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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTowing Site Visit 2011NATIONAL CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM DATE: August 4, 2011 TO: Tow Contract Committee FROM: Dan Fabinski, Tow Contract Committee Member SUBJECT: Towing & Impound Contract Request for Proposal (RFP); Site Visits Request for Proposal ("RFP") #GS1011-4 was issued on May 19, 2011 to establish a new Towing and Impound contract for the City of National City. The RFP's were mailed to 18 vendors, and advertised in the San Diego Union Tribune and the Star News. The completed RFP's were due on July 5, 2011. The City received eleven (11) responses, which included one (1) response as a "no bid". Upon initial review of all the proposals by the Tow Contract Committee, three tow proposals did not meet the RFP requirements. There were seven remaining proposals from the following tow contractors: • Advantage Towing, 2646 Main Street, San Diego, CA., 92113 • American Towing and Auto Dismantling, Inc., 140 Reed Court, Chula Vista, CA., 91911 • Angelo's Towing, 1177 S. 26th Street, San Diego, CA., 92113 • Cortes Towing Enterprises, Inc., 919 Hollister Street, San Diego, CA., 92154 • Paxton Towing, Inc., 3487 Main Street, Chula Vista, CA., 91911 • Road One Towing (A to Z Enterprises, Inc.), 3821 Calle Fortunada, Suite A, San Diego, CA., 92123 • Tom Moynahan Towing and Storage, 3200 National City Blvd., National City, CA., 91950 Site visits were conducted on the remaining seven tow contractors by Sergeant Fabinski and Armando Vergara. As stated in the RFP, the site visits were conducted without prior notice in order to view the tow contractor in their normal everyday business setting. The site visits were conducted over a two day period with four contractors contacted on Monday, July 18, 2011, and three contractors contacted on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. A Site Visit checklist was completed by Sergeant Fabinski during each site visit. The checklists are attached to this memorandum. 1 Tom Moynahan Towing and Storage (visited 7-18-11 @ 1:35 pm) Employee present — Tom Moynahan This bidder is the current tow contractor for the City. The bidder has been the City's tow contractor continuously since 1968. They are the only bidder with their business office and storage yard located inside National City city limits. Moynahan Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office is staffed 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.. All incoming phone calls are answered by office staff. The business phone is also routed to the business owner, Tom Moynahan's, residence in National City, to ensure phone calls are answered promptly. The office staff is available 24/7 for after-hours vehicle releases. The current fee schedule is posted at the business, they accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. As the current City tow contractor, the business has a system in placed to post tow reconciliations and collect all fees due to the City. As the City's current tow contractor, they have an excellent reputation for being on time, submitting reconciliations, and other reports timely and accurately, and providing access to stored vehicles. Moynahan Towing's truck fleet meets the RFP requirements. All trucks are California Highway Patrol ("CLIP") certified. The business has standard duty, medium duty, and heavy duty wheel lift trucks, standard/medium duty rollback trucks, and a heavy duty landau truck. The business also has a tow truck capable of sub -garage towing and an off road capable vehicle. All trucks are equipped within RFP requirements. Moynahan Towing's storage lot is located in National City and close to public transportation. The storage lot is composed of a gravel type surface and per Tom Moynahan, is approximately 100,000 square feet. My visual estimate of the lot size agrees with this estimate. The storage yard is enclosed by solid fence and wall with a locked gate. The lot is alarmed and monitored by several cameras that record and are equipped with motion sensors. The lot is well lit with pole and roof mounted lights. The storage lot has a secured storage area for evidentiary vehicles and has a paved vehicle examination area. There are no areas of concern known, nor any negative history reported or experienced with Moynahan's Towing. Moynahan's Towing and Storage meets all RFP requirements. Road One Towing (visited 7-18-11 @ 2:10 pm) Employees present — Brian Waltham; Pamela Lent Road One Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office/storage lot is located at 3333 National Avenue in San Diego which is approximately 1.6 miles from the National City city limits. This business office is staffed 2 Monday — Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. After hours, phone calls are routed to the main office/dispatchers and answered by staff. If an after-hours release is requested by a customer, the dispatcher would immediately send a Road One employee to the storage lot to assist the customer. All incoming phone calls are answered by Road One staff. The current fee schedule is posted at the business, they accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. Road One Tow tows for several law enforcement agencies. Road One Towing has a system in place to post reconciliations for other jurisdictions. They currently do not have a system in place for National City, but state as a former National City tow contractor, they could re -enable the National City reconciliation system with minimal effort. Road One Towing's truck fleet meets the RFP requirements. All trucks are CHP certified. The business has standard duty, medium duty, and heavy duty wheel lift trucks, standard/medium