REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
FOR
ON-CALL ENVIRONMENTAL (CEQA)
CONSULTING SERVICES
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
Released on November 18, 2021
ON-CALL ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING SERVICES
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ)
1. BACKGROUND
The City of Huntington Beach Community Development Department i s seeking a statement of qualifications (SOQ) from professional environmental consulting firms to provide on-call environmental consulting services for Planning related developm ent projects on an as-needed basis. The City will be selecting firms with experience in prep aration of environmental impact reports, negative declarations, initial studies, technical studies, and environmental notices.
Interested consultants who can successfully demonstrate their a bility to provide environmental consulting services are invited to submit qualifications. Throu gh this RFQ, the City will select a pool of qualified consultants to establish a list of profession al environmental consultants to provide services for a three year period commencing upon the creation of the list.
Subsequent to the establishment of a qualified list, selected c onsultants may be asked to prepare specific proposals for projects a s t h e y a r e s u b m i t t e d . I f a p roposal is selected, the consultant would enter into a Professional S e r v i c e s A g r e e m e n t w i t h t h e C i ty of Huntington Beach to provide CEQA services per an approved scope of work.
2. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
This request for qualifications will be governed by the following schedule:
R e l e a s e o f R F Q N o v e m b e r 18, 2021 Q u a l i f i c a t i o n S t a t e m e n t s a r e D u e December 15, 2021 Q u a l i f i c a t i o n E v a l u a t i o n C o m p l e t e d J a n u a ry 14, 2022 Approval of List of Qualified Consultants January 21, 2022
3. SCOPE OF SERVICES
The Consultant may be asked to provide any number of services p ertaining to the City’s implementation of CEQA, including, but not limited to, the following:
Conduct preliminary review of projects for CEQA purposes Prepare CEQA documents for the City, including, but not limited to:
o Initial Studies in support of ND/MND/MMRP
o Addendums to Environmental Impact Reports
o Environmental Impact Reports
o Notices of Intent/Preparation/Determination/Exemption Prepare technical studies (e.g. – Traffic, Air Quality, Noise, Cultural Resources, Biological Resources, Energy, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Provide peer review of CEQA documents prepared by project applicants Review CEQA/NEPA documents from neighboring jurisdictions/agencies Required consultations (i.e. NAHC)
Conduct scoping meetings
Attend public meetings and hearings
4. PROPOSAL FORMAT GUIDELINES
Interested consultants are to provide the City of Huntington Be ach with a thorough statement of qualifications using the following guidelines:
Statement should contain no more than 20 typed pages using a 12 -point font size, including transmittal letter and resumes of key people, but excluding Ind ex/Table of Contents, tables, charts, and graphic exhibits. Each statement should adhere to the following order and content of sections. Proposal should be s traightforward, concise and prov ide “layman” explanations of technical terms that are used. Emphasis should be concentrated on conforming to the RFQ instructions, responding to the R FQ requirements, and on provid ing a complete and clear description of qualifications. St atements of Qualifications, wh ich appear unrealistic in the terms of technical commitments, lack of technical competence or are i ndicative of failure to comprehend the complexity and ris k of the City’s Professional S ervices Agreement, may be rejected. The following sections are to be included in the response:
A. Vendor Application Form and Cover Letter
Complete Appendix A, “Request for Proposal-Vendor Application F orm” and attach this form to the cover letter. A cover letter, not to exceed three pages in length, should summarize key elements of the statement. An individual authorized to bind the consultant m u s t s ig n t h e le tte r. T h e le tte r m us t s t ip u l a te t h a t th e c o n s ultant fees and hourly rates will be valid for a period of at least 180 days. Indicate the address and telephone number of the contractor’s office located nearest to Huntington Beach, California and the office from which the on-call services will be managed.
B. Background and Experience Section
The information in this section should inlcude a brief statemen t of your understanding of the City and the scope of services to be provided in addition t o addressing the following items:
1) Describe the firm’s background, business expertise/experiences, specialties, and capabilities to perform professional consultant services with t he application of CEQA related to development projects. This should include the p reparation of various environmental documents, the ability to review technica l studies and
knowledge of CEQA processes as it relates to typical developmen t projects.
