2025 Independence Township Planning RPF.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

PLANNING CONSULTING SERVICES

Proposal Due Date:

July 10, 2025

2:00 P.M.

Issued By:

THE CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF INDEPENDENCE

6483 WALDON CENTER

CLARKSTON, MI 48346

Table of Contents

Section 1: Instructions to Respondents 1

Section 2: Scope of Work 6

Section 3: Minimum Requirements; Evaluation Criteria Respondent 9

Section 4: Appendix 11

Appendix A – Legal Status of Respondent Appendix B – Fee Proposal

SECTION 1: INSTUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS

Background Located in northern Oakland County, Independence Township is a dynamic community that balances suburban development with rural character and natural features. With a population of approximately 37,000, the Township manages growth through strict adherence to the Master Plan, Zoning Ordinance, and proactive planning policies. Independence Township uses ESRI ArcGIS solutions for mapping and land use analysis and regularly collaborates across departments on development review and enforcement.

Questions or Clarifications of RPF Requirements All questions regarding this RFP shall be submitted via email. Emailed questions and inquiries will be accepted from any and all prospective Respondents in accordance with the terms and conditions of this RFP.

All questions shall be submitted on or before July 3rd, 2025 by 12:00 P.M. and should be addressed as follows:

• Scope of Work/Proposal Content questions emailed to clerk@indtwp.com

• RFP Process and HR Compliance questions emailed to clerk@indtwp.com

Should any prospective Respondent be in doubt as to the true meaning of any portion of this Request for Proposal, or should a prospective Respondent find any ambiguity, inconsistency or omission therein. The Respondent shall make a written request for an official interpretation or correction. Such requests must be submitted via email to clerk@indtwp.com.

All requests for Clarification are due on or before July 3rd, 2025 by 12:00 P.M.

Addendum All interpretation or correction, as well as any additional RFP provisions that the Township may decide to include, will be made only as an official addendum that will be posted to Michigan Inter-governmental Trade Network (MITN) www.mitn.info and the Charter Township of Independence web site www.indtwp.com for all parties to download.

It shall be the Respondent’s responsibility to ensure they have received all addendums before submitting a proposal. Any addendum issued by the Township shall become part of the RFP and will be incorporated in the proposal.

Each Respondent must in its RFP, to avoid any miscommunications, acknowledge all addenda which it has received, but the failure of a Respondent to receive, or acknowledge receipt of; any addenda shall not relieve a Respondent of the responsibility for complying with the terms thereof.

The Township will not be bound by oral responses to inquiries or written responses other than written addenda.

mailto:clerk@indtwp.com mailto:clerk@indtwp.com mailto:clerk@indtwp.com http://www.mitn.info/ http://www.indtwp.com/

Proposal Submission All Proposals are due and must be delivered to the Township Clerk’s office on or before July 10th, 2025 by 2:00 P.M. (local time). Proposals submitted late or via oral, telephonic, telegraphic, electronic mail or facsimile will not be considered or accepted.

Each Respondent must submit one (1) original Proposal, and four (4) additional Proposal copies.

Five (5) copies of the Proposal Fee shall be submitted in a separate sealed envelope contained within the Respondents sealed proposal. Proposal submitted must be clearly marked: RFP Planning Consulting Services for the Charter Township of Independence with Respondents name and address.

Proposals must be addressed and delivered to:

CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF INDEPENDENCE

6483 WALDON CENTER DR

CLARKSTON, MI 48346

All Proposals received on or before the Due Date will be publicly opened and recorded immediately. No immediate decisions are rendered.

Hand delivered Proposals will be date/time stamped/signed by the Clerk’s Office at the address above in order to be considered. Normal business hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, excluding Holidays. The Township will not be liable to any Respondent for any unforeseen circumstances, delivery or postal delays. Postmarking on the Due Date will not substitute for receipt of the Proposal. Each Respondent is responsible for submission of their Proposal.

Additional time will not be granted to a single Respondent; however, additional time may be granted to all Respondents when the Township determines that circumstances warrant it.

