Hall County Sewer Master Plan and Rate Study

Request for Qualifications with Cost ProposalsRFQ/P #46-008For the provision of Hall County Sewer System Master Plan Update and Rate StudyHall County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners (Herein “County”) is soliciting proposals from qualified consulting firms for the development of a master plan update and rate study for the Hall County Public Works and Utilities Department (Herein “Services”) according to the Scope of Work as specified herein. Schedule of Events:Bid Post Date: April 9, 2025Bidders Questions Due Date: April 24, 2025, 5:00pm ESTBid Due Date: Thursday, May 8, 2025, 2:00pm ESTBidding Process: The County is now accepting sealed bid proposals from qualified firms (herein “Bidder” or “Contractor”) for Services according to the Scope of Work. The County will accept sealed paper bids in the Purchasing Division located on the fourth (4th) floor of the Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 30504, by Thursday, May 8, 2025, by 2:00pm EST. All bid packets must be time and date stamped by the receptionist on the 4th floor to be considered.Term: It is the County’s intention to award one (1) firm for the Services listed herein, per the Scope of Work.Definitions: For the purpose of this RFQ/P, the terms “Contract”, “Letter of Engagement”, and “Agreement” shall mean one and the same. Furthermore, the terms “Bidder” and “Firm” shall mean one and the same. “Bid Packet” includes all documents of this solicitation, its Exhibits, and attachments.Contact: Address all questions and communications solely to Julie Dorough, Issuing Officer, at  document.write('jdorough'+'@'+'hallcounty.org')For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address. for clarification to any part of this RFQ/P requirements.Public Reading: Bid openings are open to the public and Bidders may attend but are not required to do so. The Issuing Officer named herein will open and publicly read all Bidders’ company names on bid due date at the time and notated address above. Cost will not be read at this time. Addendums: If needed and in the best interest of the County, the Purchasing Division may make an extension of the bidding period by a formal written Addendum and publicly posted on the County website. All Addendum must be signed by the Bidder and returned with the bid packet.Proposal Documents: Bidders may obtain all submittal documents at no cost via the County’s Website located at https://www.hallcounty.org/Bids.aspx, then click the Hall County Sewer System Master Plan Update and Rate Study links to download all required documents. Any Addenda will also be posted at the bottom of the solicitation as needed and bidders are responsible for checking for Addenda. Addendums must be signed and returned along with the Bid Packet.Pre-Bid Meeting: Not required for this solicitation.Request for Clarification: The County reserves the right to request clarification of information submitted though a written Request-For-Clarification.  The County may also request in-person, virtual presentations or interviews, and may choose to enter into negotiations with potential bidders as needed.Bid Response: The County considers a bid response as an irrevocable offer, good for a period of one-hundred and twenty (120) days from submission. Furthermore, the County reserves the right to reject all proposals, in full or partial, and to negotiate fees, conditions, or other terms with the respondent submitting the overall best scored proposal. Furthermore, the County may cancel the RFQ/P in its entirety if in the best interest of the County. The County may waive nonmaterial irregularities, informalities, and errors and seek clarification of such.Legally Binding Agreement: The County and the awarded Bidders shall enter into a formal agreement; substantially in the form of the attached Exhibit B – Contract for Services by counter signing the contract. Contracts are only valid if they are countersigned. Bidders should sign the Contract and submit it with their bid response. All questions regarding the Scope of Work should be submitted to the Issuing Officer by April 24, 2025, 5:00pm EST via email at document.write('jdorough'+'@'+'hallcounty.org')For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address.. If there are no written objections, then the County will understand this to be an affirmative acceptance of the Scope of Work as it is presented.The County reserves the right to reject all proposals, in full or in part, and to negotiate fees, terms and conditions with the Bidder submitting the overall best scored proposal.EVALUATION METHODOLOGY  Technical Qualifications & Proposal Response: Bidders must answer all six (6) Mandatory Questions found on Exhibit G – Mandatory Scored Questions, which are weighted and will be scored by the County’s evaluation committee. The County’s Evaluation Committee will score and assign point values to the answers. The total maximum points are set at 1,000. The County has assigned an 85% / 15% split for scoring points; eight hundred-fifty (850) points available for Technical Qualifications, and one hundred – fifty (150) points available for the Cost Proposal. The bidder with the highest total point scores closest to 1,000 will be the apparent contract award winner.Evaluation and Selection: The County will evaluate all submittals in accordance with the Official Code of Hall County, Georgia 3.10, and as further detailed herein.  