Morgue and medical examiner facility alternatives study

The County of Ulster invites qualified architectural, engineering, and facility-planning firms to submit proposals to evaluate and recommend the facility solution that best supports the County's long-term morgue and Medical Examiner operations. The County currently has an agreement with Westchester Medical Center for forensic pathology services which includes morgue storage and autopsy facilities at a former hospital facility in Kingston, New York. The existing space has condition, capacity, and storage limitations; however, Westchester Medical Center has indicated a willingness to renovate or reconfigure the existing morgue space, or adjacent space, to County specifications and recover the cost through a long-term lease or another similar agreement. The County is also considering construction of a new facility on County-controlled property, including the site on which the Ulster County Health Department is located. A new facility may or may not be developed as a morgue-focused facility without relocating the Medical Examiner administrative offices. The purpose of this assignment is to compare these alternatives on a consistent operational, technical, regulatory, schedule, risk, and financial basis; recommend a preferred alternative; and identify the actions necessary to advance that alternative into negotiation, design, permitting, funding, construction, and occupancy. The County may, at its sole discretion and subject to authorization, funding, negotiation of an acceptable scope and fee, and all applicable procurement requirements, retain the selected Consultant to provide subsequent design, procurement, and implementation-phase services associated with the preferred alternative. Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years: none.