Downtown Investment and Development Program
City of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, CT
PEB 011188-R
CITY OF BRIDGEPORT
OFFICE OF PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
MARGARET E. MORTON GOVERNMENT CENTER
SECOND FLOOR
999 BROAD STREET
BRIDGEPORT, CT 06604
(203) 576-7221
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
For
BRIDGEPORT'S DOWNTOWN INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Wednesday, November 1st, 2017
1.0 Overview
The City of Bridgeport (City) acting through its Office of Planning and Economic Development (OPED) seeks a professional consultant(s) or multi-disciplinary team of consultants to synthesize and implement the Bridgeport Downtown Investment and Development Program. Bridgeport's Downtown is growing, in size, density, and vitality. To accelerate that growth, Mayor Ganim and the Bridgeport City Council recently authorized $20 million in capital bond funding to invest in downtown. Additionally, the City has attracted another $30 million in federal and state funding for Downtown infrastructure. A considerable amount of planning has been done for our Downtown and now, it's time to get to work: making specific investments; forming public-private development partnerships; leveraging additional funds; managing public assets to add value; modernizing infrastructure and updating development incentives. We seek a firm to help us to prioritize, finalize, and implement what will be a varied and comprehensive investment and development program.
2.0 Work Scope
The City expects multiple outcomes from this project and close collaboration with City officials, from initial scoping to implementation. There are several plans and concepts addressing ways to utilize public investment to catalyze the transformation of the Downtown into a center of walkable retail, regional entertainment, attractive public spaces and well appointed, affordable residential space. The result that we seek is the transformation of our Downtown into the most enticing location for young professionals to live in between New York and Boston. We believe that this requires substantial, but smart, public investment in high quality, high impact projects, increased public-private partnerships to stretch our financial capacity, the efficient management of the City's own portfolio of properties and creative approaches to the generation of both revenue and liquidity, through the use of TIF and strategic investments that stimulate taxable development in the Downtown.
After collaborating with the City to generate a list of potential projects and programs that may achieve our various Downtown goals, we would like cost benefit analyses to be conducted for a yet to be determined number of projects and programs. Once these analyses are completed, a report will be generated, summarizing the findings and prioritizing projects based on their financial ROI, as well as their ability to advance City goals for the Downtown.
Following up on the summary of cost-benefit findings, the consultant should generate an implementation strategy for a selection of the projects that are deemed both feasible and impactful. We will then expect the consultants to be the project lead in implementing several of these projects, budget permitting.
As project lead, we expect the consultant or team of consultants to have at least one person in their group capable of serving as a general contractor on infrastructure projects and recruiting sub-contractors to implement the project.
3.0 Coordination and Outreach
The initial discovery and review of Downtown concepts will require extensive coordination and collaboration with City staff. During options analysis stage of the project, the consultant will work more independently and compile a report summarizing their findings. We will then renew close collaboration with the consultant to jointly determine the prioritization of projects and programs to be implemented. During the implementation of projects, regular status meetings will be held via phone with the City, with in-person meetings occurring as needed.
4.0 Information and Inquiries
To receive updates and answers to questions, please submit your questions via the project page on www.bidsync.com. The City will, via this same method, summarize all questions and answers to those who have registered.
5.0 Submission Requirements
Each consultant must submit six (6) paper copies and one (1) digital copy of their proposal in a sealed envelope bearing on the outside the name of each firm, full address, name of the project for which the proposal to:
Department of Public Purchases
Margaret E. Morton Government Center
999 Broad Street, 2nd Floor
Bridgeport, CT 06604
The city of Bridgeport must receive your response no later than 2:00pm on Wednesday, November 1st, 2017. Proposals received after the date and time prescribed shall not be considered for contract award and shall be returned to the submitter.
If your firm desires to be considered for this assignment, your submittal should consist of:
- A cover letter explaining your team's qualifications and ability to fulfill City goals
- A portfolio of examples of comparable work
- Explanation of analytical techniques that could be used to evaluate potential projects
- Outlined schedule of how your firm would approach the project, dates not necessary
- A list of all team members to be involved in the project(s) and their potential role
The City reserves the right to either; select a single consultant, select separate consultants for each phase or refrain from engaging any firms submitting responses to this request.
The City encourages Minority Business Enterprises ("MBEs") to submit their qualifications. An MBE firm that is a member of a Target Group is entitled to Evaluation Credits under the provisions of the Minority Business Enterprise Ordinance, Section 3.12.130 of the City Ordinances ("MBE Program Ordinance").
Sections of the ordinance most relevant to this RFQ are as follows:
D.1.b. Qualifications-Based Selections. An attainable goal of thirty (30) percent of the aggregate dollar value of a city contract is established for prime contractor utilization of certain target groups during QBS processes. For purposes of this subsection, the target groups that should receive evaluation credits[1] are:
ii. City contracts for architecture and engineering professionals: Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Caucasian females.
iii. City contracts for other professional services: Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Caucasian females, MBEs, and minority female and Caucasian female minority business enterprises.