The County will evaluate proposals using a two-step process. The first is the ‘Technical Qualifications Proposal’ that outlines the bidding firm’s qualifications and experience and its approach to deliver the services.Cost Evaluation: This solicitation is heavily focused on a Firm’s qualifications, experience and capabilities. Therefore, awards may not be made solely based on the lowest cost bid. Cost will be given more importance when all the other evaluation criteria are relatively equal. The County may deem an unreasonably low cost, and the highest cost, as materially unbalanced. In such cases then the County reserves the right to reject the proposals.  One method of measuring reasonableness is to divide the proposed cost by a reasonable average hourly rate to show hours of effort that might be expected.Although cost is not the driving consideration for award, it is a vitally important component. If, in the County’s consideration, qualifications between two or more bidders are equal, then the County may make an award to the lower cost bidder among them. The County will evaluate cost as presented on Exhibit C - Mandatory Cost Proposal Worksheet. The cost is weighted and will be scored by the Evaluation Committee. Lower cost will receive higher scores. Any and all fees should be detailed in the response, if applicable. Bidders may expand their answers to the questions onto separate pages if needed, with the question repeated at the top of each page, in addition to the space provided next to each Mandatory Scored Question Worksheet.  Bidder’s may input “see attached” in the space provided next to each question.Please do not submit bound bid responses. Provide one-sided documents only. Do not include superfluous marketing brochures nor unnecessary promotional materials. These will not be evaluated. Address each specific question with direct, detailed answers. BIDDER RESPONSE: Technical QualificationsEach bidder must provide six (6) sets of hardcopies with one (1) marked “Original” and five (5) marked “Copy” of their Technical Qualifications response. Submit all six (6) hardcopies in a sealed envelope(s) separate from the Cost Proposal. Cost ProposalBidders are to also submit one (1) hardcopy of their Exhibit C – Mandatory Cost Proposal Worksheet.Combined Digital Response Additionally, bidders must provide their response on one (1) USB drive with two (2) folders therein, one entitled “Technical Qualifications Response”, containing your Technical response, and one (1) entitled “Cost Proposal”. Do not include your cost proposal in the Technical response folder as this may cause your proposal to be rejected.All quantitative material should include complete assumptions and be supported by detailed schedules, evidencing all calculations and results.  Responses to the questions should be clear and concise.  Where appropriate, Bidder’s should show statistical information in a tabular chart format, and textual information in bullet form.  Summarize key points at the beginning of each answer.  Validation: Bidders must sign and notarize their submittals. Digital signatures are acceptable. Hall County requires that bidders provide a cover letter with a signature by an officer of the firm with the submittal to ensure its originality.  Bid Retention: The County reserves the right to retain all proposals submitted and use any idea(s) in a proposal regardless of contract award or not.  The County shall have the right to waive any informality or irregularity of immaterial deviation, omissions and clerical errors in any bid received. Mandatory Documents: Bidders must complete and return all forms and documents entitled ‘Mandatory’ with the bid proposal. Failure to do so may deem the proposal non-responsive and the County may not evaluate it for award.Award Process: The County reserves the option to reject any or all bids, in whole-or-in-part, or to select any bidder to complete the described Service.  The County will not make an award of contract solely based on lowest bid, but also on approach, references, qualifications and other subjective criteria as the County may deem necessary and determine at its sole discretion. Questions: Bidder’s must present all questions in writing and directed solely to the issuing officer at document.write('jdorough'+'@'+'hallcounty.org')For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address.. Non-Collusion Requirement: (aka Cone-of-Silence): Bidders must not have contact of any nature with other bidders, County staff members including the Director of Financial Services, administration, elected officials, nor Commissioners during the evaluation process. The County may deem such as collusion and thus render the submission in violation of the Official Code of Hall County and therefore the County may render the proposal as non-responsible and not evaluate the proposal for an award. By submitting a proposal, the bidder represents and warrants that no official or employee of Hall County Government has, in any manner, an interest, directly or indirectly in the proposal or in the contract which may be made under it, or in any expected profits to arise there from.Open Records: All documents, communication, and proposals fall under the Georgia Open Records Act and are subject to disclosure to an Open Records request. Taxes: Hall County, Georgia, is exempt from State of Georgia Sales and Use Tax. A Certificate of Exemption will be made available upon request to the awarded firm.Bonds: Bonds are not required for Professional Services.TABLE OF CONTENTS1.0    Introduction2.0    Statement of Need3.0    General Business Requirements4.0    Scope of Services5.0    Submission of Proposals6.0    RFQ/P Response Preparation7.0    Selection Process8.0    Steps to Award9.0    Exhibits and Attachments1.0    INTRODUCTIONHall County, Georgia, is seeking proposals from qualified consulting firms for the development of a comprehensive master plan for Hall County’s Sewer System.Hall County covers approximately 394 square miles with a population of approximately 225,000 and is one of the fastest growing areas in the Country.  