A Proposal will be disqualified if the Fee Proposal is not contained within a separate sealed envelope.

Proposal Terms & Requirements The Township reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive or not waive informalities or irregularities in the response procedures, and to accept or further negotiate cost, terms, or conditions of any proposal determined by the Township to be in the best interest of the Township. All agreements resulting from negotiations that differ from what is represented within the RFP or in the Respondent’s response shall be documented and included as part of the final contract.

Proposals must be signed in ink by an official authorized to bind the Respondent to its provisions for at least a period of one hundred eighty (180) days from the due date of this RFP. Failure of the successful respondent to accept the obligation of the contract may result in the cancellation of any award.

In the event it becomes necessary to revise any part of the RFP, Addenda will be provided. Deadlines for submission of RFP’s may be adjusted to allow for revisions.

Proposals should be prepared simply and economically providing a straightforward, concise description of the Respondent’s ability to meet the requirements of the RFP.

• No erasures are permitted. Mistakes may be crossed out and corrected and must be initialed in ink by the person signing the proposal.

• The proposal shall be no more than 40 pages total in length (20 sheets, not including Contract

Compliance), printed in a double-sided format.

• Fee proposals must be submitted in a separate sealed envelope at the same time.

• All envelopes for technical proposal and separate fee proposals must be clearly marked "RFP

Planning Consulting Services for the Charter Township of Independence”

All proposals become the property of the Township of Independence once reviewed, whether awarded or rejected.

To be considered, each Respondent must submit a response to this RFP using the format provided in Section 2. No other distribution of proposals is to be made by the respondent. Respondents must submit five (5) copies of the Proposal fees in a separate sealed envelope. Price Quotations stated in the Fee Proposal will not be subject to any price increase from the date on which the proposal is opened by the Township to the mutually agreed date of the contract. Fees other than those stated in the Fee Proposal will not be allowed unless authorized by contract.

All information in a respondent’s Proposal is subjected to disclosure under the provisions of Public Act No. 442 of 1976 known as the “Freedom of Information Act”. This act also provides for the complete disclosure of contracts and attachments thereto except where specifically exempted under the Freedom of Information Act.

Selection Criteria Responses to this RFP will be evaluated using a point system, described in Section 3. The evaluation will be completed by the Township Supervisor and Planning Director (or a Committee), as well as representatives of various units of the Township, if necessary.

At the initial evaluation, the fee proposals will not be reviewed. The initial evaluation is to determine which, if any, Respondents are to be interviewed, if necessary. Respondent fee proposals will only be opened for Respondents selected for interview, if the Township elects to conduct interviews.

If necessary, during interviews, selected Respondent(s) will have the opportunity to discuss in more detail their qualifications, experience, proposed work plan, and fee proposal during the interview process. The Charter Township of Independence further reserves the right to interview the key personnel anticipated to be assigned if the firm is selected. To decide the most qualified, capable and cost-effective Respondent, the Township Supervisor and Planning Director (or a Committee) will evaluate the proposal(s) and interview(s) using the point system described in Section 3 of this RFP.

Type of Contract Consultants selected to do business with the Charter Township of Independence will be required to execute the standard Professional Services Agreement with the Township. Those who wish to submit a proposal to the Township are required to carefully review the Professional Services Agreement. The

Professional Services Agreement shall be considered a “non-exclusive” agreement. The Township will not entertain requests to revise, amend, or change the language of the standard Professional Services Agreement Respondents must base their proposal on the assumption that, if selected, they will execute the Professional Services Agreement.

Cost Liability The Charter Township of Independence assumes no responsibility or liability for costs incurred by a respondent prior to the execution of a Professional Services Agreement. The liability of the Township is limited to the terms and conditions outlined in the Agreement. By submitting a proposal, Respondent agrees to bear all costs incurred or related to the preparation, submission and selection process for the proposal.

The selected Respondent will be required to provide the Charter Township of Independence an IRS form W-9 before a payment order can be issued.

The Township is tax exempt from all taxes. The Respondent, if awarded a contract for this work, shall be responsible for all “sales taxes” and “use taxes” as applicable to this work.

