RFQ PW 23_15 Local Road Safety Plan.pdf

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 1 of

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

RFQ PW 23-15

LOCAL ROAD SAFETY PLAN

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 2 of

Local Road Safety Plan

The City of Sylvester, hereinafter called the City, seeks design consulting firms to provide professional services for RFQ PW 23-15 Local Road Safety Plan. The City intends to select a consulting firm through the qualification-based selection process, and intends to execute a consulting agreement with the selected firm for services to be provided. The selected firm will be expected to provide services in accordance with the project schedule.

Sealed Statements of Qualifications for Purchasing RFQ PW 23-15 will be received by the City. Service providers whose qualifications meet the criteria established in the Request for Qualifications, at the sole discretion of the City, may be considered for Contract award. The City may, by direct negotiation, finalize terms with the service provider who is selected for award based on qualifications.

To be considered for selection, a statement of qualifications must be submitted in a sealed envelope, clearly marked RFQ PW 23-15. The submittal must include one (1) printed and signed original, and one

(1) electronic copy in PDF on a USB Drive and shall be submitted no later than 11:00am, December 19, 2023. (Qualifications will not be accepted by facsimile or e-mail). Any submittal received after the time and date specified will not be considered but will be returned unopened.

Submittals must be addressed as follows:

City Clerk’s Office

RFQ PW 23-15

City of Sylvester 101 N. Main Street

Sylvester, GA 31791

The City’s staff will review all SOQs submitted and award, if made, will be to the most qualified and responsive offerer as deemed by the City, in the sole discretion.

The City, at its sole discretion, may short-list firms that are deemed to best meet the City’s requirements, taking into consideration all criteria listed in the RFQ. The City may, at its sole discretion, ask for formal presentations (at offerer’s expense at the City’s site) from all of the responsive and responsible offerers, or only from those firms that are short-listed, if short-listing is determined to be in the best interest of the City. Negotiations will be conducted and may take place in person or via telephone with the most qualified firm as identified by the City. Offerers that participate in the negotiations may be given an opportunity to submit their best and final offers. The City of Sylvester requires pricing to remain firm for the duration of the contract. Failure to hold firm pricing for the duration of the contract will be sufficient cause for the City to declare a SOQ non-responsive.

Questions regarding submittals should be directed to the City Clerk, Mrs. Markesha Bivens, mbivens@cityofsylvester.com no later than 5:00pm November 28, 2023. Statement of Qualifications are legal and binding when submitted. The City will provide an official written or emailed answer to all questions received by November 28, 2023. The City’s response will be by formal written addendum.

Any other form of interpretation, correction, or change to this RFQ will not be binding upon the City.

Any formal written addendum will be posted on the State of Georgia/DOAS website alongside the posting of the RFQ at http://ssl.doas.state.ga.us/PRSapp/PR_index.jsp and also the City’s website at:

www.cityofsylvester.com by the close of business on the date listed. Offerers must sign and return any addendum with their RFQ response.

mailto:mbivens@cityofsylvester.com http://ssl.doas.state.ga.us/PRSapp/PR_index.jsp http://www.cityofsylvester.com/

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 3 of

The proposer awarded the Contract must provide proof of liability insurance in the amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000.00), along with any other required insurance coverage and evidence of business or occupational license, as outlined in the Request for Qualifications Documents.

To ensure the proper and fair evaluation of SOQs, the City highly discourages any communication initiated by an offerer or its agent to an employee of the City evaluating or considering the qualifications during the period of time following the issuance of the RFQ, the opening of qualifications and prior to the time a decision has been made with respect to the Contract award. An appropriate Purchasing employee of the City may initiate communication with an offerer in order to obtain information or clarification needed to develop a proper and accurate evaluation of the SOQ. Any communication initiated by offerer during evaluation should be submitted in writing and delivered to the City of Sylvester, City Clerk’s Office, 101 N. Main Street, Sylvester, Georgia 31791, or by e-mail to mbivens@cityofsylvester.com Unauthorized communication by the offerer may disqualify the offerer from consideration.

Offerers should carefully review the instructions; mandatory requirements, specifications, standard terms and conditions, and standard contract set out in this RFQ and promptly notify the procurement officer identified above in writing or via e-mail of any ambiguity, inconsistency, unduly restrictive specifications, or error which they discover upon examination of this RFQ.