Please describe the firm’s ability to prepare and review:
• Initial studies,
• Environmental exemptions,
• Negative Declarations,
• Mitigated Negative Declarations,
• Environmental Impact Reports,
• Associated technical studies, such as air quality, biology, n oise, traffic[HA1],
cultural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy. • Environmental mitigation and implementation measures.
The statement should also demonstrate the firm’s understanding of the key issues related to environmental analysis and the firm’s familiarity wi th the issues and challenges associated with development in the City of Huntingto n Beach. Please [CC2]indicate how you ascertained this information.
2) Provide a description of the firm’s local, state and/or regiona l experience in preparing or reviewing environmental documents as described above. 3) Describe any characteristics of the firm that would be uniquely relevant in evaluating the experience of the proposer’s firm to handle vari ous potential environmental projects.
4) Briefly describe the legal chall enges your firm’s environmental documents have been subject to and the success rate that the environmental documents prepared by your firm have held up to legal challenges.
5) Provide a description of the methods, including controls by whi c h y o u r f i r m manages projects of the type so ught by this RFQ, and any other project management or implementation stra tegies or techniques that the respondent intends to employ in carrying out the work.
6) Detailed description of efforts your firm will undertake to ach ieve client satisfaction and to satisfy the requirements of the "Scope of Services" section.
C. Staffing
Provide a list of key individual(s) who would be assigned to work on projects for the City of Huntington Beach and indicate the functions that each will perform. Include a resume for each designated individual.
Include a brief description of a ny sub-consultants with whom th e firm partners and a description of the services thos e consultants provide (e.g. air quality, GHG, historic/cultural resource eval uation, etc.). Provide specific examples of projects completed by the firm and sub-consultant as a team.
Upon award of a contract, and dur ing the contract period, if th e firm chooses to assign different personnel to a project, the firm must submit their na mes and qualifications including information listed above to the City for approval before they begin work.
D. Qualifications and References
The information requested in thi s section should describe the q ualifications of the firm, key staff and sub-contractors pe rforming projects within the pa st five years that are similar in size and scope to demonstrate competence to perform these services.
Information shall include:
1) Names of key staff that participated on named projects and thei r specific responsibilities with respect to this scope of services. 2) A summary of the your firm’s demonstrated capability, including length of time that your firm has provided the services being requested in thi s Request for Qualifications.
3) Provide at least five local references that received similar services from your firm.
The City of Huntington Beach reserves the right to contact any of the organizations or individuals listed. Information provided shall include:
Client Name
Project Description
Project start and end dates
Client project manager name, telephone number, and e-mail address
E. Fee Schedule
Provide a complete time and materials fee schedule for all serv ices provided by the consultant, including hourly r ates for all proposed staff [HA3]. Please include all costs that are typically billed separately as direct expenses (e.g. copy o r document delivery fees).
Please include any information on subs typically used for specific services.
5. PROCESS FOR SUBMITTING STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS
All SOQs must be submitted in PDF file format.
Content of Statement of Qualifications
The Statement of Qualifications must be submitted using the for mat as indicated in the proposal format guidelines.
Preparation of Statement of Qualifications
Each Statement of Qualifications shall be prepared simply and e conomically, avoiding the use of elaborate promotional material beyond those sufficie nt to provide a complete, accurate and reliable presentation.
Number of Statement of Qualifications
Submit one (1) PDF file format copy of your Statement of Qualif ications in sufficient detail to allow for thorough evaluation and comparative analysis.
Submission of Statement of Qualifications
Complete written Statement of Qualifications must be submitted electronically in PDF file format via the Planetbids.com website no later than 4:00 p.m. (P.S.T) on December 15, 2021. Statements of Qualifications will not be accepted after this deadline. Faxed or e-mailed proposals will not be accepted.
Inquiries
Questions about this RFQ must be directed in writing, via e-mail to:
Jennifer Anderson, Senior Buyer
[email protected]
F r o m t h e d a t e t h a t t h i s R F Q i s i s s u e d u n t i l f i r m s a r e s e l e c t e d and the selection is announced, firms are not allowed to communicate for any reason with any City employee other than the contracting officer listed above regarding this RFQ. The City reserves the right to reject any proposal for violation of this provision. No questions other than written will be accepted, and no response other than written wi ll be binding upon the City.
