Attachment 6Tree Care Professionals Serving Communities Who Care About Trees www.WCAINC.com
June 4, 2018
Mr. Steve Regan
Department of Parks & Public Works
Town of Los Gatos
41 Miles Avenue
Los Gatos, CA 95030
RE: Letter or Protest- RFP Tree Trimming & Tree Maintenance
Dear Mr. Regan:
We have been in receipt of your response letter addressing our original protest letter from May 18, 2018.
While we appreciate your review, we still have concerns for your Town's urban forest. The RFP process is
to ensure the qualifications and capabilities of the respondents while taking into account the cost. The
Agenda Report suggests that Brightview is both the best qualified and most cost competitive firm;
however, this statement is misleading.
On Friday, June 1, 2018 we received a copy of Brightview's proposal, as warranted through a formal Public
Records request. At this time, we respectfully request staff and Town Council to re-evaluate the RFP
responses from all bidders.
Relevant Experience (Pg. 4, Section 6)
As required in the RFP, the Town requests each bidder to list "relevant experience and expertise of the
firm." Brightview only lists one relevant and comparable project that is of similar size and scope of work
to the Town of Los Gatos. Work performed for Cisco Systems and the Villages Golf & Country Club are not
municipal tree maintenance projects as required in the RFP.
Tree Inventory (Pg. 9-10, Section D)
As required in the RFP, the Town states that a "GPS tree inventory shall be created with a new database..."
Brightview did not identify a single municipality in which they completed a GPS tree inventory program
that is also capable of recording work history. Brightview proposes to use an application called ArborNote.
This application does not have the capability to record work history updates from the field. I encourage
the Town to conduct demonstrations of each firm's tree inventory software.
Record Keeping (Pg. 14, Section P)
Requirements in this section describe many attributes and capabilities requested of the respondent's
inventory system, i.e., ability to input crew identity while maintaining and displaying past work histories.
In review of Brightview's response they listed ArborNote as their Tree Inventory Mobile and Desktop
Application. ArborNote, however is registered to a company based out of Irvine, CA, called Cognitive
Note; this creates a third party dependability for the Town to effectively and efficiently manage their
urban forest.
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ATTACHMENT 6
West Coast Arborists, Inc.
2200 E. Via Burton Street • Anaheim CA 92806 • 714.991.1 900 • 800.521.3714 • Fax 714.956.3745
Tree Care Professionals Serving Communities Who Care About Trees www.WCAINC.com
Town of Los Gatos
RFP Tree Trimming & Tree Maintenance
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Required Qualifications (Pg. 25-26)
The RFP goes on to describe that the references provided must be three (3) California governments or
municipal multi -year tree maintenance contracts and that these references must include work in tree
inventories. The references provided by Brightview's proposal do not meet either of these requirements.
Brightview instead included commercial/private references and also failed to support their experience or
previous work collecting and managing the tree inventories of the references listed.
Additionally, Brightview lists supplemental references with "Government/Federal/Public Agencies."
Brightview's relationship with these agencies include primarily landscape maintenance services, which
does not meet the Town's RFP requirements.
Ironically, Brightview lists the City of Sunnyvale as one of the agencies they work for. (The Town also lists
Sunnyvale as one of Brightview's reference in the Council Agenda Report.) Our firm has held the tree
maintenance contract for the City of Sunnyvale for the past five consecutive years since January 2013. As
recently as July 2016, the City of Sunnyvale determined that Brightview's proposal was non -responsive
because the firm did not identify the appropriate number of references with work of similar size and
scope. Please see attachment from Sunnyvale.
Failure to provide accurate information renders the proposal non -responsive. The lack of reliable
information about the bidder precludes a determination that Brightview is the "best qualified" contractor.
The bidder has not demonstrated that it has performed municipal contracts of similar size and scope
including collecting GPS tree inventories. We submit that Brightview is neither responsive nor responsible
and its proposal must be rejected and awarded to West Coast Arborists, Inc.
An alternative would be to reject all proposals, modify the specifications and re -advertise as a low bid
contract as opposed to a Request for Proposal.
We appreciate your consideration in this matter. Please know that we appreciate the efforts of you and
your staff for the successful business partnership we have built over the years. Together we have
worked diligently to ensure that the Town's urban forest continues to thrive. It is our goal to continue
this partnership for years to come.
If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact me at (714) 991-1900 or at
pmahonev@wcainc.com
Respec u I ,
Patrick Mahoney
President
cc: Shelley Neis, Town Clerk Administrator
Robert Schultz, Town Attorney
West Coast Arborists, Inc.
2211 E. is Burt. tr--t • 11 I 9 "]. • 7 :a 09 91 • :.r
City of Sunnyvale
Agenda Item
16-0468 Agenda Date: 7/26/2016
REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Authorize the Issuance of a Purchase Order for Street Tree Maintenance Services (F16-90) and
Finding a CEQA Categorical Exemption
REPORT IN BRIEF
Council approval is requested to authorize the issuance of a Purchase Order for Street Tree
Maintenance Services in an amount not -to -exceed $1,498,460 to West Coast Arborists Inc. of
Anaheim for a two-year period, with an option to renew for three additional one-year periods.
