Link to Birmingham Sustainability Plan RFQ

The City of Birmingham is currently inviting qualified professional planning and engineering consultants to submit a statement of qualifications to prepare a citywide sustainability plan. The work will involve three essential tasks: 1) an inventory of existing conditions; 2) the development of a sustainability / climate action plan and; 3) the development of tools including smart tools and technologies, to monitor progress and evaluate results of implementing the action plan. Following an evaluation of these written RFQ submittals, selected firms will be invited to respond to a request for proposals.

Please be advised of the following deadlines for this RFQ (materials submitted by 5:00pm CDT):

• May 7th, 2018 - Deadline for Receiving Request for Qualifications
• May 29th, 2018 - Deadline for Reviewing and Evaluating RFQs
• June 2018 - Request for Proposal Solicitation

Section 1.0 General Purpose and Scope of Work

The purpose of the Sustainability Plan (Plan) is to provide a roadmap with an implementation component for the City of Birmingham (City) to achieve a clearly defined set of sustainability goals as outlined within the City's Comprehensive Plan. An organizational strategy that is grounded in sustainability seeks to balance the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental aspects to improve mission performance. The intersection of People, Prosperity, Place, Partnership and Performance represents sustainability for the City as reflected in the 20-year Vision of the Comprehensive Plan, the promotion of efforts to mitigate greenhouse gases and adoption of best practices to achieve sustainability as a member of the Compact of Mayors. The City's sustainability challenges include air quality, soil contamination, water quality and efficiency, energy and resource use, and community health.

To achieve these objectives, the City proposes to retain the services of a qualified and innovative consultant firm or a collaborative consultant team with a demonstrated ability to work interactively with the Mayor, City Council, City Planning Commission, City Sustainability Commission, planning staff, the corporate community and other stakeholders to develop a Sustainability Plan. The selected firm(s) must have both a demonstrated command of environmental planning and energy efficiency, along with substantial experience and knowledge of sustainable and livable community techniques and best practices. Listed below are the minimal elements that the City determines to be necessary within a Sustainability Plan. As a part of this Request for Qualifications, your submittal will describe your best method, based on past practices, to incorporate them into the Plan.

Project Management
Establish an effective working relationship between the consultant team, City departments and staffs, and defines the Plan's stakeholders, technical advisory committee, and community outreach activities.

Inventory of Existing Conditions
Assess the sustainability of the City using a set of metrics to understand the key challenges.

Establish Sustainability Goals
Establish goals to define the overarching objectives of the sustainability plan.

Develop a Sustainability Action Plan
Develop a set of measures that enable the City to achieve the sustainability goals.

Implement Policies and Measures
Implement the sustainability plan and track implementation progress.

Evaluate Progress and Report Results
Report on the implementation progress of the sustainability action plan.

Section 2.0. General Instructions for Preparing and Submitting the Request for Qualifications

Consultants submitting a Request for Qualification (RPQ) will be considered and evaluated based on written responses to the following elements:

2.01 The Request for Qualification (RFQ) does not commit the City of Birmingham to award a contract, pay any costs incurred in preparation of the RFQ, or to procure or contract for services. Consultants shall be responsible for all costs incurred as part of their participation in the pre-qualification process.

2.02 All RFQs shall be deemed received if delivered on or before 5:00pm CDT of the date of the deadline. Consultants are solely responsible for ensuring that the RFQ is delivered on or before the deadline. Consultants who rely on overnight delivery services, the United States Postal service, private mail services, local couriers or delivery services remain solely responsible for the timely delivery of the RFQ and assume all risks of late delivery or non-delivery.

2.03 All RFQs will be dated and time stamped upon receipt by the administrative or planning staff of the City of Birmingham's Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits.

2.04 RFQs must be securely sealed and properly labeled.

2.05 Consultants may verify the City's receipt of the RFQ by contacting Edwin Revell by e-mail (Edwin.Revell@birminghamal.gov) or by calling one of the Planning, Urban Design and Watershed Management Division's administrative assistants at (205) 254-2479.

2.06 Consultants desiring clarification of any provisions in this RFQ may submit a request for clarification via e-mail or telephone to Edwin Revell, Deputy Director, no later than seven (7) days prior to the date the RFQs are due. All responses to substantive inquiries will be documented in writing and forwarded to each firm the City has solicited to respond to the RFQ.

