City Council
Meeting: September 25, 2007
Agenda Item: ITEM
8-B ____
To: Mayor and City Council
From:
Subject: Award of a Contract to Purchase
Trolley Design Transit Coaches and Miscellaneous Spare Parts
Recommended
Action
Staff recommends that the City Council award Bid #2924 to North
American Bus Industries to purchase five compressed natural gas (CNG) powered
trolley design transit coaches and miscellaneous spare parts, with options to
purchase up to 25 additional coaches.
Executive
Summary
Mini Blue service
was implemented in FY 2006-07 to serve
Following extensive
public outreach and marketing research, the business community indicated a
preference to have trolley-style vehicles operate in the City’s commercial
districts. Procurement specifications
were developed to permit either standard transit coaches or trolley-styled
vehicles to be bid. Forty-eight bid
forms were mailed to vendors and three bids, shown in Attachment A, were
received and opened on June 28, 2007.
The total project
cost of $2,354,596, including contingencies, will be funded using federal,
state and county transit sales tax
funds.
Discussion
Background
In FY 2006-07, the Big Blue Bus implemented
Mini Blue community transit services in
BBB conducted extensive public outreach and market research during
the two year development of the Mini Blue service to determine what improvements
would encourage increased use of public transit. This included discussions with members of the
business community who were particularly interested in small, trolley-style buses
to operate on routes serving the City’s commercial districts. The community in general expressed a desire
for improved north/south mobility and improved transit coverage within the City
of
Using the information obtained from community interests, bid specifications
were developed to permit bids for either a standard transit coach or trolley-style
vehicle. The bid specified a vehicle length
of 30 feet or less, powered by alternative fuel or hybrid technology with as quiet
an engine as possible. Structuring the
bid to allow either vehicle type gave potential respondents greater flexibility
to offer a vehicle with the desired characteristics.
Previous Council Actions
City Council additionally directed staff to present options for Mini
Blue vehicle designs, as part of the budget adoption process on June 12, 2007.
Vendor Selection
In May 2007, the City published Notices Inviting Bids to
furnish and deliver five alternative fuel and alternative design transit
coaches in accordance with City specifications. Bid forms were mailed to forty-eight vendors
and notices were advertised in accordance with City Charter and Municipal Code
provisions. Three bids were received and
publicly opened on June 28, 2007 per Attachment A.
Bids were evaluated based on qualifications of the firm, cost
and price, completeness of response and a demonstration of each bus type. The
demonstrations were attended by both city employees and members of the business
community. Based upon these criteria, North American Bus Industries is recommended
as the best bidder.
Budget/Financial Impact
Funds
for this purchase are available in the account C410519.589000. The total project cost is $2,354,596. Project is funded in part through the Federal
Transit Administration (FTA) including $1.0 million obligated in FTA grant
CA-15-X115, $177,185 in FTA Section 5307 formula funds, $730,000 in Proposition
C 40% Discretionary funds, and $447,411 in Transportation Development Act funds. This
project is included in the Federal Transportation Improvement Plan.
Prepared
by:
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Approved: |
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Forwarded to Council: |
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Director
of Transit Services |
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P. City Manager |
