LOI - Gay Street Bridge Traffic Study.pdf

NOTICE TO CONSULTANT ENGINEERS REGARDING A REQUEST FOR

QUALIFICATIONS AND LETTERS OF INTEREST

June 20, 2025

The City of Knoxville, an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer, seeks to retain the services of a professional consultant engineering firm with extensive experience in traffic engineering to provide professional services to perform a study for the closure of the Gay Street bridge in June 2024.

Project Description:

The scope of services for this project will include evaluating pre and post closure traffic data to determine impacts of the Gay Street bridge closure on Chapman Highway/Henley Street, James

White Parkway, and other roads within this area. The results of this study will help guide the City on the replacement bridge type and design for Gay Street. This project is funded locally by the

City of Knoxville and not with Federal or State funds.

Required Scope of Services

• Analyze pre and post closure traffic data from sources like Replica, Streetlight, and RITIS for the James White Parkway, Gay Street, and Henley bridges.

• Evaluate number of diverted trips and average detour time added in order to monetize the cost per person.

• Apply growth factors for future trips that coincides with the lifespan of a new bridge.

• Consider increased maintenance cost and decrease in service life for the two existing bridges from added traffic volumes.

• Develop Travel Demand Model (TDM) runs in order to prepare a benefit cost analysis that the City can use for federal funding requests.

• Prepare a traffic study with recommendations.

• Conduct community engagement through a web-based survey.

Schedule for Evaluation

• Question deadline: Prospective respondents may submit questions no later than July 3, 2025 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. All questions must be e-mailed to Penny Owens at powens@knoxvilletn.gov.

• Letters of Interest due July 11, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. eastern time

• Final selection of highest ranked firm by July 25, 2025.

All letters of interest must be received on or before 11:00:00 Eastern Time July 11, 2025. The letter of interest and qualifications shall indicate the scope of services to be completed by any sub-consultants.

Each letter of interest must be submitted as follows:

Option 1 - Electronic Submission Procedures. Electronic submissions shall be submitted online through the City’s Procurement website. DO NOT EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSION. All proposers/bidders must register as a vendor in order to submit an electronic file.

mailto:powens@knoxvilletn.gov

Step One: Register as a City of Knoxville vendor (Vendors are encouraged to complete this step now to ensure seamless submission process prior to deadline.)

To register as a vendor: Visit the website at www.knoxvilletn.gov/purchasing Click the “Vendor Registration” tab; then “Click here to register as a City of Knoxville Vendor” Follow the prompts to complete online registration.

Note: You will be asked for a PIN. This PIN will be emailed to you and may be sent to your spam or junk folder.

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL SUBMISSION DEADLINE TO REGISTER AS A VENDOR. The electronic submission link will be disabled at 11:00:00 a.m. Eastern time. Vendors will not have the ability to submit any electronic files once the deadline has passed and the City will accept no late submissions.

Step Two: Submit all materials electronically as one (1) file to City’s Procurement website PRIOR to 11:00:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) on July 11, 2025.

To submit electronic file: Visit the procurement website at www.knoxvilletn.gov/bids Click “LOI – Gay Street Bridge Traffic Study” Click “Submit Bid” (red button located at top of screen) Follow the prompts to upload and submit electronic file.

The City prefers only one (1) bid file per submission. Files MUST use the following naming convention, listing the firm’s name followed by the title of the project.

Example: “ABC Company- Gay Street Bridge Traffic Study.pdf.” Should you need to merge multiple documents into one PDF please utilize Google to download a free software intended for merging pdf documents.

Option 2 - Hard Copy Submission Procedures. Proposals shall include one original and one electronic copy of the proposal (.pdf format on CD or USB drive only—mark the storage device with the company name); the electronic version shall be an exact duplicate of the original, and the electronic version will be the official document exhibited in the contract. Electronic submissions must be included with the sealed submissions; do not email your submission.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The original hard copy submitted proposal must bear an original signature, signed in ink (duplicated signatures substituted for original ink signatures may result in rejection of the proposals). The signature must be entered above the typed or printed name and title of the signer. All proposals must be signed by an officer of the company authorized to bind the firm to a contract.

Proposals will be received until 11:00:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) on July 11, 2025. Each proposal must be submitted in a sealed envelope addressed to:

City of Knoxville Purchasing Division City/County Building 400 Main Street, Room 667 Knoxville, TN 37902

IMPORTANT NOTE: Each mailing envelope or carton containing a proposal or multiple copies of the proposal must be sealed and plainly marked on the outside “LOI – Gay Street Bridge Traffic Study.”

http://www.knoxvilletn.gov/purchasing http://www.knoxvilletn.gov/bids

Proposers are reminded that the Purchasing Division receives many bids and proposals for any number of solicitations; unlabeled submissions are extremely difficult to match to their appropriate solicitations and therefore may be rejected.

Any proposals received after the time and date on the cover sheet will not be considered. It shall be the sole responsibility of the submitting entity to have the proposal delivered to the City of Knoxville Purchasing Division on or before that date.

Late proposals will not be considered. Proposals that arrive late due to the fault of United States Postal Service, United Parcel Service, DHL, FEDEX, any delivery/courier service, any other carrier of any sort or any delays caused by electronic transmission or technical issues are still considered late and shall not be accepted by the City. Such proposals shall remain unopened and will be returned to the submitting entity upon request.

Evaluation

The City of Knoxville will evaluate the firms on the following criteria (relative weight):

• Firms Qualifications and Experience on Similar Contracts. The firm(s) involved should be able to cite projects of similar scope and size that have been successfully completed, and that have involved team members identified in the submittal in order to demonstrate success in project management. This includes evidence of good communication with all involved parties, a record of working successfully with clients, use of creative problem solving, and the ability to manage staff, budgets, and timelines in order to meet project goals and minimize the necessity for project change orders (30%).

• Project Approach/Methodology. Describe in detail how this project will be approached.

Describe any innovative or progressive approach that would be used in this project.

Clearly show why the firm(s) should be superior to other proposing firms in the delivery of the scope of services (25%).

• Key Project Personal Qualifications & Experience. Respondents should clearly identify the principal-in-charge and include in that person’s qualifications a description of project management expertise. Additionally, the names of persons, their respective titles/roles, appropriate State professional licensure, vitae, and dedication of time should be provided for any team member playing a significant role in the project (25%).

• Firms Availability. List key staff and their ability to meet proposed timelines, project milestones, and provide deliverables as required (20%).

The consultant evaluation committee holds the ability to conduct interviews based on scoring if they deem further evaluation is required.

Evaluation proceedings will be conducted within the established guidelines regarding equal employment opportunity and nondiscriminatory action based upon the grounds of race, color, sex, creed or national origin. Interested certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms as well as other minority-owned and women-owned firms are encouraged to respond to all advertisements by City of Knoxville.