Conditions for Proposal Acceptance
This RFQ does not commit the City to award a contract or to pay any costs incurred for any services. The City, at its sole discretion, reserves the r ight to accept or reject any or all proposals received as a result of this RFQ, to negotiate with any qualified source, or to cancel this RFQ in part or in its entirety. All proposals will become the property of the City of Huntington Beach, USA. If any proprietary information is contained in the proposal, it should be clearly identified.
6. EVALUATION CRITERIA
The City’s consultant evaluation and selection process is based upon Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) for professional services. The City of Huntington Beach may use some or all of the following criteria in its evaluation and comparison of proposals submitted. The criteria listed are not necessarily an all-inclusive list. The order in which they appear is not intended to indicate their relative importance:
A. Compliance with RFQ requirements
B. Understanding of the project
C. Recent experience in conducting similar scope, complexity, and magnitude for other public agencies
D. Educational background, work experience, and directly related consulting experiences E. Price
F. References
The City may also contact and evaluate the firm’s and any ident ified subconsultant’s references; contact any firm to clarify a ny response; contact any current u sers of a firm’s services; solicit information from any available source concerning any aspect of a proposal; and seek and review any other information deemed pertinent to the evaluation proces s. The evaluation committee shall not be obligated to accept the lowest priced proposal, bu t shall make an award in the best interests of the City.
After written Statements have been reviewed, discussions with prospective firms may or may not be required. If scheduled, the oral interview will be a questi on/answer format for the purpose of clarifying the intent of any portions of the SOQ. The individu al from your firm that will be directly responsible for carrying out a contract, if awarded, s hould be present at the oral interview.
The on-call list will include consultants that have been prequa lified to provide on-call CEQA s e r v i c e s o n a n a s - n e e d e d b a s i s . T h e o n - c a l l c o n s u l t a n t l i s t w ill be valid for a period of three years. Subsequent to the establishment of a qualified list, sel ected consultants may be asked to prepare specific proposals for projects as they are submitted. If a proposal is selected, the consultant would enter into a Professional Services Agreement w ith the City of Huntington Beach to provide CEQA services per an approved scope of work.
7. STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Amendments
The City reserves the right to amend this RFQ prior to the due date. All amendments and additional information will be posted to the Huntington Bea ch Procurement Registry, Huntington Beach - Official City Web Site - Business - Bids & R FP's; bidders should check this web page daily for new information.
Cost for Preparing Proposal
The cost for developing the proposal is the sole responsibility of the bidder. All proposals submitted become the property of the City.
Contract Discussions
Prior to award of a professional services agreement, the appare nt successful firm may be required to enter into discussions with the City to resolve any contractual differences. These discussions are to be finalized and all exc eptions resolved within one (1) week from notification. If no resolution is reached, t he proposal may be rejected and discussions will be initiated with the second high est scoring firm. See Exhibit B for a sample agreement.
Confidentiality Requirements
The staff members assigned to this project may be required to s ign a departmental non-disclosure statement. Propos als are subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The City cannot protect proprietary data submitted in proposals.
Financial Information
The City is concerned about bidde rs’ financial capability to pe rform, therefore, may ask you to provide sufficient data to allow for an evaluation o f your firm’s financial capabilities.
Insurance Requirements
City Resolution 2008-63 requires that licensees, lessees, and v endors have an approved Certificate of Insurance (not a declaration or policy) on file with the City for the issuance of a permit or contract. Within ten (10) cons ecutive calendar days of award of contract, successful bidder must furnish the City with t h e C e r t i f i c a t e s o f
Insurance proving coverage as specified in Appendix C. Failure to furnish the required certificates within the time allowed will result in fo rfeiture of the Proposal Security.
Please carefully review the Sample Agr eement and Insurance Requirements before responding to the Request for Qualifications enclosed herein. The terms of the agreement, including insurance requirements have been mandated by City Council and can be modified only if extraordinary circ umstances exist. Your response to the Request for Qualifications must indicate if you are unwilling or unable to execute the agreement as drafted as well as providing th e insurance requiremen ts. The City will consider this in determining responsiveness to the Request for Qualifications.