5-01. RFQ TBD Notice to Bidders.pdf

CITY OF AMARILLO

PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS

Contract and Bidding Documents for

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

MPO Demographic and Socioeconomic Data Development for Travel Demand Modeling

FOR

THE CITY OF AMARILLO, TEXAS

Bid No.

RFQ 314-26 SEC

Bid Closing:

August 27, 2026 at 3:00 P.M.

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

MPO Demographic and Socioeconomic Data Development for Travel Demand Modeling

RFQ 314-26

The City of Amarillo, on behalf of the Amarillo Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), is soliciting a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from respondents who are experienced with providing Professional Services for demographic and socioeconomic forecasting in support of the Amarillo MPO Travel Demand Model (TDM). It is the intent of the City to award a contract to the most highly qualified respondent in accordance with Qualifications-Based Selection requirements.

APPROXIMATE TIMELINE

Issuance of RFQ August 04, 2026 Advertisement Dates August 04, 2026 and August 11, 2026 Deadline for RFQ Questions August 17, 2026 Deadline for Proposal Submissions August 27, 2026

DUE DATE AND DELIVERY LOCATION

Proposers may submit proposals electronically by uploading required documents at the City of Amarillo’s partner’s website, Euna Procurement. This Request for Proposals is for your convenience in submitting an offer for the specified services.

Proposals may be withdrawn prior to the above scheduled time set for closing.

Pre-Proposal Meeting For the purpose of familiarizing Proposers with the requirements, answering questions, and issuing addenda as needed for the clarification of the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) documents, a non-mandatory pre-proposal conference will be held via Microsoft Teams, and will begin promptly at 10:00 A.M.

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/223396709421640?p=q0pqsogIY82Ogt2cwL Meeting ID: 223 396 709 421 640 Passcode: CK7UP9h8

GENERAL CONDITIONS

LEGAL ADDRESSES:

All notices, letters, and other communications to you will be emailed or delivered to the respondent's business address or email address listed in your response. You may change the address or contact information at any time by email to the City of Amarillo.

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/223396709421640?p=q0pqsogIY82Ogt2cwL

INDEMNIFICATION:

Consultant agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless City and its elected officials, officers, agents, and employees from and against any and all claims, demands, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses, Including penalties, fines, Judgments (including court costs, interest and reasonable attorney’s fees), of any kind arising out of the negligent acts, errors, or omissions of consultant, its employees, subcontractors or agents in performing services under this agreement. Consultant is to perform in a sound and professional manner by exercising the degree of care, skill, and diligence in the performance of the services as is exercised by a professional under similar circumstances at the time such services are performed. This indemnity provided herein shall survive the expiration or termination of this agreement.

INSURANCE:

CONSULTANT will provide insurance coverage in accordance with CLIENT’S insurance requirements as set forth in the “Certificate of Insurance Requirements,” attached to this Agreement and by reference made a part hereof. If the required insurance is terminated, altered, or changed in a manner not acceptable to CLIENT, this Agreement may be terminated by CLIENT, without penalty, on written notice to CONSULTANT. In addition, CONSULTANT will provide Professional Liability Insurance in the amount of One Million and No/100 Dollars ($1,000,000.00) per claim for this Agreement’s term.

PROPOSALS BECOME PUBLIC RECORDS; MARKING CONFIDENTIAL OR PROPRIETARY

INFORMATION

During the evaluation process, the City of Amarillo treats all responses with the highest level of confidentiality. However, once the evaluation process has been completed and a contract is awarded, the entire procurement becomes public information. If you consider any portion of your response to be confidential and/or proprietary and that disclosure of its contents to competitors would cause you substantial competitive harm, then you must clearly identify those portions of your response by placing the term CONFIDENTIAL OR PROPRIETARY in bold letters on the applicable page(s). The City of Amarillo will attempt to protect the identified portions from disclosure to the extent possible under the law. You will be given notice of any request for disclosure of the identified information and given the opportunity to support your claim of confidentiality before the Texas Attorney General.

