BOARD MEETING DATE: November 5, 2010
AGENDA NO. 16
PROPOSAL:
Approve Contract Modifications and Award under FYs 2003-04, 2008-09 and 2010-11 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Programs
SYNOPSIS:
The MSRC approved a replacement contract for regional rideshare database enhancements as part of the FY 2003-04 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program, as well as a contract modification for BusWest providing additional funds for alternative fuel school buses as part of the FY 2008-09 Work Program. As the initial elements of their FY 2010-11 Work Program, the MSRC approved a $1,500 contract increase for upgrades to their existing website, a $100,000 set aside for development of a new website, and a $2,250,000 allocation for an off-road diesel exhaust after-treatment demonstration program. The MSRC seeks AQMD Board approval of the FY 2010-11 Work Program elements as well as the contract modifications and award under the FYs 2003-04, 2008-09 and 2010-11 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Programs.
COMMITTEE:
Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review, October 21, 2010, Recommended for Approval
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
Approve new/replacement contract, as part of the FY 2003-04 Work Program, with Riverside County Transportation Commission in the amount of $225,000 to perform enhancements to the regional rideshare database, as described in this letter;
Approve a funding augmentation in an amount not to exceed $240,000, as part of the FY 2008-09 Work Program, to existing contract #MS09047 with BusWest under the Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives Program, using funds previously allocated to this Program but not yet awarded, as described in this letter;
Approve Partial FY 2010-11 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program with the following elements:
New MSRC Website Development, including hardware and subsequent two years’ hosting, maintenance and upgrades, totaling $100,000;
Off-Road Diesel Exhaust After-treatment Demonstration Program totaling $2,250,000;
Website Upgrades totaling $1,500.
Approve a $1,500 funding augmentation to existing contract #MS05070 with Haaland Internet Productions, for MSRC website development and maintenance, under the FY 2010-11 Work Program, as described in this letter;
Authorize MSRC the authority to adjust contract awards up to five percent, as necessary and previously granted in prior work programs; and
Authorize the Chairman of the Board to execute new and modified contracts under FYs 2003-04, 2008-09, and 2010-11 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Programs, as described above and within this letter.
Greg Winterbottom
Chair, MSRC
Background
In September 1990 Assembly Bill 2766 was signed into law (Health & Safety Code Sections 44220-44247) authorizing the imposition of an annual $4 motor vehicle registration fee to fund the implementation of programs exclusively to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles. AB 2766 provides that 30 percent of the annual $4 vehicle registration fee subvened to the AQMD be placed into an account to be allocated pursuant to a work program developed and adopted by the MSRC and approved by the Board.
FY 2003-04 Work Program
As an element of the FY 2003-04 Work Program, the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) was awarded a $225,000 contract to enhance the region’s rideshare database systems through the creation of a direct communications link between RCTC’s RidePro and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Metro’s) TripMaster. Among other features, the communications link will facilitate the access of transit itineraries through the CommuteSmart.info website. In August 2010, RCTC requested a one-year contract term extension. Due to the contract’s incipient termination, a two-month extension was prepared to allow time for the MSRC to consider the remainder of RCTC’s request, but the modification to extend the term was not executed by all appropriate parties prior to the contract’s August 31, 2010 expiration date. At its October 21, 2010 meeting, the MSRC considered a new/replacement contract for RCTC as part of the FY 2003-04 Work Program. Further details are provided below in the Proposals section.
FY 2008-09 Work Program
As part of the FY 2008-09 Work Program, the MSRC has allocated a total of $3,000,000 for the Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives Program to provide buydown incentives for school districts. $2,520,000 of this funding was previously awarded to A-Z Bus Sales and $240,000 to BusWest, leaving an available balance of $240,000. At its October 21, 2010 meeting, the MSRC considered a request from BusWest for an additional $240,000 for an order from the Rowland Unified School District; further details are provided below in the Proposals section.
