East Central Florida Regional Planning Council
Central Florida Safe Routes Condition Analysis Continuing Services
Request for Qualifications - (RFQ)
RFQ Title: Central Florida Safe Routes Condition Analysis Continuing Services
Opening Date: August 15, 2013
Closing Date: September 1, 2013
Contract Amount: Up to $19,500
Section 1 - General Information
1- Type of Service
The East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (ECFRPC) is requesting qualifications from qualified firms to provide professional services for the Central Florida Safe Routes program. Services for the program include but are not limited to: route condition data collection and verification, additional school data, health, and transportation data verification, validation of the routes condition model; marketing and outreach assistance, and applications development assistance upon availability of future program funding. The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process will identify and select a qualified firm based on professional qualifications and selection criteria to provide the above described services.
2- General Scope of Work
The selected firm shall provide the ECFRPC with a full range of as-needed services in the areas of planning, data collection and data analysis as it relates to the Central Florida Safe Routes portal and program.
This Request for Qualifications extends the development of the one stop location, www.CentralFloridaSafeRoutes.org, portal for dissemination of the most up to date information, best practices, policies, tools, videos, and the development of safe walking and biking programs, policies through programs such as Safe Routes to School.
This program equips parents and students with information to make sound decisions, encourages children to walk and bike to school and helps to creating healthy communities which foster healthy lifestyles. The portal tools also serve to educate stakeholders of the impacts and importance of the Safe Routes to School program, infrastructure and appropriate economic returns. Policy and decision makers and other staff will be able to utilize the tools on the website to evaluate data involved with school siting and transportation, evaluate economic impacts of SRTS, and more. Arming stakeholders with relevant data helps to advocate for safe biking and walking environments and education for children and families.
The portal is being developed in phases allowing components to be implemented upon funding availability and through the development of tools and data sharing for targeted audiences.
3- Specific Tasks
The selected firm will provide all services for the proposal including data collection and verification, tool methodology validation, model output validation and outreach and marketing. Some of the duties outlined will become active when additional funding is secured.
The Route Condition Analysis Model: Understanding which routes are most suited to be safe and accessible enables parents and students to assess and determine the most appropriate route for walking or biking to school. Such understanding will also provide officials the ability to review data specific to a location to ensure that infrastructure projects are being targeted at locations which provide the best return on investment. The model will identify and analyze conditions, hazards, barriers and infrastructure within a 2 mile radius of 5 Eustis Elementary Schools (Lake County). Other Elementary schools within the same County may be used as part of the validation process as well. Depending upon results of field verification, additional development, data collection or reformatting may be necessary. The routes will be ranked according to various criteria. The selected firm will work with the Regional Planning Council team to identify data needs, conditions, methodology, criteria and provide the model validation.
4- Schedule of Activities
Activities:Due Dates:
i. Advertised PeriodAugust 15 – September 1, 2013
ii. Deadline to Submit RFQ QuestionsAugust 22, 2013
iii. Response to Written RFQ QuestionsAugust 25, 2013
iv. RFQ Submittal DeadlineSeptember 1, 2013
v. Evaluation of RFQ & Firms September 2 - September 4, 2013
vi. Final Selection of Firm(s)September 5, 2013
5- Inquiries
Questions regarding this RFQ must be submitted in writing by mail, fax or email to the Program Manager listed below. Written questions as to the intent or clarity of this RFQ can be submitted until close of business, 5:00 p.m. (East Time) on August 22, 2013. Written responses to written questions and any RFQ amendments will be published in the www.ecfrpc.org website. No further questions, in any form, will be entertained after August 22, 2013.
Program Manager: Tara McCue, Director of Planning and Community Design, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Email: tara@ecfrpc.org.
6- Proposal Submittal Deadline
Proposals must be physically submitted to the following address by September 1, 2013, no later than 4:00 p.m. (East Time): East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Attention: Tara McCue, 309 Cranes Roost Blvd, Suite #2000, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701.
