Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: George Tablack
Department: Finance and Administrative Services Division: Purchasing
Information
Requested Action
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MOTION TO APPROVE fixed contract to the awarded vendor, Creative Bus Sales, Inc., from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Contract No. TRIPS-17-CA-CBS, Standard Cutaway Chassis Type Transit Vehicles, for the purchase of 17 cutaway-type vehicles for the Broward County Transportation Department, in the amount of $1,772,624.
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Why Action is Necessary
In accordance with the Broward County Procurement Code, Section 21.135.e, the Director of Purchasing shall have the authority to enter into a contract awarded by a public procurement unit if the public procurement unit and/or the vendor agree to such an award of their contract and the procurement was accomplished under generally accepted public procurement principles. The actual award of such a contract shall be made by the applicable awarding authority.
What Action Accomplishes
Provides for the purchase of 17 cutaway-type vehicles for the Broward County Transportation Department’s Community Shuttle Program. These vehicles will be converted to run on propane, utilizing existing County contracts at a reduced cost. Propane, rather than gasoline or diesel, is less expensive, domestically produced and produces reduced air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions.
Is this Action Goal Related
Yes
Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE PURCHASING DIVISION AND THE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This item supports the Board’s Vision of “A sustainable system of world-class intermodal transportation, infrastructure, quality human services, public safety, affordable housing, recreation, arts and culture, complementing and balancing our natural resources and environment” and its Values of “Cooperatively delivering an efficient and accessible regional intermodal transportation network”, “Encouraging investments in renewable energy, sustainable practices and environmental protection,” and “Consistently delivering responsive, efficient, quality services to the public and internal customers” by purchasing Community Shuttle program-vehicles that will be converted to run on propane fuel, which will reduce the use of fossil fuels and contribute to the County’s Climate Change Action Plan initiatives.
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development did not assign goals for this procurement because it is based on the use of a pre-existing State of Florida contract (Exhibit 1).
The purpose of this contract is to purchase 17 cutaway-type vehicles via the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Contract No. TRIPS-17-CA-CBS in a total estimated amount of $1,772,624 for the Broward County Transportation Department.
In accordance with Section 21.36 of the Procurement Code, the Director of Purchasing may purchase directly, without bid or quotations, from General Services Administration (GSA) contracts, or from offers whose price exactly equals GSA contracts from vendors awarded such GSA contracts, or from federal, state or local contracts when the contract expressly permits or if the awarding jurisdiction and/or the vendor agree to allow the County to purchase therefrom. By purchasing from this contract, the County will benefit from lower costs available through competitive pricing based on large volume discounts.
The State of Florida Solicitation No. TRIPS-17-CA-RFP, Standard Cutaway Chassis Type Transit Vehicles, was competitively solicited as a Request for Proposal (RFP) by Transit Research Inspection Procurement Services (TRIPS). The RFP posted on October 18, 2016 and publicly opened on December 16, 2016 with six responses received. TRIPS is a collaboration between FDOT’s Office of Freight, Logistics and Passenger Operations and the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research. Broward County Transit Division (BCT) obtained FDOT’s approval to purchase 17 vehicles from Creative Bus Sales, Inc. (CBS) (Exhibit 2).
BCT has reviewed the contract and additional submittals by CBS and has recommended the utilization of this contract (Exhibit 3).
By utilizing FDOT’s contract, the County is taking advantage of lower costs available through competitive pricing based on large volume discounts. FDOT pre-negotiated the pricing, which represents an additional cost-savings benefit for the County. Additionally, the County is benefiting by realizing economies of scale, reducing administrative costs of project solicitation, having a direct relationship with the manufacturer for added quality control, and the ability to select and customize vehicles that meet the County’s requirements. The contract also allows the County to promote its ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability by purchasing vehicles that will be converted to use propane fuel. Propane, rather than gasoline or diesel, is less expensive, domestically produced and produces lower emissions.
CBS is the only vendor that meets the vehicle requirements needed to support the Community Shuttle Program that is specific to vehicle type, size, seating capacity, type of fuel and fueling capacity. A price analysis was performed by FDOT prior to award and the prices were determined to be fair, reasonable, and aligned with market analysis for the industry (Exhibit 4).
The amounts referenced in this agenda were rounded to the nearest whole dollar. Vendor payments will be based on the actual bid amount (Exhibit 5).
No vendor performance evaluations have been completed for CBS.
Source of Additional Information
Brenda J. Billingsley, Director, Purchasing Division, (954) 357-6070
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
This project is funded with Mobility Advancement Plan (Transportation Surtax) funds budgeted within the Transit Capital Grant Fund.
Requisition No. MTD0006089