D.3. Disparity in Construction Subcontracting Remedy.
a. In addition to the attainable goal of thirty (30) percent of the aggregate dollar value for formal city contracts and the attainable goal of thirty (30) percent for informal city contracts, a mandatory requirement of six percent of the aggregate dollar value of formal and informal construction subcontracts is established for prime contractor utilization of certified African American businesses who self-perform and meet the other requirements of the bid. African-American businesses constitute the target group for purposes of this subsection.
Non-minority firms are encouraged to form joint venture arrangements with Target Group firms and the joint venture will be entitled to Evaluation Credits based upon the extent of the Target Group's ownership interest in the joint venture as further described below.
6.0 Selection Criteria
Consultant selection will be based upon the following criteria:
- Previous Experience with Similar Projects - 40%
- Capacity of Firm - 40%
- Displayed understanding of scope – 20%
All applications will be reviewed by a panel consisting of four to five individuals representing the following offices, departments or agencies:
- Office of Planning and Economic Development, Planning Division
- Office of Planning and Economic Development, Economic Development Division
- Public Facilities Department
- Office of the Mayor
No contact with any other city of Bridgeport personnel other than the authorized contact person is allowed until such times as an award (or awards) has (have) been made. Circumstances may require the rescheduling or cancellation of projects. Should this action be necessary, the City of Bridgeport would be under no obligation to provide supplementary work.
Relevant Existing Downtown Plans*
- Downtown Entertainment District Pamphlet, 2017:
This pamphlet lays out several priority projects in the Downtown with estimated cost and economic impacts. Several concepts have been included in previous plans. This document summarizes higher priority project concepts, and further detail about their origins can be found in other documents.
- Downtown Master Plan, 2007:
This plan led to the rezoning of Downtown and the establishment of design guidelines as well as several project initiatives. Many of the concepts in this plan continue to be priorities for the City, as can be seen in the Downtown Entertainment District Concept. Reviewing this plan will be integral for understanding Bridgeport's vision for a Downtown geared towards young professionals, 24-hour activation and legible connectivity to our transportation nodes and
regional recreation assets.
https://www.bridgeportct.gov/filestorage/341650/341652/346105/Downtown_Master_Plan_2007.pdf
- Downtown Development Site/Opportunity Study, 2007:
This document is an addendum to the Downtown Master Plan. It takes an in depth look at key potential development sites throughout the downtown and conceptualizes their highest and best use through massing studies and use descriptions. This document may help the consultant to understand some of the possibilities for property management approaches that the City has considered.
- Bridgeport's Downtown Connections, 2009:
This document identifies important nodes and connections within the Downtown where enhancements like; streetscaping, wayfinding and landscaping might best be employed. There is also the identification of potential new connections between key nodes, such as a waterside promenade connecting the train station to the current ferry terminal site and a pedestrian connection between the current ferry terminal site and the Harbor Yard Arena below the train tracks.
- SASD Bridgeport Design Thinking Project, 2017:
This document is the product of a collaboration between students from the School of Design at the University of Bridgeport and the City of Bridgeport. It is highly conceptual, but offers multiple relevant ideas for wayfinding, public space enhancement, infrastructure improvements and programming that could enhance Downtown Bridgeport.
- Downtown Streetscape and Planting Guidelines, 2014:
This document provides a detailed scheme for public space improvements throughout the downtown area, focusing mostly on cosmetic streetscape and landscaping projects. The Downtown Special Service District (DSSD), who contracted the creation of the plan, have been incrementally implementing recommendations from this document for the past couple of years.
- John Street Streetscaping Visualization, 2013:*
This series of visualizations illustrate streetscaping concepts for two blocks of John Street in the center of Downtown.
Example List of Potential Projects from Downtown Master Plan, 2007
- Parking Management Strategy (p 76 Downtown Master Plan)
- Formation of a Parking Authority (p 80 Downtown Master Plan)
- Place bicycle racks in strategic locations (p 85 Downtown Master Plan)
- Wi-Fi and hotspots in Downtown (p 85 Downtown Master Plan)
- Upgrade People's Bank Plaza (p 86 Downtown Master Plan)
- Transparency along Holiday Inn (p 86 Downtown Master Plan)
- "Civic Campus" at Congress Plaza (p 86 Downtown Master Plan)
- Improve signage for off-street lots and garages (p 87 Downtown Master Plan)
- Begin coordinated transportation management plan, parking, bikeshare, car share (p 87 Downtown Master Plan)
- Partner with HCC and UB on significant public art initiative (p88 Downtown Master Plan)
- Plant street trees everywhere, identify and execute (p 88 Downtown Master Plan)
- Capacity of existing infrastructure to handle existing and planned new development (p 88 Downtown Master Plan)
- Night lighting of key buildings (p 88 Downtown Master Plan)
- Wayfinding, streetscape, pedestrian, lighting and infrastructure along main to broad (p 88 Downtown Master Plan)
- Exploit any and all green infrastructure projects (p 88 Downtown Master Plan)
[1] "Evaluation credits" means, in a qualifications-based selection process, the assignment of ten additional points to applicable target groups when evaluating their qualifications and/or their proposals, based upon a uniform one hundred (100) point scoring system described in this chapter in order to arrive at a short-list of proposers so that target groups are not placed at a competitive disadvantage when competing with non-target groups.
* Contact Purchasing if there are difficulties accessing plans