To: Board of Directors
From: Lewis Broschard, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Report Title: Issue Request for Qualifications and Request for Proposals for Selection of a Design-Build Contractor for Fire Station 9.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director, on behalf of the Fire Chief, to issue a Request for Qualifications and a Request for Proposals for the selection of a design-build contractor for the new Fire Station 9, located at 209 Center Ave., Pacheco.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no immediate fiscal impact from these actions. The selection of firms and the awarding of contracts will be presented to the Board for approval at upcoming meetings. It is expected that all contracts will be paid from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District’s Capital Construction Fund.
BACKGROUND:
Typically, public projects are awarded competitively to the lowest bidder through a design-bid-build process. In 2015, the state legislature passed legislation permitting local agencies to use a design-build project procurement method. Under this approach, local agencies rank bidders based on the best value criteria specified in a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and Request for Proposals (RFP). The public contract code that authorizes design-build procurement requires the local agency’s governing board to approve its use.
Contra Costa County has successfully used design-build procurement on several projects, most recently the new Administration Building and Emergency Operations Center. The two main advantages of design-build are faster project completion and improved design, as the final design can be modified more easily during the construction process.
Staff will solicit responses to the RFQ for the project and create a shortlist of qualified design-build entities. Then, staff will seek responses to the RFP from those shortlisted entities and rank them based on the criteria in the RFP. After completing the RFQ and RFP processes for the combined projects, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (District) will present a recommendation to the Board for selecting the design-build contractor.
Fire Station 9 is a single-story, single-company station located at 209 Center Ave, Pacheco. Built in 1956, the current station is outdated in supporting staff and equipment for a modern fire protection agency. It will be demolished, and a new station will be constructed on the same site.
The new Fire Station 9 will be a two-story, double-company station spanning 15,400 square feet. It will feature offices and crew quarters capable of housing up to nine fire personnel during 48-hour shifts, along with an apparatus bay for storing emergency vehicles when they are not responding to calls.
Staff recommends that the Board approve the use of the design-build methodology for this project and authorize staff to start the process by issuing Requests for Qualifications to identify and qualify interested teams.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Not approving these actions could result in higher project costs due to the ongoing escalation of construction costs during the extended design and bidding phases under the traditional procurement method.