posted on the City’s Planet Bids website. Purchasing solicited 109 consultants once the RFP was released. Seventeen (17) consultants downloaded the RFP but at the close of the submission date on July 29, 2020, the City received one proposal from Rincon Consultants. The City’s evaluation team consisted of Community Development Director Joanne Coletta, Planning Manager Jay Eastman, and Administrative Services Manager Cynthia Lara. The evaluation of the proposal was based on the following criteria.
1. Completeness of Response (Pass/Fail) - 0 Points.
2. Qualification of Firm - 10 Points.
3. Qualification of Personnel - 40 Points.
4. Work Plan/Project Understanding and Approach - 40 Points.
5. Value (Price for Scope of Work) - 10 Points.
After a thorough evaluation of the proposal, the City’s evaluators selected the proposal submitted by Rincon Consultants, Inc. A summary of the scores provided by the evaluators are shown in the following table.
|
Evaluator |
Score Summary |
|
Joanne Coletta |
84 |
|
Jay Eastman |
74 |
|
Cynthia Lara |
88 |
Rincon Consultants, Inc. has experience in working with public agencies on preparing planning documents, which includes General Plan updates and Housing Element updates. Additionally, Rincon Consultants, Inc. will be using Veronica Tam and Associates (VTA) as a subconsultant in preparing the City’s Housing Element Update. VTA has extensive experience in preparing Housing Elements for public agencies. VTA has prepared more than 100 Housing Element updates for various jurisdictions in the SCAG, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG), and Fresno Council of Governments (FCOG).
Because the City only received one proposal, Staff felt it was important to hear from some of the other consultants on why they did not submit a proposal. The Purchasing staff contacted some of the consultants that downloaded the RFP but did not submit a proposal. The following are a few of the responses:
“We were sad not to bid due to timing and capacity issues.”
“We decided not to pursue this opportunity because of existing projects and workload prevented us from preparing a quality submittal the City of Corona deserves. We look forward to working with the City in the future.”
“We didn’t feel well positioned and had some scheduling constraints that led to us to not submitting a proposal.”
“This RFP does not fall within our field of expertise.”
Although only one proposal was submitted, Rincon Consultants Inc., has demonstrated to City staff based on their proposal that the firm is experienced and capable of preparing the City’s Housing Element Update.
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Not applicable.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The City’s Capital Improvement Project Budget for Fiscal Year 2020/2021 included funds in CIP Account 110 69060 (General Plan/Climate Action Plan Update) in the amount of $300,000 for the preparation of the City’s Housing Element Update. The proposal by Rincon Consultants, Inc. is $151,723.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
The execution of the contract itself is not a project governed by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); however, the General Plan Housing Element Update will be accompanied by an environmental analysis pursuant to CEQA which is included in the scope of work and budget of the proposal.
PREPARED BY: JOANNE COLETTA, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY: SCOTT BRIGGS, PURCHASING SPECIALIST 5
REVIEWED BY: ROGER BRADLEY, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY: JACOB ELLIS, CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Professional Services Agreement - Rincon Consultants, Inc.
2. Exhibit 2 - RFP21-004SB General Plan Housing Element Update
3. Exhibit 3 - RFP21-004SB General Plan Housing Element Update Addendum No. 1