BOARD MEETING DATE: January 10, 2003
AGENDA NO. 11

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 new contract to Ecotek, MST Solutions Inc. for continuation of privatization of portions of the Annual Emissions Reporting (AER) Program. For the past seven 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 of three one-year renewal options in Ecotek’s contract for an amount not to exceed $390,000, bringing the contract total to $1,170,000 for privatization of portions of the AER Program. Funding for this contract amendment is allocated in the FY 2002-03 Budget.

COMMITTEE: 

Administrative, December 13, 2002, 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 Source Professional and Special Service 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 third-year renewal option for privatization of portions of the 2002-2003 Annual Emissions Reporting Program.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

Under AQMD’s Annual Emission Reporting (AER) Program, facilities report their emissions annually and pay emission fees in accordance with Rule 301(e) requirements. Privatization of portions of the AER program in the past seven years has significantly enhanced the overall program efficiency; has improved services to the facilities as well as the data quality; and has also enabled AQMD staff to more effectively conduct engineering audit of the annual emission reports and provide support for other AQMD programs. The portions of the AER program that have been privatized include: 1) revision of emission and fee reporting forms and instructions, 2) providing software and paper forms reporting options, 3) preparing and distributing emission 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 emission and fee data files, 6) conducting data quality control, and 7) transferring data files to the District for inclusion in the District’s central database. Actual collection of annual emission fees, billing adjustments, and auditing the reported data continues to be handled by AQMD staff.

Beginning with the year 2000-2001 reporting cycle, the AER program has also incorporated the toxic emissions reporting requirements of the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" (AB2588) program to further streamline the reporting process. As such, facilities subject to the AB2588 program are required to submit their quadrennial toxics emissions inventory report under AER Program. Consolidation of the AB2588 toxics emission inventory reporting requirement into the AER program has improved the toxics emissions data quality and minimized the required resources by both facilities and the AQMD.

During the last seven years, Ecotek, MST Solutions, Inc. (Ecotek) has successfully performed all the required tasks as 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 81% 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 to support the software reporting system (i.e., data-entry software for entering, managing, and checking reported data as well as export utilities to generate databases for AQMD use. Ecotek is currently developing a software application which will enable AQMD staff to make corrections/amendments to the reported emissions and fee data. Ecotek has also suggested and incorporated several improvements to the program every year based on lessons learned from the previous year, provided excellent customer service for the reporting facilities, and developed a very good working relationship with AQMD staff.

In January 2001, in response to competitive bids, the Board awarded a new 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 amounts for the optional years based upon changed requirements and/or approved funds. In March of 2002, AQMD exercised the right to renew for the first of three additional one-year periods. This action authorizes the Executive Officer to exercise the second of three one-year renewal options.

Proposal

Based on Ecotek's experience, satisfactory performance, and responsiveness to program needs, staff recommends that the Board authorize exercising the second of three one-year renewal options for 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 2002-03 AER program for the FY 2002-03 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 Service 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 the contractor for developing software, providing support, and processing data to accommodate the reporting requirements of the AB2588 program.

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