Submit statements of qualifications and performance data to  Director of Public Works, 411 N. Ruby St., Ste. 1, Ellensburg, WA  98926

 

I.                   PURPOSE OF REQUEST/SCOPE OF SERVICE

 

Pursuant to Chapter 39.80 RCW, Kittitas County ("County") is soliciting statements of qualifications ("Statements") from engineering firms ("selected firm") for on-call professional services. The selected firm will supplement County staff resources to complete projects and will provide structural analysis as needed relating to bridges and other engineering services.  Services under this contract will be for three years and may include:

 

·        Bridge Analysis, Design and Retrofit.

 

·        Bridge Load Ratings and Restrictions.

 

·        Emergency Response Services, which might consist of any or all services necessary to responding to any County emergency that occurs. A County emergency is defined as natural or man-made disasters identified by the Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners.

 

·        Other Professional Duties as Needed.

 

The selected firm may be assigned tasks on federally-funded projects and must comply with ADA and Civil Rights regulations and requirements applicable to the County and with Federal EEO requirements. Upon selection of the most qualified firm and prior to negotiation of an agreement, a request for information regarding monitoring service availability, description of service, and fee schedule will be requested as an addendum to statements of qualifications.  

 

II.                TIME SCHEDULE

 

           Statements of Qualifications must be received by 10:00 AM, August 25, 2011.


 

III.             INSTRUCTIONS TO PROPOSERS

 

A.                   All responses shall be sent to:

                County Engineer

                Kittitas County Public Works

                411 North Ruby, Suite 1

                Ellensburg, WA  98926

                Office:  509-962-7523

               

B.                    Please place three (3) copies of your signed RFQ Statements in a sealed envelope and clearly label in the lower left corner "Statement of Qualification for Engineering Services."  The Statements must be received on or before the time and date specified by the point-of-contact identified above. Late Statements properly identified will be returned to the Respondent unopened. Statements delivered by telephone, facsimile or electronic mail will not be accepted.

 

C.                    Statements should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straight-forward, concise description of the firm's capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the request. Emphasis should be on completeness and clarity of content. Use of recycled paper for requests and any printed or photocopied material created pursuant to a contract with the County is desirable whenever practicable. Use of both sides of paper sheets for any submittals to the County is desirable whenever practicable.

 

D.              Any questions concerning the County's specifications or RFQ   process shall be directed to the County Engineer.

 

E.         Prior to undertaking any work, insurance coverage as specified below shall be procured and maintained continuously for the duration of the contract and/or associated projects, at no expense to the County. The insurance coverage shall be in connection with the contract and for the work performed by the selected firm, its agents, representatives, employees and/or subcontractors. The selected firm's insurance shall be primary as respects to the County's. Any other insurance maintained by the County shall be excess and not contributing insurance with the selected firm's insurance. Except with respect to the limits of insurance and any rights or duties specifically assigned to the first named insured, the selected firm's Commercial General Liability and Commercial Automobile Liability insurance coverage shall apply as if each named insured were the only named insured, and separately to each insured against whom claim is made or suit is brought. Failure of the selected firm to fully comply with the insurance requirements of this RFQ will be considered a material breach of contract and, at the option of the County, will be cause for such action as may be available to the County under other provisions of this RFQ or otherwise in law, including immediate termination of the Agreement between the County and the selected firm. Submittal of Statements shall contain the following:

 

             1.         Workers' Compensation. Workers' Compensation in                                        amounts required by law; and

 

                                    2.         Commercial General Liability Insurance. A policy of Commercial General Liability insurance including bodily injury, property damage, and products/completed operations, written on an occurrence form, with limits of liability not less than $1,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence and $2,000,000 annual aggregate; and

 

         3.         Commercial Automobile Liability Insurance.  A

policy of Commercial Automobile Liability Insurance, including coverage for owned, non-owned, leased, or hired vehicles written on an insurance industry standard form or equivalent, with limits of liability not less than $1,000,000; and

 

