Architectural Design Services for Century Community Shelter - CDBG-DR HS020

Escambia County Board of County Commissioners is issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for architectural design services and limited construction administration for the Century Community Shelter project (CDBG-DR HS020), a Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funded initiative. The procurement seeks qualified Professional Architectural & Engineering Firms to design and oversee construction of a new single-story, approximately 16,000 square-foot community multi-purpose facility and evacuation shelter located at the former Century High School Gym building at 720 East Hecker Road in Century, Florida. The facility will serve as a Category 5-resistant, EHPA-compliant hurricane shelter providing emergency sheltering, food and water distribution, supply storage, and post-disaster recovery and community health services. Key project objectives include retrofitting, hardening, and elevating structures to meet critical facilities mitigation requirements and resilience standards, addressing the Town's current lack of hurricane-force wind-resistant shelter infrastructure. Qualified firms must employ at least one registered Florida architect and one registered Florida civil engineer with knowledge of current Florida Building Code and local regulations. Proposals are limited to 20 pages (excluding vendor submission documents) and will be evaluated on seven criteria: Respondent's Statement of Qualifications (20 points), Experience and Performance on Past Projects (25 points), Litigation and Claims (20 points), Current Workload (10 points), Project-Specific Criteria (20 points), and Office Location (5 points). The solicitation was released January 22, 2026, with a question deadline of February 11, 2026, a non-mandatory pre-solicitation meeting held January 30, 2026, and a final proposal submission deadline of February 23, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. through the ProcureNow portal.

This procurement includes mandatory compliance with federal Section 3 provisions, which require that employment and economic opportunities be directed to low and very low-income persons, with minimum numeric goals of 25 percent of total project hours performed by Section 3 workers and 5 percent by Targeted Section 3 workers. Eligible applicants must satisfy Section 3 business qualification criteria, which include employing Section 3 workers for at least 75 percent of hours worked over the prior three months, maintaining 51 percent or greater ownership by low or very low-income individuals, or achieving 51 percent ownership by public housing residents. All contractors must comply with E-Verify requirements and standard federal contract provisions, with noncompliance potentially resulting in contract termination for default, debarment, or suspension from future HUD-assisted contracts. The successful respondent must execute the contract within five days of receiving the notice of award and provide required insurance documentation including $1,000,000 General Liability coverage, $2,000,000 aggregate, and Professional Errors and Omissions coverage of $2,000,000/$4,000,000. An executed agreement dated August 12-13, 2024, indicates that an architectural and engineering firm has already been selected for this project, suggesting this RFQ may represent a re-solicitation or potential alternate procurement process. No specific contract award value is disclosed in the available procurement documents; however, federal CDBG-DR funding supports the project, and the County reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and award on an all-or-none basis to the most responsive and responsible firm.