Late, facsimiled or emailed proposals will not be accepted. These will be discarded and unrated. Firms responding in such fashion shall be considered non-responsive.
7- Addendum to the RFQ: In the event it becomes necessary to revise any part of the RFQ, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council shall issue a written addendum on the specifics of the change and inform all concerned by making the announcement available for download from the ECFRPC website www.ecfrpc.org.
8- Rejection of Proposals: The East Central Florida Regional Planning Council reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and waive informalities in the proposals received whenever such rejection or waiver is in the best interest of the region and/or the Central Florida Safe Routes program.
9- Proprietary Information: Any restriction on the use of data contained within any proposal must be clearly stated in the proposal. Each and every page that contains proprietary information must be stamped or imprinted “Proprietary”.
10- Ownership of Proposals: All materials submitted with the RFQ shall become property of the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and not returned to the firm. The ECFRPC has the right to use any or all the information presented in the RFQ subject to limitations outlined in the item #8 above described. Disqualification or non-selection of a firm or proposal does not eliminate this right.
11- Cost Incurred: The East Central Florida Regional Planning Council is not liable for any cost incurred by the firm prior to issuance of a signed contract award for services.
12- Contractual Obligations: The contents of the proposal may become part of contractual obligations of the contract award. Failure of the firm to accept these obligations may result in cancellation of the award for services.
13- Evaluation Criteria: Proposals accepted for rating shall be evaluated based on the criteria and 100 point system set forth in section 5 – Rating System and Evaluation Criteria.
14- Award of Contract: A contract will be awarded for the Route Condition Model and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council will retain the services of the top-rated firm on an as-needed basis. Upon selection, the firm will be notified. However, additional tasks will not be included in the contract outside of the Route Condition Model until the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council is in need of such services. When a need is established by the ECFRPC, a Statement of Work (SOW) along with a detailed fee proposal shall be prepared by the selected firm according to the task order and approved billing rates. Upon ECFRPC acceptance of the scope of work and fee proposal provided by the firm, the contract will be amended. The contract shall be effective from the executed date of the contract between the ECFRPC and the firm.
15- Disclaimer: The ECFRPC acceptance or review of any proposal shall not guarantee the execution of any contract, and the proposed contract shall be reviewed by all the appropriate interested parties for administrative and legal sufficiency, prior to execution, for improprieties in the procurement process or applicable local, state or Federal Laws or regulations, or for failure to submit all requested documents or information.
Section 2 – Proposal Requirements and Selection
A. Proposal Submission
1. Proposal must be submitted in a sealed envelope clearly marked:
a. “DO NOT OPEN – RFQ Central Florida Safe Routes Condition Analysis Continuing Services”
b. The name of the firm submitting the proposal shall be written legibly and shown on the outside of the sealed envelope. Please include the firm’s address.
2. Proposal Standards: The firm shall submit one (1) original and three (3) identical copies of their RFQ proposal for the evaluation committee members. Appearance of proposal is important and professionalism in proposal presentation should not be neglected. The proposal standards are as follows:
a. This RFQ proposal may not exceed 20 single-sided pages (maximum 8 ½” x 11”) with a minimum of 10 pt. type.
b. Pages that have photos, charts and graphs will be counted towards the maximum number of pages.
c. The following information is not included in the 20-page limit: cover letter on company letterhead and maximum 1-page resumes of each key team member.
d. RFQ submittals should be plastic or metal spiral-bound only. Please do not submit RFQ proposals in loose-leaf 3-ring binders; these will be considered non-responsive and disqualified.
e. Submissions exceeding the 20-page limit or any resumes exceeding the 1-page limit will be considered non-responsive and will be disqualified.
3. In a separate sealed envelope clearly marked as “FEE PROPOSAL”, the firm shall provide a proposed Contract Billing Rate schedule. The proposed Contract Billing Rates shall be an hourly rate fee schedule by position for work to be provided by each of the firms that comprise the “consultant team”, including the proposed total contract value, hourly rate fee, reimbursable expenses and rates that apply. The sealed envelope will not be opened by the East central Florida Regional Planning Council until after the RFQ proposals have been reviewed and ranked.
