ORDINANCE appropriating $750,000.00 out of Metro Projects Construction DDSRF as an additional appropriation; approving and authorizing first amendment to Professional Engineering Services Contract between the City of Houston and GUNDA CORPORATION, LLC for Negotiated Work Orders for Pre-engineering for Street and Traffic (Thoroughfares) Improvements (Approved by Ordinance No. 2014-502)

SUBJECT:     First Amendment & Additional Appropriation to Professional Engineering Services Contract between the City of Houston and Gunda Corporation, LLC for Negotiated Work Orders for Pre-Engineering of Street and Traffic (Thoroughfares) Improvements.   WBS No. N-320100-0010-3

RECOMMENDATION:  (Summary)

It is recommended that City Council pass an Ordinance approving First Amendment and appropriating additional funds for a Professional Engineering Services Contract between the City of Houston and Gunda Corporation, LLC

PROJECT NOTICE/JUSTIFICATION:  This contract is to perform pre-engineering of street, drainage and paving improvements.  Developing specific detailed projects to address the identified highest needs will provide candidate projects with both costs and benefits defined for citywide comparison and ranking for implementation.

DESCRIPTION/SCOPE: This project is part of the Street, Drainage and Paving Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and is required to provide professional engineering services to support development of candidate projects for programming in future years.  Pre-Engineering is performed to investigate, verify, and define paving and drainage construction/reconstruction projects for thoroughfare improvements.

LOCATION: 

The project location and limits will be established by the work order.

PREVIOUS HISTORY AND SCOPE:   City Council approved the original contract on May 28, 2014 under Ordinance No. 2014-502.The scope of services consisted of the execution of pre-engineering services and preparation of an engineering report.  The pre-engineering services is to develop specific detailed solutions to address highest needs areas and to define the candidate projects with detailed scopes, cost estimates and benefits.  The consultant performed pre-engineering services on highest needs areas in FY15 and FY16 following the three-step process (Define Problem, Develop and Prioritize Alternative Solutions, and Develop Candidate Projects).

SCOPE OF THIS SUPPLEMENT AND FEE:  The scope of services for the first amendment and additional appropriation is unchanged from the original contract. The requested amendment is to change the Contract Term from two (2) years with an option for one (1) renewal term of two (2) additional years to four (4) years with an option for one (1) renewal term of two (2) additional years. The requested additional appropriation will allow the consultant to perform pre-engineering services for highest needs areas to develop FY17, FY18, and FY19 CIP Candidate Projects.  Pre-Engineering Design Services and Additional Services fees will be negotiated on a reimbursable basis with a not-to-exceed agreed upon amount based on the scope of the work order.  The total Pre-Engineering Design Services and Additional Services Fee under the additional appropriation is $750,000.

PAY OR PLAY PROGRAM:  The proposed contract requires compliance with the City’s ‘Pay or Play’ ordinance regarding health benefits for employees of City contractors.  In this case, the Contractor provides health benefits to eligible employees in compliance with City policy.

M/WBE INFORMATION:  The M/WBE goal for the project is set at 24%. The original contract amount totals $1,000,000. The consultant has been paid $732,015.36 (73.2%) to date. Of this amount $185,462.67 (25.3%) has been paid to M/WBE sub-consultants to date. Assuming approval of the requested additional appropriation, the contract amount will increase to $1,750,000.

The Consultant has proposed the following plan to achieve the MWBE goal:

ESTIMATED FISCAL OPERATING IMPACT:

Note: There is no direct fiscal operating impact.  This project/program will develop multiple CIP projects, which will have individual fiscal operating impacts.  The fiscal operating impact for each CIP project will be determined and provided when the project is submitted for City Council funding approval in the future.  

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Dale A. Rudick, P.E., Director

Department of Public Works and Engineering

$750,000 from METRO Projects Construction DDSRF Fund 4040

Mark L. Loethen, P.E., CFM

Phone: (832) 395-2706