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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRFP - MSU Sewer Interceptor Improvements REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS MSU Sewer Interceptor Improvements CITY OF BOZEMAN PO BOX 1230 BOZEMAN, MT 59771-1230 SEPTEMBER 2025 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Bozeman (City) is requesting proposals from qualified firms to provide engineering design and construction services for improvements to the City’s MSU Sewer Interceptor. Copies of the Request for Proposal (RFP) are available on the City’s website. 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 Microsoft OneDrive 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 for submission of response to this RFP is September 19, 2025 at 2:00 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. The email address for submission is: procurement@bozeman.net NON-DISCRIMINATION & EQUAL PAY 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. In addition, pursuant to City Commission Resolution 5169, the entity awarded a contract under this project and any subcontractors must abide by the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Section 39-3- 104, MCA (the Montana Equal Pay Act), and affirm it will abide by the above and that it has visited the State of Montana Equal Pay for Equal Work “best practices” website, or equivalent “best practices publication” and has read the material. Failure to comply with these non-discrimination and equal pay provisions is cause for the City to disqualify the firm from selection. Administrative questions regarding submittal procedures may be directed to: Mike Maas, City Clerk (406) 582-2321, procurement@bozeman.net. Technical questions regarding the project may be directed to Kellen Gamradt, Project Engineer, kgamradt@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 Thursday, September 11, 2025 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 3rd day of September 2025. Mike Maas City Clerk City of Bozeman For publication on: Saturday, August 30th, 2025 Saturday, September 13th, 2025 I. INTRODUCTION The City of Bozeman (City) is requesting proposals from qualified firms (Consultants) to provide engineering design services for improvements to portions of the existing MSU Sewer Interceptor including evaluation of existing conditions, design and construction services for interceptor improvements, renovations, and upgrades. The City will select the Consultant it deems most qualified upon review of proposals received in response to this request for qualifications notice. The selected Consultant must demonstrate expertise in the use of the design and construction administration of projects replacing and upgrading existing sewer infrastructure, and public communication. Publication of this RFP shall not commit the City to enter into a Professional Services Agreement (PSA), to pay any expenses incurred in preparation of a submission responding to this RFP, or to procure or contract for any supplies, goods or services. The City reserves the right to accept or reject all responses received for this RFP if it is in the City’s best interest to do so. This procurement is governed by the laws of the State of Montana and the venue for all legal proceedings shall be in the 18th Judicial District Court, Gallatin County. By offering to perform services under this RFP, all submitters agree to be bound by the laws of the State of Montana and of the City, including, but not limited to, equal opportunity employment practices, safety, non-discrimination and equal pay.. II. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION In 2024, the City completed a Wastewater Facility Plan Update to guide system improvements to accommodate the wastewater demands of our growing community. The plan identified near- term (5-year) recommendations by utilizing both hydraulic models and risk assessment models to prioritize capital planning needs. This dual approach provided a comprehensive view, identifying high-risk areas, assets that have exceeded their useful service life, and specific infrastructure improvements needed to support future growth. The MSU Interceptor, described in Bozeman’s Wastewater Facility Plan as the “19th Ave / Kagy Blvd Interceptor” was flagged as a high priority near-term replacement project. The critical section of the existing sewer interceptor begins on Kagy Boulevard near the intersection with Hoffman Drive as 10-inch diameter asbestos concrete pipe and continues to run north through West Mason Street, South Willson Avenue, West College Street, South 4th Avenue, and ending near the intersection of South 9th Avenue and West Babcock Street. The existing sewer interceptor increases in size from 10-inch up to 18-inch as it progresses north through the City. Portions of the existing sewer interceptor have been identified as high-risk given due to its condition and age. In addition, the City’s hydraulic model has shown that several segments of sewer interceptor are near hydraulic capacity during wet weather modeling scenarios. The project includes both the replacement and upsizing of approximately 10,250 ft of existing sewer mains. Overall, the project will provide the necessary infrastructure improvements needed to increase system capacity to meet future build-out conditions while decreasing overall risk associated with critical aging infrastructure. The City’s 5-year Capital Improvement Plan includes the MSU Interceptor Project for design in fiscal year 2026 and construction in fiscal year 2027 with a total estimated cost of $4,931,900. Project Extents Figure from Wastewater Master Plan III. PRELIMINARY SCOPE OF WORK 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 consultant’ can mean a single consulting firm, or a prime consulting firm together with sub-consultant 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 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 consulting firm. Any sub-consultants that comprise the respondent team must be identified along with a description of past working history between the firms. Task 1 – Summarize Existing Plan Information • Review all available information and consult with the City to define the requirements for the project (including objectives and constraints, schedule, and