Summary of Important Dates

Release of RFQ November 16, 2023 Written Questions Due November 28, 2023 By 5:00pm Addendum Released By December 5, 2023 By 5:00pm Qualifications Due December 19, 2023 By 11:00am Contract Award February 19,2024 (Approx) Draft Report Submittal June 15, 2024

Issuance of the RFQ in no way constitutes a commitment by the City of Sylvester to award and execute a contract. Upon a determination, such actions would be in its best interest, the City, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to:

• cancel or terminate this RFQ;

• reject any or all Statement of Qualification received in response to this RFQ;

• waive any undesirable, inconsequential, or inconsistent provisions of this RFQ which would not have significant impact on any Statement of Qualification;

• request additional information from any offerer

• extend the date or time scheduled for receiving the RFQs

• award a partial contract or contracts to multiple offerers

• not award if it is in the best interest of the City not to proceed with contract execution; or

• if awarded, terminate any contract if the City determines adequate City funds are not available.

mailto:mbivens@cityofsylvester.com

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 4 of

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE - BACKGROUND

PART TWO - SCOPE OF WORK

PART FOUR - PROPOSAL FORMAT

PART FIVE - EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

QUALIFICATIONS FORM

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERERS

APPENDIX A No Bid Response

APPENDIX B Sample Contract and General Conditions

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 5 of

PART ONE - BACKGROUND

The City of Sylvester is seeking statement of qualifications (SOQs) to provide planning and engineering expertise for completion of a local road safety plan. This effort will be locally funded and will include analyzing safety data, gathering input from the public, determining emphasis areas, identifying, and prioritizing strategies and producing a final plan.

PART TWO - SCOPE OF WORK

The road safety plan will encompass approximately 54.40 centerline miles of local, collector and arterial roads. The purpose of the plan will be to address the local conditions that contribute to roadway safety and to guide the city in making informed safety investment decisions.

The detailed scope shall include but is not limited to:

2.1 Safety Data Analysis: The consultant shall analyze historical crash data from the city and state’s databases along with available traffic data to identify contributing factors, crash patterns and safety issues.

The consultant will analyze the city’s roadway network and vulnerable road user travel patterns to identify locations with the most risk factors.

2.2 Community Engagement: The consultant shall propose a process to engage the community and solicit input beginning after the data analysis phase and continuing through to adoption of the final plan. The plan should include up to 2 stakeholder meetings, a community meeting and a presentation to the City Council.

2.3 Determine Emphasis Areas: The consultant shall identify emphasis areas based on the safety data analysis, community engagement and city staff input. Emphasis areas may be physical locations such as intersections and corridors or could target broader issues such as speed management and non-motorized road users. Emphasis areas focused on vulnerable road users shall be of particular concern.

2.4 Identify Strategies to Address Emphasis Areas: The consultant shall develop cost effective safety strategies and projects targeting the recommended emphasis areas. The strategies will consist of components from the 4 Es of roadway safety: Education, Enforcement, Engineering and Emergency, as appropriate.

2.5 Develop the Road Safety Plan: The consultant shall prepare a written plan that summarizes the data analysis and community engagement, identifies the emphasis area, prioritizes the identified strategies and provides a short-term action plan with estimated costs.

PART THREE - PROPOSAL FORMAT

Each Statement of Qualification (SOQ) should be prepared simply and economically, avoiding the use of elaborate promotional materials beyond those sufficient to provide a complete presentation. If supplemental materials are a necessary part of the technical Statement of Qualification, the Offerer should reference these materials in the technical Statement of Qualification, identifying the document(s) and citing the appropriate section and page(s) to be reviewed.

The statement of qualifications (SOQ) should be submitted in a sealed envelope. To aid in thorough and consistent review, the statement of qualifications shall be submitted on no more than 20, one-sided 8½” x

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 6 of

11” pages in no smaller than 10-pitch font and shall be organized and numbered to correspond to Section I through Section V:

3.2.1 SECTION I – Each SOQ shall include a Title Page and a Table of Contents. The Title Page should identify the project, the name of the firm, name of the firm’s primary contact address, telephone number and email address. The Table of Contents shall contain the sections and corresponding page number for the items listed below. All pages of the SOQ must be clearly identified and consecutively numbered and correspond to the Table of Contents. Please note – Section I shall not be included into the 20-page limit.

3.2.2 SECTION II – Each proposer shall provide with its proposal a summary Project Plan that describes the qualifier’s approach to the successful implementation of the required services. Each proposer shall submit, in the order below:

3.2.2.1 A detailed outline of proposed methodology to complete the project including a high-level timeline and brief descriptions of the key tasks, key milestones and key deliverables.

3.2.2.2 State the proposer’s belief of the scope of the intended strategy within the City. If there are any gaps between what the proposer believes should be the proper scope of the services given all information known at the time of this RFQ, the proposer should clearly state these gaps in this section and clearly mark these concerns as such.

3.2.2.3 Discussion of the assumptions relating to the responsibilities and/or commitments the proposer is expecting of the City throughout the life of this project.

3.2.3 SECTION III – Each proposer shall provide three case histories of recent similar projects completed by the firm. For each project provide the client name and contact information, location and dates for which services were performed. Provide a description of the overall project, project budget and services provided. Indicate the role of proposed key team leaders in the project.

3.2.4 SECTION IV – Each proposer shall document its staff, experience and qualifications by providing in its SOQ a Staffing Plan describing the manner in which it plans to manage and staff the awarded contract, including the resumes of key and critical personnel, to successfully complete the project objectives on a timely basis and within the agreed upon budget.

