10 - Laserfiche WebLink

BACKGROUND A total of three (3) proposals were received for this project on April 8. The three bidders included West Coast Arborist, Inc., Professional Tree Care Company, and Fallen Leaf Tree Services. Fees for the work ranged from a high of $300 per hour to $220 per hour for basic crew rental and from $375 to $50 per tree for grid tree trimming. After reviewing all proposals, staff determined that the proposal from West Coast Arborist most fully met the criteria and qualifications for the project. In particular, staff was impressed with its focus on developing and maintaining the tree inventory aspect of the project, which is becoming increasingly important for managing the City's inventory of over 24,000 parks and street trees that are managed by this database. West Coast Arborist, Inc. will be responsible for bi- weekly updates and annual incorporation of new data into our database, which links to the City's geographic information system (GIS). Accurate information and timely revisions to the inventory data enable staff to prioritize work and ensure funds are spent in the most cost effective manner possible. Their system also contains options which would allow the possibility of future online access by the public. Since proposals requested pricing on a variety of services, there is no one set low bid price for this project. Each year between 97 -99% of work is performed under either the tree trimming unit price or the basic crew rental rate. Fallen Leaf Tree Service submitted the lowest tree trimming unit price of $50 /tree as compared to West Coast Arborist's price of $55 /tree. But West Coast Arborist submitted the lowest basic crew rental of $220 /hr as compared to Fallen Leaf Tree Service's price of $300 /hr. After reviewing the previous two (2) year's invoices, and applying the proposed future pricing of both firms, annual tree maintenance costs for this project would be $11,000 $12,000 lower per year under West Coast Arborist's proposed pricing. West Coast Arborist was originally selected in May 2000 to complete the City's annual tree trimming and removal services contract and has been working satisfactorily with the City since that time. The company has proven to be very responsive to after -hours emergency calls, addressing unscheduled work that arises each week and overall their customer service with staff and the public has been consistently excellent. DISCUSSION The project consists of normal tree pruning maintenance throughout the City for approximately 34 weeks of each year. The contractor bid an hourly rate for a "basic crew" as well as "unit prices" for routine street tree pruning based on tree dbh (diameter of tree at breast height). The Contractor will perform the bulk of the tree trimming work at the grid dbh unit price rate, but will bill at the basic crew rate when they are diverted off routine street tree trimming to perform urgent or safety related work. Based on historical work, it is anticipated that unit price work will comprise 74 -75% of this contract and basic crew rental 23 -24 Page 2 of 3