RFP TITLE

Comprehensive Update to Provo City General Plan

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS

08/17/2020 at 2:00 PM

SUBMIT TO:

Sciquest via the following link: https://bids.sciquest.com/apps/Router/PublicEvent?CustomerOrg=StateOfUtah&tab=PHX_NAV_SourcingOpenForBid&tmstmp=1596045291094

LABELING

All submissions must be clearly labeled:

Proposer’s Name and Address
TITLE: Comprehensive Update to Provo City General Plan
Electronic submittal through Sciquest

The City of Provo, Utah, is seeking proposals from qualified planning professionals/teams to help completely update the City’s General Plan. The current General Plan is available online at https://provo.municipal.codes/.

The Municipal Council approved $150,000.00 in the City’s budget to procure professional planning services for the General Plan.

The new General Plan will help provide direction and guidance regarding future land use, housing, infrastructure, transportation, economic development, sustainability, smart growth, and various other opportunities and decisions. A significant desired outcome is to have a more refined and understandable General Plan that will easily communicate the priorities and intentions of the City to any reader.

The City intends to contract with a consultant (team) to provide detailed analysis of existing data, gather additional data as needed, conduct a robust public engagement process, and deliver an updated General Plan that is succinct, informative, and will help guide decision making now and into the future.

It is anticipated that the selected consultant will work closely with City staff, who will assist in information gathering, meeting facilitation, editing, and will be a general resource to the consultant. Responses to this request for proposal will be used as part of a multi-phase selection process. Final selection will be based on several criteria, which are listed in the following sections of this RFP. Following is information on the City of Provo’s goals for the project, specifications and terms of the project, RFP submission requirements, and evaluation and selection criteria.

Background: City of Provo

Provo is in the center of Utah County, and is bounded by the City of Orem to the north, the Wasatch Mountains to the east, the City of Springville to the south, and Utah Lake to the west. Except for a few small areas in the City’s Annexation Plan, Provo is essentially landlocked.

Provo City is a community of approximately 120,000 residents. Provo offers an emerging urban atmosphere with a small-town sense of community, which is supported by residents that take an active part in helping to maintain Provo’s high quality of life. Residents and visitors enjoy numerous amenities within Provo’s own corporate boundaries as well as easy access to numerous other nearby attractions.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

The opportunity to transform the General Plan into a new living document that is more concise, readable, and, ultimately, more effective will be a significant undertaking and will require a significant level of expertise. The consultant (team) will work closely with staff, the Planning Commission, and the Municipal Council to create the robust General Plan Provo needs.

The intent is to restore the General Plan as the paramount guiding document for planning, housing policy, infrastructure, sustainability and smart growth, and economic development decision making. It should succinctly set forth the goals and policies for future development, stewardship of resources, and overall direction for the City.

The updated General Plan must be developed from objective and accurate data, a robust public engagement process, and coordination with City staff, administration, council members, and other stake holders. City staff anticipates an iterative process, by which ideas, concepts, and innovative best practices are vetted and then incorporated into the General Plan.

A list of essential elements to the plan is provided below, but it may be expanded. Additional elements necessary to the plan may become evident throughout the process and will be addressed as they arise.

• Data Analysis: It will be essential for the selected consultant and/or team to have a working knowledge of Provo’s current and projected population information. It is anticipated that the updated General Plan will also include new statistical information based on the 2020 Census, to the extent it becomes available. The selected consultant should collect robust data from an inclusive sample of the population, especially regarding current and future housing needs. Additional information may need to be acquired and can be supported through various platforms available to the consultant. The City has a web-based comment-gathering platform at the disposal of the selected consultant.

• Current and Future Land Use: Analysis and recommendations regarding current and future land uses and land use patterns will likely be the most substantive portion of the updated General Plan. The General Plan should clearly guide decision makers regarding future land use decisions proposed either internally or from outside the City.

• Housing: Housing is a land use; however, it is also an essential part of the current General Plan and will continue to be a vital part of the updated General Plan. The General Plan should clearly set forth the overall policy for housing within Provo. The updated General Plan should clearly communicate what the housing needs of the City will be into the future and provide recommendations on how to meet those housing needs.

• Transportation: Provo’s updated Transportation Master Plan was recently adopted by the Municipal Council; however, transportation policy must be an included element in the updated General Plan to refine and set forth the recommended transportation policies that will be used to revise and update the Transportation Master Plan in the future. The General Plan should take a holistic, multi-modal approach to transportation needs for the City, rather than a project-based analysis.

• Sustainability and Smart Growth: Provo’s General Plan should prioritize the preservation and proper stewardship of precious natural resources. The City anticipates that the General Plan will incorporate the principles of Smart Growth and Sustainability to guide decision making in an equitable and conscientious way that will prioritize access to open space, clean air, and the abundant natural amenities Provo has for current and future generations. The General Plan should also address how incorporating Smart Growth practices and sustainable design can help create better policies for hillsides, canyons, the river corridor, and the Utah Lake shoreline. Better policies can help mitigate wildfires, erosion, flooding, urban heat islands, droughts, and other potential hazards.
• Economic Development: The updated General Plan should inform decision makers of how Provo is best suited to enjoy continued economic stability, as well as growth.