3.2.5 SECTION V – Each proposer may, but is not required to, include references, qualifications, resumes and any other materials deemed necessary but not provided otherwise (such as promotional literature, white papers, etc.) They should be clearly marked “Additional Materials” and will not be included with the 20-page maximum guideline for the statement of qualification length. Note that these materials may or may not be reviewed by all evaluators and will not be part of the official evaluation except to the extent they support qualifications and experience. Any out-of-scope services not covered in other sections should be included here with a description of the personnel likely to be involved, and the resources brought to bear (including costs and/or hourly rates) should be provided.

3.3 Offerers must organize their Statement of Qualification into sections that follow the format of this

RFQ.

3.4 Offerers failing to comply with these instructions may be subject to point deductions. The City may also choose to not evaluate, may deem non-responsive, and/or may disqualify from further consideration any Statement of Qualification that do not follow this RFQ format, are difficult to understand, are difficult to read, or are missing any requested information.

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 7 of

PART FOUR - EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

4.1 The City’s staff will review all SOQ’S submitted. After reviewing the proposals, staff may, at its discretion, invite to interview and demonstrate performance (at proposer’s expense at the City’s site) one or more of the proposers whose proposals appear to best meet the City’s requirements. The purpose of such an interview would be for all proposers to elaborate upon their submittal before a recommendation for ranking of the submittals is made. Interview responses and performance, along with the written statements and samples (if any), will become part of proposer’s submission to be evaluated pursuant to the evaluation criteria. The City reserves the right to short-list proposers for further consideration.

4.2 The City, in its discretion, may award the Contract to the responsible and responsive submitter submitting the SOQ which is deemed to be the most advantageous to the City. The following are the evaluation criteria the City will consider in determining which proposal is most advantageous to the City:

4.2.1 Project Understanding and Approach (50%): Describe the consultant's understanding of the proposed project as described in the Request for Qualifications. Demonstrate an understanding of the magnitude of the task, the constraints, and the desired outcomes for the project. Include sufficient detail to determine how each task shall be accomplished. The work plan will describe how the consultant proposes to complete the project. The work plan must be sufficiently detailed for staff to determine the effectiveness of the SOQ and should spell out how this work can be performed in a cost-effective manner. Identify any unique challenges of the project and how the firm intends to mitigate these challenges. Briefly describe quality control and quality assurance procedures. Provide specific qualifications, skills or knowledge of the project which may uniquely benefit the firm and the project.

4.2.3 Schedule: Include a schedule for timely completion of the scope of work. Include information on the amount of time for each task.

4.2.4 Project Personnel (20%): Provide information on personnel to be assigned to this project. Personnel should have experience from similar projects and in fields necessary to complete this proposed work.

Indicate the workload and availability of the project manager and key team leaders.

4.2.5 Similar Experience (30%): List and describe your firm's projects worked on in the past five years that best match the scope and design of this project. Identify unique constraints or challenges associated with those projects and how you addressed those in order to deliver a successful project. The City may request samples of comparable work during the qualifications review process.

4.3 The consideration of individual criterion is merely a tool to assist the City in determining which SOQ is most advantageous, as a whole, to the City. The relative advantages of one Submitter’s responses with respect to one criterion may outweigh shortcomings of that Submitter’s responses in one or more other criterion, depending on the relative disparities in the qualities of the responses in each criterion and the relative importance of certain criteria to each other, as determined in the exclusive discretion of the City.

4.4 All responsive Statement of Qualification will be evaluated based on stated evaluation criteria. In scoring against stated criteria, the City may consider such factors as accepted industry standards and a comparative evaluation of all other qualified RFQ responses in terms of differing quality, and contractual factors. These scores will be used to determine the most advantageous offering to the City. Only those that meet the evaluation criteria will be considered as pre-qualified.

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 8 of

4.5 The City may make such investigations as deemed necessary to determine the ability of the offerer to provide the supplies and/or perform the services specified including, but not limited to, contacting references. These references may be contacted to verify offerer’s ability to perform the contract. The City reserves the right to use any information or additional references deemed necessary to establish the ability of the offerer to perform the conditions of the contract. Negative references may be grounds for Statement of Qualification disqualification.

4.6 Selection and award will be based on the offerer’s Statement of Qualification and other items outlined in this RFQ. Submitted responses may not include references to information located elsewhere, such as Internet websites or libraries, unless specifically requested. Information or materials presented by offerers outside the formal response or subsequent discussion and/or negotiation or “best and final offer,” if requested, will not be considered, will have no bearing on any award, and may result in the offerer being disqualified from further consideration.

4.7 Generally, the City’s position is not to provide Debriefings until after the contract has been awarded, except for firms disqualified during the Due Diligence Process, in which case a Pre- Award Debriefing can be requested following Due Diligence. For these contracts, Pre-award debriefings would be provided after the announcement of the short-listed firms within the time period posted on the website.

