The county’s land use services department has committed $2.22 million toward payments to seven firms scheduled to provide permit inspection and plan reviews over the next three years.
Five of those companies are based outside of San Bernardino County.
Without specifying the amount each of the service providers will receive, Tom Hudson, the director of the land use services department recommended that the board of supervisors authorize the county’s purchasing agent to issue a master blanket purchase order, in the aggregate amount of $2,220,000, for the provision of building & safety permit inspection and plan review services with Bureau Veritas North America, Inc. of Costa Mesa; California Code Check, Inc. of Westlake Village; CSG Consultants, Inc. of Santa Ana; Jason Addison Smith Consulting Services, Inc. of Upland; JLee Engineering of Alhambra; NV5, Inc. of Sacramento; and Willdan of San Bernardino.
According to Gia Kim, the assistant director of land use services, “On May 22, 2015, Request for Qualifications (RFQ) No. LUSD15-LUS-1474 seeking proposals from qualified vendors for various plan review and inspection services for all of the unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County was advertised through the County’s Electronic Procurement Network (ePro) and was sent to all vendors within the ePro system with a vendor code that aligned with the services being requested.”
She said that Bureau Veritas North America, California Code Check, CSG Consultants, Jason Addison Smith Consulting, JLee Engineering, NV5, and Willdan responded .
“A three-member committee, which included staff from land use services department administration and building & safety, evaluated the proposals for technical qualifications, cost, and references,” Kim reported in a staff memo to the board of supervisors dated August 11. “After completion of the evaluation process, the land use services department is recommending purchase orders with all the vendors as each met the RFQ requirements and are well-qualified to provide the requested services.”
According to county building official Jim Sowers, “The work will be apportioned by availability of the vendors to provide plan reviews and inspections. At the same time we will look at the cost associated with each of their services and how to make sure they can comply with our performance measures, which will include inspection plan turnaround times. No one company will end up with all of the money distributed as we go forth.”