REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 9/1/2021
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Fire Department
SUBJECT:
Title
Purchase three (3) Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks utilizing the National Purchasing Partners Contract # PS20225 Cooperative Contract.
End
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Fire Department requests authorization to issue a purchase order to Fouts Brothers Fire Equipment in the amount of $627,567 to purchase three (3) Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks. This purchase is required for the implementation of two (2) Low-acuity Paramedic Rescue Squads. The third unit will be utilized as a reserve unit. The implementation of these units has been approved and funded through the budgeting process.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
a. Authorize the Purchasing Manager to issue a purchase order to Fouts Brothers Fire Equipment in the amount of $627,567 to purchase three (3) Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks.
b. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to approve change orders up to 10% or $62,757 as authorized by Corona Municipal Code Section 3.08.080(I).
c. Make a determination under Corona Municipal Code Section 3.08.140(C) that competitive bidding has been satisfied based upon the reasons provided in this agenda report.
d. Authorize a one-time appropriation of $90,324 from the General Fund to the Vehicle Procurement Capital Improvement Project No. 6834.
Body
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
In 2019, Citygate Associates, LLC (Citygate) conducted a Standards of Coverage Assessment of the Corona Fire Department. This operational assessment of the Fire Department included an analysis of emergency incident volume, incident type, and fire service emergency response modeling. Finding #7 of the assessment identified that the overall number of simultaneous incidents has been increasing since 2014. Additionally, the Department has experienced a fifty percent increase in call volume over the past fifteen years. Currently, sixty-seven percent of the Fire Department’s call volume is for emergency medical services. Recommendation #3 of the assessment indicated the Department should closely track response time performance during peak hours; when response time and unit availability are impacted by high demand, the Department should consider a peak activity unit (engine or squad). The purchase of these Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks will allow for a more efficient deployment model focused on low-acuity medical responses. Low-acuity calls are those that do not require as many emergency responders to mitigate the emergency, sprains, minor lacerations, flu-like symptoms and mechanical falls are examples. With these low-acuity resources, unit availability will increase for response to more critical incidents rather than being assigned to such calls for care.
ANALYSIS:
As recommended by Citygate, the Fire Department has closely monitored emergency incident call volume. The volume of low-acuity calls is common Countywide and is not unique to the Corona Fire Department. Approximately thirty-nine percent of emergency medical service calls are low-acuity. The addition of these Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks will create an alternate response model which will serve the citizens of Corona more efficiently. The service delivery model uses smaller vehicles with fewer personnel to handle the non-emergent, low-acuity incidents. This alternate response model has been used successfully by numerous surrounding fire departments, including the City of Orange Fire Department, Riverside County Fire Department, Riverside City Fire Department, Chino Valley Fire Protection District, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and Ventura County Fire Department.
BASIS FOR DETERMINATION OF COMPETITIVE BIDDING:
The Fire Department requests City Council authorization to purchase three (3) Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks using the National Purchasing Partners Contract # PS20225 Cooperative Contract. Competitive bidding has been completed for this purchase pursuant to Corona Municipal Code (CMC) Section 3.08.140(c), which states as follows:
“(C) Competitive Bidding Already Completed. When the purchasing agent and the
authorized contracting party, with the approval of the City Manager, determines that:
a. A competitive bid procedure has been conducted by another public agency including, but not limited to, another local agency, the state through the California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS), the federal government through the General Services Administration (GSA), the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, or the Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA); and
b. The price to the city is equal to or better than the price to that public agency.”
Staff believes the above two required findings can be made for the following reasons:
a. Competitive Bid Procedure Already Conducted by Another Agency
On November 12, 2019, The League of Oregon Cities (LOC) issued Request for Proposals (RFP) 1905 for the purchase of Fire Apparatus. The (LOC) served as Lead Agency to solicit proposals for Fire Apparatus in cooperation with the National Purchasing Partners (NPP). The RFP was published in the Daily Journal of Commerce on November 11th, 2019 as well as USA Today on November 12th, 2019. Additionally, the RFP was posted to the following web sites: www.nppgov.com, www.orcities.org, www.findrfp.com. Eleven vendors from across the country submitted proposals by the due date of February 11, 2020, all of which were evaluated by the LOC staff.
Proposals were evaluated by LOC based on the criteria contained in the RFP. On May 6, 2020, the RFP was awarded.
b. Price to the City is Equal:
Pricing for the first vehicle is based on the NPP Contract #PS20225 with Fouts Brothers at a 10% discount off the advertised “list price”. The same pricing discounts are available to all City Municipalities participating in the NPP. The second and third vehicles are discounted an additional 1.5% and 2.5% respectively.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Funding for the recommended action in the amount of $600,000 is included in the Fiscal Year 2022 Vehicle Procurement Capital Improvement Project No. 6834. The approval of change orders up to 10% or $62,757 will allow for the project to continue if desired mechanical or technological advancements become available after the contract is established. Approval of the recommended action will result in an additional appropriation of $90,324 in the Vehicle Procurement CIP.
|
GENERAL FUND |
|
|
Adopted Budget - FY 2022 Estimated Revenue Over Expenditures |
$ 14,593,660 |
|
Less Measure X Reserves |
(13,144,418) |
|
Previously Approved/Revised Budget Adjustments (Net)* [Note 1] |
33,823 |
|
Current Estimated Revenue Over Expenditures |
1,483,065 |
|
Paramedic Rescue Squad Trucks - Appropriation |
(90,324) |
|
Revised Estimated Revenue Over Expenditures [Note 1] |
$ 1,392,741 |
|
|
|
|
Budget Balancing Measures Reserve - Estimated 06/30/2021 |
27,665,595 |
|
Estimated FY 2022 Change in Budget Balancing Measures Reserve |
1,392,741 |
|
Estimated Budget Balancing Measures Reserve - 06/30/22 |
$ 29,058,336 |
|
* Approved through Council Action or other operational process. |
|
Note 1: Includes other General Fund items on the September 1, 2021 agenda. |
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action involves the purchase of a vehicle, and there is no possibility that adopting this resolution will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: JUSTIN DETMER, FIRE CAPTAIN
REVIEWED BY: BRIAN YOUNG, FIRE CHIEF
Attachments:
EXHIBIT 1 - Fouts Squad Proposal
EXHIBIT 2 - Fouts NPP Master Price Agreement
EXHIBIT 3 - League of Oregon Cities Fire Apparatus Solicitation Synopsis
EXHIBIT 4 - League of Oregon Cities Fire Apparatus RFP
EXHIBIT 5 - Intergovernmental Cooperative Purchasing Agreement
EXHIBIT 6 - Citygate Standards of Coverage Assessment