budgetary limitations). Initial relevant information is included in the Project Background and Description Section. Task 2 – Evaluation of Wastewater Facility Plan Recommendations • Perform additional flow monitoring on various locations along the sewer interceptor to compare against the City’s wastewater models and to check against the wastewater facility plan findings. • Evaluate individual sections of the sewer interceptor for capacity, age, pipe condition, and risk assessment. • Draft a preliminary engineering report and engineer’s estimate with recommendations on necessary improvements to the MSU sewer interceptor. The engineering report will need to include design parameters, alignment evaluation and selection, and cross-connections for the MSU sewer interceptor. The design parameters need to account for existing and future sewer demands, and evaluation of groundwater related to inflow and infiltration from existing sewer laterals and other connections. Task 3 – Design, Bidding, and Construction Management • Provide complete design, construction management, and inspection services for the completion of the sewer interceptor improvements. Services shall include but not be limited to surveying, geotechnical, sewer modeling, permitting, drafting, and engineering design. • Assist in construction management to address request for information on design plans and specifications, and potential design changes due to unforeseen field conditions. • Prepare a contract document and specification manual for the project. The project will be bid using QuestCDN so all front end documents will need to be adjusted to meet QuestCDN requirements. The consultants QuestCDN account will be used with the City given Owner privileges. • Prepare an Engineering Design Report which conforms with DEQ Circular 2, Design Standards for Public Sewage Systems. Prepare and submit as needed information to support MDEQ review and approval. • Provide project bidding and award assistance. • Participate as necessary in any public involvement activities required for the project in collaboration with the City’s Communications and Engagement Manager. IV. SCHEDULE AND BUDGET The City has an available budget of approximately $836,000 within the current fiscal year. The City desires to have the Project ready for construction advertisement and bid by spring of 2026. V. RFP DEADLINES & SELECTION TIMELINES Consultants must provide their proposal submissions in response to this RFP via email to the City Clerk at procurement@bozeman.net by Friday, September 19, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. MST. Submissions must be provided as a single, searchable PDF document file as an email attachment. Consultants are advised that the email attachment size limit is 25MB and that only one PDF file will be allowed per response. The subject line of the submission email shall clearly identify the RFP title, company name, and due date/time. File sizes greater than 25MB in size may be uploaded to the City Clerks’ Office upon special arrangement with the City Clerk. If this arrangement is made, it is sole responsibility of the Consultant to ensure the file upload is completed, and that the City Clerk is separately notified via email of the completed transmittal, prior to the deadline given in this notice. Late submittals will not be accepted. CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS Questions concerning this RFP or Project shall be directed in writing to the following individuals. Project Manager Kellen Gamradt, P.E. kgamradt@bozeman.net Procurement Timeline EVENT DATE RFP Notice Dates Saturday, August 30, 2025; Saturday, September 13th, 2025 Deadline for Technical Questions Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. MST Proposal Submission Deadline Friday, September 19, 2025 at 2:00pm MST City Evaluation of Proposal September 22 – October 3, 2025 Interviews (At City’s Discretion) Week of October 6th 2025 Selection Decision October 13, 2025 Contract Negotiation October 13 – October 31, 2025 Contract Authorization October 31, 2025 Except for the RFP notice dates and proposal submission deadline, the above procurement timeline may be modified without notice by the City. VI. PROPOSAL CONTENTS AND FORMAT Proposals must contain the following information and be organized under the headings below. A. Proposal Contents 1. Firm Background: Provide general information about the firm, its history, strengths/weaknesses, and special capabilities that set the firm apart from its competitors. If the Consultant consists of a team of firms, provide the specific capabilities for each respective firm and the value that a team approach provides. 2. Project Overview: Provide a high-level overview of the Project to demonstrate the Consultant’s understanding of the purpose and need for the Project. 3. Project Approach: Describe the specific approach to completing the Project within a detailed scope of services and schedule. The submittal should include specific scope items and deliverables that are proposed to meet the City’s stated objective for the Project. If the Consultant is comprised of a team of firms, the proposal submittal contents must clearly indicate which firm will be the prime firm for the PSA, and clearly distinguish the respective aspects of the detailed project approach each firm will be working on. 4. Management Approach Staff Qualifications: Describe the Consultant’s project manager and principal-in-charge and their qualifications along with their respective office locations. Describe the experience and qualifications of professional personnel to be assigned to the project team and their individual roles in delivering the scope of services described in the proposed specific project approach. 5. Related Experience on Similar Projects: Describe the Consultant’s recent or current work with the City, if any. Provide a description of not less than three projects of similar size and scope that the Consultant has successfully completed within the past 5 years. The project description shall include a brief overview, overall fees, and contact information for the project owner. 6. Proposed Schedule and Consultant’s Workload: Provide a proposed project schedule with major milestones identified as well as the status of current and anticipated workload for identified staff members. 