Request for Proposals: Conceptual Master Planning and Design Assistance for CDBG Planning Grant
I PURPOSE: The intent and purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to establish a contract through competitive negotiation for conceptual master planning and design assistance for the Town of Pearisburg and the Town of Rich Creek in Giles County, Virginia. These services are an important component of a business district revitalization planning grant that the towns have received through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The planning grant activities will allow the towns to complete the preparatory work necessary to pursue additional CDBG funding to implement the physical development projects identified through the course of the planning process.
II BACKGROUND:
Giles County is located in the southwestern part of Virginia in the region known as the New River Valley. This region takes its name from the New River, the nation's oldest and the world's second oldest river, and includes the counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, and the City of Radford. The New River flows through Giles County from south to north, passing by all three towns. The Towns are near other outdoor recreation assets as well, including the Appalachian Trail, the Jefferson National Forest, and a variety of local trail systems and parks. Both towns are small (population under 3,000) with a Mayor and Town Council, as well as administrative staff.
III STATEMENT OF NEED:
The Towns are undertaking a community based effort to invest in the redevelopment of the downtown districts in their towns, focused around outdoor recreation amenities, and strategies that can help businesses in the towns to maximize the economic benefits from visitors to these attractions. As part of these efforts, the Towns have both received DHCD planning grants to develop designs for downtown improvements that support these initiatives. Through the planning grant process, community stakeholders have developed an economic restructuring plan for the towns, to include specific projects the communities can undertake to improve their downtown districts and encourage business development related to outdoor recreation and tourism.
The Town of Pearisburg is requesting proposals from consultants to provide the following services in order to assist in the following planning grant activities for this project. While the Town of Pearisburg is the administrator for this contract, the services outlined below will be required for both the Town of Pearisburg and the Town of Rich Creek, which are developing separate projects for this grant program.
Conceptual master planning and design services
a. community visioning activities to gain consensus on community priorities and desired project outcomes
b. identify priority projects for downtown revitalization efforts, including improving blighted properties, improving public spaces and accessibility, improving transportation and layout in business districts (eg, sidewalks, intersection improvements, etc.)
c. identify priority projects to provide connections between downtown business districts and nearby outdoor recreation amenity areas
d. detailed site analysis and preliminary engineering reports on specific sites/properties as appropriate
e. develop budget estimates for proposed priority construction projects and other investments
Work is anticipated to begin in January 2019, to be completed by May 2019. Although some work tasks may be completed by May, the Towns will need many of the project deliverables in advance of the CDBG grant submission deadline in late March.
Submittals should address the items above and must be limited to no more than five pages, not including references.
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IV PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
A. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:
1. RFP Response: In order to be considered for selection, Offerors must submit a complete response to this RFP. One (1) electronic copy of each proposal must be submitted to:
Regina Harless, Town Clerk
Town of Pearisburg
112 Tazewell Street
Pearisburg, VA 24134
rharless@pearisburg.org
RFP Due date: January 9, 2019
The Offeror shall make no other distribution of the proposal.
2. Proposal Preparations:
a. Proposal shall be signed by an authorized representative of the Offeror. All information requested should be submitted. Staff will review all proposals to ensure required information is included. Failure to submit all information requested may result in a request to submit the missing information. Proposals which are substantially incomplete or lack key information may be rejected as incomplete. Mandatory requirements are those required by law or regulation or are such that they cannot be waived and are not subject to negotiation.
b. Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by a Committee as designated by the Town.
c. Proposal should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straight forward, concise description of capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Emphasis should be placed on completeness and clarity of content.
d. Proposals should be organized in the order in which the requirements are presented in the RFP. All pages of the proposal should be numbered. Each paragraph in the proposal should reference the paragraph number of the corresponding section of the RFP. It is also helpful to cite the paragraph number, subletter, and repeat the text of the requirements as it appears in the RFP. If a response covers more than one page, the proposal should contain a table of contents which cross references the RFP requirements. Information which the offeror desires to present that does not fall within any of the requirements of the RFP should be inserted at an appropriate place or be attached at the end of the proposal and designated as additional material. Proposals that are not organized in this manner risk elimination from consideration if the evaluators are unable to find where the RFP requirements are specifically addressed.
e. Each copy of the proposal should be bound or contained in a single volume where practical. All documentation submitted with the proposal should be contained in that single volume.
f. Ownership of all data, materials and documentation originated and prepared for the Town pursuant to the RFP shall belong exclusively to the Town and be subject to public inspection in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by an Offeror shall not be subject to public disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; however, the Offeror must invoke the protections of Section 2.2-4342D of the Code of Virginia, in writing, either before or at the time the data or other materials to be protected and state the reasons why protection is necessary. The proprietary or trade secret material submitted must be identified by some distinct method such as highlighting or underlining and must indicate only the specific words, figures, or paragraphs that constitute trade secret or proprietary information. The classification of an entire proposal document, line item prices and/or total proposal prices as proprietary or trade secrets is not acceptable and will result in rejection of the proposal.
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B. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS: Proposals should be as thorough and as detailed as possible so that the Town may properly evaluate your capabilities to provide the required services. Offerors are required to submit the following information/items as a complete proposal:
1. A signed cover letter detailing the contents of the submission package, and an acknowledgement of the firm’s ability and willingness to meet the contract terms described below.