QUESTIONS, CLARIFICATIONS and CORRESPONDENCE:

All questions and requests for clarification must be submitted to the Purchasing Agent in writing and will be answered by the Purchasing Agent in writing. No questions will be accepted or answered verbally. Except as provided in this section, upon issuance of this RFQ, vendors are specifically directed not to contact other City personnel, to include any Engineers or Architects and anyone other than purchasing personnel for answers to questions, clarifications, meeting, conferences, or technical discussions or anything else related to this RFQ. Failure to strictly abide by this policy may result in the immediate disqualification of the vendor from this and other bidding opportunities.

If the answers do not change the information published in the original documents, they will be sent a clarification only. If the answers do change the information published in the original documents, they will be sent an addendum. Addenda require signed acknowledgement of receipt of the addendum and submitted with the response to the RFQ as instructed.

It is the responsibility of the respondent to verify if any addendum(s) or clarification(s) have been issued and to make sure the respondent has received all copies. Contact the Purchasing Department at 806-378-3028 to verify this information. Respondents may also go to our bidding platform, Euna (Bonfire) and register as a vendor with the City of Amarillo and to download a copy of the addendum or any other bidding documents. Addenda and clarifications will be posted to the bidding platform website.

All questions must be submitted at least 10 days prior to the bid due date. All questions will be answered at least 7 days prior to the bid due date. If the questions cannot be fully answered by that time then, the closing date of the bid will be extended by addenda to allow sufficient time for all questions to be answered and those answers to be provided to all registered vendors. All questions must be submitted via bidding platform, Euna (formerly Bonfire). No questions will not be answered by phone, orally or written outside of Bonfire.

ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF PROPOSALS:

The City of Amarillo reserves the right to accept or reject any or all responses or parts of responses, to waive any formalities and technicalities, and to accept the best evaluated response.

CANCELLATION:

The RFQ may be cancelled (in part or in its entirety) at any time with written notice by the City of Amarillo.

REIMBURSEMENTS:

There is no express or implied obligation for the City of Amarillo to reimburse respondents for any expenses incurred in preparing responses to this Request for Qualifications. The City of Amarillo will not reimburse respondents for these expenses, nor will the City of Amarillo pay any subsequent costs associated with the provision of any additional information or presentation, or to procure a contract for these services.

DISPUTES:

In case of any doubt or difference of opinion as to the services and deliverables herein, the decisions of the City of Amarillo shall be final and binding on both parties. The laws of the State of Texas will govern interpretation and performance of the obligations imposed on the parties pursuant to this order.

Further, the successful respondent agrees that the courts of the State of Texas shall have jurisdiction over the successful respondent with respect to any action brought by the City of Amarillo relating to the performance of the respondent’s obligation hereunder. Venue and jurisdiction of any suit, right or cause of action arising under or in connection with these specifications, shall lie exclusively in Potter County, Texas.

DEFAULT:

In case of default by the successful responder, the City of Amarillo may procure the services from other sources.

https://amarillo.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities https://amarillo.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities

CONDITIONS FOR PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL

All responses to this RFQ become the property of the City of Amarillo. The City of Amarillo will not return responses or other information supplied to the City of Amarillo.

All respondents shall comply with all conditions, requirements, and specifications contained herein.

Any departure will constitute sufficient cause for rejection of the response.

Responses are to contain a statement indicating the period during which the response will remain valid.

A period of not less than one-hundred twenty (120) days is required.

FAMILIARITY WITH SCOPE OF WORK:

This RFQ is based on the Scope of Work and information included in this document. Prior to submission of any response, each respondent should be thoroughly familiar with the scope, information, and the general terms and conditions in this package. The failure or omission of any respondent to examine any form, instrument or document shall in no way relieve any respondent from any obligation in respect to his/her response. No allowance will be made because of lack of knowledge of this document. It is the responsibility of each respondent to ascertain the completeness of the information contained herein and thoroughly address those concerns in their response to this RFQ.

SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE:

This RFQ will require specific performance on all criteria as stated in your response. All specifications are as written unless specifically taken exception to by you. Any exception accepted by the City of Amarillo will be strictly adhered to. Responders must submit written requests for exceptions to any specifications/conditions with their response. Exceptions made without submission of a written request may result in disqualification.