FY 2010-11 Work Program
The MSRC maintains a website www.CleanTransportationFunding.org for outreach and assistance to contractors, proposers and others interested in clean transportation. Development of the website was done several years ago by Haaland Internet Productions (HiP Design), and HiP Design continues to provide maintenance and hosting services to the MSRC. The MSRC previously authorized the development of a website feature which would allow proposals and applications to be submitted online. This feature has been built, but has not yet been activated. Additional desired parameters have been identified which would help maintain consistency with AQMD’s current procurement processes. At its October 21, 2010 meeting, the MSRC considered recommendations from its MSRC-TAC for two areas of improvement for the website’s online submittal feature, and the funding required to implement these concepts. Further details are provided in the Proposals section.
Proposals
At its October 21, 2010 meeting, considered recommendations from its MSRC-TAC and unanimously approved the following:
FY 2003-04 Work Program
As mentioned in the Background section, RCTC was awarded a contract to create a direct communications link between Metro’s TripMaster and RCTC’s RidePro. The contract expired before all work could be completed. The MSRC unanimously approved a new/replacement twelve-month contract with RCTC in the amount of $225,000.
FY 2008-09 Work Program
As mentioned in the Background section, the MSRC previously awarded a total of $2,760,000 of the $3 million allocated for this Program to BusWest and another qualified vendor to continue the implementation of the Alternative Fuels School Bus Incentives Program, based on their pending orders. This $2,760,000 has already been expended or has purchase orders issued against it. BusWest has received an order from Rowland Unified School District for four CNG buses, for which the total incentive would be $240,000. BusWest requests an additional $240,000 to cover the buydown incentives for these buses. The MSRC has a balance of $240,000 remaining in this FY 2008-09 Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives Program. The MSRC considered recommendations from its MSRC-TAC and awarded the remaining $240,000 of this allocation to BusWest to provide the full incentives for the buses for Rowland Unified School District.
FY 2010-11 Work Program
The MSRC established the initial elements of its FY 2010-11 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program, as follows:
New MSRC Website Development, to include hardware and two years’ subsequent hosting, maintenance and upgrades, totaling $100,000;
Off-Road Diesel Exhaust After-treatment Demonstration Program totaling $2,250,000;
Website Upgrades totaling $1,500.
The MSRC approved a contract modification for one of these elements, which is delineated below for the AQMD Board’s consideration. The MSRC is anticipated to approve and bring forward additional FY 2010-11 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program elements in the coming months.
As discussed in the Background section, the MSRC maintains a website www.CleanTransportationFunding.org which was designed and is still maintained and hosted by HiP Design on behalf of the MSRC. An online application submission feature has been built, but not yet activated. Two areas for improvement of the feature have been identified: 1) build in additional level of password protection to proposal submission area in back-end; and 2) add e-mail notification and attachment mechanism. HiP Design provided an estimate to perform these improvements under its existing contract, with an upper cost limit of $1,500. The MSRC-TAC recommended approval of the proposed upgrades. The MSRC considered the recommendations from its MSRC-TAC and approved an additional $1,500 for this work as part of its FY 2010-11 Work Program.
At this time the MSRC requests the AQMD Board to approve the FY 2010-11 Work Program elements, contract modifications and award under the FYs 2003-04, 2008-09 and 2010-11 Work Programs as outlined above. The MSRC also requests the Board to authorize the AQMD Chairman of the Board the authority to execute all agreements described in this letter. The MSRC further requests authority to adjust the funds allocated to each project specified in this Board letter by up to five percent of the project’s recommended funding. The Board has granted this authority to the MSRC for all past Work Programs.
Resource Impacts
The AQMD acts as fiscal administrator for the AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Program (Health & Safety Code Section 44243). Money received for this program is recorded in a special revenue fund (Fund 23) and the contracts will be drawn from this fund. These contracts will have no fiscal impact on the AQMD’s operational budget.