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RFQ_Parks_Master_PanREQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS CITY OF DENTON Parks, Recreation and Trails System Master Plan Professional Services RFQ #7418 INTRODUCTION The City of Denton Parks and Recreation Department invites qualified architectural, engineering and planning firms to submit qualification proposals to provide professional services to assist in the preparation of the Parks, Recreation and Trails System Master Plan. As part of the proposal, firms are asked to submit a statement of qualifications, which includes their experience in park planning of similar projects in scope and size. Considerations should be made for public outreach. All services are to be performed by persons who are appropriately licensed or registered in Texas under State, local and/or Federal laws governing the practice of Engineering, Landscape Architecture or Architecture. BACKGROUND Denton is a community like no other – it’s welcoming, innovative, creative, diverse, unique, and authentic. The City is a vibrant and growing community with many opportunities, no matter what your interest or passion. You’re free to be whoever you are in a friendly atmosphere with a small- town vibe that’s just a short drive away from the big city. Throughout its history, Denton has been known as a university town, home to two state universities, the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University. With a combined enrollment of over 50,000 students, the universities bring in a variety of cultural, sports, and entertainment amenities to the Denton community. In downtown Denton and just south of Denton is a campus for North Central Texas College, the oldest continuously operating two-year college in Texas. Public education is also important in Denton, with Denton Independent School District serving more than 27,000 students and 17 cities in a 180 square-mile district. The last overview of the park system was conducted in 2009, as an update to the city’s original 2005 Park, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan. Currently, the Parks and Recreation Department oversees 46 parks and beautification areas, with over 4,000 acres of parkland. The inventory includes four recreation centers, three aquatic facilities, two senior centers, numerous athletic complexes, one skate park, two cemeteries, 35 miles of trails, as well as oversight on the maintenance of medians and rights-of-way. OBJECTIVES The City intends to hire a consulting firm to assist the Parks and Recreation Department in the completion of a Parks, Recreation and Trails Master Plan. Interested candidates must exhibit the required knowledge, qualifications, and expertise to deliver a Park System Master Plan report to be used as a tool to direct the Parks and Recreation Department for the next 10 years. Beginning in 2019, the Parks and Recreation Department began the effort to complete the master plan with internal resources. Staff changes, workloads, and the pandemic have caused the process to pause. The City is seeking a firm to help the organization pick up where the research and development left off and help complete the project. A needs assessment was completed in July 2019 by National Service Research and over (30) public meetings with the community, special interest groups and associations have been held to assist in gathering information. A “rough” draft of the plan has been outlined as a starting point and foundation. In addition, a Design Guidelines and Park Standard Manual has been drafted. Both documents will be provided to the selected firm to be utilized in the overall development of the Master Plan. The preliminary scope of work will include the following: 1. Review inventory of the existing City parks, recreation centers, aquatic facilities, trails, athletic facilities, rental facilities and open spaces. Provide a system to determine priorities and budgets for routine replacement, prioritize infrastructure and capital improvement projects. 2. Review the recently completed needs assessment and data collected from the department and citizen input planning process. This information was collected by interacting with focus groups, conducting public surveys, meetings with current staff for their insight, and public meetings to help determine the vision and course for the Parks and Recreation Department. Additional meetings may be needed as a result of the continued effort. 3. Review existing funding sources, research any potential new revenue streams, and provide a 5-year action plan with a 10-year horizon plan to direct the Department moving forward. A draft of existing replacement and development plans will be provided. 4. Review the draft master plan document completed by staff and determine what additional information will be required based on the consulting firm’s professional opinion. 5. Provide a Master Plan document in accordance with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife Local Grant Program guidelines to enable the Master Plan to be submitted and approved. In addition, review and format the Design Guideline and Standard Manual to blend with the Park, Recreation and Trails System Master Plan. All drafts have been developed in Adobe InDesign. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Interested candidates must be prepared to sign the attached professional services agreement if selected. SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS All proposals shall be submitted online via Ionwave: Out of an abundance of caution, the City of Denton is not accepting hard copy bids. Please submit all bids electronically in Ionwave at https://dentontx.ionwave.net. The City of Denton will accept electronic in Ionwave submittals until the date and time on the cover sheet of this solicitation. Any submission received after the date and/or hour set for solicitation opening will be automatically rejected. Do not wait until the last minute, incomplete submission will be automatically rejected. The City will not allow late submissions due to technical difficulties. The City of Denton reserves the right to accept or reject in part or in whole any submission, and to waive technicalities of the submission, in the best interest of obtaining best value for the City. Each respondent is responsible for taking the necessary steps to ensure their submission is received by the date and time noted herein. The City is not responsible technical difficulties that may result the submission arriving after the set time. CONTENTS OF SUBMITTAL 1. Names and Qualifications of essential personnel and team members to be involved. Include appropriate state registrations. 