7. Sign Nondiscrimination & Equal Pay Affirmation Form: Provide the Nondiscrimination & Equal Pay Affirmation Form included as Attachment A, signed by an authorized representative of the consultant. i. Failure to provide a signed Nondiscrimination & Equal Pay Affirmation is cause to disqualify the firm from selection. B. Proposal Format 1. Proposals shall be provided as a single, searchable, PDF document file. 2. Proposals shall contain a cover letter signed by an officer or principal of the responding prime firm. 3. Submittals shall be a total of ten (10) 8.5”x11” pages or less, with margins not smaller than 0.50”, and font not smaller than 11-point type. a. The following pages are exempted from the 12-page limit: cover page, cover letter, table of contents, divider pages, personnel resumes, and signed Non- Discrimination and Equal Pay Affirmation Form. b. A project schedule sheet is exempted from the 8.5”x11” page size limit and may be of larger format but is included in the 12-page submittal limit. VII. 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. VIII. SELECTION PROCEDURE Procurement of 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 an 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. The City may choose multiple selected firms for contract negotiations if in its discretion it believes that discrete selected firms are most qualified for particular scope items and that the City will receive superior service and results than if all scope items are completed by a single selected firm. 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. IX. 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. X. FORM OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT Consultants are notified that the form of the PSA contract must be substantially similar to template PSAs commonly utilized by the City in contracting for professional services. The City will determine which template PSA is most conducive for the professional services being contracted for after its selection of the most qualified Consultant is made. Consultants are also notified that condition assessment plans which include conditional assessment technologies or processes that require temporary or permanent alterations to the system or risk to the City’s operation of the system (such as from an in-service pipeline prob) as deemed by the City will require additional insurance, bonding and/or changes to the PSA. XI. CITY RESERVATION OF RIGHTS / LIABILITY WAIVER All proposals submitted in response to this RFQ become the property of the City and public records and, as such, may be subject to public review. A SUBMISSION IN RESPONSE TO THIS REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS CONFERS NO RIGHTS UPON ANY CONSULTANTS AND SHALL NOT OBLIGATE THE CITY IN ANY MANNER WHATSOEVER. THE CITY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE NO AWARD AND TO SOLICIT ADDITIONAL REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS AT A LATER DATE. 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. XII. MISCELLANEOUS A. No Oral Agreements. No conversations or oral agreements with any officer, employee, or agent of the City shall affect or modify any term of this solicitation. Oral communications or any written/email communication between any person and City officer, employee or agent shall not be considered binding. B. No Partnership/Business Organization. Nothing in this solicitation or in any subsequent agreement, or any other contract entered into as a result of this solicitation, shall constitute, create, give rise to or otherwise be recognized as a partnership or formal business organization of any kind between or among the respondent and the City. C. Employment Restriction and Indemnity. No person who is a City, officer, employee, contractor, or subconsultant of a Consultant shall be an officer or employee of the City. No rights of the City’s retirement or personnel rules accrue to a respondent, its officers, employees, contractors, or consultants. Consultants shall have the responsibility of all salaries, wages, bonuses, retirement, withholdings, worker’s compensation and occupational disease compensation, insurance, unemployment compensation other benefits and taxes and premiums appurtenant thereto concerning its officers, employees, contractors, and consultants. Each Consultant shall save and hold the City harmless with respect to any and all claims for payment, compensation, salary, wages, bonuses, retirement, withholdings, worker’s compensation and occupational disease compensation, insurance, unemployment compensation other benefits and taxes and premiums in any way related to each Consultant’s officers, employees, contractors and subconsultants. D. Accessibility. Upon reasonable notice, the City will provide assistance for those persons with sensory impairments. For further information please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at 406-582-3232 or the City’s TTY line at 406-582-2301. E. Procurement. When discrepancies occur between words and figures in this solicitation, the words shall govern. No responsibility shall attach to a City employee for the premature opening of a response to this RFQ not properly addressed and identified in accordance with these documents. F. Governing Law. This solicitation and any disputes arising hereunder or under any future agreement shall be governed and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Montana, without reference to principles of choice or conflicts of laws. XIII. ATTACHMENTS The attachments below are incorporated in this RFP: • Attachment A: Non-Discrimination & Equal Pay Affirmation Form END OF RFP EXCEPT FOR ATTACHMENTS NONDISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL PAY 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. In addition, ____________________________________(name of entity submitting) hereby affirms it will abide by the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Section 39-3-104, MCA (the Montana Equal Pay Act), and that it has visited the State of Montana Equal Pay for Equal Work “best practices” website, or equivalent “best practices publication” and has read the material. ______________________________________ Name and title of person authorized to sign on behalf of submitter