All requests must be made and scheduled within this time frame. Any request outside of this time period will be accommodated only at the discretion and convenience of City staff.

* * * * * * * END OF PROPOSAL SPECIFICATIONS * * * * * * *

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 9 of

QUALIFICATIONS FORM

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) 23-04

LOCAL ROAD SAFETY ACTION PLAN

The undersigned, as Offerer, hereby declares that this Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) is in all respects fair and submitted in good faith without collusion or fraud. Offerer represents and warrants to the City that:

(i) except as may be disclosed in writing to the City with its SOQ, no officer, employee or agent of the City has any interest, either directly or indirectly, in the business of the Offerer, and that no such person shall have any such interest at any time during the term of the Contract should it be awarded the Contract; and

(ii) no gift, gratuity, promise, favor or anything else of value has been given or will be given to any employee or official of the City in connection with the submission of this SOQ or the City’s evaluation or consideration thereof.

The Offerer further represents that it has examined or investigated the site conditions, if necessary, and informed itself fully in regard to all conditions pertaining to the place where the work is to be done; that it has examined the Contract Documents and has read all Addendum(s) furnished by the City prior to the opening of the Proposals, as acknowledged below, and that it has otherwise fully informed itself regarding the nature, extent, scope and details of the services to be furnished under the Contract.

The Offerer agrees, if this SOQ is accepted, to enter into the written Contract with the City in the form of Contract attached (properly completed in accordance with said Proposal Documents), and to furnish the prescribed evidence of a valid business license, insurance, and all other documents required by these Contract Documents. The Offerer further agrees to commence work and to perform the work specified herein within the time limits set forth in the Contract Documents, which time limits Proposer acknowledges are reasonable.

The undersigned further agrees that, in the case of failure or refusal on its part to execute the said contract, provide evidence of specified insurance, a copy of a valid business or occupational license and all other documents required by these Contract Documents within ten (10) business days after being provided with Notice of Intent to Award the contract (or such earlier time as may be stated elsewhere in these RFQ Documents), the award may be offered by the City to the next ranked offerer, or the city may re-advertise for qualification, and in either case the City shall have the right to recover from the Offerer the City’s costs and damages including, without limitation, attorney’s fees, to the same extent that the City could recover its costs and expenses from the Offerer under Section 9 of the Instructions to Offerer if the Offerer withdrew or attempted to withdraw its SOQ.

The Offerer further agrees, if it fails to complete the work according to the Specification within the scheduled time or any authorized extension thereof, that damages may be deducted from the Contract price otherwise payable to the Proposer.

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 10 of

Acknowledgement is hereby made of the following Addendum(s) received since issuance of the Contract Documents (identified by number)

Addendum No. Date Addendum No. Date Addendum No. Date

Company Name:

It shall be the responsibility of each Offerer to visit the City’s website to determine if addendum(s) were issued and, if so, to obtain such addendum(s). Failure to acknowledge an addendum above shall not relieve the Offerer from its obligation to comply with the provisions of the addendum(s) not acknowledged above.

Work is to be completed within 180 days of notice to proceed.

The City of Sylvester requires pricing to remain firm for the duration of the initial term of the contract.

Failure to hold firm pricing for the initial term of the contract will be sufficient cause for the City to declare bid non-responsive.

Termination for Cause: The City may terminate this agreement for cause upon ten days prior written notice to the Consultant of the Consultant’s default in the performance of any term of this agreement. Such termination shall be without prejudice to any of the City’s rights or remedies by law.

Termination for Convenience: The City may terminate this agreement for its convenience at any time upon 30 days written notice to the Consultant. In the event of the City’s termination of this agreement for convenience, the Consultant will be paid for those services actually performed. Partially completed performance of the agreement will be compensated based upon a signed statement of completion to be submitted by the Consultant, which shall itemize each element of performance.

Termination for fund appropriation: The City may unilaterally terminate this Agreement due to a lack of funding at any time by written notice to the Consultant. In the event of the City's termination of this Agreement for fund appropriation, the Consultant will be paid for those services actually performed.

Partially completed performance of the Agreement will be compensated based upon a signed statement of completion to be submitted by the Consultant which shall itemize each element of performance.

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 11 of

The contractor agrees to provide all work to complete the project described in this document for the amount listed below.

Legal Business Name

Federal Tax ID

Address

Does your company currently have a location within the City of Sylvester? Yes No

Representative Signature

Printed Name

Telephone Number

Fax Number

Email Address

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 12 of

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERERS

1. INTENT

1.1 It is the intent of these Instructions to establish guidelines for the proper completion of the Proposal Forms. These Instructions to Proposers provide guidance and explanation for subsequent Proposal Forms and Contract Documents.

Please read all Instruction paragraphs.