PROHIBITION:

Do not submit pricing information. If pricing information is submitted, the response to the RFQ will not be considered.

SCOPE OF WORK

Scope of Work is included in Attachment A.

RFQ RESPONSE ELEMENTS AND FORMAT

The City requires comprehensive responses to every section within this RFQ. To facilitate the review of the responses, Respondents shall follow the described response format. The intent of the response format requirements is to expedite review and evaluation. It is not the intent to constrain Respondents with regard to content, but to assure that the specific requirements set forth in this RFQ are addressed in a uniform manner amenable to review and evaluation. A response that does not provide all the information requested below may be deemed non-responsive. Your response must concisely contain sufficient information to assure the City of its accuracy and any additional information necessary to summarize the overall benefit of the response to the City. Proposals must include the following information in the order listed:

A. Your Qualifications and Experience:

1. Complete the Respondent’s Information and Signature Page (Attachment B).

2. Briefly introduce your firm, providing a summary of the administration, organization and staffing of your firm including multiple offices, if applicable. Provide an organizational chart indicating the positions and names of the core management team which will undertake this engagement.

3. Identify the project manager and each individual who will work as part of this engagement.

Include resumes for each person to be assigned. Include any professional designations and affiliations, certifications and licenses, etc. Minimum qualifications: the Project Manager shall have at least 10 years of related experience (type of experience is more important than location of experience) in transportation master planning; at least one key individual shall have specialized knowledge and proven experience relating to pedestrian and bicycle master planning; at least one individual shall have relevant experience in integrating planning efforts to provide multimodal solutions. The Project Manager should be the individual conducting the day-to-day activities on this project. The Project Manager is not the principal-in-charge unless the principal is actually performing the work.

4. Describe the experience of the firm in the last sixty (60) months in performing services of similar size and scope. Demonstrate previous experience with the City of Amarillo or experience with other governmental entities of similar size and scope.

5. The same information must be provided for any associate firm or sub-consultant.

6. Provide detailed profiles of similar projects that the Consultant and proposed team members have completed in the last five (5) years including project name, date, description, and location. For each project, indicate which proposed team members worked on the project and describe the role/work they performed and their levels of involvement. Clearly explain why past project profiles are relevant and comparable to the goals and challenges in the Amarillo MPO MAB. Describe innovative approaches on past projects that may be applicable and highlight any achievements of integrating multimodal systems in a manner that balanced competing priorities. Provide examples of efforts that proved to result in project(s) funding.

B. Your Methodology - Technical Approach and Understanding of the Scope of the project:

1. Responses must include a narrative description of your plan for accomplishing the work and services to be provided to the City of Amarillo. Respondent should demonstrate experience with similar types of design and the ability of the their professional personnel to perform the services.

2. Responses must indicate a clear understanding of the scope of work, including a detailed project plan for this engagement outlying major tasks and responsibilities, time frames, and staff assigned for each category of the scope of work identified above. Exhibit the current capacity of your company and the ability to complete the specific project in a timely manner.

Respond briefly to the scope of work as outlined in this RFP and how your company plans to accomplish the tasks.

The Consultant shall provide a detailed project schedule, to include significant project milestones, in order to allow for project completion by the date outlined in the Project Schedule. List proposed project staff commitments on other projects in relation to their availability for this project.

3. Responses shall identify progress reports that will be made available during the process and key decision points.

4. Responses shall clearly distinguish your duties and responsibilities and those of the City of Amarillo. Absence of this distinction shall mean you are assuming full responsibility for all tasks.

5. Responses shall include a general description of the Consultant’s understanding of the community’s challenges (current and future) and intended outcome of the RMTP. Include the Proposer’s approach to achieving the Scope of Services provided in the RFQ, including details to implement the tasks, any foreseeable challenges, and risk mitigation measures.

Include any assumptions, suggested revisions to the scope or services, and list any additional documents or resources necessary to complete the Work.

6. Responses shall include a project-specific discussion regarding the Consultant’s management approach, including coordination and monitoring of project schedule, scope, communications, quality, resources and other management issues that the Consultant feels should be addressed. Emphasis should be placed on how the Consultant’s management approach will promote the Project’s success. The Consultant’s approach to quality control in the preparation of documents and other deliverables shall be clearly described in this section.

