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BACKGROUND The City has an ongoing need for geotechnical engineering and material testing professional services. The types of services needed may include, but are not limited to: soil analysis, pavement and sub-base recommendations, soil compaction testing, materials testing, permeability testing, construction consultations and geological hazard investigations. Since this is a varied and ongoing need, the City has found the best mechanism to acquire these services is through the use of "on-call" contracts. In June 2010, the City awarded three-year contracts to ENGEO Incorporated and Kleinfelder West, Inc. for on-call geotechnical and material testing professional services. The current contracts expire on June 30, 2013. To ensure these types of services are readily available when needed, staff advertised a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) package in February 2013. The RFQ described the type of work needed, indicated that the City would be seeking multiple firms to perform the work, and indicated the intention to enter into a three-year "on-call" contract with work assigned if/when needed. DISCUSSION A total of 15 geotechnical engineering firms submitted Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) in response to the request. City Engineering staff reviewed the SOQs and invited the six highest rated respondents for interviews. A panel of three City staff members familiar with project needs and types of services conducted interviews of the six firms: 1. Alan Kropp & Associates, 2. BSK Associates, 3. ENGEO Incorporated, 4. Geocon Consultants, Inc., 5. Geosphere Consultants, Inc. 6. LAI & Associates. Staff also contacted the references provided by each of the six firms to obtain feedback on past contractual experiences. Based on ratings of the SOQs, interviews, and reference inquiries, staff recommends awarding contracts to three firms: ENGEO Incorporated, Geocon Consultants, Inc. and BSK Associates. Staff believes these three firms are the most qualified to provide the required geotechnical and material testing services for FY 2013-2016. Funding for these contracts will be provided from Capital Improvement Program project budgets for each of the projects requiring these services. When a service is needed for a project, the selected firms will be requested to submit a detailed proposal, which defines the scope of work for the particular project and the fee required to complete the task. Typically, such service support costs range between $7,000 and $10,000 for each capital project, and are dependent on the size, types of services and complexity of the job. Page 2 of 3