Decision 01-12-010 December 11, 2001

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking on the Commission's own motion into General Order 163, relating to the Commission's contracting for Architectural, Engineering, and Environmental Services

R.01-06-022 (Filed June 14, 2001)

DECISION ADOPTING REVISED GENERAL ORDER 163A

I. SUMMARY

This decision adopts revisions and addresses comments received in response to a rulemaking we initiated in June to revise Commission General Order (GO) 163, the GO that sets forth the Commission's procedures for procuring architectural, engineering and environmental services consistent with Sections 4529-4529.5 of the Government Code. We expect that the revisions will facilitate the Commission's staff ability to perform the environmental review of projects proposed by the utilities we regulate in a timely fashion, consistent with the Commission's legal obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).