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

All submittals shall address the ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS and include the information in the order listed below within the indicated page limits. Examples of other projects which demonstrate quality of work and any preferred processes are encouraged. Minority-owned and women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond to this RFP and should identify themselves as such in submittals.

Cover
Include project name, respondent name, and date

Section 1 Cover Letter – Introductory cover letter identifying the lead firm, contact information for the proposed project manager, and a statement that the respondent has reviewed this RFP including a list of each specific addendum that the City may subsequently issue (2 pages max)

Section 2 Development Team Organization – Overview of the development team organization indicating the lead firm and lead individual for each component of the work (2 pages max)

Section 3 Summary of Qualifications – Statement of project understanding and summary of qualifications and approach to perform the work and meet the City’s goals based on the development team’s skills and experiences (4 pages max)

Section 4 Relevant Experience – Descriptions of no more than five projects that are comparable in terms of general/comprehensive plan development, area plan development, public engagement processes, and/or other aspects relevant to this project. Each description should generally include the following (2 pages max per project):

• Name, location, and description of the type of project including project size
• The members of the proposed consulting team that were involved and the services they performed
• Project process and project management methods
• Project timeline
• Public engagement processes utilized
• At least one reference with contact information

Section 5 Firm Descriptions – Description of each participating firm such as history, services offered/general experiences, number of employees, location of offices (2 pages max per firm)

Section 6 Resumes – Resumes for the key project personnel shown on the chart contained in Section 2 including the location of the primary office to which they are assigned (2-page max per individual)

Section 7 Approach – Detailed explanation of approach to specifically addressing the Provo City General Plan and reasoning for choosing the proposed approach. Specific explanation of how the approach will best accommodate the requirements of social distancing. (6-page max)

Section 8 Anticipated Project Hours – Detailed list of anticipated hours expected to be spent on the project broken down by employee title (6-page max per firm)

Format Requirements of Submittals

Proposals will be submitted electronically through Sciquest. The City reserves the right to reject submittals that fail to contain all required information or fail to follow the instructions contained in this RFP.

Consideration of Qualification Submittals

Proposals will be reviewed by the qualifications review committee which will include the Mayor, the Chief Administrative Officer, the Director of Development Services, the Director of Community and Neighborhood Services, and the Long-range Planning Supervisor. The committee will make the final selection. Depending upon the number and quality of submittals, interviews may be conducted during this initial RFP process.

The qualifications review committee will assess each proposal against the criteria listed in the following section, EVALUATION CRITERIA. When making a selection, the City and Committee will consider responses, interviews, general qualifications, project history, and the evaluation criteria set forth in this RFP.

Addenda and Clarifications of Proposals

Addenda to this RFP will be posted on the City’s website at Sciquest. All respondents are responsible for checking the website regularly for any addenda and shall acknowledge each addendum by number in the cover letter to be included in Section 1 of the submittal. Failure to receive or acknowledge an addendum may result in the rejection of the submittal.

During the evaluation of proposals, the City reserves the right to contact a proposer to request additional information for purposes of clarification of RFP responses, reject proposals which contain errors, or at its sole discretion, waive disqualifying errors or gain clarification of error or information.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The following criteria will be assessed by the review committee.

I. Development Team

1. Years and types of experience in the field
2. Diversity of services provided including planning, public engagement, project management, etc.
3. Ability to complete the project within the desired timeline
4. Professional and project references

II. Experience to successfully undertake this project

1. Experience with similar general/comprehensive plan processes
2. Experience with managing a public engagement process
3. Experience with data collection and evaluation
4. Capability to provide the required essential elements of the general plan
5. Proven capacity to deliver the project requirements on time and on budget

III. Project understanding and approach

1. Understanding of City’s goals and desires for the project
2. Approach to incorporating public engagement
3. Approach to working with the City in crafting an ultimate plan

PROJECT SCHEDULE

The tentative schedule the City intends to follow in receiving proposals, selecting a qualified consultant (team), holding an internal project “kick-off” meeting with staff and the consultant, the “drafting” phase, submission of a final updated General Plan document, anticipated public process, and anticipated date for adoption by the Municipal Council, is provided below. The City reserves the right to alter this schedule at any time, with or without prior notice, and will post any changes on its website.

• August 17, 2020: Proposal Submission Deadline
• August 24, 2020: Consultant Selection and Notification
• August 10, 2021: Draft General Plan to Staff for Review
• September 1, 2021: Final General Plan to Staff
• December 7, 2021: Adoption of General Plan by Municipal Council (tentative)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Withdrawal or Revisions to Proposal

Any proposal may be withdrawn by written notice to the City of Provo any time prior to the date and time specified for submittal. Such notice of withdrawal shall be in writing to the contact individual provided. Any proposer may modify their submittal prior to the date and time specified for submittal by email communication to the contact individual.

Public Information

All information submitted in response to this RFP may be made available for public inspection according to public records laws of the State of Utah.

Process & Right to Reject

At any phase, the City reserves the right to terminate, suspend, or modify this selection process; reject any or all submittals; and to negotiate the terms of the RFP stage with the selected proposer(s).