Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout20- RFP - Engineering Design Standards Update ENGINEERING DESIGN STANDARDS UPDATE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS CITY OF BOZEMAN PO BOX 1230 BOZEMAN, MT 59771-1230 MAY 2020 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Bozeman (City) is requesting proposals from qualified engineering consulting firms to perform a comprehensive update to the City’s Engineering Design Standards and Specifications Policy and City Modifications to the Montana Public Works Standard Specifications. The complete Request for Proposals packet is available for download on the City’s website at https://www.bozeman.net/government/city-clerk/bids-rfps-rfqs. All proposals must be provided as a single, searchable PDF document file and be submitted digitally as an email attachment to the RFP Recipient email address below. Respondents are advised that Recipient’s email attachment size limit is 25MB and that only one PDF file will be allowed per response. The subject line of the transmittal email shall clearly identify the RFP title, company name and due date/time. File sizes greater than 25MB in size may be uploaded to bzncloud.bozeman.net upon special arrangement of the Recipient; however, it is the respondent’s sole responsibility to ensure the file upload is completed, and that the Recipient is separately notified via email of same, prior to the given deadline. The deadline to submit the RFP response is Friday, June 19th, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. MST. It is the sole responsibility of the responding individual to ensure their email transmittal is digitally timestamped as being sent to the Recipient’s email address prior to the prescribed closing time as late submittals will not be accepted. RFP Recipient Email Address: llehigh@bozeman.net NON-DISCRIMINATION The City of Bozeman is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Discrimination in the performance of any agreement awarded under this RFP on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability is prohibited. This prohibition shall apply to the hiring and treatment of the awarded entity’s employees and to all subcontracts. As such, each entity submitting under this notice shall include a provision wherein the submitting entity, or entities, affirms in writing it will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability and which also recognizes the eventual contract will contain a provision prohibiting discrimination as described above and that this prohibition on discrimination shall apply to the hiring and treatment of the submitting entity’s employees and to all subcontracts. Failure to comply with these non-discrimination provisions is cause for the City to disqualify the firm from selection. Any administrative questions regarding RFP transmittal procedures or noticing materials shall be directed to: Mike Maas, Interim City Clerk, (406) 582-2321, mmaas@bozeman.net. Any and all questions or clarifications relating to the RFP scope of services, submittal contents, evaluation criteria, or selection procedures shall be directed solely and exclusively in writing to: Lance Lehigh, Development Review Engineering Manager, llehigh@bozeman.net. The respondent, and any of its associating parties, shall not contact other City staff in the preparation of its response to this RFP. Emailed questions or clarifications will be accepted until Wednesday, June 10th, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. MST after which time the questions will be compiled, anonymized and provided with a posted response on the City’s RFP webpage. Further questions will not be entertained after the question period has elapsed. The City reserves the right to amend or modify any element of this RFP by issuance of an addendum at any time prior to the given submittal deadline. Any addenda that may be issued for this RFP will be individually noticed on the City’s RFP webpage. It is the respondent’s responsibility to determine if any addenda have been issued. DATED at Bozeman, Montana, this 21st day of May, 2020. Mike Maas Interim City Clerk City of Bozeman For publication on: Sunday, May 24th, 2020 Sunday, May 31st, 2020 Sunday, June 7th, 2020 I. INTRODUCTION The City is seeking proposals from qualified engineering firms to complete an update to the City’s Design Standards and Specifications Policy (DSSP) as well as City Modifications to the Montana Public Works Standard Specifications (City Modifications). The City will rely on the consultant to manage the update process, gather input from staff, local development community, and stakeholders to ultimately create documents containing the City’s public works infrastructure design requirements. The release of this RFP alone shall not commit the City to enter into a Professional Services Agreement, to pay any expenses incurred in preparation of any response to this request, or to procure or contract for any supplies, goods or services. II. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION Bozeman remains a safe, inclusive community, fostering civic engagement and creativity, with a thriving diversified economy, a strong environmental ethic, and a high quality of life as our community grows and changes. The City works hard every day to provide critical services to the community including clean water, safe streets and thoughtful development. On April 16, 2018 the Bozeman City Commission formally adopted the Bozeman Strategic Plan (Plan), which is intended to focus on outcomes over the next 2-5 years. Section 4 of the Plan, a Well-Planned City, lays out guidance to proactively address growth-related changes will continuing to honor the “Bozeman Feel”. Acknowledging these growth-related changes, an update to the City’s current DSSP and City Modifications is imperative as the City has matured, a wide range of development has occurred, and design trends and best practices have evolved. The DSSP was formally adopted in 2004 and has been updated via addendums over the last 16 