2. A list of projects and clients (include contact person and phone numbers) that may be contacted for references and verification of background. The City is interested in any past Park Master Plan contracts with neighboring, state, or national municipalities where the team worked within a budget and limited time schedule, while still able to provide a high-quality recommendation. 3. State the proposed approach to accomplish the preliminary project’s scope, include past successful or new innovative strategies to be used, proposed timeline to complete the process and demonstrate an understanding of the tasks to be performed. 4. Provide information about any additional services, relevant to preparing a Park Master Plan. METHOD OF SELECTION Selection of a firm(s) to provide the aforementioned materials and services shall be in accordance with the City of Denton Purchasing Policies and procedures. The City of Denton shall open all submissions and evaluate each respondent in accordance to the below criteria: Step 1: The City of Denton will evaluate the submission in accordance with the selection criteria and will rank the firms on the basis of the submittals. The City of Denton, reserves the right to consider information obtained in addition to the data submitted in the response. The selection criterion is listed below: • Identification and understanding of the City's requirements for this project (FACTOR: 25%) The respondent's understanding of the objectives and scope of the requested services of the primary areas, in a clear and concise, written expression. The respondent will provide all the appropriately requested criteria consideration to be a critical component of the evaluation. • Past Performance and experience on projects of this magnitude and complexity (FACTOR: 30%) The respondent's successful experience in projects within the primary areas similar to the scope of work requested in this RFQ will be a major consideration. Based on the past performance of both the individual project personnel and the respondent, The City of Denton will determine if the respondent has the track record to provide the required services in successfully administering similar projects. • Experience and qualifications of the Respondent and key personnel available for this project (FACTOR: 30%). The qualifications of the respondent in terms of experience, service capability and resources will be reviewed in order to assess the ability of the respondent to successfully complete the project assignment. The firm's ability to provide the necessary professional and technical expertise and supervision will be a major consideration. The qualifications and experience of the individuals who will be directly assigned to the primary areas is a major evaluation factor to be considered. The personnel cited shall be designated as to whether they are an employee, consultant or contract employee of the RFQ respondent. Their educational and professional credentials as well as direct experience on similar projects will be considered in evaluating the respondent. Experience with other municipally funded projects and familiarity with municipal requirements and procedures will also be considered in the evaluation process. • Schedule presented for this service and defined in the scope of work (FACTOR: 15%) Proposed schedule for competition of the scope of work. The total possible score of the submissions shall be scored and weighted as indicated above. Based on the outcome of the computations performed, each submission will be assigned a raw score. The assigned weight will then be applied to these scores to calculate an overall score for each submission for completion of the final scoring process. Step 2: The City of Denton will proceed to negotiate a contract with the highest ranked firm. The City may elect to conduct oral discussions, request clarifications, and presentations concerning the project approach and ability to furnish the requirements, as part of the negotiation process. Provided the City of Denton cannot successfully contract with the highest ranked firm, the City of Denton shall formally, and in writing, end all negotiations with that firm and the City of Denton may elect to proceed to negotiate with the next firm in the order of the selection ranking until a contract is reached or negotiations with all ranked firms end, in accordance with Texas State Law. Step 3: A written recommendation will be presented to the appropriate approving authority for the City of Denton (the City Manager, Public Utility Board, City Council) requesting authorization to proceed with contract execution for the proposed services. In accordance with Texas State Law, trade secrets and confidential information in competitive sealed proposals are not open for public inspection. All submissions shall be opened in a manner that avoids disclosure of the contents to competing respondents and keeps the responses secret during negotiations. A public opening will not be conducted with this process. After the contract has been awarded all submissions will be open for public inspection, and the unsuccessful respondent(s) may request a debriefing regarding their submittal. Please contact the City of Denton Materials Management staff to document the request for a debriefing. A meeting with the City of Denton Materials Management Staff and the using Division will be scheduled within a reasonable time. DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSAL A virtual pre-bid conference will be held July 22nd, from 11am – 12pm. Please see activities tab in Ionwave for details. Question cut off for this solicitation will be July 22nd at 11am. This solicitation will close on August 3rd, 2020, at 11am.