2. GENERAL

2.1 The City’s goal is that all the terms and conditions stated in the Proposal Documents will constitute the terms of the final Contract between the City and the successful Proposer, without significant or material change to such terms or conditions. Exceptions to any of the terms of the agreement to which a Proposer will not or does not agree must be presented by the proposer in writing as provided in this section and directed to:

purchasing@Sylvesterga.gov. Such exceptions must be specific, and the Proposer must state a reason for each exception and propose alternative language, if appropriate. The purpose of the exception process is to permit the City to correct, prior to the opening of the proposals, any technical or contractual requirement, provision, ambiguity or conflict in the solicitation and related documents, which may be unlawful, improvident, unduly restrictive of competition or otherwise inappropriate. Any corrections will be made via an addendum issued prior to the submission deadline. Unless timely submitted as an exception and amended with an addendum, any such ambiguity, conflict or problem shall be resolved in favor of the City of Sylvester. Proposers shall not substitute entire agreements or sets of terms and conditions but discuss separately each term or condition that they take exception to or desire to change.

2.2 The Contract work shall not be divisible, and shall be awarded, if an award is made, to a single Proposer. The City will award only one contract for the services required under this solicitation. If the successful Proposer intends to provide any services through another company, the successful Proposer must serve as the City’s prime Contractor and shall have full responsibility to the City for all obligations under the Contract.

2.3 A Proposer's Proposal prices shall remain firm for 180 days from the submission deadline. Any anticipated increases in Proposer's costs during the initial term of the Contract must be reflected in its prices set forth in its Proposal. The City shall not be obligated to renegotiate or increase any price for any work during the initial term of the Contract based on a Proposer's mistake or miscalculation of prices, underestimation of costs, or for any other reason. All of the Proposer's overhead costs, including, but not limited to, costs of travel and the required bonds and insurance coverage, shall be included in such Proposer's prices listed in its Proposal.

2.4 The Contract, if awarded, shall not be construed to create unto the Contractor any exclusive rights with respect to any of the City’s requirements. The City may in its sole discretion award any additional or similar services to any third party, or if the Contract is for the provision of services, the City may elect to perform all or a portion of the services by its own employees.

2.5 There shall be no reimbursables or travel expenses associated with this project regarding any category or term. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, all of the Proposer’s overhead costs related to travel shall be included in such Proposer’s prices in its Proposal.

2.6 The City will contract with the successful Proposer to provide services indicated in the Specifications throughout the duration of the Contract at the price submitted. The City will not price a contract for hourly rates.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

The City of Sylvester is committed to environmental sustainability. The City believes we have a unique opportunity to further expand our leadership in the area of environmentally preferable purchasing, and through o u r a c t ion, elicit changes in the marketplace. By further incorporating environmental considerations into public purchasing, the City of Sylvester will positively impact human health and the environment, remove unnecessary hazards from its operations, reduce costs and liabilities, and improve the environmental quality of the region. As such the City encourages the incorporation of environmental sustainability into proposals.

mailto:purchasing@dunwoodyga.gov

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 13 of

4. EXAMINATION OF PROPOSAL/CONTRACT DOCUMENTS

All prospective Proposers shall thoroughly examine and become familiar with the Proposal package and carefully note the items which must be submitted with the Proposal. (These Instructions to Proposers, the Request for Qualifications, the Proposal Forms, the Contract, the General Conditions, and the Specifications are referred to herein as the "Proposal Documents" or the "Contract Documents.") Submission of a Proposal shall constitute an acknowledgment that the Proposer has read and understands the Proposal Documents. The failure or neglect of a Proposer to receive or examine any Proposal Document shall in no way relieve it from any obligations under its Proposal or the Contract. No claim for additional compensation will be allowed which is based upon a lack of knowledge or understanding of any of the Contract Documents or the scope of work.

5. ADDENDUM(S)-CHANGES WHILE PROPOSING

Other than during a Pre-Proposal Conference, the City shall not be required to provide to any Proposer verbal interpretations as to the meaning of any portion of the Proposal Documents. Requests for interpretation, clarification or correction of Proposal Documents, forms or other material in this Proposal Package should be made in writing and delivered to the City, Clerk’s Office, 101 N. Main Street, Sylvester, Georgia 31791, or by e- mail to mbivens@cityofsylvester.com at least five (5) business days before the date and time announced for the Proposal opening. Any response by City to a request by a Proposer for clarification or correction will be made in the form of a written Addendum. All parties to whom the Proposal packages have been issued will be sent a notification of the issuance of an Addendum either by e-mail and/or by facsimile. The Addendum may be electronically downloaded by visiting the City web site at http://www.cityofsylvester.com. However, prior to submitting its response, it shall be the responsibility of each Proposer to visit the City website to determine if addendum(s) were issued and, if so, to obtain such addendum(s).

6. PREPARATION OF PROPOSALS

6.1 Proposals shall be submitted on reproduced copies of the attached Proposal Forms including any revised or additional Proposal Forms supplied by Addendum(s). If an award is made, the completed Proposal Forms shall constitute a part of the Contract Documents and will be incorporated in the final Contract between the City and the successful Proposer. All blank spaces in the Proposal Forms should be filled in legibly and correctly in ink or type.

