July 12, 1998

  To:Budget Committee

 From:Commissioner of Corporate Services

 Subject:Use of Consultants in City Hall Relocations

  Purpose:

 To provide the Budget Committee with information about the use of consultants in the City Hall relocations.

 Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

 Funding in the amount of $1.7 million for this Stage One planning and critical 1998 moves has been requested from the Transition Reserve Fund - this request is currently under consideration by the Budget Committee. A further funding amount of $1 million from the Transition Reserve Fund to complete this work and initiate the Yards property consolidation study is also under consideration by the Budget Committee. An allocation of $710,000 for consulting fees is included within both of these funding requests and is outlined in the discussion section.

 Recommendations:

 It is recommended that:

(1)This report be received for information.

  Council Reference/Background/History:

 The Budget Committee, at it's July 7, 1998 meeting, "¼requested the Commissioner of Corporate Services to report to the Budget Committee on July 13, 1998 advising how many consultants have been hired to date to achieve the moves to City Hall, at what cost and why this work cannot be completed in-house."

  Discussion

 The Departments are now re-organizing and are requiring adjustments to space allocations. The Facilities & Real Estate Division must respond to manage relocations and overall space planning to ensure the new organization can be as effective as possible.

 Consultants have not been utilized in the management or planning of any Council and/or staff relocations that have occurred in 1998. Consultants will not be utilized in any relocation management and/or planning to occur in the remainder of 1998. This work has been and will continue to be completed by City staff as the significantly condensed time-frames for the relocations to date and projected in 1998 require detailed knowledge of existing buildings and a "just-in-time" approach to planning.

 The consulting firm of Kelly, McTernan & Lavoie was retained by the Facilities & Real Estate Division in April to assist in the strategic planning necessary to establish the workplan for the office and civic space consolidation project. This work was funded by a $10,000 Department Purchase Order. Findings of a summary report submitted to the City are included in a staff report submitted to the July 20, 1998 Corporate Services Committee and conclude the scope of current work by this firm. City staff were extensively involved in the planning process but required facilitation of planning sessions and external advice on current market trends.

 As noted above there is a further request for $2.7 million to complete the planning for office and civic space consolidation, initiation of the Parks/Works Yards study and the necessary 1998 relocations. The Budget Committee has requested a breakdown of consulting fees contained within these two requests. The breakdown of consulting fees in the total amount of $710,000 is as follows:

\$100,000 will be expensed to hire students and purchase additional hardware/software to complete the necessary Computer Assisted Drawings of the civic and office space buildings. There are insufficient staff resources to complete the drawings quickly and the students are less costly. This activity will allow City staff to expedite relocation planning and will reduce actual relocation expenses in 1999 and 2000 by up to 30 percent.

 \$310,000 will be utilized to retain a prime consultant to provide expert advice and complete the necessary work to detail recommendations, associated budget savings and an implementation plan for office and civic space consolidation. To this end a Request for Proposals for a prime consultant or consortium will be issued in July 1998.

 \$300,000 will be utilized to initiate the planning required for the Yards consolidation. Staff have already completed an initial inventory of Yard properties in preparation for this project.

 The use of consultants on these projects will be to provide the expert analysis and recommendations covering all aspects of portfolio management from reasonable space standards to building condition surveys to real estate market analysis. In addition, consultants will also be utilized to ensure that best practices in the use of space and the overall reduction of space are achieved for the new City of Toronto. City staff will be extensively involved in this project in providing space needs analysis and base building information. The current and anticipated workload through 1998 to complete critical relocations does not allow City staff to complete the planning phases of these projects by the December deadline.

 Conclusions:

 The City has not retained any consultants to complete relocations in 1998. City staff will perform all functions related to the planning and management of the anticipated moves into City Hall in 1998. Consultants have been retained to date to assist with the overall approach to the office and civic space consolidation project and involvement from a prime consultant is required to complete Stage One of this project in 1998. Consultants will also be required to assist with the planning required to consolidate the City Yards properties.

 The use of consultants on these space consolidation projects is required to meet the project deadlines and provide external best practice and current market advice.

 Contact Name:

Mark DaviesTel: 397-0805 / Fax: 397-0825e-mail:

Project Team Lead

Facilities & Real Estate Division

 Commissioner of Corporate Services