Volume 42 - Issue 6 - February 9, 2023

State of Kansas

Department of Transportation

Notice to Consulting Firms

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is seeking to establish a list of consulting firms that are interested in providing design and consulting services on an on-call (as needed) basis for road and bridge projects in various locations statewide as further described below. Interested consultants must email a proposal to KDOT.DesignContracts@ks.gov by 12:00 p.m. (Central Time) March 1, 2023, to be considered for selection.

Consultant Prequalification

Interested consulting firms must be prequalified by KDOT or demonstrate qualification (following the instructions below) in any category listed in KDOT’s 1050 Prequalification Category Definitions (Blue Book) which can be found under Prequalification section here https://www.ksdotike.org/about/doing-business-with-kdot though increasing preference may be given to firms prequalified in more categories.

If a firm is not currently prequalified by KDOT in any categories or wishes to become prequalified in additional categories to be considered during evaluations, a proposal may still be submitted. Firms not prequalified must provide (before submission or with the proposal) documentation that demonstrates the firm is qualified in the category(ies) in which it endeavors to provide services. Firms must use the KDOT prequalification form to provide this documentation (see website linked above). All firms doing business with KDOT must be registered and in good standing under the laws of the State of Kansas at the time of contracting and must comply with applicable state and federal laws, rules, and regulations.

Background

Periodically for a given project, KDOT personnel may be unable to perform design, planning, or other tasks within the timeframe required so it may be necessary to engage a consultant firm on short notice. This process begins with KDOT issuing an on-call service request to firms that have executed an on-call master agreement specifically for these types of support. To expedite commencement of work, resulting work order(s) are executed under the terms and conditions of that agreement. KDOT anticipates entering into such an agreement with up to 50 qualified consulting firms.

Anticipated Consultant Scope

KDOT will solicit discrete on-call service requests each time a project arises that will require expedited support which KDOT cannot perform in-house. KDOT anticipates the following phases may be included in these requests: Study services, preliminary design services, and final design services.

The scope of the services requested may include a study, planning consulting, traffic or ITS engineering, survey, public involvement, road design, hydrology/hydraulics, bridge design, environmental consulting, designer construction services, and/or various other services KDOT may need.

Anticipated Schedule and Key Dates

1. Proposals are due by or before 12:00 p.m. (Central Time) March 1, 2023.
2. Evaluation and ranking of proposals are expected to occur on or around March 22, 2023. Development of on-call agreements for engineering and technical services (“Master On-Call Agreements”) with the highest ranked (shortlisted) firms are expected to begin on or around April 12, 2023. Executed agreements are anticipated to be complete no later than May 31, 2023.
3. Services associated with the “Master On-Call Agreements” resulting from this Request for Proposals (RFPs) may be requested as soon as an agreement is in place with any consultant.

Instructions for Proposal

1. No cost or pricing information shall be submitted with the proposal. Proposals including cost or pricing information will be considered non-responsive and withdrawn from further consideration.
2. The consultant’s proposal must not exceed 4 pages total (including any cover letter, index, etc.). All pages shall be standard letter size (8.5” x 11”). Any page larger than standard letter size will be counted as two or more pages depending on size.
3. A single PDF (2MB maximum size) of the proposal including all attachments must be emailed to KDOT.DesignContracts@ks.gov by the proposal due date and time.
4. The subject line of the email and the PDF file name must read:
   1. “General-Consulting-OnCall_2023_FIRM NAME”
5. The proposal must be accompanied by Special Attachments No. 8 (“Tax Clearance Certificate”) and No. 10 (“Policy Regarding Sexual Harassment”). If you need a Tax Clearance Certificate, you can request one at https://www.ksrevenue.gov/taxclearance.html. Allow 2-3 business days for processing.
6. The outline in Table 1 below describes the expected proposal organization and content sections.
7. Table 2 lists the evaluation criteria which will be used to make a selection. These will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Firms failing any category may not be shortlisted for negotiation, at KDOT’s sole discretion.
8. At KDOT’s option, firms may be interviewed by telephone conference call prior to being shortlisted for negotiation.