2.07 Any changes to the specifications will be made by a formal written addendum by the City of Birmingham and will be forwarded to all persons and firms to whom documents have been transmitted. If such is published by the City of Birmingham, then all other original specifications apply to the addendum. Unless any errors or omissions are included in the RFQ solicitation by City, no change in, deletion of, or exception to any provisions in this RFQ will be made.

Section 3.0. Instructions for Preparing and Submitting Supportive Documents

3.01 Business Organization and Contact Information

a. Contact Information
The name of the parent company and statement of the locations or branch offices where the actual work on this project would be performed. The names of principals to contact, including names, titles, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses and facsimile numbers. The names, professional registration numbers, and addresses of individuals who will be involved in the execution of this contract. If possible, please provide an organizational chart that can assist in tracking workflow.

b. Form of Organization
Indicate whether the firm operates as an individual, partnership or corporation; and, if incorporated, include the state in which the firm is incorporated. The statement should include information on the corporate status of the firm to operate in the State of Alabama, if any, or state of incorporation.

3.02 Project Approach Outline

Your submission should include a detailed description outline of your project approach for accomplishing the work. The provided approach should outline and briefly describe each task and sub-task, listing each milestone or deliverable to be completed as well as what reports or products will be developed after the conclusion of each task or sub-task. The submission of other items, as determined by the firm, that are relevant to this project scope and demonstrate skills or experience that distinguish the firm or individuals documenting their abilities to fulfill the scope of work for this project is strongly encouraged.

3.03 Documented Prior Project Experience of the Firm

Your submission should include descriptions and samples of qualifying experience of projects similar in scope and complexity that were successfully completed by the firm. In addition, a list of references of clients for which previous work was performed that is similar in scope and complexity to this project should be provided for verification of the firm's past performance.

3.04 Personnel Qualifications and Experience on Comparable Projects (one page per team member)

Your submission should clearly identify the individual team members who will be specifically assigned to each work task. Resumes of all qualified personnel proposed to perform the work, both in-house and those to be acquired from outside sources, should be included. The resumes should clearly demonstrate each individual's qualifications and professional experience in the area of sustainability, environmental sciences or urban planning or other functional specialties that may be required to satisfy the project's scope of work, particularly during the last ten years.

3.05 Statement of Certification of Non-discrimination Policy

Firms shall not discriminate on the grounds of race, religion, color, sex, disability or national origin in the selection of employees and sub-consultants. This shall, at a minimum, include employment, promotion, demotion or transfer, recruitment, advertising, layoff or termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training. The City of Birmingham strongly encourages the use of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) for this project. In this regard, the City has an overall DBE goal for this project of a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%). As such, firms are asked to include the following information with your submissions:

• The names and addresses of the DBE firm(s) that will participate on the project team.
• A brief description of the work that the DBE firm(s) will perform.
• An estimate of the percentage of work by dollar amount that the DBE firm(s) will perform.
• If the established DBE goals for this project cannot be met, then evidence of a good faith effort must be provided.

3.06 Support Services

Your submission should describe, as precisely as possible, the level of organizational, logistical or technical support (such as the compilation of data and other information or any material needs) that will be required of the staff personnel of the City of Birmingham's planning, urban design, economic development, community development, traffic engineering, engineering or any other City department during the execution of the project.

3.07 Estimated Cost for Project

Your submission should include a proposed estimated cost to complete the Sustainability Plan based on information provided within this RFQ. Alternatively, your proposed estimated cost can be based on similar-in-scope projects you have previously completed. Although the cost information you provide will not be used as a determinative factor in the RFQ evaluation process, please feel free to consider the following categories in the development of your cost estimate for this project:

• Estimated labor costs
• General and administrative expenses
• Travel and lodging (based on federally approved rates and limitations)
• Subcontracts (including comparable breakdown of costs as indicated above)

3.08 RFQ Evaluation

The Evaluation Committee may include representation from the City of Birmingham's Planning, Engineering and Permits Department, Community Development Department, the Mayor's Office, the Economic Development staff, the Birmingham Planning Commission and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham. All consultants shall provide eight (8) copies of the Request for Qualifications and all related documents required as a part of the submittal as well as an electronic version in Adobe PDF format. The RFQs will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Technical work plan and approach to accomplishing work 25%
• Prior experience by firm(s) and sub consultants on similar projects 25%
• Personnel qualifications and experience on comparable projects 25%
• Participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms 25%

Selected firms will be invited to respond to a Request for Proposal.