Facility Program Needs Assessments - Corrections

The Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission (GSFIC), on behalf of the Georgia Building Authority (GBA) and the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC), issued an RFQ on May 24, 2022 for facility program needs assessment services for Project GBA-198 State Prison Facility Transformation, with qualifications due June 13, 2022. Two finalists — DLR Group and NELSON Worldwide — were shortlisted and invited to submit proposals by July 12, 2022, with finalist interviews scheduled for July 19, 2022. The state encourages participation of minority-owned, woman-owned, and small business enterprises but does not impose a set-aside.

The scope encompasses a comprehensive needs assessment for an approximately 900,000 square foot, modern state prison facility designed to house 3,000 medium/close security inmates. The assessment must address programmatic space needs (inmate housing by security classification, ancillary support services, food service, medical/mental health services, administrative space), security systems, technology infrastructure, staffing analysis addressing recruitment and retention challenges, healthcare delivery optimization, security and technological systems evaluation, sociological study of population trends and crime rates, and programming delivery innovations.

Qualified providers must be regularly engaged in providing needs assessments and perform a minimum of 50% of services in-house, with associated firms permitted to provide up to 50% of services. Firms must be registered or willing to register to do business in Georgia and comply with E-Verify and Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act requirements. The preliminary design and construction budget is estimated at $400 million, though the final project budget may be revised based on programmatic requirements or funding availability.

Qualifications evaluation weighted firm stability (25%), relevant project experience and qualifications (45%), and suitability to provide services (30%). Proposals are evaluated on previous performance (15%), qualifications and experience of proposed team members (20%), quality of the assessment plan (15%), methodology presented in interviews (25%), and team communications and project solutions (25%). Nelco Architecture was awarded the contract. Restrictions on proposer communication with the Selection Committee, Using Agency, or End-User remain in effect until selection announcement.