years. The City recognizes that there have been advancements in relevant published design guidance, best practices, construction materials and techniques, and state/federal requirements. A primary objective of the update is to build off of what the City has created and modernize these documents to reflect, amongst other things, design criteria recommendations from the City’s facility plans, consistency with minimum regulatory requirements (DEQ Circulars, MUTCD, etc.), and significant changes in stormwater drainage policy stemming from the City’s MS4 discharge permit. The City Modifications were created to standardize certain construction materials and specifications and address unique requirements which are currently not addressed in the “Montana Public Works Standard Specifications” (MPWSS), sixth edition, April 2010. Where a City modification to MPWSS does not exist for a particular Section of MPWSS the work is to be completed in accordance with the appropriate MPWSS Section. When a City modification to the MPWSS does exist the requirements of that modification supersede the related MPWSS requirement. The same holds true for City Standard Drawings; however, there are some Standard Drawings that do not replace or supersede the MPWSS but are additional drawings created specifically for the City. Development review applications and any concomitant public infrastructure have been evaluated based on consistency with the DSSP and City Modifications. The overarching function of the DSSP and City Modifications update is to protect public health and safety, provide for clear design criteria, review procedures and inspection requirements, and generally promote operational efficiency and continuity while minimizing overall lifecycle cost of public infrastructure. III. PRELIMINARY SCOPE OF WORK The tasks and deliverables listed below in the preliminary scope of work serve as the minimum elements of what the City anticipates will be needed to complete the DSSP and City Modifications update. Release of this RFP with the preliminary scope of services contained herein does not commit the City to contracting with a selected firm for all scope items identified. For purposes of this RFP the term ‘selected firm’ can mean a single engineering consulting firm, or a prime engineering consulting firm together with sub-consultant engineering firm(s) forming a respondent team. The preliminary scope of work involved for this project is outlined below. The City desires for the scope of work to be completed in a diligent manner. Additional tasks and work elements may be inserted into the scope of work during contract negotiations with the selected firm. It is also possible that tasks or elements could be removed during negotiations or not included in an initial contract because of regulatory uncertainty, budget limitations, contracting strategy or any combination thereof. In its proposal, a firm may recommend addition/deletion of tasks and/or modification of tasks in describing its particular understanding and approach for the project. Proposals must clearly identify any elements of the proposed scope of work that would not be provided by the prime engineering consulting firm. Any sub-consultants which comprise the respondent team must be identified along with a description of past working history between the firms. A. Project Management 1. Develop and manage the project schedule and budget. 2. Manage and coordinate consultant resources and sub-consultants (if any) to provide identified deliverables. 3. Facilitate meetings with the City and provide meeting minutes for a project kickoff meeting and for any other scoped meetings needed to gain consensus or inform decision points. 4. Prepare and submit monthly invoices for progress payments. 5. Develop and manage a QA/QC plan to ensure quality of deliverables prior to City review, as well as to incorporate any City comments. B. Establish Baseline for the Standards Update 1. Working with City staff, assess the adequacy of existing DSSP and City Modifications in terms of content, format, and graphics to identify where updates or revisions are most needed. 2. Working with City staff, review and identify all items requiring formal infrastructure plan submittal, review and approval. Recommend any changes or modifications to the infrastructure submittal process, including review deadlines, methods and formats for submittals, electronic files type standards and checklists. 3. Research existing relevant sources for public infrastructure standard specifications, design criteria, guidelines, minimum design standards. Recommend any changes or modifications to the existing DSSP or City Modifications based on research findings and provide supporting rationale for changes. C. Affordable Housing Infrastructure Design Standards 1. Working with City staff, identify areas within the existing DSSP and City Modifications that could be changed to allow greater design flexibility to promote affordable housing while maintaining efficient life cycle cost. Recommend any changes or modifications to the existing DSSP or City Modifications based on findings and provide supporting rationale for changes. Recommendations should include relaxations or incentives that might promote affordable residential development but not at the cost of public health or safety, causing the standards to be incongruent with other relevant State or Federal standards or dramatic increases in lifecycle cost. Distinctions in recommendations are required for those items that are generally applicable and those that may be specific to affordable housing developments. Long term impacts of any relaxations must be identified in the recommendation. D. Design and Implement a Community Engagement Plan 1. Craft an engagement plan that targets identified stakeholder groups, local experts, and staff. The plan can include surveys, interviews, small or large group meetings, charrettes, or other appropriate means of hearing from our community. The plan must focus on obtaining actionable input relevant to the DSSP and City regulatory obligations rather than generalized or theoretical suggestions that are not attainable. 