To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Julie Lucido, Public Works Director
Prepared By: Jay Pence, Assistant Engineer
TITLE:
Title
On-Call Engineering and Multidisciplinary Professional Services
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Approve and authorize the Public Works Director to negotiate and execute on behalf of the City agreements with four engineering consulting firms: (1) BKF Engineers; (2) Nichols Consulting Engineers, Chtd; (3) Sherwood Design Engineers, and (4) Parsons Transportation Group, Inc., for task order-based on-call engineering and multidisciplinary professional services in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 each.
Body
DISCUSSION:
The City of Napa’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) from the current budget includes projects totaling over $185,000,000, in addition to ongoing projects from prior years’ budgets. These projects encompass bridge repairs, paving, sidewalk repairs, traffic safety and calming, bicycle facilities, park improvements, storm drain and utility work, facility repairs, and more. The delivery of the CIP projects requires specialized technical expertise across disciplines such as architectural design, construction management, inspection, and engineering (mechanical, electrical, geotechnical, civil, structural, traffic, hydraulic), as well as land surveying, right-of-way acquisition, environmental services, and others. The proposed contracts will provide specialized professional services to assist staff in delivering City projects on an as-needed basis. These contracts do not commit funding until individual task orders are issued, and there is no guarantee that the full contract amounts will be utilized.
These contracts provide necessary technical expertise and enable the City to expand the amount of project work that can be moved forward at one time. Hiring on-call professional service teams through a comprehensive Request for Proposals (RFP) process streamlines the selection of qualified teams based on their expertise. The RFP process that includes document preparation, submissions, scoring, interviews, and final contracts typically takes several months. By completing one RFP to select teams that can assist with multiple projects, the City achieves both efficiency and effectiveness. Under the on-call contracts, task orders are issued to firms specifying the scope of work, required deliverables, and the maximum payment per task. There is no commitment that the full contract amount will be utilized.
Public Works currently holds (29) on-call contracts with professional firms in various fields, many of which will expire at the end of 2025. In anticipation of these agreements’ expiration, staff publicly advertised an RFP for on-call engineering and multidisciplinary professional services in August 2025. Historically, on-call contracts focused on specific professional specialties. For this RFP, however, the City sought proposals from teams with a broader range of expertise. This change reduces the overall number of contracts the City needs to manage, while still covering all required services.
On September 4, 2025, the City received fifteen proposals from qualified firms. The following firms submitted proposals (in alphabetical order): BKF Engineers; Carlile Macy, Inc., Crawford & Associates, Inc.; CSG Consultants, Inc.; dk Associates, Inc.; GHD Inc.; Harris & Associates; Mark Thomas & Company; Nichols Consulting Engineers; Parsons Transportation Group Inc.; RSA+; Schaaf & Wheeler; Sherwood Design Engineers; Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc.; and WMH Corporation.
A review committee made up of City staff evaluated and scored each proposal based on the factors such as expertise, experience, proposal quality, contract understanding, and the firm’s proximity to the City of Napa. After thorough review, nine firms were selected as the most qualified: GHD, Inc.; BKF Engineers; Parsons Transportation Group, Inc; Mark Thomas & Company; WMH Corporation; Harris & Associates; Sonoma RSA, Inc.; Nichols Consulting Engineers; and Sherwood Design Engineers. The quality of the submissions, including proposed teams, experience, and capabilities, demonstrated that these firms are well-qualified to meet the City’s project needs.
The contracts outline the type of services each firm can provide, along with a schedule of rates for labor and materials. For each project, the City will issue a task order that defines the scope of work, cost estimate, and schedule.
Contracts were awarded to three firms at the Council meeting on November 4, 2025. Four contracts are proposed for award as part of this agenda item, and staff is currently negotiating with the remaining two firms. Authorization to execute the final two contracts will be recommended to Council at a later date.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
No appropriations are necessary at this time. Each task order issued by the City will be paid with existing and future project accounts.
CEQA:
The Public Works Director has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is not in-and-of-itself a “project” (pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378) since it does not result in a physical change in the environment.
However, the Recommended Action is part of larger “projects” that will be subject to environmental review in accordance with CEQA at the “earliest feasible time” prior to “approval” consistent with CEQA Guidelines Sections 15004 and 15352. The larger “projects” are various Capital Improvement Program projects, and staff plans to bring back a CEQA analysis of those projects to Council prior to awarding construction contracts for those projects.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - BKF Contract
ATCH 2 - Nichols Consulting Contract
ATCH 3 - Sherwood Contract
ATCH 4 - Parsons Contract
NOTIFICATION:
None.