Volume 40 - Issue 4 - January 28, 2021
State of Kansas
Department of Transportation
Notice to Consulting Firms
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is seeking qualified consulting engineering firm(s) for the projects listed below. Interested consulting firms must be prequalified by KDOT or otherwise demonstrate qualification in the following categories: (a) category 211 Highway Design Major Facility, (b) category 212 Highway Design Minor Facility, (c) category 221 Non-Standard Span Bridge Design, and (d) category 222 Standard Span Bridge Design. Consultants may create a team to meet the prequalification requirements. A PDF must be emailed to David Lutgen, P.E., Contracts Engineer at kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov. The subject line of the reply email and the file name must read “KDOT FY25 Bridge Design_FIRM NAME.” RFPs must be received by 12:00 p.m. February 5, 2021 for the consulting firm to be considered.
If a firm is not currently prequalified by KDOT a response 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 Projects
These bridge replacement projects are scheduled for letting in FY 2025 (July 2024 – June 2025). KDOT intends to select the most highly qualified firms to perform professional services associated with the design of these bridge projects. The bridges are packaged individually and into groups, each group includes two bridge projects. Bridge groups and KDOT project numbers are below. Firms can submit on any and all bridges/groups and may express preference(s) for up to three bridges/groups; however, there is no guarantee that a firm will be selected for any expressed preference(s). Available details for each project, such as as-builts, traffic analysis, and bridge inspection information can be downloaded from https://secftp.ksdot.org/public/file/PEGHFH09PUyqErSUskCeww/2025%20bridges.zip. The files will be available for seven calendar days from the time of RFP release. Contact David Lutgen, P.E. at kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov with questions.
The scope of the services will vary for each project and may include survey, a bridge type selection, bridge design, road design, traffic engineering, hydrology/hydraulics, designer construction services, and permitting assistance for some projects. Geology and geotechnical services will be provided by KDOT early in the project development.
The project scopes include:
- Develop and communicate Project Management Plan and Quality Assurance Plan
- Visit the project site location
- Consultants to complete survey and identify in the proposal the surveying subconsultant
- Develop “Discovery Report” identifying risks and opportunities to project scope, schedule, and budget
- Perform preliminary road and bridge design for plans to field check to include determining the size, type, and location of the proposed bridge
- Develop plans for right of way
- Develop final plans for construction
- Perform quality control checks according to Quality Assurance Plan
- 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.
Schedule
These projects must be let in Fiscal Year 2025; therefore, the design activities must be scheduled to deliver complete plans between July 2024 and December 2024. These projects may follow an accelerated delivery schedule with some submittals required earlier than a typical KDOT design project to meet the letting requirements.
Response Format and Organization
The following outline is the expected submittal organization, content, and page length for the technical proposals for each bridge/group. Duplication of content in technical proposals is expected.
| Content | Pages | |
|---|---|---|
| Consultant Bridge/Group Preferences | FY25 Bridge Projects Form | 1 page |
| Overview |
|
2 pages |
| Project Approach | Highlight concepts for cost-effective and optimized solutions for projects in each bridge/group on which the consultant is proposing. Include unique qualifications or experience that may inform the selection of firms and assignment of bridges. | 1-2 pages per bridge/group |
Selection Process
Per standard KDOT consultant selection process, consultants will be selected from the technical proposal submitted for each bridge/group. Selected consultants will proceed quickly through scoping, fee negotiation, and NTP. Each project within a bridge/group will be contracted separately. Fee negotiation will include estimates for preliminary engineering and final design; there will not be a contract pause for final design negotiation after field check.
Technical proposals will be evaluated based on the factors listed below to select the most qualified firms. All evaluation factors are weighted equally.
Evaluation Factors
| Qualifications and experience |
| Past performance |
| Delivery process: approach to schedule |
| Familiarity with KDOT design standards and project area |
| Understanding of technical complexities for specific projects |
| Identification of unique team qualifications for specific projects |
| Company team approach to meeting project schedule and KDOT quality standards |
The KDOT Consultant Selection Committee will select the most highly qualified firms expressing interest based on Qualifications and Experience, Past Performance, Group Delivery process, Project Group Approach, and Familiarity with KDOT design standards and project area.
The selected firms will be asked to enter into negotiations with KDOT for an agreement. In the event KDOT cannot reach agreement with a 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.
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.
Questions shall be sent via email to kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov.
David Lutgen, P.E.
Division of Engineering and Design
Doc. No. 048792
