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Posted on February 9, 2011
The draft agenda for the February 17 meeting of the Austin City Council includes two items that represent significant milestones for the ASMP:
The item would authorize negotiation and execution of a services agreement with a cost not to exceed $700,000. From the agenda backup:
The City has identified a need for a transit investment that will provide critical connections between Central Austin activity centers; linkages to Mueller Redevelopment, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and the emerging regional rail network; and to encourage efficient urban development in Central Austin. The City is proposing a 16.5-mile Urban Rail Program as a part of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan. The selected firm will prepare a National Environmental Policy Act 1969 (NEPA) study in accordance with Federal regulations. As part of the NEPA process, the City will formally identify a lead federal agency, publish a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an appropriate type of NEPA study, begin public outreach, and continue with Program development. The objective of the NEPA study is to evaluate alternatives and make decisions such as those relative to the level of rail service to be provided within the corridor, including variations in train frequency, trip time, and on-time performance, a preferred crossing alternative for Lady Bird Lake, and a preferred First Investment Segment (FIS).
The selected firm will provide professional transportation and environmental planning services to evaluate the environmental effects of the implementation of the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) as part of the Program. The work to be performed by the selected firm, which will be supervised and overseen by the City, is as follows:
This request allows for the development of an professional services agreement with the recommended firm. If the City is unsuccessful in negotiating a satisfactory agreement with the recommended firm, negotiations will cease with that firm. Staff will return to Council and request authorization to begin negotiations with the alternate recommendation listed below.
RECOMMENDED FIRM: URS Corporation, Austin, TX
ALTERNATE FIRM: HDR Engineering, Inc., Austin, TX
The participation goal stated in the solicitation was 11.0% DBE. The recommended firm and alternate firm provided a DBE Compliance Plan that met the goal of the solicitation and was approved by the Small and Minority Business Resources Department.
Notification of issuance of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the subject services was sent to 307 firms on September 17, 2010. The RFQ was obtained by 65 firms, and 4 firms submitted qualification statements. One of the firms was deemed non-responsive. One of the firms was a certified WBE firm
The item would authorize up to $500,000 for the work to be done by the city and transit authority. From the agenda backup:
This Interlocal Agreement is to partner with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CMTA) on two interrelated efforts. These efforts affect the operational efficiency of Austin’s transportation network.
One is a Regional Transit System Plan Update to identify measures by which the region can effectively integrate the implementation of various elements of the CAMPO 2035 Plan, Regional Rail Transit System. Elements of the current Regional Rail Transit System include: the City of Austin's proposed Urban Rail, CMTA's Red Line and Green Line, Lone Star Rail District's LSTAR Regional Rail line, and the Georgetown-Round Rock "T". The outcome of this regional update will be better coordinated investments for transit in the long term which will be presented to the City of Austin, Capital Metro and CAMPO boards in early 2012.
The second effort is to help fund in partnership with CMTA a critical update to CAMPO's regional Travel Demand Model (TDM) in order to bring it into compliance with Federal requirements. Compliance of the TDM is necessary for both the City and CMTA to participate in various federal grants programs. The TDM is routinely used to plan and develop traffic designs by the City of Austin to improve the efficiency of the network.