In August 2016, the City of Allen entered into an agreement with Bureau Veritas to provide Building Inspection Services as an independent contractor.  Bureau Veritas augments the City's current staff with building inspection services in order to keep up with the increasing demand in inspections due to the high level of construction activity within the City of Allen.  Additionally, the job market is very competitive we, along with other cities in North Texas, have had a difficult time recruiting qualified individuals for building inspections.

To date, the Community Development Department is pleased with the work our Bureau Veritas Building Inspector has completed for the City.  We are very fortunate to have an experienced, recently retired City of Plano, Building Inspector working as our contract employee.  It is important for the City to have the same individual to maintain consistency and ensure inspections are completed in the same manner the Allen staff completes inspections. 

On average, the Bureau Veritas employee works approximately 22 hours per week and has provided much needed responsiveness to our building customers. This contractual service has allowed the Building Inspections Division to focus on the more difficult inspections and rely on Bureau Veritas to conduct the more routine inspections, such as:  residential water heaters, HVAC replacements, residential fence construction, roof replacements, swimming pools, retaining walls, etc. 

The goal is to use Bureau Veritas until the division is fully staffed and caught up with the workload.  Currently, there are two vacant building inspector positions and we have recently reclassified one to Senior Building Inspector with the goal to hire an individual with a Plumbing Certification. 

Since August 2016, the City has spent approximately $38,500 for professional building inspection services with Bureau Veritas.  The funding for this contract is expended in the General Fund, Community Development Department budget and is partially offset through salary savings.  The contract calls for a fee of $125 per hour.  Staff will continue to monitor the expenditure to ensure it doesn't exceed the amount of $75,000.

Staff recommends the City Council authorize the City Manager to Continue the Professional Services Agreement with Bureau Veritas North America, Inc., for Building Inspection Services in an Amount not to Exceed $75,000.

I make a motion to authorize the City Manager to Continue the Professional Services Agreement with Bureau Veritas North America, Inc., for Building Inspection Services in an amount not to exceed $75,000.