4.                  Professional Liability Insurance. A policy of Errors and

Omissions Liability Insurance appropriate to the selected firm's profession. Coverage should be for a professional error, act, or omission arising out of the scope of work described in Section I and with limits of liability not less than $1,000,000. If the Professional Liability Insurance policy is written on a claims made form, the selected firm warrants continuation of coverage, either through policy renewals or the purchase of an extended reporting period ("tail") for a minimum of three years from the date of completion of the work authorized by this RFQ. In the event that the selected firm is authorized to engage subcontractors, each subcontractor shall provide evidence of separate professional liability coverage equal to the levels specified above, unless such requirement is waived in writing by the County; and

 

5.         Employers Liability. A policy of Employers Liability Insurance with limits of liability not less than $1,000,000.

 

Certificates of insurance and policy endorsements shall be furnished and signed by a person authorized by that insurance company to bind coverage on its behalf. All insurance shall be issued by companies admitted to do business in the State of Washington and have a rating of A-, Class VII or better in the most recently published edition of Best's Reports.  The County must be named as an Additional Insured on a primary and non-contributory basis on all Commercial General Liability policies of the selected firm. A policy endorsement must be provided to the County as evidence of additional insured coverage and must state that the selected firm's insurance shall not be reduced or canceled without thirty (30) days prior written notice to the County. The selected firm shall not permit any required insurance coverage to expire during the term of this project.

 

IV.           STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS

          

           Provide a cover letter that includes a statement of interest for the on-call services contract including a narrative describing the firm's unique qualifications. A principal member of the firm should sign this statement.

 

           Provide a history and important statistics about the prime firm.

 

           Provide a statement about the availability and commitment of the principal(s) and key professionals to undertake the contract.

 

           Provide resumes giving the experience and expertise of the principals and key professional members of the prime firm that will be involved in the contract, including their experience with similar projects/contracts and number of years with the prime firm.

 

           Describe the proposed project assignments and lines of authority and communication for principals and key professional members of the prime firm that will be involved in the contract. Indicate the estimated percent of time these individuals will be involved in the contract.

 

           List a maximum of 3 projects performed by the prime firm that are most related to the on-call services requested. List the projects in priority order, with the most related project listed first. Provide the following information for each project:

1.      Project name and location

2.      Project owner

3.      Project construction cost.

4.      Project size in gross square feet and scope of work.

5.      Description of professional services prime firm provided for the project.

6.      Project description

7.      Project Manager (individual responsible to the client for all the overall success of the project.)

8.      Names of consultant firms and their areas of expertise.

9.      Description of how this project is similar and why the services are relevant to this project.

10.  Provide references for each project.

 

V.     SELECTION OF CRITERIA

 

Submittals will be evaluated and ranked based on the following criteria:

1) Key personnel; 2) Firm experience with bridge design; 3) Firm experience with environmental planning and permitting process; 4) Ability to meet schedule; 5) Approach to project; 6) Familiarity with relevant codes and standards; 7) Past performance/references.

 

VI.    TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 

A.                 The County provides no guarantee that any on-call projects will become available.

 

B.                 The County reserves the right to advertise for consultant services on specific projects.

 

C.                 The County reserves the right to request clarification of information submitted, and to request additional information from any respondent firm.                       

 

D.                 The County reserves the right to award any contract to the next most qualified firm if the successful firm does not execute a contract within thirty (30) days after the selection of the firm.

 

E.                  Any proposals may be withdrawn prior to the date and time set above for opening of the proposals.  Any proposal not so timely withdrawn shall constitute an irrevocable offer for a period of ninety (90) days to provide to the County the services described in the attached specifications, or until one or more of the proposals have been approved by the County, whichever occurs first.

 

F.                  The on-call services contract resulting from acceptance of a proposal by the County shall be in a form supplied or approved by the County, and shall reflect the specifications in this RFQ.  The County reserves the right to reject any proposed agreement or contract that does not conform to the specifications contained in the RFQ, and which is not approved by the County Attorney's office.

 

G.                 This solicitation does not obligate the County to award the project to any respondent. The County reserves the right to waive as informality any irregularities in the statement of qualifications and/or to reject any or all Submittals.

 

H.                 The County shall not be responsible for any cost incurred by the firm in preparing, submitting or presenting its response to the RFQ.

