AWARD OF SERVICE CONTRACT FOR LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE

 

Recommendation:

It is recommended that the City Council:

1. Award the attached landscape maintenance contract to U.S. Landscapes, Inc. of Huntington Beach, California in the amount of $579,668 for a period of thirty-six (36) months beginning July 1, 2001 and ending June 30, 2004;
2. Authorize the Mayor to execute and the City Clerk to attest the landscape maintenance contract subject to approval by the City Attorney;
3. Authorize the Director of Public Works to make minor changes as necessary within the budget; and
4. Appropriate an additional $19,815 from prospective expenditures to the FY 2001-02 budget for Parks.

 

Background:

Specifications were prepared and Requests for Bid notices were sent out to 38 landscape companies. In addition, staff advertised in the Easy Reader and the Green Sheet.

On April 26, 2001, a non-mandatory pre-bid meeting was held. Five (5) interested companies attended the meeting. On May 17, 2001, three (3) bids were received.

The results were:

FIRM	CITY	AMOUNT
U.S. Landscape, Inc.	Huntington Beach	$651,668
TruGreen Land Care	Gardena	$706,464
ALD	Torrance	$512,136

 

Analysis:

U.S. Landscape, Inc. , the low-bidder, has 15 current contracts exceeding $1.1 million several of which are equal in size and scope to that of Hermosa Beach. Reference checks indicate this company’s performance is above average.

TruGreen Land Care , formerly Van Herrick’s, is the City’s current contractor. The firm has more than 40 current contracts exceeding $17 million and many of these accounts equal in size and scope to that of Hermosa Beach. Their workmanship is currently below average , although it was above average at the beginning of the contract period. Staff, therefore, believes that re-hiring this firm would not be in the best interest of the City.

ALD’s bid was incomplete and therefore not responsive. The company has submitted a letter withdrawing their bid. All bid deposits have been returned.

The scope of work in the new contract reflects a significant increase in overall maintenance for the City. The major areas of increase include:

• Increased park and restroom clean-up on holidays
• A new over-seeding program
• A 2-Year cycle tree trimming program
• Increased plant replacement
• Additional pesticide free zones to include the "tot" park areas at Fort Lots of Fun and Sea View Park

The City has been requested by VOICE (see attached letter) to expand the pesticide free zone. The requested expansion is at the south end of the Greenbelt. The bidding process revealed that the cost for this expansion would be $24,000 per year.

Staff is not recommending VOICE’s zone expansion for the following reasons:

• Staff increased the herbicide free zone in the new contract to include the 2 "tot" parks at Fort Lots of Fun and Seaview.
• The existing pesticide free zone, at the north end of the Greenbelt, has large areas where weeds have overtaken the site making removal difficult, if not impossible. Some of the weeds include: Bermuda Grass, Kukuyu, Spurge and Poa Annua.

 

Fiscal Impact:

The preliminary budget for FY 2001-02 reflects an estimate of $177,825, $19,815 less than the proposed contract amount; therefore, additional funding is required.

DESCRIPTION	ACCOUNT NUMBER	BUDGET REQUEST	CONTRACT BID	NEEDED FUNDING
Downtown tree trimming	109-3301-4201	2,400	3,000	600
Median tree trimming	105-2601-4201	7,475	8,100	625
Park Maintenance	001-6101-4201	167,950	186,540	18,590
TOTALS		177,825	197,640	19,815

The balance in prospective expenditures before this item and items 1M and 1O is $232,550.

 

Alternatives:

1. Approve Staff recommendation.
2. Approve Staff recommendation as described in item 1 with an increased herbicide free zone on the entire Greenbelt for an additional annual cost of $24,000. This would result in a 36-month contract total of $651,668 for FY 2001-0002.
3. Reject all bids and send back to Staff with instructions to rescope the specifications and send out new Requests for Bids.

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