6.2 All Proposals shall contain the name and business address of the individual, firm, corporation, or other business entity submitting the Proposal and shall be subscribed by either the individual, a general partner, a member of a member-managed LLC, a manager of a manager-managed LLC, or an authorized officer or agent of a Corporation or business entity and should be properly witnessed or attested. If any officer or agent other than the signatories described in the preceding sentence shall sign any Contract Document on behalf of the Proposer, the City should be furnished with satisfactory evidence of such officer’s or agent's authority to bind the Proposer with respect to the contents of the subject Proposal Documents so signed by him or her. If the Proposer is an LLC, the Proposer should submit with its Proposal its Articles of Organization or other evidence satisfactory to the City, indicating whether the LLC is member-managed or manager-managed, and indicating that the person executing the Proposal is authorized to bind the LLC.

6.3 If the Proposer is a partnership, joint venture, or sole proprietorship, the City, reserves the right to require the Proposer to submit to the City at any time the name and business address of each owner, principal, partner, or member of the Proposer having an ownership or management position with the Proposer.

6.4 If the Proposer is a corporation or other state-chartered business entity, the City reserves the right to require the Proposer to submit to the City at any time, the name and business address of each officer, director and holder of 10% or more of the stock or other ownership interests of such corporation or other business entity. If the Proposer is a corporation, the Proposal should have the corporate seal affixed and include the name of the State in which it was incorporated. If the Proposer is a foreign corporation or other state- chartered business entity and is the successful Proposer, the Proposer will be required to submit evidence prior to the execution of the Contract, if awarded, that the corporation or other state-chartered business entity is authorized to do business in the State of Georgia and the City. If the Proposer elects to use a fictitious name in its Proposal, a copy of the Proposer's fictitious name registration should be provided to City.

7. PROPOSAL GUARANTY

A Proposal Guaranty shall not be required for this Contract.

http://www.cityofsylvester.com./

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 14 of

8. DELIVERY OF PROPOSALS

8.1 All Proposals shall be submitted in sealed envelopes bearing on the outside the name of the Proposer, address, and the Purchasing Proposal #. Each Proposal shall consist of (i) an executed copy of the Proposal Form, along with all other documents or information required to be submitted pursuant to the terms of the Proposal Documents (together, the "Proposal"). The documents comprising the Proposal must be completed and signed on the forms provided herein, or on exact reproductions thereof.

8.2 All Proposals shall be submitted pursuant to the terms outlined in these Instructions to Proposers. Any Proposals received after the time and date specified in the solicitation document for the opening of the Proposals will not be considered but will be returned unopened.

8.3 Each Proposer’s response shall be at the sole cost and expense of the Proposer and such Proposer shall have no right or claim against the City for costs, damages, loss of profits, or to recover such costs, damages, or expenses in the event the City exercises its right to reject any or all Proposals or to cancel an award pursuant to a provision hereof for any reason.

8.4 Submission of a Proposal shall constitute authorization for the City and its representatives and agents to make such copies of the Proposal or portions thereof and to distribute such copies as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the City's objectives or requirements.

9. COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

To ensure the proper and fair evaluation of Proposals, the City highly discourages any oral communication initiated by a Proposer or its agent to an employee of the City evaluating or considering the Proposal during the period of time following the issuance of the solicitation document, the opening of Proposals and prior to the time a decision has been made with respect to the Contract award. An appropriate Purchasing employee of the City may initiate communication with a Proposer in order to obtain information or clarification needed to develop a proper and accurate evaluation of the Proposal. Any communication initiated by Proposer during evaluation should be submitted in writing and delivered to the City of Sylvester, City Clerk’s Office, 101 N. Main Street, Sylvester, Georgia 31791, or by e-mail to mbivens@cityofsylvester.com Unauthorized communication by the Proposer may disqualify the Proposer from consideration.

10. WITHDRAWAL OF PROPOSALS

No Proposal may be withdrawn after it is submitted unless the Proposer makes a request in writing and such request is confirmed as received prior to the time set for opening of Proposals. No Proposal may be withdrawn after the scheduled Proposal opening time for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days. Any Proposer withdrawing or attempting to withdraw its Proposal prior to the expiration of the one hundred and eighty

(180) day period shall be obligated to reimburse the City for all its costs incurred in connection with such withdrawal or attempted withdrawal including, without limitation, any increased costs for procuring the goods or services from another Proposer or all costs of advertising and re-procuring the goods or services, and all attorneys’ fees, in addition to payment of City’s other damages. A Proposer’s submission of a Proposal shall be deemed the Proposer’s acknowledgment of and agreement to the provisions of this Section.

