South Coast Air Quality Management District
South Coast Air Quality Management District
BOARD MEETING DATE: October 4, 2002 AGENDA NO. 10
Execute Contract for Biennial Audit of Motor Vehicle Registration Revenues for FYs 1999-00 and 2000-01
SYNOPSIS:
Health and Safety Code Section 44244.1 requires any agency receiving fee revenues to be subject to an audit of each program or project funded at least once every two years. On July 12, 2002, the Board approved the release of an RFP to select an auditor to perform the biennial audit for FYs 1999-00 and 2000-01. An evaluation panel of representatives from state agencies, local governments and AQMD Finance staff evaluated the proposals. Staff recommends awarding a contract to the firm of Simpson & Simpson. Local governments, the MSRC and AQMD will pay the cost of their own audits in the amounts of $58,400, $6,000, and $2,500 respectively.
COMMITTEE:
Administrative, September 20, 2002, Recommended for Approval
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with Simpson & Simpson for performance of the biennial audit of Motor Vehicle Registration revenues for FYs 1999-00 and 2000-01 at a total cost not to exceed $66,900.
Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer
Background
AB 2766 chaptered into law as Health and Safety Code Sections 44220-44247, was enacted to authorize air pollution control districts to impose fees on motor vehicles. These fees are to be expended specifically for the purpose of mobile source air pollution reduction measures pursuant to the California Clean Air Act of 1988 or the AQMD’s AQMP pursuant to Article 5 of Chapter 5.5 of Part 3 of the Health and Safety Code. Health and Safety Code, Section 44244.1(a) states that any agency receiving fee revenues pursuant to Section 44243 or 44244 shall, at least once every two years, be subject to an audit of each program or project funded. The audit is to be conducted by an independent auditor selected by the AQMD in accordance with Division 2 (commencing with Section 1100) of the Public Contract Code. Audit program guidelines for local government recipients of fee revenues under Health and Safety Code Sections 44220-247 were prepared by the AQMD with input from the Technical Advisory Committee Audit Subcommittee of the IAIC, representatives of the Finance Committee of the League of Cities and with CPA firms whose clients include local governments. These audit guidelines were approved by the IAIC, MSRC and by the Board on December 4, 1992 and further revised and approved in January 1995 and May 2001. This is the fifth biennial audit of these fee revenues and covers FYs 1999-00 and 2000-01.
Proposal
On July 12, 2002, the Board approved an RFP to conduct the biennial audit of recipients of AB 2766 fee revenues. The audit will cover recipients in all three segments of the AB 2766 fee distribution to determine whether the fee revenues collected in FY 1999-00 and 2000-01 were spent on the reduction of pollution from motor vehicles as described above. The primary purpose of the audit is to set forth an opinion regarding the propriety of the expenditures incurred, not the degree of efficacy in reducing air pollution.
Outreach
In accordance with the AQMD’s consulting and contracting policies, a public notice advertising the RFP and inviting bids was published in the following publications:
Additionally, potential bidders were notified utilizing the Los Angeles County MTA and Cal Trans Directories of Certified Minority, Women, Disadvantaged and Disabled Veterans Business Enterprises; the Inland Area Opportunity Pages Ethnic/Women Business & Professional Directory; AQMD’s own electronic listing of certified minority vendors; and AQMD Purchasing’s mailing list. Notice of the RFP was mailed to the Black and Latino Legislative Caucuses and various minority chambers of commerce and business associations; and placed on the Internet at AQMD’s Website [http://www.aqmd.gov, "Business and Job Opportunities" icon] and AQMD’s bidder’s 24-hour telephone message line (909) 396-2724.
Bid Evaluation
The AQMD received a total of seven proposals by the 1:00 p.m., August 23, 2002 deadline which were evaluated by a technically qualified panel in accordance with criteria contained in the RFP.
Panel Composition
An evaluation panel was convened to evaluate the seven proposals and consisted of a representative from the Administrative Services Division of the California Air Resources Board; a representative from the local cities; one representative from the MSRC; and three AQMD staff, the Controller and two Financial Analysts. Since the MSRC member of the panel was required to attend a previously unscheduled meeting out of the area, their grading five of the proposals were not received until after the September 6, 2002 deadline and were not factored into the final scoring of the proposals. Of these five panelists that scored the proposals, one is Asian Pacific Islander and four are Caucasian; three are female, two are male.
Of the seven proposals received, five were rated technically qualified and were scored for cost. The evaluation results for the five proposals are:
|
BIDDER |
SMALL |
LOCAL |
BID |
TOTAL |
OVERALL |
|
Simpson & Simpson |
10 |
n/a |
$66,900 |
104.1 |
1 |
|
Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates |
7 |
n/a |
$76,500 |
101.5 |
2 |
|
Vasquez & Company, LLP |
10 |
n/a |
$131,076 |
85.0 |
3 |
|
Quezada & Company |
10 |
n/a |
$135,040 |
82.5 |
4 |
|
KPMG LLP and Nunez & Associates |
7 |
n/a |
$244,869 |
76.2 |
5 |
The selection criteria used to rank the proposals included responsiveness to the RFP; technical expertise; qualifications and experience; past performance; cost; and SB/SBJV/DVBE/DVBEJV/DVBE/SB subcontractors/local business designation (non-EPA). Based on the panel’s assessment of the criteria, Simpson & Simpson was selected to be recommended to the full Board.
Resource Impacts:
The maximum audit cost is $66,900. The total audit costs will be borne by the entities being audited as follows:
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