Table 1: Proposal Content
Section	Description of Intent	Page Limit
Cover Letter		1 Page
Types of Projects	Describe the phases and types of scope for which your firm desires to provide services on an on-call basis.
Approach to Schedule	Describe your firm’s approach to perform services within tight schedule requirements. Include anticipated capacity to respond to service requests within days and availability of staff to begin work urgently if necessary.
Approach to Quality Control	Describe methods or procedures your firm uses to provide all drawings, reports, and other services/deliverables with professional quality and technical accuracy.
Qualifications and Experience	Provide a list of the key person from your firm who would provide leadership for each type of work for which your firm is pre-qualified. In a table, provide names, office location, categories covered, and a summary of qualifications/expertise and education/training.
Past Performance	Describe team’s past performance with respect to ability to meet project schedules; innovation; quality of work; and ability to control costs on similarly urgent transportation projects, especially those performed for KDOT. Include three references and contact information.
Familiarity with KDOT and Project Area	Describe team’s familiarity with KDOT’s design and other processes and standards. Describe familiarity with the project phases/scope types you would pursue as well as familiarity with working in various parts of the state and any special site conditions encountered.

Table 2: Evaluation Factors
Evaluation Factor (Pass/Fail)
Qualifications and experience of key project team members anticipated to provide task leadership for services.
Availability to respond to the work; approach and commitment to meet schedules with urgency.
Past performance history for projects/services for KDOT.
Note: Lack of experience with KDOT may not result in failure in this category, pending positive references from other transportation clients; negative performance history or negative references may result in failure.
Approach to quality control.
The quality and completeness of the response.
Understanding of KDOT Technical Policies, CAD standards, and expectations for deliverables.
Note: Lack of experience with KDOT may not result in failure in this category, pending positive references from other transportation clients and commitment from the firm to research KDOT policies and standards prior to being notice to proceed on a given work order; negative references may result in failure.

Contract Terms and Conditions

The full list of consultants holding “Master On-Call Agreements” resulting from this RFP is intended to replace the existing list of “Master On-Call Agreement” holders based on the contracts executed in 2019. Each 2019 contract will remain in effect until either the contract expiration date (without extension) or when KDOT has determined the consultant has reached the contract maximum cumulative aggregate maximum cost. After the first of these occurs, each 2019 contract will be considered expired.

Upon such expiration, firms currently holding a “Master On-Call Agreement” that are not shortlisted or are otherwise unable to successfully negotiate a new on-call agreement for this purpose will no longer receive on-call service requests associated with this RFP.

A standard KDOT on-call agreement for engineering and technical services will be used. KDOT may request design services via on-call service requests over a period of four years (with an option to extend by one year at KDOT’s sole discretion), which will result in work orders subject to a maximum cumulative aggregate amount payable to each on-call agreement holder under the agreement. This maximum amount payable will be the same for all on-call agreement holders, will be stated in each agreement, and is anticipated to be a cost not to exceed $5,000,000.

The following special attachments will need to be provided by the selected consultant and all subconsultants with the signed work order following negotiations and will become attachments to the contract.

• Special Attachment No. 8 (“Tax Clearance Certificate”)
• Special Attachment No. 10 (“Policy Regarding Sexual Harassment”)

Finally, each firm shortlisted must affirm it utilizes accounting systems capable of the following before the firm may be awarded a contract:

• Valid, reliable, and current costs must be available within the system to support actual costs and pricing data.
• Capability to provide a means of measuring the reasonableness of incurred costs.
• Capability to identify and accumulate allowable costs by contract or project records that will reconcile with the general ledger.
• Ability to provide supporting documentation of actual expenditures for each billing, based on costs.

Questions

All questions regarding this RFP shall be emailed to KDOT.DesignContracts@ks.gov.

Questions can be submitted until February 15, 2023; answers will be provided to all prequalified consultants on February 22, 2023.

Marcia Turner, P.E.
Contracts Manager
Division of Engineering and Design
Department of Transportation

Doc. No. 050879