RFQ Draft Galvanized Pipe Replacement Project.pdf

Request for Qualifications Professional Engineering Consulting Services

Galvanized Pipe Replacement Project

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority

Wilmington, North Carolina March 5, 2026

General Information

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) requests Statements of Qualifications (SOQ) from consulting engineering firms for the design and contract administration services for a project to replace existing galvanized water system piping located in the Town of Wrightsville Beach in order to increase CFPUA’s water infrastructure reliability. This project will receive funding from the 2023 Appropriations Act, Session Law (S.L. 2023-134).

The project will generally consist of replacing The Town of Wrightsville Beach’s aging galvanized water system piping with an alternate material of piping, developing contract drawings and technical specifications, obtaining necessary permits and encroachments (if necessary), assisting in the bidding process, and providing construction administration and observation-based services.

Submission of a Statement of Qualification (SOQ)

Consulting engineering firms are invited to submit a Statement of Qualification to CFPUA to be received no later than Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 2:00PM. Submittals received after this deadline will not be considered.

CFPUA will address questions regarding the RFQ until Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 2:00PM. Questions submitted after this time will not be addressed. Questions concerning this advertisement should be directed to Ben Guerrieri, Procurement Manager, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, at bids@cfpua.org.

SOQ’s shall be limited to 25-pages or less, excluding cover page, table of contents, tabs, resumes and appendices.

Firms shall submit their statement of qualifications for consideration in .pdf format to bids@cfpua.org. Maximum file size for .pdf submission is 25MB. A reply will be sent to the email address submitting the statement of qualifications to confirm receipt. It is the submitting firms’ responsibility to confirm that CFPUA has received a statement of qualifications via email. If email reply is not received from bids@cfpua.org, please call 910-332-6472 or 910-332-6651 before deadline for submission.

Please see http://www.cfpua.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/370 for CFPUA’s MWBE Outreach Plan for project goals.

mailto:bids@cfpua.org http://www.cfpua.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/370

An MBE/WBE (SBE) Compliance Form is attached as Exhibit A to the RFQ that MUST be submitted with the qualification statement.

Submitted information shall comply with N.C.G.S. 143-64.31 through 64.34 (aka Mini Brooks Act).

All SOQ’s will be evaluated by a CFPUA selection team.

One firm will be selected from this request for qualifications.

Description of Services

The scope of work is expected to include the services described below. No guarantee is expressed or implied by CFPUA that all services will be performed or that the selected consultant will perform all services associated with the project. CFPUA may terminate work or pursue other consultant selections at any phase of the project.

CFPUA has recently consolidated the Town of Wrightsville Beach’s water and wastewater system into its network. The Town has a variety of pipe materials in the network, galvanized piping making up approximately 5% of its network. Most of this piping was installed in the 1930’s and 1960’s and numerous failures over the years warrants replacement in order to increase reliability. CFPUA has conducted a preliminary study and come to the following conclusions in order to increase the Town of Wrightsville Beach’s water infrastructure reliability into CFPUA’s system:

1. The Town currently has approximately:

a. The Town currently has approximately 9,386 linear feet of galvanized piping, incorporating 6”, 4”, 3”, & 2” water lines, with the vast majority being 2”.

2. Several additional mains of different material were installed in the 1980’s, resulting in some of these galvanized mains being made redundant.

a. Approximately 6,298 linear feet of the galvanized water lines are planned to be replaced as a part of the scope of this project.

b. Approximately 3,087 linear feet of the galvanized water lines are planned to be abandoned in place as a part of the scope of this project.

More galvanized water lines may be added if additional lines are discovered.

Overall objectives of this project are outlined below:

1. Gather and evaluate available information provided by CFPUA and perform preliminary field investigations as needed for cost estimation.

