08A3957 - On-Call Cultural and Paleontological Resource Services, District 8.

Caltrans, specifically the Department of Transportation's District 8, is soliciting Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) from firms to provide on-call Cultural and Paleontological Resource Services throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California. The contract will support transportation system improvement projects, requiring comprehensive services including consultation, research, professional, and technical support such as records searches, field surveys, analysis, reporting, monitoring, and archaeological and paleontological investigations. Qualifying firms must have personnel meeting the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Qualification Standards, with a required Consultant Contract Manager possessing at least five years of responsible contract management experience and five years of demonstrated cultural or paleontological resource services delivery. The SOQs must be submitted electronically by January 22, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. through a Novell Filr account, with interviews for shortlisted firms scheduled for February 6, 2026, via WebEx. Additional key dates include negotiations anticipated during the week of March 18, 2026, and cost negotiation completion by March 30, 2026.

The contract will have no Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goals due to a recent federal interim final rule change effective October 3, 2025. Consultants are required to disclose any intended use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in project deliverables per Executive Order N-12-23, with potential disqualification for non-disclosure. The contract term is three years, with work expected to commence after June 1, 2026, following the exhaustion of the predecessor agreement (08A3622). The estimated contract value ranges from $1,375,869 to $2,235,787, including a fixed profit fee of 10.1 percent with annual escalations of 1.81 percent for the partial first year and 3.62 percent for subsequent full years. Caltrans does not guarantee that any work orders will be issued under the contract, and the successful firm must submit financial documents within four days of selection notification and may be subject to pre-award or post-award audit. Consultants are responsible for identifying and coordinating their own teaming partners, as Caltrans does not track which entities have downloaded project documents.