 

I.                    Upon receipt of the Statement of Qualification, the County will date-stamp it to show the exact time and date of receipt. All statement of qualifications received will become the property of the County and will not be returned.

 

J.                   All construction drawings, reports, specifications, and other documents produced under contract with the County must be submitted to the County in both hard copy and a digital format that meets the County's requirements, using Microsoft Office or AutoCAD products. All documents and products created by the firm and their sub-consultants shall become the exclusive property of the County. The County respects the confidentiality of the information provided in the statements of qualifications. However the statements of qualifications may be subject to public disclosure requirements.

 

K.                The County strongly encourages minority, women, and veteran-owned firms to submit qualifications consistent with the County's policy to insure that minority, women-owned, and veteran-owned firms are afforded the maximum practicable opportunity to compete for and obtain public contracts for services.

 

L.                  Basic Eligibility:  Any selected firm must be licensed to do business in the State of Washington and must have a state Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number. In addition, the successful firm must not be debarred, suspended, or otherwise ineligible to contract with the County, and must not be included on the General Services Administration's "List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs" or the Department of Housing and Urban Development's "Limited Denial of Participation" list.

 

M.               Approval of Sub-consultants or Subcontractors: The County retains the right of final approval of any sub-consultant or subcontractor of the selected firm who must inform all sub-consultants or subcontractors of this provision. The selected firm shall include subcontractors or sub-consultants at any tier as insureds (except for Professional Liability Insurance). Alternatively the selected firm shall:

a.       Obtain from each sub-consultant or subcontractor not insured under the selected firm's policy or policies of insurance, evidence of insurance meeting all requirements of the County; and

b.      Maintain such evidence on file for a period of one year after the completion of this contract and, upon request, submit such evidence to the County for examination; and

c.       Ensure that the selected firm's coverage of subcontractors or sub-consultants under the selected firm's policies is not excluded by any policy provision or endorsement.

 

 

VII.           COMPENSATION

 

A.        Upon selection of the most qualified firm the County will timely negotiate an agreement.  If the parties are unable to negotiate a satisfactory agreement, negotiations with that firm will terminate and the County may select another firm.

             

B.                 Payment by the County for the services will only be made after the services have been performed and an itemized billing statement is submitted in the form specified by the County and approved by the appropriate County representative. The billing statement shall specifically set forth the services performed, the name of the person performing such services, and the hourly labor charge rate for such person. No advance payments will be made to the firm. Payment shall be made on a monthly basis, thirty (30) days after receipt of such billing statement.

 

 

VIII.        CONTRACT LENGTH

                       

The contract will expire three years from the contract date.  Any project which began prior to the contract expiration will continue until that specific project is completed.

 

For more information, contact Public Works


Firms are encouraged to submit annually a statement of qualifications and performance data.

Kittitas County shall evaluate current statements of qualifications and performance data on file with the agency, together with those that may be submitted by other firms regarding proposed projects. Following the evaluation, the county invites one or more firms to meet with county officials to discuss the project and the relative benefits of various methods of providing the desired services. The county then selects from among those firms the one “most highly qualified” to provide the required services. County procedures and guidelines are to include a plan to ensure that women, minority and veteran-owned firms and minority (WMBE) firms have the maximum opportunity to compete for the contract. The level of WMBE firm participation should be consistent with their availability within the relevant professional community. Counties are not to consider cost when determining which firm is the most highly qualified.

After choosing the most qualified firm, the county then negotiates with that firm for a contract at a price the county determines is fair and reasonable, considering the estimated value of the services to be rendered, as well as the scope and complexity of the project. If a satisfactory contract cannot be negotiated, the county formally terminates the negotiations with that firm and attempts to negotiate a contract with the next most qualified firm. The process continues until an agreement is reached or the search is terminated.

In emergency situations, the process outlined above for procuring architectural or engineering services maybe dispensed with upon a finding by the county that an emergency requires the immediate execution of the work involved.

All submittals shall become the property of Kittitas County.

Kittitas County reserves the right to reject all submittals and re-advertise if necessary.