To: Board of Supervisors
From: Monica Nino, County Administrator
Report Title: Approve design contract for East County Service Center (ECSC) Project
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
AUTHORIZE the use of progressive design build procurement process for the East County Service Center (ECSC) Project; APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Administrator or designee to execute a contract with Webcor Construction L.P., a Delaware Limited Partnership, in an amount not to exceed $3,100,000 for preconstruction design and services for the ECSC Project in Brentwood, CA 94513; and AUTHORIZE the County Administrator, or designee, to approve final plans, specifications and design documents necessary to implement and construct the ECSC Project. (General Fund Capital Reserve 100%)
FISCAL IMPACT:
The ECSC Project is part of the 20-year Capital Facilities Master Plan approved by the Board of Supervisors in September 2022. The total project budget is currently estimated to be $130,000,000. The design and preconstruction contract is $3,100,000. The project will be funded through General Fund reserves, primarily from the General Fund Capital Reserve, with additional funds pulled from General Fund unassigned fund balance, or other sources, as needed.
BACKGROUND:
The Capital Facilities Master Plan, adopted by the Board of Supervisors on September 20, 2022, calls for the construction of service centers in the three main geographical regions, East, Central and West, of Contra Costa County. Based on the continued rapid population growth and a lack of existing County owned facilities in the area, the East County Service Center (ECSC) was approved as the first of these regional service centers to be constructed.
The project vision is to provide a new integrated County service center for the residents of East County; that is convenient, innovative, accessible and an anchor to the community; by offering a full range of public services in a flexible, safe, and welcoming environment. The County owns six vacant and undeveloped parcels located on Technology Way in the City of Brentwood. Since 2011 these parcels had been identified as a potential location for a regional service center. The County was also able to purchase an adjoining five-acre parcel to increase the project area.
With East County being identified as the fastest growing region, up 25% from 2010-2020 as compared to Central or West County, county residents in this region have the farthest to travel to access County services and often need to visit multiple facilities for these services. Additionally, East County is home to the second largest population of County staff and has the lowest number of County facilities. East County constituents have been requesting closer and more accessible co-located departments to better serve the communities and constituents. County staff will also be served by the ECSC as it will provide many staff with a work location closer to their residence thereby reducing both commute times and vehicle miles traveled.
With the ECSC, the County hopes to better serve the County’s population, increase utilization of real estate, and consolidate County facilities. This will be the first regional service center of its kind for the County, co-locating nine different County Departments in one location. This building will increase resource sharing and collaboration of services between departments to improve service delivery. Key departmental adjacencies will provide for safer public and social
support services and utilization of technology should support both constituents and County staff. The facility will also provide indoor and outdoor spaces for hosting public and community training, events, and the like, bringing life to the building and surrounding neighborhood, creating a true one-stop, all-inclusive service center.
The East County Service Center is envisioned to be a three-story, approximately 120,000 square foot structure, though the design may evolve during the preconstruction design and costing process. Utilizing the Progressive Design-Build delivery method, this project will consist of two phases, a design and costing phase and a construction phase. Today’s action is the approval of the design and costing phase. This phase will last approximately six months. At the end of this phase, staff will return to the Board for the approval of the construction contract which will include both the final cost of construction as well as the approval of the overall total budget for the project.
The new County administrative building will house approximately 440 staff and provide services from the following departments:
1. Employment & Human Services Department
2. Contra Costa Health
3. District Attorney
4. Public Defender
5. Probation
6. Clerk Recorder & Registrar of Voters
7. Veteran Services
8. Board of Supervisors, District 3
9. Department of Information Technology
Final numbers of staff and the participating departments may change over the course of the design phase but are not expected to deviate significantly from the above.
Request for Qualifications process:
The Public Works Department released the Request for Qualification (RFQ) on March 17, 2025. The RFQ release was communicated to known contractors, advertised in the Daily Builder, and published in the Contra Costa Times. It was posted to the Public Works Department Plan Room which is accessed via link on the Contra Costa County website under the Public Works Department’s Requests for Qualifications and Proposals page. The RFQ required the design-build teams to provide references from past projects. Specific questions requested information on quality of personnel and supervision, adherence to project schedule and budget. The County received nine responses from Design-Build teams. The project construction management firm Vanir Construction Management, Inc. and three County staff from Public Works, a Deputy Director and two Capital Project Management staff reviewed the information submitted to determine responsiveness and select four teams to be shortlisted for the final selection process. In summary, the qualifications-based evaluation included the following:
1. Evaluation of essential requirements and experience with similar projects for each DBE Team entity, including the General Contractor, Architect, Core Subcontractors and Core Subconsultants
2. Project references
3. DBE’s described project approach
The four shortlisted teams then each had two confidential meetings with County staff to help them prepare their final design phase cost and schedule submission. The teams then each had a final presentation and interview with a four-member County selection team. The selection team determined the proposal from Webcor Construction provided the best value to the County for the ECSC Project.
Webcor Construction’s fee for the Preconstruction Phase is $3,018,689 (breakdown as follows):
1. Design Services $2,664,414
2. Design Contingency $61,282
3. Plans & Reports $45,295
4. Design Phase Management $247,698
The contractor will be required to enter into a Project Labor Agreement in connection with the services to be performed under the construction phase of the contract.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to approve and award the design phase contract will delay the start of the ECSC Project and ultimately cost the County more money in cost escalation to construct at a future date.