2026-048 Parking Garage Plan RFQ

The City of Gardner is seeking qualified professional engineering, design, and planning consultants to develop a Downtown Mobility Plan under a RAISE grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, subgranted to the city through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, in compliance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 7C. The procurement is issued as a Request for Qualifications with a solicitation number BD-26-1441-COG01-COG01-130766, posted on June 22, 2026, and responses are due by 12:00 PM on July 8, 2026. Proposals must be submitted in hard copy only to the Purchasing Department at 95 Pleasant Street, Room 202, Gardner, MA 01440, with no electronic submissions permitted. The contract term extends through September 30, 2028, and work will commence upon receipt of a Notice to Proceed. The total fee is capped at $1,253,500, funded entirely by the federal RAISE grant, and will be negotiated with the top-ranked proposer based on qualitative evaluation, not price. Evaluation is based on ten weighted qualitative factors, prioritized in descending order, including experience developing mobility plans and parking garage feasibility studies for similar Massachusetts municipalities, experience with curb and asset management dashboards, the number of comparable municipal clients, team composition with in-house professionals, client retention history, and references from prior municipal projects. All proposals must include certifications for drug-free workplace, non-collusion, tax compliance, and proof of professional liability insurance, along with organizational charts, resumes of key personnel, and three references. The City retains full ownership of all deliverables, and the work must comply with federal regulations such as 2 CFR 200 and Massachusetts statutes including MGL Chapter 30B and 310 CMR requirements, as well as environmental and historic preservation laws. The City reserves the right to extend the contract, split the work among multiple firms, or award follow-on phases without recompetition, while strict conflict of interest rules prohibit city officials or consultants from having any financial stake in the contract during or after the term. All performance will occur in Gardner, MA, and final acceptance rests solely with the City following professional standards of care and regulatory compliance.