duty rollback trucks, and a heavy duty landau truck. The business also has tow trucks capable of sub -garage towing and off road capable vehicles. All trucks are equipped within RFP requirements. Road One has the largest fleet of trucks of all the RFP proposals. According to Brian Waltham, all trucks now have a Tele-track GPS system allowing Road One dispatch to know the location of all trucks and dispatch the closest truck for a shortened response time. Road One Towing's storage lot is located in San Diego and close to public transportation. The storage lot is composed of a gravel type surface with partial paving and per Brian Waltham, is approximately 150,000 square feet. My visual estimate of the lot size agrees with this estimate. The storage yard is enclosed by solid chain link fence reinforced with rebar and barb wire with a locked gate. The lot is alarmed and monitored by several cameras equipped with motion sensors, that record. The lot is well lit with pole and building mounted lights. The storage lot has an indoor secured storage area for evidentiary vehicles and has a paved vehicle examination area. Factors to consider with Road One Towing: 1) As a former City tow contractor, the contractor had reoccurring issues with meeting response times. However, Road One Towing states they have a new Teletrack GPS system in all tow vehicles which will shorten response times. 2) The storage lot to be used for City tows will only be staffed during business hours. For an after hours release, a customer must phone the dispatch center and then they will immediately send an employee to the storage lot to assist customer; thus there is waiting time. Road One Towing meets all RFP requirements. 3 Angelo's Towing (visited 7-18-11 @ 3:15 pm) Employee present — Nash Habib Angelo's Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office/storage lot is located at 1177 S. 26u' Street in San Diego which is approximately 2.0 miles from the National City city limits. Their business office is staffed 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. During the business hours of 6:00 am to 10:00 pm, there are three office employees present; from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am the staff consists of one dispatcher. All incoming phone calls are answered by office staff. The office staff is available 24/7 for after-hours vehicle releases. The current fee schedule is posted at the business, they accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. Angelo's Towing currently tows for the CHP and the Coronado Police Department. They do not have a current system in place for reconciliations as they do not collect any fees for either agency. They are a large Automobile Club ("AAA") provider with about 6,000 AAA calls for service each month. Nash Habib states they have the ability to create a system for municipal tow reconciliations. Angelo's Towing's truck fleet meets the RFP requirements. All trucks are CHP certified. The business has standard duty, medium duty, and heavy duty wheel lift trucks, standard/medium duty rollback trucks, and a heavy duty landau truck. The business also has a tow truck capable of sub -garage towing and an off road capable vehicle. All trucks are equipped within RFP requirements. Angelo's Towing's storage lot is located in San Diego and close to public transportation. The storage lot is paved and per Nash Habib, is approximately 20,000 square feet including the office building. My visual estimate of the lot size agrees with this estimate. The storage yard is enclosed by solid fence and wall with a locked gate. The lot is alarmed and monitored by several cameras that record. The lot is well lit with pole and building mounted lights. The storage lot does not have a secured storage area for evidentiary vehicles. It has a paved vehicle examination area. Factors to consider with Angelo's Towing: 1) They have no prior experience as a National City tow provider, thus no National City history to assess. 2) They have limited experience as a municipal tow provider. 3) They have a small storage lot, approximately 17,000 square feet of usable space. They may have difficulty storing all of NCPD's tows, especially if a high tow volume operation such as a Driving Under the Influence/Drivers License ("DUI/DL") checkpoint is conducted. 4 4) They have no secure evidence storage facility; one would have to be constructed which would further decrease storage lot size. 5) They have no current process in place to collected fees due the City; the contractor would have to create an administrative process and train employees. 6) Concerns exist as to fulfilling response time requirement and tow priorities due to being such a large AAA provider. Angelo's Towing and Storage meets all RFP requirements. Advantage Towing (visited 7-18-11 @ 3:50 pm) Employee present — Andy Palmer; Yazid Iziqat Advantage Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office/storage lot is located at 2646 Main Street in San Diego which is approximately 1.8 miles from the National City city limits. The contractor states the business office is staffed Monday — Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm (the posted hours state 8:00 am to 5:00 pm), however, upon our arrival for the site inspection at 3:50 pm, the business office was locked and no staff were visible. A walk around the perimeter revealed barking dogs in the lot but no employees. There was no pay phone outside the business, so the phone number on the sign was called via wireless phone. After several rings, employee Andy Palmer answered. A few minutes later, Andy Palmer arrived from inside the business and allowed us in for the inspection. Andy Palmer stated he had been working in the yard. The contractor states the