CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Change Order #1 to Bid 17-124, Fire Department Personal Protection Gear, to LION First Responder for an amount not to exceed $20,000 and a total award $292,440
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DEPARTMENT: Fire Department
SUBMITTED BY: Mark Puknaitis, Chief
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The Fire Department provides 197 firefighters with their own set of personal protection gear. A firefighter is given a helmet, bunker coat, bunker pants, fire boots, fire gloves, protective hood, goggles, and earflaps when they start their career. The gear must meet or exceed NFPA #1971, Protective Ensemble for Structural Firefighting, current edition requirements.
On September 5, 2017, the City Council awarded Bid 17-124, Fire Department Personal Protection Gear, to LION First Responder, Equipment Management Co., W.S. Darley & Co., and Air One Equipment for $272,440 over a two-year period. LION First Responder was awarded Group 1, Bunker Gear (Coat, Pants and Suspenders) and Group 4, Cleaning and Inspection of the Personal Protective Gear.
DISCUSSION:
The Fire Department adheres to NFPA #1582 to ensure the turnout gear worn by the City’s firefighters remains in compliance with safety standards. Prior to this contract, turnout gear inspections were performed in-house and failed gear was sent out for repairs with a turnaround time of one to two months. After reviewing the quality of inspections being performed, staff found that our rudimentary inspection and testing process was not catching gear that had defects in need of repairs. Without repairs to the shells and liners of our turnout gear, it could cause a firefighter to be severely burned during a fire.
Group 4, Annual Cleaning and Inspection, was added as a new service to the Fire Department Personal Protection Gear contract. After beginning to use the service, staff realized there was an additional cost to perform repairs on the equipment. This cost is estimated at $10,000 per year and is not included as part of the current contract. This change order is requested to add $20,000 to the contract to repair the turnout gear when it is inspected and cleaned by Lion First Responder.
Besides being more cost effective to repair the turnout gear at the same time as the cleaning, staff found that companies are not willing to perform repairs only without also having the contract for the inspection and cleaning. The turnout gear is scheduled for pick up from four fire stations and taken offsite for cleaning. During this time, firefighters use their second set of gear. The turnaround time for the original gear to be returned is approximately 12 days which includes any needed repairs and the gear is delivered back to the station at no charge. If repairs were outsourced to a separate company, it extends the time that the turnout gear is out of service and a separate delivery charge is applied.
If the Fire Department does not perform repairs and the gear fails the testing process, the gear is mandated to be removed from service. The Fire Department would have to purchase a new set of gear at a price of nearly $2,000 per set, which would double the annual replacement costs and impact the budget by approximately $80,000.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP # N/A
Personal protection gear is expensed to the Equipment Maintenance account listed below. A total of $18,340 has been budgeted for personal protection gear in 2018. The requested amount is within budget.
|
Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount |
|
22251100-531303 |
Equipment Maintenance |
$79,340 |