South Coast Air Quality Management District

Execute Contract for Redesign of Permit Application Forms

SYNOPSIS:

On April 20, 2001, the Board approved the release of an RFP for the redesign of AQMD's permit application forms. This action is to execute a contract with Civic Resources Group to redesign the permit application forms for an amount not to exceed $70,000. Funding for this contract was initially included in the FY 2000-01 Budget, but was not obligated by the close of FY 2000-01 due to additional time necessary to complete the selection process. Accordingly, this action is also to appropriate those funds previously allocated to this project in the amount of $70,000 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the Engineering and Compliance Budget Professional and Special Services account for FY 2001-02.

COMMITTEE:

Administrative, August 10, 2001, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

1. Appropriate $70,000 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the Services and Supplies Major Object, Professional and Special Services Account, in Engineering and Compliance for the redesign of AQMD’s Permit Application Forms.
   
   
2. Authorize the Chairman of the Board to execute a contract with Civic Resources Group in an amount not to exceed $70,000.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

One of the major AQMD Governing Board initiatives has been to improve efficiency and customer service to businesses seeking permits to establish or expand operation in AQMD’s jurisdiction. This resulted in the formation of the Permit Streamlining Task Force (PSTF), and development of a set of 37 recommendations.

One of the PSTF recommendations is to redesign the permit application forms to be more user friendly for both the regulated community and AQMD staff. The AQMD currently receives approximately 11,000 permit applications a year, from large and small businesses. Businesses file permit applications to start new operations, relocate or change operator, expand their operations, modify their equipment or processes to meet new local, state and federal regulations or to otherwise improve their operations.

Most of the applications presently received by AQMD are on paper forms. There is currently one major permit application form (Form 400A) that is used to obtain all the relevant information regarding the facility and owner and/or operator information. There are also approximately two dozen supplemental application forms used to obtain information on specific equipment or processes. These forms are also available on-line from AQMD’s website, www.aqmd.gov, to download and print for manual entry.

The intent of this contract is to improve, standardize and streamline the permit application forms to enable the applicants to provide all relevant information needed to process an application in the most efficient manner. Historically 10-15% of the time necessary to process a permit application is spent in obtaining necessary information to complete the permit evaluation. The redesign of the forms should facilitate obtaining of all necessary information to process a permit application in a more expeditious and user friendly manner.

RFP #2001-33 was released on April 20, 2001, to seek proposals from interested contractors to redesign AQMD's permit application forms. The RFP was posted on AQMD's website, www.aqmd.gov and requests for the RFP were directed to this website.

Outreach

In accordance with AQMD's consulting and contracting policies, a public notice advertising the RFP and inviting proposals were published in the following publications:
 

1.	Antelope Valley Press	10	La Opinion	19.	Precinct Reporter
2.	Black Voice News	11.	La Voz	20.	Rafu Shimpo
3.	Chinese Daily News	12.	Los Angeles Daily News	21.	Riverside Press Enterprise
4.	Eastern Group Publications	13.	Los Angeles Sentinel	22.	San Bernardino Sun
5.	El Chicano	14.	Los Angeles Times	23.	Santa Clarita Signal
6.	The Excelsior	15.	M/W/DVBE Source	24.	State of California
7.	Inland Empire Hispanic News	16.	Orange County Register		Contracts Register
8.	Inland Valley Daily Bulletin	17.	Palm Springs Desert Sun
9.	Korea Central Daily	18.	Philippine News

Additionally, potential bidders were identified using Los Angeles County MTA Directory of Certified Minority, Women, Disadvantaged and Disabled Veterans Business Enterprises; the Inland Empire Opportunity Pages Ethnic/Women Business & Professional Directory; AQMD’s own electronic listing of certified minority vendors; and AQMD Purchasing’s mailing list. RFPs were mailed to the Black and Latino Legislative Caucuses and various minority chambers of commerce, and placed on the Internet at AQMD’s Web site [http://www.aqmd.gov, "Business and Job Opportunities" icon]; and on AQMD’s bidder’s 24-hour telephone message line 909.396.2724.

Bid Evaluation

A panel of four AQMD employees, that included two from Information Management and two from Engineering and Compliance reviewed the proposals. The panel consisted of two Asian Pacific Islanders, one Caucasian, and one Hispanic; three males and one female.

Five proposals were received in response to the RFP by the deadline for submittal of 1:00 p.m. on May 24, 2001, of which two did not meet the requirements of the RFP. The panel scored the proposals based on criteria set forth in the RFP. Firms' responsiveness to the RFP, and their demonstrated experience in designing forms, paper and electronic format, were the major evaluation factors.

Based on the evaluation criteria, Civic Resource Group was determined to be the preferred contractor for this project. Civic Resource Group is the lowest bidder and is also a small business. Although the other two qualified contractors, Ecotek and Sierra Cybernetics had previously worked on other contracts with the AQMD, they scored lower than Civic Resource Group.

Attachment A reflects the listing of all five proposals received and their final ratings.

Proposal

This action is to authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with Civic Resources Group to redesign AQMD permit application forms in an amount not to exceed $70,000 and to appropriate $70,000 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to Engineering and Compliance Budget for Professional and Special Services for FY 2001-02 to fund this contract.

Resource Impacts

An amount not to exceed $70,000 was included in the FY 2000-01 Budget for Engineering and Compliance for this project. Due to the time necessary to select a contractor, this funding was not obligated by June 30, 2001 and therefore must now be appropriated from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the FY 2001-02 Budget to carryout this contract work.

Attachments
Attachment A - Evaluation of Proposals for RFP #2001-33

ATTACHMENT A

EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS FOR RFP #2001-33

PERMIT APPLICATION FORMS REDESIGN
 

*Did not meet the requirements of this RFP.

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