office is staffed 24/7 and office staff answers all phone calls. The current CHP fee schedule is posted at the business. They accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. Advantage Towing does not have a system in place to post reconciliations for other municipalities. They have a system to collect for AAA towing. Advantage Towing's truck fleet does not meet the RFP requirements for the following reasons: Only one truck was available for viewing that was CHP certified. The business has standard duty and medium duty wheel lift trucks and standard/medium duty rollback trucks only. All trucks are equipped within RFP requirements, with the exception that they do not have tow trucks capable of heavy duty towing or with off -road capability. The RFP requires equipment capable of towing large oversized vehicles and from off road areas (pg 15, Section III.E. of the RFP). They state a heavy duty truck and an off - road capable truck are on order, but the RFP package contains only a quote for such vehicles with an explanation of delivery within 30-45 days of contract award. Advantage Towing's storage lot is located in San Diego and close to public transportation. The storage lot has a paved surface and appears to be approximately 30,000 square feet. The storage yard is enclosed by solid chain link fence with mesh and barb wire with a locked gate. The lot is not alarmed, but per Yazid Iriqat, an alarm is 5 being ordered. The RFP requires and alarm and intrusion sensors that provide immediate notification capabilities at all times or similar devices or security measures. (pg 14, Secction III. D. of the RFP). The lot has surveillance cameras, however the cameras were not working during our site visit. The lot is well lit. The storage lot has an indoor storage area, which could be adapted for evidentiary vehicles and has a paved vehicle examination area. Advantage Towing does not meet all RFP requirements. It does not have a heavy duty truck or an off -road capable truck. It does not have an alarm system and the camera system was not functioning during the site visit. Additionally, the business office was not open during normal business hours, as stated and required by the RFP. Cortes Towing Enterprises, Inc. (visited 7-19-11 @ 10:50 am) Employees present — Juan Cortes, Jr., Paulo Cortes Cortes Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office/storage lot is located at 919 Hollister Street in San Diego which is approximately 5.9 miles from the National City city limits. Their business office is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During the business hours of 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, there are three office employees and one dispatcher present, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 a.m. The staff consists of one dispatcher. All incoming phone calls are answered by office staff. The office staff is available 24/7 for after-hours vehicle releases. The current fee schedule is posted at the business, they accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. Cortes Towing currently tows for the CHP and the San Diego Police Department (starting 8-1-11). They have a system in place for reconciliations with SDPD and believe they can create a reconciliation system for National City with minimal effort. They are a large AAA provider with about 2,700 AAA calls for service each month. Cortes Towing's truck fleet does not meet the RFP requirements for the following reasons: Their trucks are CHP certified and the business has standard duty and medium duty wheel lift trucks and standard/medium duty rollback trucks. Their trucks are equipped within RFP requirements. They do not, however, have any heavy duty tow trucks. The RFP requires equipment capable of towing large oversized vehicles (pg 15, Section III.E. of the RFP). Paulo Cortes stated they will purchase a heavy truck if awarded the contract. They also do not have a running vehicle capable of off -road towing. The RFP requires equipment capable of towing from off road areas (pg 15, Section III.E. of the RFP). They displayed an older model, dismantled truck as their future off -road vehicle. The business does have a tow truck capable of sub -garage towing. Cortes Towing's storage lot is located in San Diego and close to public transportation. The storage lot is paved and per Juan Cortes, is approximately 35,000 square feet. My 6 visual estimate of the lot size agrees with this estimate. The storage yard is enclosed by solid chain link with mesh fence with a double, locked gate. The lot is alarmed and monitored by several cameras that record. The lot is well lit with pole and building mounted lights. The storage lot has an enclosed, secured storage area for evidentiary vehicles. It has a paved vehicle examination area. Cortes Towing does not meet all RFP requirements. It does not have a heavy duty truck or an off road capable truck, as required by the RFP. Paxton Towing, Inc. (visited 7-19-11 @ 11:30 am) Employee present — Bo Lemler Paxton Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office/storage lot is located at 3487 Main Street in Chula Vista which is approximately 6.5 miles from the National City city limits. Their business office is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their business hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. All incoming phone calls are answered by office staff. The office staff is available 24/7 for after-hours vehicle releases. The current fee schedule is posted at the business, they accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. Paxton Towing currently tows for the Chula Vista Police Department ("CVPD"). They have a system in place for reconciliations with CVPD from previous years when they