VSD Campus Master Plan Analysis

Valley Sanitary District (VSD), a special district serving approximately 89,000 residents across a 19.5-square-mile service area in Riverside County that includes the cities of Indio, Coachella, La Quinta, and unincorporated areas of California, is soliciting proposals through Request for Proposals No. 2025-RFP-009 for professional engineering and planning services to develop a comprehensive Campus Master Plan for its main campus located in Indio. The District seeks qualified consultants to prepare three conceptual master plan alternatives that address the relocation of the Certified Laboratory, construction of a new Office and Training Building, expansion of parking facilities with doubled capacity and full coverage, expansion of solar infrastructure, and general modernization of existing campus buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Deliverables include site planning, conceptual design renderings, budget-level cost estimates for each alternative and individual buildings, facilitation of a stakeholder workshop to review proposed alternatives, and a comprehensive technical memorandum. The project scope explicitly excludes geotechnical reconnaissance, hazardous materials analysis, and formal environmental compliance review under NEPA and CEQA; however, the consultant must assume hazardous materials are present in existing buildings and account for this in cost estimates and design considerations. Proposers must demonstrate current California professional licensure, provide a minimum of four client references preferably from government entities with similar experience within the past five years, and identify any planned subcontractors. The evaluation criteria are weighted as follows: understanding of project and project approach (30 points), scope of work and schedule (25 points), relevant qualifications and experience (25 points), overall quality of proposal (10 points), and cost evaluation (10 points). Critical deadlines include a non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting on November 12, 2025, at 1:00 pm; question submission deadline of November 14, 2025, at 4:00 pm; proposal submission deadline of November 21, 2025, at 4:00 pm via VSD's eProcurement Portal; award notification on December 10, 2025; and Notice to Proceed on December 16, 2025. The project follows an expedited timeline with a mandatory kickoff meeting on December 17, 2025, workshop to review alternatives by January 12, 2026, draft technical memorandum due January 30, 2026, and final deliverables due February 16, 2026.

The RFP contains no identified set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises, small businesses, or minority-owned firms, and no restrictions have been stated regarding organizational type or size. There are no identified incumbent contractors or current service providers listed in the procurement documents. The District will provide proposers with existing resources including AutoCAD site files (work-in-progress), preliminary building design drawings for the Laboratory and Office/Training Buildings (at 50% and 100% design phases from 2021), cost estimate templates with escalation factors from previous projects to escalate to present-day value, and multiple geotechnical reports completed between 2020 and 2024 that address site conditions, subsurface soils, seismic design parameters, and recommendations for foundation design. Proposers must integrate these existing resources and design documents into their master plan alternatives and utilize the District-provided cost estimation methodology for consistency. The RFP requests submission of a sealed, lump-sum, not-to-exceed fee proposal broken down by task, staff costs, subconsultant costs, and expenses, with hourly rates for all personnel included; however, no specific budget range or award value is disclosed in the procurement documents. Proposers must provide evidence of insurance coverage meeting District requirements, including Commercial General Liability Insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and Professional Liability Insurance of $1,000,000 per claim, with certificates of insurance required immediately following Notice of Award. The contract will be contingent on successful negotiation of terms consistent with VSD's sample professional services agreement, and the District reserves the right to negotiate with multiple proposers, extend pricing validity beyond the standard 90-day period if necessary, reject any or all proposals, or cancel the RFP at any time without obligation.