BOARD MEETING DATE: July 9, 2010
AGENDA NO. 36
REPORT:
Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee
SYNOPSIS:
Below is a summary of key issues addressed at the MSRCs meeting on June 17, 2010. The MSRCs next meeting is their annual offsite retreat with their Technical Advisory Committee to brainstorm the elements of their FY 2010-11 Work Program. The retreat will be held Thursday, July 15, 2010, at 10 a.m. at the McCoy Equestrian Center in Chino Hills.
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
Receive and file.
Henry Hogo
Assistant Deputy Executive Officer/
Science & Technology Advancement
Approved Minutes
The May 20, 2010 MSRC meeting minutes were approved by the MSRC at its June 17, 2010 meeting; they are attached for your information (Attachment 1).
Additional Funds Approved for Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives
The MSRC allocated $3 million for its FY 2008-09 Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives Program. A balance of $500,000 remains for allocation to the two qualified vendors, A-Z Bus Sales and BusWest, for public schools purchasing CNG or propane buses. At its June 17, 2010 meeting, the MSRC unanimously awarded A-Z Bus Sales an additional $80,000 to provide incentives for two propane buses for Inglewood Unified School District.
The MSRC also allocated $2 million in its FY 2009-10 Work Program for alternative fuel school bus incentives for private pupil transportation providers. This program is administered on the MSRCs behalf by the AQMD on a first-come, first-served basis and provides incentives so that private pupil transportation providers can comply with Rule 1195. Durham School Services recently applied for incentives for 47 CNG buses to fulfill orders within the San Bernardino county region. At its June 17, 2010 meeting, the MSRC unanimously awarded $1,997,500 to Durham School Services to provide $42,500 in incentives per bus. The remaining monies ($2,500) in the program will revert to the MSRCs Discretionary Fund.
The AQMD Board will consider both the above awards at its July 9, 2010 meeting.
Awards Under FY 2009-10 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program
As part of its FY 2009-10 Work Program, the MSRC released a $2.35 million Program Announcement to provide $35,000 incentives for the purchase or repower of heavy-duty on-road vehicles with alternative fuel engines certified by CARB at or below a 0.2 g/bhp-hr NOx emissions level. The Program included a $300,000 per county geographic minimum and funds were to be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis with applications received on the first day considered equal, with funding to be awarded on a pro-rated basis if applications received on the first day exceeded available funding. The RFP closed February 9, 2010, and 25 eligible applications requesting $13.69 million were evaluated. Since first-day funding requests totaled more than $8 million for 227 vehicles, pro-rated funding awards would be required. At its June 17, 2010 meeting, the MSRC unanimously awarded funding to 21 applications in the amount of $2,302,556. To ensure geographic minimums were met, Riverside county applications received full funding because the region only applied for funding for one vehicle incentive, and San Bernardino county applications were pro-rated to ensure the region received the full $300,000 per county geographic minimum. Applicants offered pro-rated awards will be given the opportunity to reduce the number of vehicles, but incentives will not exceed the $35,000 per-engine cap provided in the Program. The AQMD Board will consider these awards under the FY 2009-10 Work Program at its July 9, 2010 meeting.
Also as part of the FY 2009-10 Work Program, the MSRC had released an RFP providing $3.15 million to fund alternative fuel infrastructure projects. A total of 32 projects requesting more than $13 million were received in response. However, prior to the MSRC considering award recommendations from its Technical Advisory Committee, staff discovered an error in the scoring and ranking criteria of the RFP. It was determined by MSRC and AQMD staff including legal counsel that the error prevented accurately scoring proposals and thus no awards could be made under the existing RFP. Two proposals were considered by the MSRC at its June 17, 2010 meeting. The first was to correct the errors in the RFP and re-release it. The second was to forego an alternative fuel infrastructure program for FY 2009-10 and roll the monies into a FY 2010-11 program considering that the MSRC was about to begin its FY 2010-11 Work Program development process. The MSRC unanimously elected to roll the monies into the FY 2010-11 Work Program; thus, no awards under the FY 2009-10 alternative fuel infrastructure program will be made.
CVAG Regional Street Sweeping Program
The Coachella Valley is currently seeking redesignation for PM10 attainment status with the U.S. EPA, and a key identified control measure in the Coachella Valleys PM10 Maintenance Plan would be continuation of a regional street sweeping program. The Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) is the agency responsible for implementing the regions street sweeping program. In the past CVAG had been using Federal CMAQ funds to support this Program but these funds are no longer allowed for operational program costs. Consequently, earlier this year CVAG approached the MSRC for emergency funding of their street sweeping program, and in February 2010 the MSRC awarded CVAG a $400,000 sole-source contract to assist them with their immediate funding shortfall to cover costs incurred that are no longer considered eligible under the CMAQ Program. CVAG, however, only has sufficient funds to continue their existing program through the end of August.
For several consecutive years, the MSRC has included a Local Government Match Program in their annual work programs, providing matching funds to jurisdictions receiving AB 2766 city subvention funds. It was proposed that CVAG be afforded the opportunity to participate in a future local government match program since they are currently using AB 2766 subvention funds from their member jurisdictions to implement regional street sweeping. A hybrid option was also proposed to consider a modest sole-source award for bridge funding. At its June 17, 2010 meeting, the MSRC unanimously agreed to consider affording CVAG the opportunity to participate in a future Local Government Match Program with other eligible proposers but did not approve a subsequent sole-source award. They felt given the AQMD Boards recent award to CVAG in the amount of $400,000 that CVAGs immediate need for bridge funding could be addressed, at least until the MSRCs Local Government Match Program was released.
Approve FY 2010-11 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 17, 2010, the MSRC adopted its FY 2010-11 Administrative Budget in the amount of $648,101, which is more than $46,000 below the five percent cap. As part of the adoption of the FY 2010-11 Administrative Budget, the MSRC included an allocation of $58,880 for miscellaneous expenditures, such as postage, office supplies and equipment, advertising, travel, etc. These funds will be transferred to the Science & Technology Advancements FY 2010-11 Budget. Expenses will be tracked and any funds not expended by the end of the fiscal year will be returned to the MSRC. The AQMD Board will consider authorization of the fund transfer at its July 9, 2010 meeting.
Received and Approved Final Reports
The MSRC received and approved one final report for City of San Bernardino Contract #MS08014, which provided $390,000 towards 13 natural gas refuse trucks.
All final reports are filed in the AQMDs 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
The MSRC considered contract modification requests and took the following unanimous actions:
1. For Administrative Services Cooperative Contract #MS09001, which provides $225,000 towards the purchase of 15 CNG taxicabs, approval of a one-year no-cost contractual term extension;
2. For City of Inglewood Contract #ML07045, which provides $75,000 towards the purchase of three heavy-duty natural gas vehicles, approval to substitute two propane aerial trucks for two CNG aerial trucks; and
3. For Haaland Internet Productions Contract #MS05070, which provides $92,715 for design, hosting and maintenance of the MSRCs website, approval to implement website upgrades and a $4,700 contract value increase for the upgrades.
The last two modifications are subject to AQMD Board approval and have been included with other contract awards and modifications on the AQMD Boards July 9, 2010 agenda for consideration.
Contracts Administrators Report
The MSRCs AB 2766 Contracts Administrator provides a written status report on all open contracts from FY 2002-03 through the present. The Contracts Administrators Report for June 2010 is attached for your information (Attachment 2).
Attachments (EXE, 315k)
Attachment 1: Approved 5/20/10 MSRC Minutes
Attachment 2: June 2010 Contracts Administrators Report