11. DISQUALIFICATION OF PROPOSERS

11.1 Any of the following causes may be considered as sufficient for the disqualification of a Proposer and the rejection of its Proposal:

11.1.1 Submission of more than one Proposal for the same work, or participation in more than one

Proposal for the same work as a partner or principal of the Proposer, by an individual, firm, partnership or corporation, under the same or different names, or by Proposers which are affiliates, either at the time of submittal, or at the time of award. For purposes of this section, the term “affiliates” means firms, partnerships, corporations or other entities under common control;

11.1.2 Evidence of collusion between or among Proposers;

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 15 of

11.1.3 Evidence, in the opinion of the City, of Proposer(s) attempting to manipulate the Proposal pricing for its own benefit (e.g. pricing resulting in a failure of the City’s ability to enforce the Contract or impose the remedies intended following breach by Contractor);

11.1.4 Being in arrears on any of its existing contracts with the City or in litigation with the City or having defaulted on a previous contract with the City;

11.1.5 Poor, defective or otherwise unsatisfactory performance of work for the City or any other party on prior projects which, in the City's judgment and sole discretion, raises doubts as to Proposer's ability to properly perform the work; or

11.1.6 Any other cause which, in the City's judgment and sole discretion, is sufficient to justify disqualification of Proposer or the rejection of its Proposal.

11.2 The City has adopted a policy which addresses, among other things, the obligations of the City's employees with respect to interest in business entities, unauthorized compensation and acceptance of gifts. Please be aware that any act by a Proposer that could cause a City employee to violate the policy is sufficient cause for the denial of the right of the Proposer to propose on any contract or sell any materials, supplies, equipment, or services to the City for a period of time that is determined by the City Manager.

12. REJECTION OF IRREGULAR PROPOSALS

A Proposal may be considered irregular and may be rejected if it is improperly executed, shows omissions, alterations of form, additions not called for, unauthorized conditions, or limitations, or unauthorized alternate Proposals, fails to include the proper Proposal Guaranty, Contract references, other certificates, affidavits, statements, or information required to be included with Proposals, including, but not limited to, the Proposer's prices, or contains other irregularities of any kind.

13. NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD CONTRACT

Unless all Proposals are rejected, a Notice of Intent to Award is anticipated to be provided within thirty (30) days from the opening of Proposals to the responsible and responsive Proposer submitting the Proposal deemed to be most advantageous to the City, price and other factors being considered. For all procurements, the City reserves the right to reject any or all Proposals and to cancel the procurement or to solicit new Proposals.

14. RESPONSIBILITY OF PROPOSERS

14.1 City reserves the right, to aid it in determining a Proposer's responsibility, to require a Proposer to submit such evidence of Proposer's qualifications as the City may deem necessary, and may consider any evidence available to the City of the financial, technical, and other qualifications and abilities of a Proposer, including past performance (experience) with the City and others. The City shall be the final authority in the award of any and all Proposals.

14.2 All Proposers shall furnish the City with the company name, address, contact person, and telephone number of at least three (3) entities (preferably a firm other than the City) for which they have supplied similar services as requested in this Proposal during the past three (3) years. The information should be submitted on the provided Contract References page with the knowledge that the City will use the data for reference purposes. The City does check all references and requires the Proposer to notify the reference, verify contract information, and obtain permission from the reference before completing the form.

14.3 For a Proposer to meet the minimum responsibility criteria for this Contract, the Proposer must provide verifiable evidence, through references or otherwise, that the Proposer is an individual, a firm, a corporation, or other entity that is currently employed or otherwise engaged in providing similar services and, taking into account the activities of a related predecessor, affiliate, or principal of Proposer, has been actively engaged in such activity for at least three (3) years immediately preceding the date of the Proposer’s response to this request.

15. GUARANTY OF FAITHFUL PERFORMANCE

A Performance Bond shall not be required for this Contract.

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 16 of

16. POWER OF ATTORNEY AND COUNTERSIGNATURE

Not applicable.

17. EXECUTION OF CONTRACT

17.1 The Proposer to whom the Notice of Intent to Award is given shall, within ten (10) business days of the date of the Notice of Intent to Award, execute and/or deliver the following to the City: the Contract, a copy of the Proposer’s valid business or occupational license, and all other documents and information required by the Contract Documents. All of the above documents and information must be furnished and the Contract Documents executed by Proposer, and delivered to the City, before the Contract will be executed by the City.

17.2 A Proposer's failure to timely fulfill its obligations under this section shall be just cause for withdrawal of such Notice of Intent to Award. In such case, a Notice of Intent to Award may then be issued to the next ranked Proposer or all Proposals may be rejected and the Contract re-advertised. In such event, the City shall be entitled to receive its damages and costs, including, but not limited to, its attorneys’ fees caused by or in connection with a Proposer’s failure to fulfill its obligations under this paragraph. A Proposer's liability for failing to timely fulfill the obligations stated in this paragraph shall be the same as for withdrawing its Proposal (see Section 10).

17.3 The Contract shall not be binding upon the City until it has been executed by the City and a copy of such fully executed Contract is delivered to the Contractor. The City reserves the right to cancel the award without liability to any Proposer at any time before the Contract has been fully executed by the City and delivered to the Contractor.