2. Prepare detailed design and specifications for bidding.

3. Obtain all necessary permits and encroachment agreements (if necessary).

4. Provide bidding assistance, certified bid tabulation and letter of recommendation to award

5. Construction administration and observation-based services

Schedule

The CFPUA selection team will place strong emphasis on a firm’s ability to meet the schedule of deliverables outlined below. The selected consultant will be expected to complete final plans and specification in accordance with the project schedule shown below, or sooner. CFPUA will provide comments on all design submittals generally within 2 weeks from the date received.

o Submit SOQ no later than 2:00 PM Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

o CFPUA Selects Firm(s) 7 days o Complete Scope and Contract 7 days o 60% design documents 30 days from contract execution o 90% design documents 45 days from contract execution o Final contract documents and permits 60 days from contract execution

Consultant Selection

CFPUA will follow a qualifications-based selection process. Consultants must demonstrate their level of competence and qualification, and each sub-consultant's level of competence and qualification, with respect to the listed evaluation factors for the needed services.

SOQ’s will be evaluated based on the following four (4) considerations and the level of importance for each consideration. The SOQ shall be formatted consistent with the evaluation consideration. Criteria shown under each of the four (4) considerations are to be addressed in the SOQ. Consultant’s may provide additional information, as necessary.

1. Project understanding and approach (30%)

a. Understanding of project drivers and scope of work to be performed

b. Approach to keep the project on schedule

c. Description of the design team’s quality control program

2. Relevant firm experience (25%)

a. Projects of similar size and scope

b. References and descriptions of similar projects

3. Overall staff experience proposed for this project (30%)

a. Project Manager to lead the design aspect of the project

b. Individual team members for each discipline and relevant experience

4. Record of success by the consultant (15%)

a. Managing design and construction costs within project budgets and design estimates. Provide 3 previous projects of similar scope and complexity indicating the engineer’s opinion of probably cost estimate compared to construction low bid.

A more detailed scope of work and fee schedule will be negotiated with the best qualified firm. If negotiations are not successful with any selected firm, CFPUA will terminate negotiations with that firm and initiate negotiations with the next best qualified firm.

When a fair and reasonable fee is established, a contract award recommendation will be made to the CFPUA Board for its consideration.

Insurance Requirements

The following criteria will be deemed necessary for selection:

• The firm must meet the following insurance requirements. Workers Compensation may be waived if firm has no employees.

• General Liability $1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate. Authority must be additional insured and endorsement required.

• Workers Compensation $500,000/$500,000/$500,000. Waiver of Subrogation against the Authority and endorsement required.

• Auto Liability Insurance $1,000,000 per occurrence combined single limits applicable to claims due to bodily injury and/or property damage. Authority must be additional insured and endorsement required.

• Professional Liability not less than $2,000,000 per loss.

• Any firm wishing to be considered must be properly registered with the Office of the Secretary of State.

Notification

The selected firms will be notified by telephone and/or email.

CFPUA reserves the right to reject any and all Proposals.

CFPUA will address questions regarding the RFQ until Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 2:00PM.

Questions submitted after this time will not be addressed. Any questions concerning this advertisement should be directed to Ben Guerrieri, Procurement Manager, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, at bids@cfpua.org by Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 2:00PM.

MBE/WBE (DBE) Compliance Form

Contracting with Small and Minority Businesses, Women’s Business Enterprises and Labor

Surplus Area Firms

Engineer shall take the following affirmative steps to assure that minority businesses, women’s business enterprises, and labor surplus area firms are used when possible as per

C.FPUA'S MWBE Outreach Plan.

(1) Placing qualified small and minority businesses and women’s business enterprises on solicitation lists

(2) Assuring that small and minority businesses, and women’s business enterprises are solicited whenever they are potential sources

(3) Dividing total requirements, when economically feasible into smaller tasks or quantities to permit maximum participation by small and minority businesses, and women’s business enterprises

(4) Establishing delivery schedules, where the requirement permits, which encourage participation by small and minority businesses, and women’s business enterprises

(5) Using the services and assistance, as appropriate, of such organizations as the Small Business Administration, the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce, and other agencies such as NC HUB Office.

Engineer has read CFPUA's MWBE Outreach Plan at http://www.cfpua.org/ DocumentCenter/Home/View/370 and where reasonable follow the affirmative steps above to assure that minority businesses, women’s business enterprises, and labor surplus area firms are used when possible.

Engineering Firm Name (Print) Engineering Firm Representative (Sign & Date)

EXHIBIT A

(To be sumitted with qualifications statement)