The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 05/16/2000 - RESOLUTION 2000-69 APPROVING AN EXEMPTION TO THE U AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 20 • DATE: May 16, 2000 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL Jim OTleill STAFF: Joe Frank SUBJECT esolution 2000-69 Approving an Exemption to the Use of a Competitive Process for Completion of the Northern Colorado Regional Communities I-25 Corridor Plan. 1 j RECOMMENDATION: ! Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution. I i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This request is for an exemption to the competitive purchasing process requirements in order to contract with Clarion Associates, as the lead consultants for the preparation of the Northern Colorado Regional Communities I-25 Corridor Plan. • The cost of preparing the Northern Colorado Regional Communities I-25 Corridor Plan is shared amongst the seven funding jurisdictions. The City's share ($137,280) was provided for in the 1999 budget. The contract amount will not exceed$220,000. BACKGROUND: The City of Fort Collins entered into a contract with Balloffet& Associates, Inc. (`Balloffet") in October of 1999 to prepare a Northern Colorado Regional Communities I-25 Plan (the "Project"). Eight jurisdictions have joined together to prepare a plan for the 30-mile stretch of I- 25 located between County Road 58, north of Fort Collins, to a point two miles south of Highway 56 (Berthoud Exit). The eight participating jurisdictions consist of Larimer County, Weld County, Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, Berthoud, Timnath and Johnstown. Each jurisdiction's share in the cost of the Project is based on population, as has been done in the past on other regional projects. The total cost for the project is estimated at $300,000. Weld County declined to share in the cost of the project, but did agree to participate. The City of Fort Collins has agreed to act as Project Manager. The primary purpose of this project is to establish a common vision for the corridor, and will include the following elements: Aesthetics — preparation of design guidelines and standards that can be readily adapted and incorporated by each participating community. 1. Local Transportation - preparation of plans, policies and standards for the local transportation system that will be needed by future growth. DATE: May 16, 2000 2 ITEM NUMBER. 20 Open Lands/Natural Areas — consideration of protection and/or preservation strategies for open lands and natural areas along the corridor. In a parallel process, the City of Fort Collins is preparing a subarea plan that will provide a more focused look at their segment of the interstate, including future land use. Recently, the Project Manager for the Project resigned from Balloffet & Associates, Inc. along with nine other staff. The City gave notice to Balloffet of the termination of its contract with Balloffet on April 27, 2000. The City's options are to try to re-contract with Balloffet to get the work completed, cancel the contract and issue another request for proposal, or contract with a firm that closely replicates the original consulting team and maintains the project timeline through an exception to the competitive process requirements provided in the City Code. Balloffet has not submitted a proposal to the City for the completion of the Project by Balloffet. Issuing a new request for proposal for the Project is impractical because of the amount of time required to select another firm and then mobilize the new contractor to proceed with the work. If a new competitive process were to be used, the Project could not meet its August 2001, completion date. It is important to maintain this date to sustain the momentum of the project, to maintain credibility with the public, and to ensure that the intergovernmental partnership will remain intact. The City received a proposal from Clarion Associates ("Clarion") for the remainder of the Project. Clarion is the firm that the original project manager, Ben Herman, recently joined. Clarion will use the same consulting team that worked on the Project for the past 7 months and Ben Herman will continue to be the project manager. Clarion will subcontract with other key personnel on the Project through their new firms. The revised scope of work is the same as the original one. City staff has conferred with its partner jurisdictions in the Project, and they have concurred in the proposed approach. The City will benefit from issuing this contract as an exception to the competitive process because the same team will continue work on the project, the transition will be seamless to the project participants, and the timeline for completion will remain the same. As this request for exception to the competitive process is over $100,000 it requires Council approval. The total contract will not exceed $220,000. There is approximately $220,000 available from the original purchase order for Balloffet&Associates, Inc. . RESOLUTION 2000-69 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROVING AN EXEMPTION TO THE USE OF A COMPETITIVE PROCESS FOR COMPLETION OF THE NORTHERN COLORADO REGIONAL COMMUNITIES I-25 CORRIDOR PLAN WHEREAS, the jurisdictions of Larimer County, Weld County, Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, Berthoud,Timnath, and Johnstown have joined together to prepare a plan(the"Project") for a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 25 between County Road 58 north of Fort Collins,to a point two miles south of Highway 56; and WHEREAS,the plan will address issues of joint concern including aesthetics,transportation, and open land/natural areas protection; and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Collins agreed to act as Project Manager; and WHEREAS, in October of 1999, the City of Fort Collins entered into a contract with Balloffet& Associates, Inc. (`Balloffet"), for preparation of a plan; and WHEREAS, due to changes in personnel at Balloffet, including the departure of project managers and other principal staff assigned to the Project, City staff determined that Balloffet was no longer capable of satisfactorily completing the Project; and WHEREAS, on April 27, 2000, the City gave notice to Balloffet that the City was terminating that contract, effective May 11, 2000; and WHEREAS, principal staff involved in the Project are currently available through Clarion Associates,which is otherwise capable of continuing the Project to completion without further delay or interruption; and WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 8-161(d)(1)b of the Code of the City of Fort Collins authorizes the Purchasing Agent to contract for services without competition if,although there exists more than one (1) responsible source, a competitive process cannot be used or, if used, will result in a substantially higher cost to the city, will otherwise injure the city's financial interests, or will substantially impede the city's administrative functions or the delivery of services to the public;and WHEREAS,the Purchasing Agent has determined that the purchase of consulting services from Clarion Associates falls within the scope of this exception,because the use of a competitive process to contract for the services remaining in the Project would likely result in substantial delays in the completion of the Project, and as a result would increase the costs of the Project and impede the delivery of services to the public and the participating jurisdictions; and WHEREAS, the Purchasing Agent has submitted the requisite justification for said determination to the City Manager for approval; and • WHEREAS, the City Manager has reviewed and approved the justification for this acquisition; and WHEREAS, Section 8-161(d)(3) requires approval of this purchasing method by City Council for items costing more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars($100,000)priorto acquisition; and WHEREAS, City staff has conferred with its partner jurisdictions in the Project, and they have concurred in the proposed approach. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that the Purchasing Agent is hereby authorized to contract with Clarion Associates for the completion of the Northern Colorado Regional Communities 1-25 Corridor Plan for an amount not to exceed $220,000, as an exception to the competitive purchasing requirements pursuant to Section 8-161(d)(1)b of the City Code. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 16th day of May,A.D. 2000. Mayor ATTEST: Chief Deputy City Clerk