The Township reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, waive informalities, and select the firm that best meets its needs.

Schedule The following is the solicitation schedule for this procurement:

Activity/Event Anticipated Date

Proposal Due Date July 10, 2025

Interview Consultants (If Necessary) July 16, 2025

Consultant Selection/Negotiate Scope of Professional Services Agreement (PSA) July 22, 2025

PSA Execution, Award and Notice to Proceed July 22, 2025

Note: The above schedule is for informational purposes only and is subject to change at the Township’s discretion.

Once the firm is approved through the proposal process, projects may be assigned on an as-needed or case-by-case basis within the Township’s discretion. At the time each project is assigned, an appropriate project scope of work, work plan, and project schedule will be developed by the Township and the firm selected for the particular project or projects.

Debarment Submission of a Proposal in response to this RFP is certification that the Respondent is not currently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, and declared ineligible or voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any State or Federal departments or agency.

Submission is also agreement that the Township will be notified of any changes in this status.

Independent Fee Determination By submission of a proposal, the respondent certifies, and in the case of joint proposal, each party thereto certifies as to its own organization, that in connection with this proposal:

a) They have arrived at the fees in the proposal independently, without consultation, communication, or agreement, for the purpose of restricting competition as to any matter relating to such fees with any other proposal respondent or with any competitor.

b) Unless otherwise required by law, the fees which have been quoted in the proposal have not been knowingly disclosed by the respondent and will not knowingly be disclosed by the respondent prior to award directly or indirectly to any other prospective respondent or to any competitor.

c) No attempt has been made or shall be made by the proposal respondent to induce any other person or firm to submit or not submit a proposal for the purpose of restricting competition.

d) Each person signing the proposal certifies that she or he is the person in the proposal respondent’s organization responsible within that organization for the decision as to the fees being offered in the proposal and has not participated (and will not participate) in any action contrary to a), b), or c) above.

A proposal will not be considered for award if the sense of the statement required in the Fee Analysis portion of the proposal has been altered so as to delete or modify a), c), or 2 above. If b) has been modified or deleted, the proposal will not be considered for award unless the respondent furnishes with the proposal a signed statement which sets forth in detail the circumstances of the disclosure and the Issuing Office determines that such disclosure was not made for the purpose of restricting competition.

Reservation of Rights The Charter Township of Independence reserves the right to accept any Proposal, to accept multiple Proposals, alternative Proposals proposed in whole or in part, to reject any or all Proposals or alternatives Proposals in whole or in part and to waive irregularity and/or informalities in any Proposal and to make the award in any manner deemed in the best interest of the Township.

The Township reserves the right not to consider any Proposal which it determines to be unresponsive and deficient in any of the information requested within the RFP.

The Township reserves the right to determine whether the scope of the project will be entirely as described in the RFP, a portion of the scope, or that a revised scope be implemented.

SECTION 2: SCOPE OF WORK

Introduction Independence Township is soliciting proposals from qualified planning consultants or firms to provide professional planning services to support the Township’s Planning Department. The selected consultant will assist with current and long-range planning, ordinance development, and special projects as needed. The Township seeks a responsive, experienced partner who understands Township government and planning and is committed to high-quality public service.

The selected consultant will be expected to perform the following services:

A. Current Planning Support

• Review site plans, special land use applications, rezoning requests, and other development proposals.

• Provide written staff reports for the Planning Commission and/or Township Board.

• Attend and present at evening meetings (Planning Commission typically meets once per month), as necessary.

• Coordinate with the Planning Director on all aspects of the Planning Commission schedule, various zoning ordinance interpretations and other zoning inquiries, as needed.

• As needed, review Construction Plans for accuracy with the approved site plan.

B. Long-Range Planning

• Assist in updating the Township Master Plan and related sub-area plans (Master Plan completed in 2025).

• Based on the Master Plan Implementation Matrix, conduct data analysis and prepare land use policy recommendations.

