BOARD MEETING DATE: June 6, 2008
AGENDA NO. 19

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:

1. Approve a funding augmentation in an amount not to exceed $820,000 to existing contract #MS08003 with A-Z Bus Sales under the Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives Program, using $600,000 from the balance of funds previously allocated for this category and $220,000 from unallocated funds, as part of the FY 2007-08 Work Program;
2. Approve the award of a contract with TransVironmental Solutions, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $227,198 for the Rideshare 2 School Program under the FY 2007-08 Work Program, as described in this letter;
3. Authorize MSRC the authority to adjust contract awards up to five percent, as necessary and previously granted in prior work programs; and
4. Authorize the Chairman of the Board to execute one new and one modified contract under FY 2007-08 AB 2766 Discretionary Fund Work Program, as described above and within this letter.

Ron Roberts
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 Board.

Alternative Fuel CNG School Bus Incentives

As a part of the FY 2007-08 Work Program, the MSRC allocated $1.2 million for an Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentive Program to provide buydown incentives for school districts. To implement the Program, the MSRC awarded contracts to A-Z Bus Sales and BusWest, with each qualified vendor initially awarded $300,000, leaving a $600,000 balance available for future allocation. At its May 15, 2008 meeting, the MSRC considered a request from A-Z Bus Sales for an additional $820,000 for four new purchase orders; further details are provided below in the Proposals section.

Rideshare 2 School

Finally, as part of the FY 2007-08 Work Program, the MSRC released an RFP #P2008-16 for the Rideshare 2 School Program. The RFP sets aside $245,000 and seeks qualified bidders to develop, implement and administer a demonstration program whose primary goal is to promote ridesharing and the use of alternative commute modes by school children at traffic impacted schools. The RFP set an initial target for the selected bidder to enroll 40 participating schools, with 100 students participating per school. The demonstration could include an incentive component for qualified participants, not to exceed $1 per day for a maximum of 30 days. The proposal submittal period for this RFP was February 1, 2008 through 5:00 p.m. on March 28, 2008. At its May 15, 2008 meeting, the MSRC considered the one application received prior to the close of the submittal period; details are provided in the Proposals section.

Outreach

In accordance with AQMD’s Procurement Policy and Procedure, public notices advertising these three solicitations and inviting bids were published in the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, the San Bernardino Sun, and Riverside County Press Enterprise newspapers to leverage the most cost-effective method of outreach to the entire South Coast Basin.

Additionally, potential bidders may have been notified utilizing AQMD’s own electronic listing of certified minority vendors. Notice of the solicitations was mailed to the Black and Latino Legislative Caucuses and various minority chambers of commerce and business associations, the State of California Contracts Register website, and placed on the Internet at AQMD’s Web site (http://www.aqmd.gov where it could be viewed by making menu selections “Inside AQMD”/“Employment and Business Opportunities”/“Business Opportunities” or by going directly to http://www.aqmd.gov/rfp/index.html). Information was also available on AQMD’s bidder’s 24-hour telephone message line (909) 396-2724. Further, the solicitations were posted on the MSRC’s website at http://www.cleantransportationfunding.org and electronic notifications were sent to those subscribing to this website’s notification service.

Proposal Evaluation and Panel Composition

Applications received in response to the Program Announcements (further outlined under the Proposals section) were evaluated by members of the MSRC’s Technical Advisory Committee (MSRC-TAC), a diverse group of individuals appointed by participating members as prescribed in the Health & Safety Code.

Proposals

At its May 15, 2008 meeting, the MSRC considered recommendations from its MSRC-TAC and unanimously approved the following:

Alternative Fuel CNG School Bus Incentives

As mentioned in the Background section, A-Z Bus Sales requested additional funds under the Alternative Fuel School Bus Incentives Program for school districts. A-Z Bus Sales has received orders, from the Moreno Valley, Newhall, William S. Hart and Orange school districts, for a total of 25 propane buses and two CNG buses. The propane buses would each be eligible for a $40,000 incentive and each of the CNG buses for a $60,000 incentive, totaling $1,120,000. A-Z Bus Sales’ current $300,000 MSRC contract will cover a portion of these orders. Therefore A-Z Bus Sales requested a $820,000 contract value increase in order to provide the full incentive for all the orders. The MSRC awarded A-Z Bus Sales a total of $820,000 ($600,000 from the balance of funds in this category and $220,000 from unallocated funds).

Rideshare 2 School

Finally, as mentioned in the Background section, the MSRC released an RFP #P2008-16 for the Rideshare 2 School Program as part of the FY 2007-08 Work Program. One application, from TransVironmental Solutions, Inc. (TVS), was received by the close of the submittal period at 5:00 p.m. on March 28, 2008. TVS proposed to perform the specified work for a cost of $227,198. The application was deemed to be compliant with all RFP provisions. The MSRC approved a contract with TVS in an amount not to exceed $227,198 for the development, implementation and administration of a Rideshare 2 School Program, with contract execution contingent upon the successful negotiation of a mutually acceptable Statement of Work.

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.