2. Identify how the outcomes (ideas, concerns, suggestions, problems) identified during those engagement efforts will be used to inform the draft and final deliverable(s) for this project. E. Draft Update to the Standards 1. Utilize the baseline, affordable housing findings, and relevant community and stakeholder input to produce a first draft update of the DSSP and City Modifications for City staff internal review and comment. The draft update of the DSSP and City Modifications will be technically sound, easy to use and interpret, graphically appealing, concise, electronically searchable, and organized. 2. Track staff comments and incorporate recommended modifications and changes. 3. Produce a second draft update of the DSSP and City Modifications that incorporates all from City staff comments Task E.1 for final review and community/stakeholder comment. The consultant will assist with meeting facilitation, including preparation of materials appropriate to the purpose of the meeting such as handouts, large exhibits, presentations, and other displays necessary to gain informed public comments. 4. Gather and organize comments received from Task E.3. Work with City staff to review and consider incorporating changes that address comments. Produce a final draft of the updated DSSP and City Modifications. F. City Commission Presentation of Final Draft Update 1. Assist City Staff in the presentation of the final draft update to the City Commission. G. Publish Updated DSSP and City Modifications 1. Prepare the final updated DSSP and City Modifications documents that incorporate applicable comments from the City Commission. 2. Publish the final version of the updated DSSP and City Modification as both a bound hard copy and an electronic searchable PDF with internal hyperlinks provided for the table of contents, figures and tables items. The consultant shall also provide a final word version of the DSSP and City Modifications. IV. PROPOSAL CONTENTS AND FORMAT Proposals must contain the following information and be organized under the headings below. A. Proposal Contents 1. Firm Background 2. Project Overview 3. Project Approach 4. Management Approach 5. Staff Qualifications 6. Related Experience on Similar Projects 7. Proposed Schedule 8. Nondiscrimination Affirmation Form (see Attachment A) i. Failure to provide a signed Nondiscrimination Affirmation is cause to disqualify the firm from selection. B. Proposal Format Respondents shall provide proposals as a single, searchable PDF document file format. 1. RFP responses shall contain a cover letter, not exceeding one page in length, signed by an officer or principal of the responding prime firm. Digital signatures are allowed. 2. RFP responses must be contained within 10 total pages or less, including whatever graphics, charts, tables, figures and text narrative the firm deems necessary and appropriate. Page size shall be no larger than 8-l/2 x 11 inches, with margins no smaller than 0.75 inches, and text information no smaller than 11-point type. 3. The following pages are exempted from the maximum 10 page limit: Cover Page, Cover Letter, Table of Contents Page, Divider Pages, and Resumes. Page size for exempted pages remains limited to 8-l/2 x 11 inches, with no smaller than 0.75” margins, and text no smaller than 11-point type. 4. An exception is granted to the otherwise required 8-l/2 x 11 inches page size for a project schedule sheet, which may be provided at a page size of 11 x 17 inches, but the schedule sheet does apply towards to maximum 10 page limit. V. RFP DEADLINES & SELECTION TIMELINES EVENT DATE/TIME Publication dates of RFP Sunday, May 24, May 31, and June 7, 2020 Deadline for RFP questions & clarifications Wednesday, June 10th at 11:59 p.m. MST City Response to questions & clarifications Weekly updates with final answers posted to the website on June 12th, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. MST Deadline for transmittal of proposals Friday, June 19th at 3:00 p.m. MST Evaluation of proposals June 22nd – July 3rd, 2020 Interviews (if necessary) and Selection Week of July 6th, 2020 Contract Negotiation July 6th – July 31st, 2020 Contract Authorization & Notice to Proceed August 10th, 2020 The timeline of events following deadline for transmittal of proposals is aspirational and is not predetermined. The City endeavors to conduct these post-deadline events diligently in order to arrive at contract authorization and notice to proceed by the date shown. Failure to reach the notice to proceed milestone by the date shown imparts no liability on the part of the City. VI. SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL By submitting its proposal the consulting firm makes an incontrovertible and unequivocal representation that it understands, respects, and agrees to be bound by the terms and processes described herein that the City will employ in its review, evaluation, selection and contract negotiations occurring under this RFP procurement action. The proposal shall be submitted as stated in the notice. VII. SELECTION PROCEDURE Procurement of engineering services under this RFP is governed by Sec. 18-8-201 MCA et. Seq. and the specific processes contained within this RFP. Proposals meeting the submittal requirements and deadline will be distributed to a project selection committee for review and evaluation. The selection committee will consist of no fewer than three (3) City staff members whose identities will remain anonymous ahead of the submittal deadline. Proposals will be distributed to the selection committee where they will be individually evaluated against the selection criteria below. Upon review, each member will assign an ordered ranking of the proposals from most-qualified to least-qualified. The most-qualified proposal will be assigned a ordinal value of one (1), the second most-qualified an ordinal value of two (2), continuing in this fashion until the least