To: Board of Directors
From: Lewis Broschard, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Report Title: Approve Modification of or an Addendum to the RFP for Fire Stations 90 and 94 to allow for the specification and requirement to use Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Removal Systems, Sargent Door Hardware, and Phoenix G2 US Digital Designs station alerting systems in the construction of those fire stations
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
REVIEW and APPROVE a modification of or an addendum to the RFP for the design-build of Fire Stations 90 and Fire Station 94, in accordance with Public Contract Code 3400(c)(2), that specifies and requires the use of Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Removal Systems, Sargent Door Hardware, and Phoenix G2 US Digital Designs Station Alerting Systems in the construction of those fire stations in order to match other products currently in use.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CCCFPD Capital Construction Fund and Measure X contributions
BACKGROUND:
The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (District) will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the selection of a design-build entity to construct Fire Station 90 and Fire Station 94. Fire Station 90 will be located at 2717 Empire Avenue, and Fire Station 94 will be located at 739 First Street in Brentwood.
The construction of these fire stations will be in accordance with the Public Contract Code. Public Contract Code Section 3400 (c) (2) allows a designated material or brand to be specified in an RFP if the awarding authority makes a finding that its purpose is in order to match other products in use on a particular public improvement either completed or in the course of completion.
The RFP for Fire Stations 90 and 94 will specify the following three products: Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Removal Systems, Sargent Door Hardware, and Phoenix G2 US Digital Designs Station Alerting Systems.
Plymovent vehicle exhaust removal systems are currently being used at existing fire stations. They connect to fire apparatus via specialized connections and remove vehicle exhaust from the building. Vehicle exhaust systems are necessary to address health and safety concerns related to diesel exhaust exposure in fire stations. Standardization and interoperability of fire apparatus necessitate the continued use and installation of Plymovent exhaust systems in our new fire stations.
The District uses Sargent Door Hardware to maintain a master key system across all facilities. This allows personnel access to multiple sites based on assigned key levels. This level of security and accessibility requires the District to use door hardware from one manufacturer. As Sargent door hardware is used at existing District facilities, the new fire stations will need to have Sargent door hardware.
Phoenix G2 US Digital Designs (USDD) Station Alerting Systems are used to alert firefighters in the fire station of the need to respond to a call for service. The District has started transitioning from our previous station alerting system, which is functionally and technologically obsolete, to the USDD system. USDD is integrated with our Central Square Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), and the requisite hardware has been purchased and implemented. All new District fire stations will need to include the USDD system to ensure uniformity and efficient communication, enabling the CAD to interface seamlessly with a singular fire station alerting system for all calls for service. The District plans to implement the auto-verbal dispatch feature at a later date, coinciding with a CAD rebuild. This will significantly expedite the dispatch process and reduce the overall dispatch workload.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this action is not approved, the District would not be able to specify the use of Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Removal Systems, Sargent Door Hardware, and Phoenix G2 US Digital Designs Station Alerting Systems at Fire Stations 90 and 94. This would impact the standardization and interoperability of fire apparatus, fire station alerting, and needed access to fire stations.