C. Your References:

Provide references for similarly successful projects from three sources including the name of the agency, address, contact name, current telephone number, email address and a brief description of services provided Experience and/or references with similar public/private partnerships is preferred, but not required. (Attachment B)

D. Your Exceptions:

You must clearly submit with written requests for exceptions (if any) to an item or condition required in the RFQ.

1. Cover Letter

2. Firm Qualifications and Overview

3. Project Understanding and Technical Approach

4. Key Personnel

5. Relevant Project Experience (last 5 years)

6. References

7. Federal Certifications:

a. Suspension and Debarment (2 CFR Part 180)

b. Compliance with 2 CFR Part 200

8.Conflict of Interest Disclosure

EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

After the responses are opened on the stated date and time, they will be reviewed for responsiveness by the Purchasing Department. In order for a response to be considered responsive to this RFQ, it must conform to all the substantial material terms and conditions required herein. A response that does not so conform will be declared non-responsive and will not be further evaluated. This procurement is not a price-based or best-value procurement. No cost or pricing information will be considered until after the most highly qualified firm has been selected.

The responsive replies will undergo a second evaluation conducted by members of the Evaluation Committee. The committee will evaluate the responses based upon the following evaluation criteria and scoring matrix. The respondent selected for award will ultimately be chosen on the basis of the best evaluated response by the City of Amarillo.

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

This proposal will be awarded to the best evaluated proposer. The following scoring will be used to evaluate each proposer’s response to the RFQ. Evaluation criteria are not necessarily listed in the order of importance. The City reserves the right to weigh its evaluation criteria in any manner it deems appropriate and to create a shortlist of candidates to be invited to interview. In addition, the City reserves the right to reject any or all RFQ responses and too waive informalities and irregularities in RFQ responses received. Final approval of contract award is subject to the action of the Amarillo City Council.

A. Firm Experience & Qualifications 35

B. Project Approach 30

C. Key Personnel 20

D. Past Performance 15

E. Maximum Possible Score 100 pts

PRESENTATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS:

Contract negotiations may be conducted with responsible respondents who submit Qualifications that are reasonably susceptible of being selected. Respondents reasonably susceptible of being selected based on criteria set forth in this RFQ may be given an opportunity to make a presentation and/or interview with the Evaluation Committee. Following any presentation and/or interviews, firms will be ranked in order of preference and contract negotiations will begin with the top ranked respondent.

Should negotiations with the highest ranked respondent fail to yield a contract, or if the respondent is unable to execute said contract, negotiations will be formally ended and then commence with the second highest ranked respondent, etc. However, the City of Amarillo reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to award a contract without presentations or interviews, based solely on information supplied in the RFQ responses.

AWARD OF CONTRACT

CONTRACT FORM:

Please submit a sample contract that your company uses for this service. We will work with the selected respondent to negotiate a contract that is acceptable to both parties. If there is a conflict with the contract and the proposal, the proposal will prevail. All other documents including the original Request for Qualifications package together with all addendums and clarifications and the successful respondents bid documents will be included by reference.

NOTE: the form of contract and business points will be negotiated with the successful proposer.

ASSIGNMENT OF PROPOSAL / CONTRACT:

Once the Contract is awarded to the successful Respondent, the Respondent cannot assign or subcontract the work or any part thereof, without the previous written consent of the City of Amarillo, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.

CONTRACT DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS:

After the proposal has been awarded by the City of Amarillo, the Purchasing Department will send the awarded respondent a Notice of Award which will include a contract and a listing of other documentation required prior to fully executing the contract. Upon receipt of this notice, the vendor will have ten (10) calendar days to provide the Purchasing Department with all of the insurance, signed contracts and any other documentation that is required by the terms and conditions of the proposal. The Contracts must be signed by the City of Amarillo, insurance, and all other conditions required by the terms and conditions of the proposal must also be met before any work may begin. If there is failure to demonstrate good faith effort in providing the necessary documentation, then the respondent will be considered to have abandoned his proposal. The proposal will then be considered as non-responsive and may be promptly re-awarded to the next best evaluated proposal.