B. Proposal Review Process
Receipt of proposals will be verified on the due date specified. The ECFRPC will screen and evaluate proposals received in accordance to the following criteria. Proposals which fail this check will be considered non-responsive and disqualified.
1. Proposal is received by the required deadline date and time.
2. Proposal meets the proposal submission requirement set forth above under Section 2, A.
C. Proposal Evaluation
1. Proposals shall be evaluated and rated in accordance with the criteria outlined in Section 4 – Proposal Content and Evaluation Criteria.
2. The ECFRPC will rate the proposals based on total points awarded and the top three qualified firms with the highest ranking will be determined as most responsive.
The ECFRPC reserves the right to either interview the top three qualified firms or directly select the best qualified firm.
3. In a separate sealed envelope clearly marked as “FEE PROPOSAL”, the firm shall provide a proposed Contract Billing Rate schedule. The proposed Contract Billing Rates shall be an hourly rate fee schedule by position for work to be provided by each of the firms that comprise the “consultant team”, including the proposed total contract value, hourly rate fee, reimbursable expenses and rates that apply . The sealed envelope will not be opened by the ECFRPC until after the RFQ proposals have been reviewed and ranked; and it has been determined which firms the ECFRPC has selected for further evaluation and consideration.
D. Award of Contract
1. The East Central Florida Regional Planning Council will retain the services of the top rated and ranked firm for the Route Condition Model on an as-needed basis. Upon selection, the firm will be notified; however no contract will be entered into until the ECFRPC is in need of services. Questions regarding the submitted Contract Billing Rates will be addressed during this time. Failure to address any questions adequately by the firm shall result in cancellation of the offer. However, this cancellation will not negatively affect the other two qualified firms. The ECFRPC will offer the contract to the next highest rated and ranked firm on an as-needed basis.
2. When a need is established by the ECFRPC, a SOW shall be prepared by the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and presented to the firm for negotiation. Once the fees are considered reasonable, an authorization of services contract with the firm can be executed.
3. The ECFRPC will issue a Notice to Proceed to the firm upon execution of the contract. No work shall be performed by the firm until such notice is given by the ECFRPC. The ECFRPC is not liable for any cost incurred by the firm prior to issuance of a signed contract award.
Section 3 – Scope of Work
A. Description of Work
The consultant firm shall provide professional services in support of the ECFRPC Safe Routes Portal development. The as-needed services for these on-call projects include but are not limited to: planning; data collection; research; methodology development; data formatting; field data collection and validation; outreach and marketing.
The consultant will support the development of the Route Condition Model which it also provides officials the ability to review data specific to a location to ensure that infrastructure projects are being targeted at locations which provide the best return on investment. This tool will allow for those areas within the two mile walking distance of a school to be analyzed, based on various conditions and data, to determine the existing paths meeting the highest criteria for potential safe route corridors and identify potential barrier locations. These barriers can be further analyzed to determine possible improvements such as sidewalks, crossing guard locations, or other features to improve pedestrian conditions and strengthen the safe routes to school network.
Tasks
- Assist in creation of modeling parameters and assumptions
- Assist in creation of services to represent data values
- Field verification for modeling validation.
- Five Eustis Schools will serve to validate the model and methodology prior to inclusion of the entire Lake County Schools
- Upon expansion, other schools may be used as part of the validation process.
- Dependent upon results of field verification, additional development, reformatting and verification may be necessary.
- Outreach and marketing.
Section 4 – Proposal Content and Evaluation Criteria
A. Qualification of the Firm. Proposals must specifically address and affirm the following:
1. Letter of Interest that indicates why your firm should be selected to provide professional services to the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council Safe Routes to School Portal development.
2. Evidence of insurance, such as Professional Liability Insurance.
3. Resume of personnel that will be involved in the task of completing projects, including professional qualifications and experiences. Include personnel of sub-consultants which will be utilized by the prime consultant.
4. Organizational Chart outlining the inter-relationship and line of communication between the firm and sub-consultants.
5. Capability to perform all or most aspects of the project and recent experience in providing services comparable to the proposed SOW as listed in Section 3. Key personnel’s professional qualifications, experience, availability for the proposed work, roles and responsibilities, and competence and their knowledge of Safe Routes to School program, the east central Florida region and State of Florida Safe Routes to School program regulations, policies and procedures.
6. Qualifications and experience of outside consultants regularly engaged by the consultant under consideration. Describe the roles and responsibilities of key personnel.
7. List and describe any civil or criminal claims, judgments or suits filed against your company within the past ten (10) years.
8. Capability of a branch office that will conduct the work to perform independently of the home office, conversely its capability to obtain necessary support from the home office. The use of geographic location may be selection criteria provided its application leaves an appropriate number of qualified firms, given the nature and size of the Route Condition Tool project, to complete the contract.
B. Minority Business Certified Firms
Additional consideration will be given to those firms who are utilizing Minority Business Certified firms in the task of completing projects. Provide resume of firm personnel, including professional licenses, qualifications and experience. Consideration will be based on the actual number of personnel who will be utilized in the completion of the task; and not on the ownership, nor percent ownership, of the firm.
Evidence that the consultant has made a good faith effort to meet the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals (49 CFR, 26.53) to accomplish the proposed SOW.
C. Experience
Interested firms shall provide evidence of experience and quality service rendered relative to similar projects (as listed under Section 3, B) in the state of Florida, and within the east central Florida region. Include three (3) references of providing Services that the firm has completed in the last five (5) years. Identify the year(s) of providing the services and the owner or sponsor’s contact person’s name and phone number. Services and Projects which are referred to as having been accomplished by your firm shall be services and projects which were managed by personnel who are currently on your firm’s staff. Similarly, do not list services, projects or experience for individuals who were employed by another firm. Interested firms and their sub-consultants shall also provide evidence of management capacity and scheduling, staff expertise, internal quality control and organization structure.
D. Project Understanding, Familiarity and Interest Shown
Describe your understanding of the project and approach to delivering Services for the work described under Section 3, B.
Describe your interest in undertaking the Services and the firm’s familiarity with the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council Safe Routes to School program and state and national programs. Emphasis is placed on the firm’s ability to demonstrate considerable knowledge in the following aspects of the Safe Route to School and transportation:
- Safe Routes to School State program
- Safe Routes to School National partnership
- Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act
- Economic benefits of the Safe Routes program
- Regional and local Safe Routes to School initiatives
- Complete streets policies
- Roadway condition and characteristics analysis
- Pedestrian and bicycle facilities analysis
- Safe school access analysis
- Safe Routes to School funding and grant applications
- FHWA safety program
- Economic benefits of walkable communities
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
E. Record of Past Performance
Interested firms must demonstrate it has the administrative and technical capabilities to perform professional services (as listed under Section 3, B) on contracts with government agencies with respect to such factors as identifying and mitigating risk to control costs, quality of work, and ability to meet schedules. Include information regarding owner budgets, data collection estimates, bidding, and completed project cost including change order information. Indicate if firm has previous experience providing Safe Routes to School services.
Section 5 – Rating System on Evaluation Criteria
Each proposal will be evaluated and rated as follows. Descriptions of the components are provided in Section 4 – Proposal Content and Evaluation Criteria.
A. Qualifications: 20 points
B. Utilization of DBE firms as part of the project team: 10 points
C. Experience: 20 points
D. Project Understanding, Familiarity and Interest Shown: 30 points
E. Record of Past Performance: 20 points
Total Points: 100 points
It is the intent of the ECFRPC to rank the firms according to the responses submitted. The ECFRPC reserves the right to conduct detailed interviews, either by phone or in person, of at least three (3) top-ranked firms, if warranted.
End of Request for Qualifications
