South Coast Air Quality Management District
South Coast Air Quality Management District
BOARD MEETING DATE: June 7, 2002 AGENDA NO. 12
Approve Additional Contracts for Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit and Alternative Fuels Transit Bus Projects as Part of FY 2001-02 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program; Grant MSRC Authority to Adjust Project Costs Up 5%; and Authority to Execute Agreements
SYNOPSIS:
At its April 25, 2002 meeting, the MSRC approved funding for additional projects under the Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program and Alternative Fuels Transit Bus Program as part of the FY 2001-02 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program. The MSRC requests approval to fund two particulate trap projects from the County of Riverside and City of Long Beach, totaling $620,500 and one transit bus project from the Los Angeles County MTA totaling $321,467. The MSRC also requests authority to adjust contracts up five percent and authority for the Board Chairman to execute agreements.
COMMITTEE:
Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee,
April 25, 2002, Approved
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
William G. Kleindienst
Chair, MSRC
Background
In September 1990 Assembly Bill 2766 was signed into law (Health & Safety Code Sections 44220-44247) authorizing the imposition of an annual $4 motor vehicle registration fee to fund the implementation of programs exclusively to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles. AB 2766 provides that 30 percent of the annual $4 vehicle registration fee subvened to the AQMD be placed into an account to be allocated pursuant to a work program developed and adopted by the MSRC and approved by the AQMD Governing Board. Available monies for the FY 2001-02 Work Program are estimated at approximately $16 million, including revenues, interest, turn-back funds, and monies from CARB for peaker plant emissions offsets.
On July 20, 2001, the Board approved the conceptual FY 2001-02 Work Program targeting $13,765,000 for five Clean Fuels Vehicle programs, one Light-Duty Vehicle program, and five TCM programs. The Work Program included 10 solicitations totaling $12,265,000, one contract with the California Energy Commission (CEC) for $1.5 million for participation in its CNG/Gasoline Hybrid Incentives Program, a $1 million Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program Announcement & Application, and a $2 million Local Government Match Program Announcement & Application.
The Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program provides up to $8,000 per vehicle with a one-time, upfront contribution of $500 per vehicle to offset the incremental cost of purchasing low-sulfur diesel fuel. The Alternative Fuels Transit Bus Program targeted $3 million for the incremental cost of natural gas transit buses as well as refueling infrastructure up to $100,000, facility modifications up to $10,000, and mechanic training up to $5,000.
On November 9, 2001, the Board approved a FY 2001-02 Work Program totaling $15,359,792, including $3,360,114 for 275 natural gas transit buses. On March 1, 2002, the Board approved $994,500 for three projects under the Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program as part of the FY 2001-02 Work Program. Since there were eligible projects worthwhile of funding under both programs, waiting lists were established in case funding became available. At its April 25, 2002 meeting, the MSRC considered these waiting lists when turn-back and residual monies became available.
Outreach
When the Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program Announcement (PA) and the Alternative Fuels Transit Bus Program RFP were initially released in July 2001, a public notice advertising both was published on two different days in 26 newspapers and publications, including several targeting minorities, in accordance with the AQMD's consulting and contracting policies.
Both the Alternative Fuel Transit Bus RFP and the Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit PA were placed on the MSRC's web site at "http://www.msrc-cleanair.org" as well as the AQMD's Web site at "http://www.aqmd.gov" under the "Business and Job Opportunities" icon, and information was included about the PA on the AQMD's 24-hour telephone message line for bidders at (909) 396-2724. Several RFPs and PAs were downloaded from the MSRC's web site and more were mailed to interested parties upon request.
In addition to the AQMD's standard practices, a brochure announcing all of the MSRC's funding opportunities was mailed last summer to over 1,600 interested parties on the MSRC's mailing list, as well as to the Black and Latino Legislative Caucuses, City Managers, Chambers of Commerce, the AQMD's Ethnic Communities Advisory Group, and business associations.
Bidders' Conference
Bidders' Conferences were conducted in August 2001 when the RFP for the transit program was initially released. No bidders' conference for the trap retrofit program was deemed necessary since it wasn't a competition in the traditional sense. Funding was to be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis to applicants that satisfied specified program requirements.
Proposals Received and Evaluation Process
When the Alternative Fuels Transit Bus Program RFP, #P2002-08, closed on August 31, 2001, six proposals totaling $5,523,500 were received. The Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program, #PA2002-02, began accepting applications on October 1, 2001 and was originally set to close September 30, 2002. However, the MSRC closed it earlier since the first four applications received in the first month exceeded the $1 million target.
Per the MSRC's adopted Guidelines for the AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Proposal Submission and Evaluation Process, the MSRC's Technical Advisory Committee (MSRC-TAC) formed evaluation subcommittees to review, evaluate, score and rank the proposals, using the criteria within each solicitation. Based upon the results of the evaluation, the MSRC-TAC developed its funding recommendations specifying projects deemed worthy to be funded, those deemed worthy to be funded but for which funding was unavailable (back-up lists), and projects not recommended for funding under any circumstance.
Proposals
At its April 25, 2002 meeting, the MSRC recognized turn-back funds and a residual balance totaling nearly $1 million. Consequently, the MSRC approved using this turnback funding for two additional projects from the particulate trap waiting list--one for $280,500 to the City of Long Beach and one for $340,000 to the County of Riverside. It was determined that the remainder of the turnback funding available should be awarded for additional transit buses for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the transit bus waiting list (see attachments). MTA was previously awarded $2,336,708 for 210 alternative fuel transit buses. The second award will be in the amount of $321,467 for 28 additional alternative fuel transit buses. At this time the MSRC requests Board approval of these awards as part of the FY 2001-02 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program.
The MSRC also requests authority to adjust the funds allocated to each project specified in this Board letter by up to 5% of the project's recommended funding. The Board has granted this authority to the MSRC for all past work programs.
Finally, the MSRC requests that the Board authorize the AQMD Board Chairman the authority to execute all agreements as part of the FY 2001-02 Work Program.
Resource Impacts
The AQMD acts as fiscal administrator for the AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Program (Health & Safety Code Section 44243). Money received for this program is recorded in a special revenue fund (Fund 23) and the contracts will be drawn from this fund. These contracts will have no fiscal impact on the AQMD’s operational budget.
Spreadsheets listing projects funded or to be funded under the Diesel Particulate Trap Retrofit Program and Alternative Fuel Transit Bus Program
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