Accordingly, the Contractor is hereby warned that it should not commence performance or incur costs or expenses in connection with the Contract obligations until it has been delivered a final, fully executed copy of the Contract.

18. GEORGIA SALES TAX

The City is a governmental agency and a political subdivision under Georgia law. Purchases by the City under this Contract are exempt from sales tax: A City tax exempt number is not required for a municipality. No purchase made by any entity is qualified to be exempt other than those made directly by the City. The City's sales tax exemption does not apply to goods or services purchased or consumed by a Contractor for which the Contractor is deemed to be the ultimate consumer in connection with the fulfillment of its Contract obligations, and the City shall have no liability for such taxes.

19. SUBCONTRACTS

19.1 The Contractor's right to subcontract shall be governed by the provisions of Section 17 of the General Conditions.

19.2 Nothing contained in these Contract Documents shall be construed as creating any contractual relationship between any subcontractor and the City.

19.3 The Contractor shall be fully responsible to the City for the acts and omissions of a subcontractor and of persons employed by said subcontractor to the same extent that the Contractor is liable to the City for acts and omissions of persons directly employed by it.

20. FAMILIARITY WITH LAWS

All Proposers and the Contractor are presumed to be familiar with and shall observe all Federal, State and local laws, ordinances, codes, rules and regulations, including, without limitation, the City's rules and regulations, that may in any way affect work herein specified. Ignorance on the part of the Contractor shall in no way relieve Contractor from any such responsibility or liability. Contractor’s compliance with requirements of O.C.G.A. 13-10- 91 and Rule 300-10-1-.02, if applicable, will be attested.

21. SECURITY

The successful Proposer will be required to comply with all applicable standards of the City relating to security which may be in effect or changed from time to time.

22. MINORITY AND WOMEN BUSINESS ENTERPRISE ("MWBE") PARTICIPATION

An MWBE participation goal has not been established for this Contract. Such participation is encouraged but will not be considered during the evaluation process for award of this Contract.

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 17 of

23. INSURANCE

The Proposer to whom the Notice of Intent to Award is given shall provide a signed Certificate of Insurance.

The Certificate of Insurance shall evidence the insurance coverage required by the City pursuant to Section 14.7 of the General Conditions and shall be filed with the City within ten (10) business days of the date of the Notice of Intent to Award. The Certificate of Insurance must contain a provision that the coverage provided under the policies will not be cancelled or modified or the limits thereunder decreased unless at least thirty (30) days prior written notice has been given to the City.

24. PROPOSAL ERRORS

In the case of a Proposer’s error in the extension or addition of Proposal prices, the unit prices will govern. Proposals having erasures or corrections should be initialed in ink.

25. COMPLIANCE WITH OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT

The Proposer certifies that all materials, equipment, chemicals, etc. contained in its Proposal or otherwise to be provided or used by the Proposer in its performance of the Contract work, and including any replacements or substitutions therefore, shall meet all EPA and OSHA requirements.

26. PERFORMANCE STANDARD

The standards by which the Contractor’s performance will be evaluated are set forth in the General Conditions and Specifications. The successful Proposer's failure to meet these standards, after receipt of written notice to correct such deficiencies, may in addition to the City's other remedies, in the City's sole discretion, result in a termination of the Contract for cause pursuant to the termination provisions of the General Conditions.

27. NO PROPOSALS

In the event a potential Proposer elects not to submit a Proposal, such potential Proposer is nonetheless requested to respond by advising the City of the reason for not submitting a Proposal.

29. PUBLIC RECORDS/PUBLIC MEETINGS

Please be aware that all meetings of the City’s Council are duly noticed public meetings and all documents submitted to the City as a part of or in connection with a Proposal may constitute public records under Georgia law regardless of any person’s claim that proprietary or trade secret information is contained therein. By submission to the City, Proposers waive any declaration that their entire response to be proprietary information. Proposals and all related correspondence are subject to the Georgia Open Records Act and may be provided to anyone properly requesting same, after contract award. The City cannot protect proprietary data submitted in vendor proposals unless provided for under the open records law. In the event, the proposer deems certain information to be exempt from the disclosure requirements, the proposal must specify what content is considered exempt and site the applicable provision of the law to support that assessment. In the event such information is requested under the open records law, the proposer’s assessment will be examined by the City Attorney who will make a determination. The decision to withhold or release the information will be at the City’s sole discretion.

* * * * * * * END OF INSTRUCTIONS TO PROPOSERS * * * * * * *

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 18 of

APPENDIX A

NO RESPONSE TO

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

If your company is unable to submit a Statement of Qualifications at this time, please provide the information requested in the space provided below and return to:

City Clerk’s Office City of Sylvester 101 N. Main Street

Sylvester, GA 30338

Our company’s reason for not submitting a Proposal is:

Company Name

Signature

Printed Name

Title

RFQ PW 23-15 Page 19 of

APPENDIX B

SAMPLE

CONSULTANT CONTRACT

This CONTRACT made and entered into this day…