TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director - Planning, Building & Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Christina Adamson, Deputy Director - Planning, Building & Environmental Services
SUBJECT: Approval of Amendment No. 8 to Agreement No. 170518B with Interwest Consulting Group
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve and authorize Amendment No. 8 to Agreement No. 170518B with Interwest Consulting Group to extend the terms of the agreement to June 30, 2026, with an automatic renewal for no more than two (2) additional years, to assist with building and code compliance plan review as needed with no change to the annual maximum. (No Fiscal Impact; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
On August 3, 2006, the County entered into an agreement with Interwest Consulting Group to assist with the review of building plans and code compliance inspections. In July of 2007, the agreement was amended to increase the maximum yearly amount to $50,000 per fiscal year. In December 2007, the agreement was amended again, increasing the maximum yearly contract amount to $150,000. In May 2014, the agreement was amended to a yearly amount of $200,000, not to exceed a total amount of $600,000. In June of 2015, the agreement was amended to increase the yearly maximum amount by $50,000 for a new yearly contract maximum of $250,000. At that time, no change was made to the maximum limit paid under the agreement of $600,000. In November 2017, the Board approved Amendment No. 5 to extend the terms of this agreement through June 2018 with an automatic renewal extending through June 2020, with no change in the annual maximum of $250,000. In April 2020, the Board approved Amendment No. 6 to extend the terms of this agreement through June 2022 with an automatic renewal extending through June 2024, with no change in the annual maximum of $250,000. In March 2023, Board approved Amendment No. 7 to increase the maximum yearly contract amount to $350,000.
Interwest Consulting has been crucial in our ability to retain our plan review performance goals and has proved to the County over the years that they are able to provide us with competent and timely services. The option to use a contractor when needed provides flexibility to handle staffing and response times for the spikes in permitting, plan review, and field construction inspections.
Interwest is not a sole source contract. In recent years, the level of construction activity has been fairly high and the availability of experienced plans examiners has been very limited. Planning Building and Environmental Services (PBES) currently has standing contracts with two other building plan review firms (West Coast Code Consultants and CSG Consultants) with maximum annual amounts ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 per year. This has provided staff with options so that applications can be processed quickly by routing them to available consultants when our staffing levels don’t support timely response. If the workload significantly decreases and/or increases in the coming year, we can easily adjust our use of these contracts, as there is no guaranteed minimum amount, and rather a set maximum amount annually.
The Building Division collects a plan review fee from the applicant which fully covers the cost of these outside plan review services.
Requested Action:
1. Approve and authorize Amendment No. 8 to Agreement No. 170518B with Interwest Consulting Group to extend the terms of the agreement to June 30, 2026, with an automatic renewal for no more than two (2) additional years, to assist with building and code compliance plan review as needed with no change to the annual maximum.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.