BOARD MEETING DATE: January 11, 2002
AGENDA NO. 3

Amend Contract with Ecotek, MST Solutions, Inc. for Privatization of Portions of the Annual Emissions Reporting Program

SYNOPSIS:

In January 2001, the Board awarded a contract to Ecotek, MST Solutions, Inc. for continuation of privatization of portions of the Annual Emissions Reporting (AER) Program. For the past six years, Ecotek has developed, maintained, and updated the emissions reporting software; produced and distributed reporting materials (forms and instructions); provided public outreach and assistance; collected and compiled reported data; and conducted limited data quality control. Based on Ecotek’s responsiveness and satisfactory performance, staff recommends exercising the second-year renewal option in Ecotek’s contract for an amount not to exceed $390,000, bringing the contract total to $780,000. Funding for this contract amendment is allocated in the FY 2001-02 Budget.

COMMITTEE:

Administrative, December 14, 2001, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

1. Approve the transfer of $125,000 from the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Fund to the General Fund.
   
   
2. Recognize $125,000 of revenue in the General Fund and appropriate $125,000 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the Planning, Rule Development, and Area Sources Professional and Special Services Account.
   
   
3. Authorize the Executive Officer to amend the existing contract with Ecotek, MST Solutions, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $390,000 to exercise the second-year renewal option for privatization of portions of the 2001-2002 Annual Emissions Reporting Program.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

For the past six years, AQMD has privatized portions of the Annual Emissions Reporting (AER) Program. Under this Program, facilities annually report their emissions and pay emission-based fees in accordance with Rule 301(e) requirements. Privatization of portions of the AER Program has significantly enhanced the overall program efficiency, improved services to facilities as well as data quality and has also enabled AQMD staff to more effectively conduct engineering audits of the annual emission reports and provide support for other AQMD programs. Ecotek has been AQMD’s contractor responsible for implementing portions of the AER Program for the last six reporting cycles including: 1) revision of emission and fee reporting forms and instructions, 2) providing software and paper forms emissions reporting options, 3) preparing and distributing emissions reporting packages to facilities subject to the program, 4) providing public outreach and assistance in filing the annual emission reports, 5) receiving the reports and compilation of emissions and fee data files, 6) conducting data quality control, and 7) transferring data files to AQMD for inclusion into AQMD’s central database. Actual collection of annual emission fees and billing adjustments continues to be handled by AQMD staff.

In addition, beginning with last year’s AER Program (2000-2001 cycle), the toxics emissions reporting requirements of the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" (AB2588) Program have been incorporated into the AER Program. Accordingly, AB2588 facilities are now submitting their required quadrennial toxics inventory reports under the AER Program. Consolidation of the AB2588 toxics emissions inventory reporting requirement into the AER Program has further streamlined the reporting process, improved the toxics emissions data quality and minimized the required resources by both facilities and the AQMD staff.

During the last six years, Ecotek has successfully performed all the required tasks specified in the contract. The updated reporting software, developed by Ecotek to accommodate the consolidated toxics/criteria reporting, has been well-received and has been utilized by more than 70% of all subject facilities. The reporting software has greatly reduced reporting errors and improved data quality. In addition, Ecotek has utilized and developed software and data base systems (i.e., data-entry software for entering, managing, and checking reported data as well as export utilities to generate databases for AQMD) to support the software reporting system. Ecotek has also suggested and incorporated several improvements to the program every year based on the lessons learned from the previous year. Ecotek has provided excellent customer service for the reporting facilities and has developed a very good working relationship with AQMD staff.

In January 2001, the Board awarded a contract to Ecotek for continuation of privatization of portions of the 2000-2001 AER Program. Under this contract, AQMD reserves the right to renew the contract for three additional one-year periods and to renegotiate the contract amount for the optional years based upon changed requirements and/or approved funds.

Proposal

Based on Ecotek’s experience, responsiveness to program needs, and consistent and satisfactory performance, staff recommends exercising the second-year renewal option in Ecotek’s contract to provide the same services at the same funding amount ($390,000).

Resource Impacts

Funding of up to $265,000 has been budgeted for privatization of portions of the 2001-02 AER Program in the approved FY 2001-02 Budget. The balance of the funding ($125,000) will be transferred from the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Fund to the Planning, Rule Development, and Area Sources Professional and Special Services Account. The $125,000 funding for AB2588 facilities is proportional to the magnitude of the toxic emissions data reported by these facilities, as well as the level of effort required by contractor for developing software, providing support, and processing data to accommodate the reporting requirements of the AB2588 Program.

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