Design / Build: Walnut Grove Trail Reroute

The City of Cartersville, Georgia, located in Barrow County, is soliciting design-build proposals from qualified firms to design and construct the Walnut Grove Trail Reroute project behind the Cartersville Water Treatment Plant. The primary deliverable is a 10-foot-wide, 5-inch-thick concrete trail approximately 2,010 feet in length, incorporating a 75-foot buffer from Pettit Creek, along with a 60-foot by 8-foot timber boardwalk footbridge with HDPE decking and concrete abutments across Pettit Creek. The project scope also encompasses all clearing, grading, finishing work, and erosion control measures, with the design-build team responsible for obtaining all necessary permits at the City, State, and Federal levels, including FEMA No-Rise Certifications and CLOMR submittals, as well as conducting wetland and stream delineations. Evaluation criteria are structured in two phases, with Phase 1 scoring based on firm stability (15 points), experience and qualifications (30 points), firm suitability (40 points), and fee proposal (15 points), with potential Phase 2 interviews for top-scoring firms. Qualified proposers must maintain current Georgia General Contractor licenses, demonstrate bonding capacity up to $2,500,000, carry specified insurance coverages including $1,000,000 general liability per occurrence, and evidence a current ratio of 1.0 or higher. The deadline for submitting questions is January 2, 2026, at 5:00 PM, with responses provided January 3, 2026, at 5:00 PM; proposal submissions are due January 13, 2026, at 10:00 AM at the Cartersville Parks & Recreation Department (100 Pine Grove Road, Cartersville, Georgia 30120), with a 35-page maximum limit using minimum 11-point font, submitted as six hard copies plus one flash drive copy. Site visits are available upon request, and the City remains open to varied design ideas for trail connections and bridge configurations.

The procurement contains no specific set-aside designations or disadvantaged enterprise restrictions identified in the available documentation, though all proposers must comply with E-Verify requirements and provide W-9 forms. No incumbent vendors or current contractors are referenced in the solicitation materials. The project must comply with Chapter 7.5 of the City's Municode regarding floodplain management and development regulations, and all work is to be performed on City-owned property. A geotechnical final report prepared by Geo-Hydro Engineers, Inc., dated April 29, 2025, is available for reference and includes subsurface exploration data, soil testing results, and groundwater monitoring information relevant to project design and construction planning. The separately sealed fee proposal must include pre-construction fees, construction fees expressed as a percentage of the Cost of Work, shared savings percentages, and detailed itemization of all overhead costs and expenses; proposers may submit a range of anticipated fees for flood study work given the multiple possible scenarios. No specific award value or budget range is disclosed in the RFP documentation.