• As needed, facilitate community engagement activities (surveys, open houses, stakeholder meetings) as needed

C. Zoning Ordinance Review and Amendments

• At the request of the Planning Director and/or Planning Commission, review and recommend updates to the Township Zoning Ordinance based on the Master Plan Implementation Matrix.

• As needed, draft text amendments to address emerging land use issues or clarify regulations, as needed.

D. GIS and Mapping (as needed)

• As needed, produce planning-related maps and data visualizations

• Assist with spatial analysis to support decision-making and long-range planning

• Ability to use ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online as the exclusive platforms for producing mapping materials.

E. Downtown Development Authority (DDA) & Corridor Improvement Authority (CIA)

• As needed, provide support to the DDA & CIA on budgeting, project implementation, and grant writing assistance, and other research tasks.

• Prepare annual reports for the DDA & CIA and present them to the Township Board.

• As needed, attend evening meetings of the DDA (monthly) & CIA (2-4 times per year)

F. Building Department Plan Review

• As needed, assist the Building Official with Plan Review on large commercial/industrial projects.

• As needed, assist the Building Official with drafting and implementation of the rental control ordinance.

Proposal Requirements Interested firms must submit a proposal that includes:

1. Cover Letter

2. Firm Overview – History, areas of expertise, and relevant qualifications

3. Project Team – Key personnel bios and roles

4. Relevant Experience – Description of recent comparable projects

5. Approach and Methodology – Description of how the firm will provide the requested services

6. Fee Schedule – Hourly rates and any proposed retainer or task-based pricing

(Separate Sealed Envelope)

7. Availability – Ability to attend meetings and complete work on a timely basis

8. References – At least three municipal references with contact information

Evaluation Criteria Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Relevant municipal planning experience

• Qualifications and expertise of assigned personnel

• Understanding of Township planning goals and priorities

• Quality and clarity of proposal

• Cost effectiveness

• References and prior performance

Requirements In keeping with the objective, the description, the requirements, and the consultant’s tasks as previously indicated in this Request for Proposal, the consultants submitting proposals shall outline, in detail, the manner in which the consultant shall work with the Township to fulfill the Townships needs.

The outline, at a minimum, shall address:

1. Staffing and personnel.

2. Communication and coordination.

3. Compatibility with the Township’s standards, goals and objectives.

4. Ability to work effectively with the Township staff with respect to any of the planning services required by the Township.

5. Ability to work effectively with the public and regulatory agencies.

6. The ability to function in a supporting role to Township Departments if directed by

Township staff.

7. Information which will assist the Township to determine the consultant’s capability of performing the work.

SECTION 3: MINIMUM INFORMATION REQUIRED & EVALUATION CRITERIA

The following Section describes the elements that should be included in each of these proposal sections and the weighted point system that will be used for evaluation of the proposals.

A. Professional Qualifications – 30 points

1. State the full name and address of your organization and, if applicable, the branch office or other subordinate element that will perform, or assist in performing, the work hereunder. Indicate whether it operates as an individual, partnership, or corporation. If as a corporation, include the state in which it is incorporated. If applicable, indicate whether it is licensed to operate in the State of Michigan.

2. Include the number of executive and professional personnel by skill and qualification that will be employed in the work. Show where these personnel will be physically located during the time they are engaged in the work. Resumes or qualifications are required for proposed personnel who will be assigned to the Township. Qualifications and capabilities of any sub-consultants must also be included, if applicable.

3. State history of the firm, in terms of length of existence, types of services provided, etc.

Identify the technical details which make the firm qualified for this work.

B. Past involvement with the Township - 30 points

The written proposal must include a list of specific experience in the project area and indicate proven ability in working with communities of similar size and demographics. The proposal must also indicate proven ability to have specific projects completed within the budgeted amounts. A summary of related projects with the original deadline and cost estimate versus the actual completion date and final cost of the design is to be included in this section. A complete list of client references must be provided for similar projects recently completed.

The list shall include firm/agency’s name, contact name, project title, owner name, address, and phone number.