DEBARMENT CERTIFICATION:

Respondent will be required to certify that neither it nor its principals are currently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation in the Contract resulting from these specifications by any federal and/or State department or agency. This will be included as part of the City of Amarillo Vendor Acknowledgement Form.

INDEBTEDNESS TO THE CITY OF AMARILLO:

Per City Ordinance No. 6706, the City of Amarillo will not award a proposal to vendors who are delinquent in any indebtedness to this City. As stated in City Ordinance No. 6706: “For contracts or transactions subject to competitive bidding or proposals, pursuant to Chapter 252, Subchapter B, of the Texas Local Government Code or other applicable law, a person who owes a debt to the City as of the date that the bid or proposal is opened shall not be eligible to win the bid or be awarded a contract or have the transaction approved, even if the person presents the apparent low bid, successful proposal, or best offer, unless such person shall within three (3) business days satisfy the debt owed to the City.”

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

Per the terms of Chapter 176 of the Local Government Code, should any vendor be awarded all or any part of the goods or services on which this Proposal solicits a return, then it is the vendor’s sole responsibility to provide the City of Amarillo, with an updated Conflict of Interest Questionnaire, Form CIQ. The vendor must file the updated form within 7 days after learning that a prior filing (if any) is no longer accurate. This form and the names of the City Council Members, Mayor, City Manager, Deputy City Manager, and Assistant City Managers is available on the City’s website located at www.amarillo.gov. This form and the names of the Amarillo Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Committee, Director, and Assistant Director is available on its website located at amarillompo.org.

FORM 1295

Effective January 1, 2016, The Texas Legislature adopted House Bill 1295, which added Section

2252.908 of the Government Code. The law states that a governmental entity or state agency may not enter into certain contracts with a business entity unless the business entity submits a disclosure of interested parties (Form 1295) to the governmental entity or state agency at the time the business entity submits the signed contract to the governmental entity or state agency. The Texas Ethics Commission has adopted rules requiring the business entity to file form 1295 electronically with the Commission. Before the City of Amarillo will enter into a binding agreement with a business, that said business must submit form 1295. The said business must go to www.ethics.state.tx.us to file the reports electronically. Once the said business has filed the report electronically the said business will print a copy of the form and submit back to the City with the signed copy of the contracts. Once the City has received the copy of the submitted form 1295 and acknowledged the form on the Texas Ethics Commission website the City will execute the Contract.

ETHICS-ENERGY BOYCOTT

Texas Government Code, Chapter 809, prohibits a governmental entity from entering into a contract for goods and services with a company that has 10 or more employees, and the contract is of $100,000 value or greater. Vendor certifies that it (1) does not boycott energy companies; and (2) will not boycott energy companies during the term of the contract.

ETHICS- FIREARMS DISCRIMINATION

Texas Government Code, Chapter 2274, prohibits a governmental entity from entering into a contract http://www.amarillo.gov/ https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/ for goods and services with a company that has 10 or more employees, and the contract is of $100,00 value or greater. Vendor certifies that it: (1) does not have a practice, policy, guidance, or directive that discriminates against a firearm entity or firearm trade association; and (2) will not discriminate during the term of the contract against a firearm entity or firearm trade association

ATTACHMENTS:

• Attachment A – Scope of Work

• Attachment B - Respondent Signature page

• Attachment C - References

• Attachment D - City of Amarillo Vendor Acknowledgement Form

• Attachment E – Insurance Sample

• Attachment F – Local Preference Consideration

• Attachment G - 2017-2021 Regionally Coordinated Transportation Plan

• Attachment H - 2020-2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan

• Attachment I - 2027-2030 Transportation Improvement Plan

• Attachment J - City of Amarillo City Plan Vision 2045

• Attachment K - MTP FY25-50 Final Document

• Attachment L - Our Canyon Comprehensive Plan (2018) FINAL

• Attachment M - Public Participation Plan

• Attachment N - Texas Transportation Plan 2050

• Attachment O - Required Contract Provisions Federal-Aid Construction Contracts

PROHIBITION: