REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL May 12, 2016 FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director Development and Resource Management Department THROUGH: Mike Sanchez, Assistant Director Development and Resource Management Department BY: BRIAN T. LEONG, Building and Safety Services Manager Building and Safety Services Division SUBJECT ..Title Approve an amendment to the contract with Brooks-Ransom Associates, in an amount not to exceed $50,000 for professional engineering services to conduct structural engineering plan check services for Building and Safety customer projects. ..Body RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends approving the amendment to the contract with Brooks-Ransom Associates in an amount not to exceed $50,000 for professional engineering services to conduct structural engineering plan check services for Building and Safety customer projects. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Brooks-Ransom Associates is structural engineering consulting firm originally contracted on November 2015 to provide structural engineering plan check services for the Building and Safety Division for customer development projects. Due to the volume of new development projects, there is a need to continue services with said consultant to meet acceptable processing timelines. BACKGROUND On October 2015, the need for an additional resource to provide structural engineering plan check services arose due to a retirement of existing staff in the Building and Safety Services Division. After an exhaustive recruitment for a Professional Engineer to fill the vacant position in the Division, and projects falling behind, it was determined that a third party consultant should be retained for structural engineering plan check services to supplement the increasing backlog that the one existing staff member is tasked with as the recruitment continued. On November 2015 a contract with Brooks-Ransom was secured to provide professional plan check services in the amount of $50,000. Due to the volume of projects related to High Speed Rail relocations with specific timelines, as well as large scale developments with complex structural engineering components, additional funds are needed in order to process plan checks in a timely manner and provide a high level of customer service. The additional funds proposed will amend the original contract to an amount not to exceed $100,000. This will also give the Division the ability to retain services for special projects that require more attention and shorter timelines due to customer commitments. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS By the definition provided in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 the amendment of an agreement does not qualify as a "project" for the purposes of CEQA. LOCAL PREFERENCE Local preference was not implemented because this item is an amendment to an existing contract. FISCAL IMPACT No additional General Fund appropriations are required for this contract amendment. Attachments: Exhibit A: First Amendment to Agreement Exhibit B: Original Brooks-Ransom Contract 01160.0007/256668.1