EXISTING POLICY
Pursuant to Chapter 2.08 of the Municipal Code, Council approval is required to approve bids greater
than $100,000.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act
("CEQA") pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15301(h) 6 for the maintenance of existing
landscape.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City has approximately 37,000 street trees. The street trees are pruned on an average seven-
year cycle, established in FY 2012/13. Following a competitive bid process, Council awarded a 30-
month contract in the amount of $1,221,175 to West Coast Arborists (WCA) in January 2013 for
street tree pruning and for the as -needed work at City parks and golf courses (RTC No. 13-011). The
WCA contract was increased to $1,695,175 in January 2015 to allow for accelerated preventative
maintenance pruning of over 12,000 street trees (RTC No. 14-1136).
As the June 30, 2015 end date of the 2013 contract approached, a new bid was issued which
clarified specifications for park and golf course work and added pest control. An Invitation for Bids
(IFB) was issued on August 25, 2015, with two bids received from WCA and The Professional Tree
Care Company (PTC). The bid from WCA, in the amount of $2,031,910, was deemed to be non-
responsive because the contractor did not acknowledge an addendum which changed the bid
quantities and consequently submitted their bid pricing based on incorrect amounts. The bid
received from PTC, in the amount of $6,340,520, was significantly more than the budgeted funding
available. Therefore, based on staff's recommendation Council rejected the bid received from PTC
(RTC No. 15-0967).
A subsequent IFB was issued on March 31, 2016, with a due date of April 27. This IFB did not
include specifications to remove the pest control requirement and tree work at parks and golf courses
and focused on only providing street tree pruning. Six bids were received. The lowest bidder and
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16-0468 Agenda Date: 7/26/2016
the third lowest bidder, Bright View Tree Care and Professional Tree Care Company, submitted non-
responsive bids in the amounts of $1,360,000 and $1,954,000, respectively. The Bright View bid was
non -responsive because the firm did not identify the appropriate number of references with work of
similar size and scope. The PTC bid was non -responsive because they did not acknowledge an
addendum which clarified the percentage of medium, large and very large trees scheduled for
structural pruning, potentially impacting bid pricing.
The second low bid received from WCA, is responsive, but at $1,820,960 is substantially higher than
the available two-year budget. The higher pricing is a combination of two factors. First, the proposed
unit pricing for block grid pruning is much more than anticipated (double the unit pricing from 2013).
This is likely due to the current economic climate and the impact of prevailing wages. The FY
2016/17 budget did not account for such a large increase in pricing. Second, staff inadvertently
overestimated the number of trees to be pruned on the block grid cycle; a quantity of 12,500 was
used, which was the previous number used for a 2'/2 year contract. The current bid should have
used an estimate of 10,000 units, or 5,000 trees per year, which corresponds to the current service
level.
WCA has agreed to hold their pricing for the lower number of units, which reduces the not -to -exceed
value of the contract from $1,820,960 to $1,498,460 for two years or approximately $750,000 per
contract year. It should be noted that the quantities used in the bid are estimates only and the City
does not guarantee that the actual work will correspond exactly to the specifications (the quantities
can be increased or decreased based on need). Staff recommends awarding the contract because
rejecting the bids and rebidding the project will delay tree work for several months and may not
produce a more favorable result.
FISCAL IMPACT
The Street Tree Maintenance Program has a total budget of $2,016,784, of which $557,333 is for
contract tree pruning services. This amount should be sufficient for Fiscal Year 2016/17. As part of
the Fiscal Year 2017/18 budget process, staff will evaluate funding needs. It should be noted that
WCA submitted price increases of 4% per year for the three annual (optional) renewal periods
following the initial contract. Should market conditions change that could be favorable to the City,
staff may elect not to renew the contract beyond the second year in order to re -bid the services.
Funding Source
Tree maintenance work is funded by the General Fund.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official -notice bulletin board
outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public
Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of
the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
1) Make a finding of a CEQA categorical exemption pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (h)
6 for the maintenance of existing landscape; 2) Authorize the issuance of a two-year Purchase Order
in the amount not -to -exceed $1,498,460 to West Coast Arborists, Inc. in substantially the same form
as Attachment 2 of the report; and 3) Delegate authority to the City Manager to renew the Purchase
Order for three additional one-year periods, providing pricing and service remain acceptable to the
City.
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16-0468 Agenda Date: 7/26/2016
Prepared by: Pete Gonda, Purchasing Officer
Reviewed by: Timothy J. Kirby, Director of Finance
Reviewed by: Manuel Pineda, Director, Public Works
Reviewed by: Walter C. Rossmann, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Deanna J. Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Bid Summary
2. Draft Purchase Order
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