Volume 40 - Issue 13 - April 1, 2021
State of Kansas
Department of Transportation
Notice to Consulting Firms
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is seeking a consulting firm for the project listed below. Interested consulting firms must be prequalified by KDOT or otherwise demonstrate qualification in category 211 Highway Design – Major Facility. A PDF (2Mb maximum size) of the response must be emailed to kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov. Proposal responses are limited to six pages; the subject line of the reply email and the PDF file name must read “2025 US-50 Finney and Gray County 4-Lane Expressway_FIRM NAME.” The proposal is required and must be received by 12:00 p.m. (CST) April 16, 2021 for the consulting firm to be considered.
If a firm is not currently prequalified by KDOT, a proposal may still be submitted. Firms not prequalified must also provide documentation that demonstrates the firm is qualified for each specified category listed in this notice for the project. Firms may use the KDOT prequalification form to provide this documentation. KDOT 1050 Prequalification category definitions (Blue Book) can be found at http://www.ksdot.org/descons.asp. All firms doing business with KDOT must be registered and in good standing under the laws of the State of Kansas at the time of contracting and must comply with applicable state and federal laws, rules and regulations.
Background and Scope of Project
The US-50 4-Lane Expressway project in Finney and Gray Counties has been identified in the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program Expansion Delivery Pipeline. This project is scheduled for letting in FY 2025 (July 2024 to June 2025). KDOT intends to select the most highly qualified firm to perform professional services associated with the design of this expansion project. A project summary is provided in Table 1. Available as-built plans can be downloaded at https://secftp.ksdot.org/public/file/ZTAc9WA9nUKRPz6oeEHKkA/US-50%20Finney%20Gray.zip.
| Table 1: 2026 US-50 Finney and Gray County 4-Lane Expressway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Number | Route and Scope | Length | Project Termini |
| 50-28 KA-6023-01 | US-50 Finney County | 3.2 mi | Aerodrome Road east to Finney/Gray Co. line |
| 50-35 KA-6024-01 | US-50 Gray County | 6.0 mi | Finney/Gray Co. line east to 7 Road |
KDOT is seeking consultant services to prepare construction drawings for the US-50 4-Lane Expressway project. The roadway is being expanded to a 4-Lane Expressway to address increasing traffic volumes and crash history. The designer shall provide design and plans for horizontal and vertical alignments for mainline, frontage roads, sideroads, and entrance locations. The scope of services may include culvert extensions or replacements, traffic engineering, hydrology/hydraulics, designer construction services, and permitting assistance. Stakeholder engagement support activities and development of a PI Plan are anticipated. Survey will be completed and be available upon notice to proceed. Geotech will be provided by KDOT early in the project development.
The project scope includes:
- Visit the project site location
- Perform preliminary design for plans to field check
- Develop final plans
- Provide electronic plan files compliant with KDOT Graphic Standards Manual, including CAD conformance checks and ControlCAD indexed DGN files with ProjectWise attributes
- Provide construction cost estimates bi-annually as well as at every major project milestone
Special Conditions
PMC
This project is being managed by a Project Manager Consultant (PMC) on behalf of KDOT. The PMC will be the primary contact for the selected firms.
Schedule Reporting
Project schedule will be developed during project negotiation. A basic schedule template, prepared by the PMC, will be reviewed and specific dates will be defined by the consultant in order to achieve the critical milestones. Monthly schedule progress reports and updates will be required throughout the project from the consultant and reviewed with the PMC to track progress for KDOT.
Quality Control
Consultant will be required to provide a Quality Control (QC) plan at project kick-off. QC audits will be conducted by the PMC throughout the project. The audits will check compliance with the consultant’s QC plan.
Schedule
This project is scheduled to be let in FY 2025; therefore, the design activities must be scheduled to deliver complete plans between July 2024 and December 2024. This project may follow an accelerated delivery schedule with some submittals required earlier than a typical KDOT design project to meet the letting requirements.
Instructions for Proposal
The main text of consultant’s proposal must not exceed six (6) 8.5 x 11 pages (not including the cover letter) to address the topics listed in Table 2 below. The following outline is the required submittal organization, content, and page length for the technical proposal.
| Table 2: Proposal Content | ||
|---|---|---|
| Content | Pages | |
| Overview |
|
|
| Project Approach | Highlight concepts for cost-effective and optimized solutions for the project. Include unique qualifications or experience that may inform the selection of a firm. | 1-2 pages |
Selection Process
No cost or pricing information shall be submitted with the proposal. Proposals including cost or pricing information will not be considered in the selection process to rank proposals. Per standard KDOT consultant selection process, consultant will be selected from the technical proposal submitted for the project. Selected consultant will proceed quickly through scoping, fee negotiation, and NTP. Fee negotiation will include estimate for final design only.
Technical proposals will be evaluated based on the factors listed in Table 3 below to select the most qualified firms.
| Table 3: Evaluation Factors |
|---|
| Evaluation Factor |
| Qualifications and Experience |
| Past Performance |
| Delivery Process: Approach to Schedule |
| Delivery Process: Approach to Quality Control |
| Project Approach: Unique Qualifications and Solutions |
| Familiarity with KDOT Design Standards and Project Area |
The KDOT Consultant Selection Committee will select the most highly qualified firm expressing interest based on Qualifications and Experience, Past Performance, Delivery process, Project Approach, and Familiarity with KDOT design standards and project area. The PMC will not be on the KDOT Consultant Selection Committee.
The selected firm will be asked to enter into negotiations with KDOT for an agreement. In the event KDOT cannot reach agreement with the selected firm, it will terminate negotiations and commence negotiations with the next highest ranked firm, and so on, until either agreement is reached for a satisfactory scope of services for a fair and reasonable price, or KDOT decides to pursue other alternatives.
Contract Terms and Conditions
A standard KDOT agreement for engineering and technical services will be used for this project. Special attachments for the Kansas “Tax Clearance Certificate,” the “Certification of Final Indirect Costs,” and the Special Attachment No. 10 (“Policy Regarding Sexual Harassment”) will also eventually become attachments to the contract.
The firm’s accounting systems must have the following capabilities before the firm may be awarded a contract.
- Valid, reliable, and current costs must be available within the system to support actual costs and pricing data.
- Capability to provide a means of measuring the reasonableness of incurred costs.
- Capability to identify and accumulate allowable costs by contract or project records which will reconcile with the general ledger.
- Ability to provide supporting documentation of actual expenditures for each billing, based on costs.
Question can be sent to kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov.
Kris Norton, P.E.
PMC Coordinating Engineer
Division of Program and Project Management
Doc. No. 048980
