Notice of Consulting Services
Notice is hereby given by the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, that engineering consulting services will be utilized for the following projects:
State Project S228-460-1.40 00, US 460 Sinkhole Study, located in Mercer County, West Virginia. This project shall consist of a Design Study. The goal of the study shall be to develop a concept to safely convey surface runoff and flow from springs into existing but undetermined subterranean caverns. The study shall be thorough enough to allow contract plans to be developed without further site investigation. It is anticipated that subsurface exploration will be necessary. Preference will be given to firms whose Letter of Interest includes details of previous karst related projects that professionals within the firm have completed. The general location of the study area is along United States (US) Route 460 within the City of Bluefield approximately 1.40 miles from the Virginia state line, with the sinkhole of initial focus being situated just northwest of US 460 between Fincastle Lane and Leandrea Drive near the end of Kyle Court.
Method of payment shall be Lump Sum or Cost Plus.
A single assignment will be made for each project.
Firms interested in being considered for either of these projects must submit a “Letter of Qualification” for each project and one unpriced prospectus to Mr. Michael D. Lilly, P. E., Section Head, Technical Section, Engineering Division, Division of Highways, 1334 Smith Street, Charleston, West Virginia 25301 or preferably by email to DOH.consultantservices@wv.gov prior to 4:00 p.m. on March 13, 2017.
As a minimum, the prospectus shall include the following evaluation information factors:
1. Professional qualifications necessary for consideration and satisfactory performance of the required work and as a minimum shall have a professional engineer licensed by the State of West Virginia. That person shall be located within the office where the work is to be performed, and shall demonstrate sufficient past experience performed for the State of West Virginia, Department of Highways related to design and plan development to be provided. This individual shall be the person-in-charge overseeing the work and must be readily accessible to the Department, preferably located in-state.
2. Consideration shall be given to specialized experience and technical competence. Specialized experience shall focus on the qualifications of the staff working on the project with emphasis placed on individual specialized expertise required for the project. As a minimum, the firm shall provide a Résumé of those individuals who will be committed to the needs of the project. Strong considerations will be based on the professional and non-professional staff specialized experience and technical competence stationed within the office where the work is to be performed.
3. Capacity consideration shall be made on the firm’s ability to accomplish the work within the Department’s required schedule time frame; personnel dedicated to perform such work.
4. Past performance on contracts with Government agencies and private industry in terms of cost control, quality of work, and compliance with performance schedules.
5. Location shall be based on the geographic location of the Consultant’s office relative to the project site along with past experience and knowledge of the area where the project site is located with the significant importance being given to accessibility of the office location relative to the Department.
In addition to the above evaluation factors, the prospectus shall include, as a minimum, the following items:
1. A completed copy of the Division’s Consultant Confidential Qualification Questionnaire dated January 1, 2017 or later, if not already on file. It must specifically indicate the staff levels by classification located in-state vs. out-of-state.
2. Location of office or office(s) in which the work, or part of the work, will be performed.
3. Identification of subconsultants by name as to the type of work anticipated to be subcontracted or performed, if proposed as part of the design team.
4. Indication of whether a cost accounting system has been maintained and is in effect such that it is capable of segregating and identifying accumulating costs for each job that is performed under cost type projects.
5. Completed copies of the Division’s “Consultant Short List Selection Criteria Technical Evaluation” form limited to a single page of data. One loose leaf copy of form is to accompany the bound unpriced prospectus. Cross referencing on this form to other parts of the prospectus is not acceptable.
6. A copy of a valid “Certificate of Authorization” to offer Engineering, Surveying, or other related services within the state, issued by the appropriate West Virginia Board.
A single “Letter of Qualification” and one unpriced prospectus are required and must contain all of the above information required to be considered. Failure to provide the required information and/or insufficient information will cause disqualification and the prospectus will be returned. All evaluation factors as noted herein before will be given equal consideration in the selection process, unless a project specific weighting of the evaluation factors is shown in the Notice for Consulting Services.
Prior to entering into any contract negotiations, the selected firm and any subconsultants shall submit a current audited overhead rate computation performed by a State or Federal government agency or independent CPA firm. The submitted overhead audit shall contain a detailed exhibit of the computations with all applicable eliminations and references. The audit shall be done in accordance with Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and all eliminations required by the Federal Acquisition Regulations will be made. The submitted certified audited overhead (Indirect Cost Rate) report shall include the certification, certifying that the allowability of costs used to establish the final indirect cost rate are in accordance with the FAR cost principles, or a verification indicating this certification was previously submitted and accepted by the cognizant agency. This requirement will be waived for the selected firm or any subconsultant when its portion of the fee for the project is less than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00). In such instances, a company computed overhead rate may be utilized.
It is the policy of the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, that Disadvantaged and Women-owned Business Enterprises shall have the maximum opportunity to participate in the performance of contracts financed in whole or in part with Federal funds.