BOARD MEETING DATE: July 10, 2009
AGENDA NO. 34

REPORT:

Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee

SYNOPSIS:

Below is a summary of key issues addressed at the MSRC’s regularly scheduled meeting on June 18, 2009. The MSRC met as a committee of the whole because a quorum was not present; actions will be ratified at their next meeting. The MSRC’s next regularly scheduled meeting is July 16, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room CC8.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file.
 

Jeri Voge
Sr. Deputy District Counsel

Approve Technical Advisor Services Contract

On May 1, 2009, the MSRC released an RFP to solicit Technical Advisor services for the next four years. One proposal was received in response, and evaluated by the MSRC’s Technical Advisory Committee (MSRC-TAC). The MSRC-TAC unanimously recommended awarding the contract to Raymond Gorski, and the MSRC approved the recommendation as a committee of the whole on June 18, 2009. The award is for a two-year period from October 1, 2009 and ending September 30, 2011, in the amount of $317,016, with a one time two-year option subject to MSRC and AQMD approval and additional funding allocation. Of the $317,016 amount, 75% ($237,762) will come from the respective FY work programs ($307,109) and 25% ($79,254) will come from the respective Administrative Budgets. This action must be ratified at the MSRC’s next meeting in July, and will be sent to the AQMD Board for consideration at its September 11, 2009 meeting.
 

Approve Additional Funds for Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives

The MSRC’s Alternative Fuel School Bus Program is administered by two vendors, A-Z Bus Sales and BusWest, and provides up to $60,000 for full-size CNG school buses and $40,000 for propane school buses. The MSRC’s FY 2008-09 Program allocated $3 million for public school buses. A-Z Bus Sales has to date been awarded and expended $1,480,000 for public school bus incentives. They recently received new purchase orders from Newhall School District for three propane school buses, and therefore requested a contract increase of $120,000 to fulfill the incentives for this order. The MSRC unanimously approved the request as a committee of the whole at its June 18, 2009 meeting. This action must be ratified at the MSRC’s next meeting in July, and will be sent to the AQMD Board for consideration at its September 11, 2009 meeting.
 

Approve FY 2009-10 Administrative Budget

Administrative costs for the AB 2766 Discretionary Program are limited to five percent annually per statute. Every year the MSRC adopts an Administrative Budget for the upcoming fiscal year to ensure costs remain within this limitation. On June 18, 2009, as a committee of the whole, the MSRC adopted its FY 2009-10 Administrative Budget in the amount of $660,953, which is nearly $30,000 below the five percent cap. As part of the adoption of the FY 2009-10 Administrative Budget, the MSRC also specifically approved an allocation or augmentation to its Technical Advisor’s contract, as mentioned above. This action must be ratified at the MSRC’s next meeting in July, and will be sent to the AQMD Board for consideration at its September 11, 2009 meeting.
 

Received and Approved Final Reports

As a committee of the whole, subject to ratification at its next meeting, the MSRC received and approved two final reports on June 18, 2009, as follows:

1. City of Whittier Contract #MS07056, which provided $32,000 towards the purchase of one natural gas refuse truck; and
2. Downs Energy Contract #MS04052, which provided $250,000 towards a new LNG/L-CNG refueling station.

All final reports are filed in the AQMD's library and a two-page summary of each closed project can be viewed in the electronic library on the MSRC's website at http://www.cleantransportationfunding.org.
 

Contract Modification Requests

As a committee of the whole, subject to ratification at its next meeting, on June 18, 2009, the MSRC considered four contract modification requests and took unanimous action, as follows:

1. For Orange County Transportation Authority Contract #PT05063, which provides $425,000 for diesel exhaust after-treatment retrofit program, approval to extend the deadline for completing device installations to 36 months from date of contract execution, which is a one-year extension from the current deadline;
2. For City of Los Angeles, General Services Dept. Contract #MS07012, which provides $50,000 for maintenance facility modifications, approval for ten-month, no-cost contract term extension;
3. For County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County Contract #MS07059, which provides $268,700 to demonstrate retrofit devices on off-road vehicle, approval for a one-year, no-cost contract term extension, modification to statement of work to remove retrofit of a Caterpillar motor grader and correction of a vehicle description, and reduction in contract value accordingly; and
4. For Altfillisch Contractors Inc. Contract #MS07064, which provides $160,000 to demonstrate retrofit devices on off-road vehicles, approval for a six-month, no-cost contract term extension and transfer of retrofit devices onto different vehicles.

The MSRC also discussed a request from Westport Fuel Systems for an increase of per-vehicle incentives from $35,000 to $60,000 for a total contract increase of $950,000 as well as a six-month, no-cost contract term extension to Contract #MS07003, which currently provides $1.5 million for advanced natural gas engine incentives. The MSRC discussed the request with Westport’s representative at the meeting, but took no action since a quorum was not present. The item was deferred until the MSRC’s July 16, 2009 meeting.
 

Contracts Administrator’s Report

The MSRC's AB 2766 Contracts Administrator provides a written status report on all open contracts from FY 2002-03 through the present. The Contracts Administrator’s Report for June 2009 is attached for your information.
 

Attachment (PDF, 253k)

Contracts Administrator’s Report