C. Fee Proposal - 40 points

Fee proposals shall be submitted in a single separate sealed envelope with the proposal. Any proposal not complying with this requirement may be subject to disqualification.

Fee proposals are to include the names, title, hourly rates, overhead factors, and any other details by which the overall costs have been derived. The fee proposal is to relate in detail to each individual who will be working with the Township, including the respondent- suggested personel, if any.

The total fee proposal may be adjusted after negotiations with the Township and prior to signing a formal contract, if justified.

D. Authorized Negotiator

Include the name and phone number of persons(s) in your organization authorized to negotiate the Scope of Work with the Township.

E. Appendices

1. The Appendix must be completed and returned with the proposal. This element should be included as an attachment to the proposal submission.

Proposal Evaluation

1. The Township Supervisor and Planning Director (or Committee) will evaluate each proposal by the above described criteria and point system (A through C) to select a short list of firms for further consideration. A proposal with all the requested information does not guarantee the proposing firm to be a candidate for an interview. The Township may contact references to verify material submitted by the Respondents. The Township will determine whether the final scope of the contract to be negotiated will be entirely as described in this RFP, a portion of the scope, or a revised scope.

2. If needed, the Township Supervisor and Planning Director (or a Committee) then will schedule the interviews with the selected firms. The selected firms will be given the opportunity to discuss in more detail their qualifications, past experience, proposed work plan and fee proposal. The interview must include the project team members expected to complete a majority of work for the Township, but no more than 6 members total. The interview shall consist of a presentation of approximately thirty (30) minutes by the Respondent, including the person who will be the project manager on this Contract, followed by approximately thirty (30) minutes of questions and answers. Audiovisual aids may be used during the oral interviews. The oral interviews may be recorded on tape by the Township.

3. The firms interviewed will then be re-evaluated by the described criteria (A through C) and adjustments to scoring will be made as appropriate. After evaluation of the proposals.

4. After evaluation of the proposals, further negotiation with the selected firm may be pursued leading to the award of a contract by The Township Board of Trustees if suitable proposals are received.

The Township reserves the right to not consider any proposal which is determined to be unresponsive and deficient in any of the information requested for evaluation. The Township also reserves the right to waive the interview process and evaluate the consultants based on their proposals and fee schedules alone.

SECTION 4: APPENDICIES

APENDIX A: LEGAL STATUS OF RESPONDENT

By signing below the authorized representative of the Respondent hereby certifies that: The Respondent is:

• A corporation organized and doing business under the laws of the State of __________________*, for whom bearing the office title of ____________________________, whose signature is affixed to this proposal, is authorized to execute contracts on behalf of respondent.

(*If not incorporated in Michigan, please attach the corporation’s Certificate of Authority)

• A partnership organized under the laws of the State of ________________________ and filed with the County of ________________________, whose members are (attach list including street and mailing address for each)

• A limited liability company doing business under the laws of the State of ________________, whom __________________________ bearing the title of ____________________________ whose signature is affixed to this proposal, is authorized to execute contract on behalf of the LLC.

• A partnership organized under the laws of the State of ________________________ and filed with the County of _______________________, whose members are (attach list including street and mailing address for each)

• An individual, whose signature and address, is affixed to this RFP. Respondent has examined the basic requirements of this RFP and its scope of services provided to the Township.

• An individual, whose signature with address, is affixed to this RFP. Respondent has examined the basic requirements of this RFP and its scope of services, including all Addendum (if applicable) and hereby agrees to offer the services as specified in the

RFP.

Signature Date

(Print) Name: ______________________________________________________________

Title: ____________________________________________________________________

Firm: __________________________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________

Contact Phone: ____________________________

Fax: _________________________________

Email _____________________________________________________________

APENDIX B: FEE PROPOSAL CERTIFICATION

As an awarded contract, the respondent agrees to provide the scope of work in this Request for Proposal, including all terms and conditions, instruction to respondents, special provisions, specifications, addenda, questions and corresponding answers, and the RFP as set forth in these Contract Documents. The parties intend for this to constitute the final and complete agreement between The Charter Township of Independence and the Respondent.