would collect fees for Chula Vista. Bo Lemler states they can create a reconciliation system for National City with minimal effort. Paxton Towing's truck fleet does not meet the RFP requirements for the following reasons: None of their trucks are CHP certified. This is a requirement of the RFP (pg. 15, Section IILE. of the RFP). Paxton Towing had Chula Vista Police Department Officer Rhodes conduct a CHP inspection on each tow truck, but this unfortunately does not qualify for CHP certification. Bo Lemler states he is not on the CHP tow rotation and it is difficult to get the CHP to certify his trucks because of this. The business has standard duty, medium duty, and heavy duty wheel lift trucks and standard/medium duty rollback trucks. The business has a tow truck capable of sub -garage towing and an off road capable vehicle. All trucks are equipped within RFP requirements. Paxton Towing's storage lot is located in Chula Vista and close to public transportation. The storage lot has a gravel type surface and according to Bo Lemler, is approximately six acres in size (approximately 250,000 square feet). My visual estimate of the lot size agrees with this estimate. The storage yard is enclosed by solid chain link with mesh fence and a locked gate. The lot is alarmed and monitored by several cameras that record. The lot is well lit with pole mounted lights. Paxton Towing has another storage location in close proximity that has an enclosed, secured storage area for evidentiary vehicles. It has a paved vehicle examination area on the main lot. 7 Paxton Towing does not meet all RFP requirements. It does not have a current CRP certification, as required by the RFP, on any of its tow trucks. American Towing and Auto Dismantling, Inc. (visited 7-19-11 @ 12:25 am) Employee present — Rudy Mercado American Towing has a current National City business license. Their business office/storage lot is located at 140 Reed Court in Chula Vista which is approximately 6.3 miles from the National City city limits. Their business office is staffed only during business hours 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The hours expand to 8:00 am to 7:00 pm when on rotation for Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD). All incoming phone calls are answered by office staff during business hours. After hours, all phone calls are answered by a contracted answering service. The office staff is available 24/7 for after-hours vehicle releases, through contact with the answering service. The current fee schedule is posted at the business, they accept cash and major credit cards, and have cash on hand for change. An inspection of invoices verified that customer invoices are itemized with all charges. American Towing currently tows for the CVPD, US Customs and Border Patrol, and is on the CHP rotation. They have a system in place for reconciliations. Rudy Mercado states they can create a reconciliation system for National City with minimal effort. American Towing's truck fleet does not meet the RFP requirements for the following reasons: Their trucks are CHP certified. The business has standard duty, medium duty wheel, and heavy duty lift trucks and standard/medium duty rollback trucks.All their trucks are equipped within RFP requirements. They do not have, however, a tow truck capable of sub -garage towing, as required in the RFP (pg. 15, Section III E of the RFP). They also do not have a tow truck vehicle capable of off -road towing. The RFP requires equipment capable of towing from off road areas (pg 15, Section III.E. of the RFP). Rudy Mercado stated if awarded the tow contract, he would purchase one tow vehicle which would be capable of both sub -garage towing and off road towing. American Towing's storage lot is located in Chula Vista and close to public transportation. The storage lot has a gravel type surface and according to Rudy Mercado, is approximately 2.3 acres in size (approximately 100,000 square feet). My visual estimate of the lot size agrees with this estimate. The storage yard is enclosed by a corrugated metal solid fence, which is electrified, and a locked gate. The lot does not have an alarm system. The RFP requires and alarm and intrusion sensors that provide immediate notification capabilities at all times or similar devices or security measures. (pg 14, Secction III. D. of the RFP). The lot has cameras that record on a loop. The cameras are not monitored and per Rudy Mercado, they are "old style" cameras. The lot contains a secured area for evidentiary vehicles, however, this area is surrounded by only a chain link fence that is open on top, significantly reducing its security. This, combined with no alarm system and non -monitored cameras, makes the secured area not very 8 secure. The storage lot has a paved vehicle examination area, but this is the mechanical repair area on the main lot, making it difficult to utilize for evidence collection. American Towing does not meet all RFP requirements. It does not have a tow vehicle capable of sub -garage towing, does not have a vehicle capable of off road towing, and the storage lot does not have an alarm system, all of which are required by the RFP. Upon completion of the site visits, the results of the site visits were presented to the tow contract committee. As a result of the site inspections, it was determined that four of the proposals did not meet the RFP requirements. The following three tow contractors were found to have met the RFP requirements. Summary • Angelo's Towing, 1177 S. 26`h Street, San Diego, CA., 92113 • Road One Towing (A to Z Enterprises, Inc.), 3821 Calle Fortunada, Suite A, San Diego, CA., 92123 • Tom Moynahan Towing and Storage, 3200 National City Blvd., National City, CA., 91950 Dan Fabinski 9