Volume 40 - Issue 47 - November 25, 2021

State of Kansas

Department of Transportation

Notice to Consulting Firms

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is seeking up to five consulting firms which are prequalified in one or more of the relevant transportation planning categories (listed below) for projects which may arise as described below. A PDF (2Mb maximum size) proposal response must be emailed to kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov, Attn: Marcia Turner, P.E., Assistant Contracts Engineer. Responses are limited to five pages; the subject line of the reply email and the PDF file name must read “Planning-Performance-Data_FIRM NAME.” The letter of interest is required and must be received by 12:00 p.m. (CST), December 9, 2021, for the consulting firm to be considered.

Relevant Prequalification Categories

111	Rail Systems Planning
121	Aviation Systems/Airport Planning
131	Port and Waterway Systems Planning
141	Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Planning
151	Public Transit Facilities and Systems Planning
161	Corridor/Project Feasibility Studies
162	Long Range Planning
163	Congestion Management/ITS
171	Environmental Documentation
172	Site Assessments
173	Noise Impact Analysis
181	Corridor Enhancement/Scenic Byways
182	Parks and Recreational Planning

If a firm is not currently prequalified by KDOT in one of the categories listed above, a response may still be submitted. Firms not prequalified must also provide documentation that demonstrates the firm is qualified for one or more of the categories 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. Consultants may create a team to meet the prequalification requirements.

Background and Purpose of Project

KDOT is seeking up to five (5) experienced transportation consulting firms with combined experience in transportation planning, data governance, data science, data analysis, performance management, transportation policy, business intelligence, data visualization, and GIS. KDOT seeks to use the outcomes of these efforts to inform and improve data-driven decision-making and business processes, support the agency’s strategies in evaluating, monitoring, and reporting agency-wide performance of business activities, bolster problem-solving capabilities as we work with communities, and support the agency’s priorities of transparency and accountability. Each selected consultant will come to an agreement for on-call services. KDOT intends that the duration of this agreement will be three years with a potential for annual extensions not to exceed five years.

Overview of the Work to be Performed

Task orders will be issued as-needed by various agency bureaus and divisions for specific work under these on-call agreements. Tasks will fall under the following categories:

• Business process analysis and improvement
• Transportation policy and/or program analysis and recommendations
• Analyzing, evaluating, and implementing a performance management system for the agency
• Implementation of automated collection and management of data for performance management
• Data and trend analysis/forecasting including artificial intelligence and machine learning tools
• Development of data visualizations, scorecards, and interactive dashboards in a variety of formats, including GIS, Tableau, PowerBI, etc.
• Development and implementation of data governance processes

Deliverables and schedule will vary by task order.

Instructions for Proposal

The main text of the consultant’s proposal must not exceed five (5) pages sized 8½ x 11. Any pages in a larger format will be counted as two pages. Cover sheet and special attachments will not be counted against the page total. Proposals shall address and include the following items:

• Provide name(s), qualifications, education, training, and expertise as well as prior relevant experience of project manager and other key consultant personnel who may perform these services.
• Provide a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of six (6) examples of projects completed using relevant experience. At least two examples need to be specific to the transportation industry. If the examples are available for viewing online a link should be provided in addition to brief write-ups in the proposal document.

Questions can be submitted until November 29, 2021; answers will be provided to all prequalified consultants on December 2, 2021.

Qualifications Based Selection Process

No cost or pricing information shall be submitted with the Letter of Interest, such will not be considered in the selection process to rank proposals. Firms will be evaluated on the basis of the factors listed below, weighted as indicated:

1. Qualifications of project manager and consultant team (15%)
2. Demonstrated experience delivering the proposed scope of services, including innovative solutions (30%)
3. Demonstrated understanding of data governance and performance management (30%)
4. Approach to data quality control (15%)
5. Familiarity with existing KDOT data systems (5%)
6. Quality of response (5%)

KDOT will have the right to schedule follow up interviews if deemed necessary. If interviews are used, selection factors and weights will be the same as listed above. The highest ranked firms will be asked to enter into an on-call agreement with KDOT.

Contracts for task orders will be cost plus fixed fee where compensation provisions will be for payment of actual direct costs, indirect costs at approved overhead rate and a fixed fee. Each task order will be subject to an upper limit of compensation. In the event KDOT cannot reach agreement with the one of the selected firms, it will terminate negotiations with such firm and commence negotiations with the next highest ranked firm, and so on, until either agreement is reached or KDOT decides to pursue other alternatives.

The selected firms’ 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

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact kdot.designcontracts@ks.gov.

Ben Asnicar, PE
Interim Contracts Engineer

Doc. No. 049581