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Council hears how on‑call professional services agreements speed emergency repairs and inspections
Summary
Engineering explained the city's approach to on‑call professional services agreements for emergency repairs and specialized services such as tank inspection and cleaning; council clarified thresholds for task orders and that task orders above $25,000 require council approval.
City engineering briefed the council on the use of on‑call professional services agreements (PSAs) to provide rapid response for emergency repairs and specialized inspections.
Staff explained that PSAs allow the city to task a qualified firm for emergency or specialized work without creating a separate construction contract for each incident. "They're not getting paid to be stand by — they still get paid only for the work that they do when they're needed," staff said, describing that task orders over the department authority threshold (commonly $25,000) must come back to council for approval.
The discussion used a recent tank cleaning RFQ as an example: the city sought a firm able to perform both inspection/design work and cleaning for water storage tanks; the PSA approach lets staff order task work more efficiently while remaining subject to procurement rules. Councilors sought clarity about billing, oversight and whether on‑call services equate to retainer payments; staff said the agreement establishes an available roster of qualified firms but does not obligate ongoing payments absent ordered work.