qualified proposal is found and given an ordinal value equaling the total count of proposals received. Ordinals assigned to each proposal by each committee member will then be summed together and sorted from lowest ordinal sum to highest ordinal sum, producing the selection committee’s initial ranking list from most-qualified to least-qualified. The selection committee will review the initial ranking list and determine at its sole discretion whether it will conduct interviews with the top ranking firms of its choosing, or it may determine that it will forego interviews and simply select the most- qualified firm from the initial ranking list to enter contract negotiations. Should the selection committee determine it will conduct interviews, it will select the firm it determines to be most- qualified upon a combined evaluation of the firm’s written proposal and interview performance. The firm determined by the selection committee to be most-qualified will be deemed the ‘selected firm’ for which the City will enter into contract negotiations. Contract negotiations will proceed after selection and will take into account the estimated value of services to be rendered, as well as the scope, complexity and professional nature thereof, in order to arrive at a contract that the City determines to be fair and reasonable. If the City is unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the consultant initially selected at a price the City determines to be fair and reasonable, negotiations with that consultant will be formally terminated and the City will select another consultant in accordance with Sec. 18-8- 204 MCA and continue until an agreement is reached or the procurement process is terminated. VIII. SELECTION CRITERIA Proposals will be evaluated on the criteria listed below. These are minimum criteria listed in Sec. 18-8-204 MCA as well as an additional criterion capturing the consultant’s specific project approach and understanding. These criteria are not assigned point values for relative weighting in the evaluation and ranking process. Instead, selection committee members will review and evaluate the proposal as a whole to assign proposal rankings from most- to least-qualified. · The consultant’s specific project approach and understanding; · Qualifications of professional personnel to be assigned to the project; · Capability to meet project time and budget requirements; · Location of the consulting firm; · Present and projected workloads; · Related experience on similar projects; · Recent and current work for the City. IX. CITY RESERVATION OF RIGHTS / LIABILITY WAIVER A. All proposals submitted in response to this RFP become the property of the City and are considered public records and, as such, may be subject to public review. B. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals; to add or delete preliminary scope items and/or quantities; to amend the RFP; to waive any minor irregularities, informalities, or failure to conform to the RFP; to extend the deadline for submitting questions or proposals; to postpone contract authorization and notice to proceed for any length of time it determines necessary; to award one or more contracts, by item or task, or groups of items or tasks, if so provided in the RFP and if multiple awards or phases are determined by the City to be in the public interest; and to reject, without liability therefore, any and all proposals upon finding that doing so is in the public interest. C. The City reserves the right to reject the proposal of any person/firm who previously failed to perform properly to the satisfaction of the City, or complete on time agreements of similar nature, or to reject the proposal of any person/firm who is not in a position to perform such an agreement satisfactorily as determined by the City. D. The City reserves the right to determine the most-qualified consultant and negotiate a final scope of service and cost, negotiate a contract with another consultant if an agreement cannot be reached with the first selected consultant, or reject all proposals. E. This RFP does not commit the City to award a contract. The City assumes no liability or responsibility for costs incurred by firms in responding to this request for proposals or engaging in the selection process, prior to the issuance of a contract. The consultant, by submitting a response to this RFP, waives all right to protest or seek any legal remedies whatsoever regarding any aspect of this RFP. F. The City reserves the right to cancel, in part or in its entirety, this RFP including, but not limited to: selection procedures, submittal date, and submittal requirements. If the City cancels or revises this RFP, all consultants who submitted proposals will be notified using email. G. Projects under any contract are subject to the availability of funds. X. ATTACHMENTS The attachments below are incorporated in this RFP: · Attachment A: Non-Discrimination Affirmation Form XI. OTHER RESOURCES Information or data that may be germane to the preliminary scope of work contained in this RFP and are publicly available on the internet, or housed by other government agencies, so they are not being provided by the City with this RFP. The existing DSSP, City Modifications, as well as other relevant engineering planning documents can be found online at https://www.bozeman.net/government/engineering/permits-plans-projects If additional information is needed, please email llehigh@bozeman.net. END OF RFP EXCEPT FOR ATTACHMENTS Attachment A NONDISCRIMINATION AFFIRMATION ____________________________________(name of entity submitting) hereby affirms it will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability and acknowledges and understands the eventual contract will contain a provision prohibiting discrimination as described above and this prohibition on discrimination shall apply to the hiring and treatments or proposer’s employees and to all subcontracts. ______________________________________ Name and title of person authorized to sign on behalf of submitter