As the County further develops, utility services are going to be needed.  The Georgia State Legislature adopted House Bill 489 that mandated cooperative planning efforts for local governments.  The area of the North Hall and South Hall Sewer System Master Plan Services is located in Area 9 (Hall County Service District) from the H.B. 489 Sewer Service District Map. The previous Study can be found here: https://www.hallcounty.org/382/Sewer-Services along with a 2022 Update for the Pond Fork Basin.  Project BackgroundHall County started a sewer utility in 2008.  The current system consists of a 750,000 GPD SBR Treatment plant with reuse, 1.0 MGD capacity in the City of Gainesville treatment plant, 100,000 GPD capacity in the Lula treatment plant, 384,306 lf of gravity sewer, 26 pump stations with 179,157 lf of force main. This system is located in South and North Hall County.  There are over 41,000 acres in North Hall County to be studied and 22,000 acres in South Hall County, many that have large tracts that will attract development.  The Hall County Board of Commission (BOC) seeks to address the potential for constructing sanitary sewer lines to service these areas and assure potential development.  In order to properly plan for growth, a Master Sewer Plan update is required to understand impacts, develop potential flows from developments, and determine if new treatment is required and associated costs and fees to be made.  It is the County’s intent to select one (1) firm to perform these tasks.2.0    STATEMENT OF NEEDHall County is soliciting for a qualified firm to assist in the development of a twenty (20) year action plan to improve planning, funding, and delivery of public sanitary sewer services in North and South Hall County.  Work will include reviewing sewer service districts, determining location of gravity sewers, force mains, pump stations and possible new treatment facilities; reviewing large land tracts within these boundaries and provide proposed uses with sewer flows; providing a feasibility report that can be submitted to EPD; providing for potential capital budget costs of proposed improvements; Ten (10) year operating budget pro-forma;  determining rates for the proposed Sewer Services (including a multi-year rate phase-in plan); reviewing possible funding sources of improvements; and finally, present findings to Hall County staff and Board of Commissioners; with the above scope of work.  The County expects the awarded company to be prompt, attentive, and able to perform the work in a timely and scheduled manner and with personnel, including subcontractors, to be professional in approach and uniform in production.         The Contractor shall be responsible for all work performed in support of this contract. Subcontractors shall perform no work unless pre-approved in writing by the County. Contractors must disclose any intended subcontractors within the bid at the time of bid submissions.2.1   CONSULTANT QUALIFICATIONS The Hall County BOC is seeking consultants who have knowledge and experience with the following:•    The regional sewer needs, land use and treatment issues impacting Hall County;•    Soliciting representative public input and improving public information;•    Experience and expertise in the planning process of major development of wastewater systems;•    Working in a collaborative, productive and timely manner with clients.2.2   ROLES and RESPONSIBILITIESThis project will be a collaborative effort to conduct the planning process as well as develop the final plan documents. The County staff will:•    Provide relevant planning documents. •    Provide logistical support for setting up all project and public meetings etc. •    Review all final documents requesting clarification and additional information as necessary to assure a thorough, and thoughtful document.  The Consultant will:•    Provide reproduction of handout materials, maps, feedback forms, etc. for public meetings. •    Conduct all public meetings, including the creation of all handout materials and new maps and graphics for use as part of those meetings. It is anticipated that a minimum of two public meetings will be held. •    Attend periodic County staff and stakeholder meetings to solicit input, present findings and answer questions. It is anticipated that attendance at a minimum of five (5) County staff and four (4) (two (2) in North Hall and two (2) in South Hall) stakeholder meetings will be held. •    Develop, research and discuss alternative projects and programs for consideration as part of the Plan, and lead discussion of project priorities for the Plan documents. •    Develop updated project cost estimates for use in developing the Plan, including an appendix document detailing the methodology and details of the analysis. •    Develop the final Plan documents and exhibits.  3.0    GENERAL BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS   3.1    Insurance Requirements. If awarded, the Contractor must maintain insurance policies at the Contractor's own expense and must furnish the County with a Certificate of Insurance (COI) providing evidence of coverage at least in the amounts indicated in Exhibit B – Contract for Services. The COI must list the County as the certificate holder and as an additional insured under the commercial general, automobile, and umbrella liability policies as follows: “Hall County, Georgia, its Board of Commissioners, officers, employees, servants, and agents, 2875 Browns Bridge Rd, Gainesville, GA 30504”.3.2    Performance and Payment Bonds – N/A3.3    Bid Bonds: N/A4.0