2. A discussion of the expertise and experience of the firm relative to the scope of services contained in this RFP, including experience with leading community visioning projects, master planning and ‘place-making’ for downtown areas, and creating budget estimates and engineering documents for proposed construction projects or investments.
This section should include information about the capabilities of the firm as relates to the requested services, and recent projects the firm has completed of a similar type. Responses should include information regarding:
-Number and type of projects within the past five years completed relating to the project as outlined in the scope of services.
- Past cost performance, scheduling performance, and general performance on past projects, to include all public projects in the past (3) years directly related to addressing the scope of service required for the RFP. This information should include the contact name and number for each project. Please identify any projects that involved working with DHCD funding or programs.
3. Provide up to four (4) recent references, similar to the Towns of Pearisburg, Rich Creek, or Giles County, for whom you have provided services similar to the requested services for this project. Include the date(s) services were furnished, the client name, address and the name, phone number and email address of the individual that Town staff has your permission to contact.
4. Geographic location of the firm relative to Giles County. The firm should include a street address of the office proposed to handle the work.
5.Identification and statement of qualifications of the principal architects/engineers and project team members who will be assigned to the project(s) for actual "hands on" work, as well as the principal assigned the project(s) for oversight responsibilities.
6. Identification and statement of qualifications of all additional associated architects/engineers, if any, to be used on the project(s) along with a description of their role(s) on the project team.
7. Number, type, and value of current projects. Size of the firm relative to the size of the project(s).
8. Current workload and ability to complete project(s) in the required time.
V. EVALUATION AND AWARD OF CONTRACT:
AWARD OF CONTRACT: The Town of Pearisburg and the Town of Rich Creek will designate representatives to serve on a review committee that will assess responses and interview qualified firms based on the criteria described below. The review committee will engage in individual discussions and interviews with two or more offerors deemed fully qualified, responsible and suitable on the basis of initial responses, and with professional competence to provide the required services. Repetitive informal interviews are permitted. Offerors are encouraged to elaborate on their qualifications, performance data, and staff expertise pertinent to the proposed contract as well as alternate concepts.
Proprietary information from competing offerors (including any data on estimated man hours or rates and the plan for accomplishing the scope of work) will not be disclosed to the public or to competitors provided such information is duly marked as "Proprietary Information" by the Offeror and the designation is justified as required by §2.2-4342.D., Code of Virginia, as amended. At the conclusion of the informal interview, on the basis of evaluation factors published in the RFP and all information developed in the selection process
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to this point, the review committee shall rank, in the order of preference, the interviewed offerors whose professional qualifications and proposed services are deemed most meritorious.
Negotiations shall then be conducted with the offeror ranked first. If a contract satisfactory and advantageous to the Towns can be negotiated at a fee considered fair and reasonable, the award shall be made to that offeror. Otherwise, negotiations with the offeror ranked first shall be formally terminated and negotiations conducted with the offeror ranked second, and so on, until such a contract can be negotiated a fair and reasonable fee. Should the review committee determine in writing and in its sole discretion that only one offeror is fully qualified, or that one offeror is clearly more highly qualified and suitable than the others under consideration, a contract may be negotiated and awarded to that Offeror.
B. Evaluation Criteria: Proposals shall be evaluated by the review committee using the following criteria:
EVALUATION CRITERIA WEIGHT
1. Expertise, experience, and qualifications of the firm’s personnel in providing services as related to the Scope of Services 40 points
2. Familiarity with the Department of Housing and Community Development CDBG program procedures and requirements, including the documentation necessary to pursue funding for the projects identified in this Scope of Service. 30 points
3. Overall suitability to provide the services for this project within the time, budget, and operational constraints that may be present, and the comments and/or recommendations for the firm’s previous clients, references and others. 20 points
4. Geographical location of the firm relative to the project location. Current and projected work loads and ability to complete the work in a timely manner. 10 points
VI RESERVATION OF RIGHTS: The Town of Pearisburg and the Town of Rich Creek reserve the right to award in part or in whole, to one or more vendors, or to reject any or all proposals, whichever is deemed to be in the Towns’ best interest.
The services provided under this DHCD planning grant provide the basis for pursuing additional funding from DCHD to undertake construction of the downtown redevelopment projects identified in the planning process. The Towns may request additional professional services similar to those requested by this RFP, which may be necessary during the construction phase of the project, pending a successful grant award.
VII QUESTIONS: Please submit all questions no later than January 4, 2019. No questions will be answered after this date unless the due date is extended due to questions raised.
VIII CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION:
Todd Meredith, Pearisburg Town Manager, or his designee, shall be identified as the Contract Administrator and shall use all powers under the contract to enforce its faithful performance. The Contract Administrator, or his designee, shall determine the amount, quantity, acceptability, fitness of all aspects of the services and shall decide all other questions in connection with the services. The Contract Administrator, or his designee, shall not have the authority to approve changes in the services which alter the concept or which call for an extension of time for this contract. Any modifications made must be authorized by the Town of Pearisburg through a written amendment to the contract.
IX PAYMENT PROCEDURES: The Town will authorize payment to the Contractor after receipt of Contractor’s correct invoice for services rendered. Invoices shall be sent to:
Regina Harless, Town Clerk
Town of Pearisburg
112 Tazewell Street
Pearisburg, VA 24134
X CONTRACT PERIOD: The term of this contract is for one year or as negotiated.
