REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

City of Garden City, Kansas – Water Reclamation & Reuse Project

Introduction:

The City of Garden City, Kansas, requests qualification statements (RFQ) from Firms to assist with the design, management, and implementation of Congressionally Designated Spending authorization of $19,100,000.00 administered through the Community Grants Program the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

All submittals shall become the property of the City, and the information therein will be subject to release pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Kansas Open Records Act (KORA), or judicial process.

Project Overview:

The City is pursuing a water reuse project that will play a key role in preserving the existing industry and population in the City of Garden City and assist with continued economic expansion. Addressing declining aquifer supply and water quality issues is key to ensuring continued economic growth in the City and Southwest Kansas. Current growth trends show that the City will need to develop new water resources by  2025. The City has adequate water rights to convert for municipal use, but this project focuses on the long-term security of the declining groundwater supply.

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is one strategy that will contribute to the sustainable production of water for the community. The MAR project will take water treated by our wastewater treatment plant, plus water removed from milk at the Dairy Farmers of America facility (a milk drying plant located in Garden City adjacent to the City Wastewater Treatment Plant) and transmit it approximately 5.5 miles to the Sandhills Wellfield south of Garden City to recharge the aquifer. The concept is similar to the Aquifer Storage and Recharge (ASR).

This project will provide water to nearby irrigation users in exchange for groundwater resources during the growing season. The project will also provide water to the  Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Sandsage Bison Range and Wildlife Area to apply effluent water for aquifer recharge. This opportunity would allow continued agricultural production while reducing the demand on the aquifer in the area immediately to the City’s water supply, highlighting the MAR concept’s flexibility.

The project design should also strategically place resources to provide additional treatment options in the future if needed. Future treatment needs may include treatment to address groundwater quality issues or implementation of a combined treatment facility that may address the treatment of groundwater supplies and provide for advanced treatment of reclaimed water for  Direct Potable Reuse.

Water reuse activities previously identified in the Feasibility Study and the Marketing Study submitted to and approved by the United States Department of Interior / Bureau of Reclamation identified four potential phases of water reuse. The purpose of this RFQ is to address Phase I and II as outlined in the table below:

Phase	Description	Opinion of Cost
I	Infrastructure for irrigation reuse opportunities	$19,100,000.00
II	Additional irrigation opportunities at Sandsage Bison Range and Managed Aquifer Recharge via infiltration basins.	$15,800,000.00

Grant funds will be utilized for the project design and construction, including all qualifying ancillary needs functions to achieve this goal from a design and construction standpoint.

Scope of Work:

The City is seeking professional services from qualified Firms to manage and perform the following professional services:

• Perform a NEPA Environmental Review as outlined in the EPA’s NEPA implementing regulations.
• Assist the City with the compilation completion of all pre-award Application Forms, Workplan, and additional required documentation required for the Community Grants Program application submission via Grants.gov.
• Project delivery may include Design-Bid-Build or Design-Build as potential alternatives to accomplish the Water Reclamation and Reuse Project.
• Develop a project schedule of activities consistent with the approved EPA Workplan
• Prepare an engineered project design consistent with the project overview, feasibility, and marketing studies.
• Prepare a project manual for the project design
• Prepare bid documents for project construction
• Administer project construction
• Prepare project pay estimates.
• Prepare applications required for the project design for permitting purposes. Agencies / Activities may include, but are not limited to: Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Kansas Department of Agriculture - Division of Water Resources, Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), United States Army Corps of Engineers, or environmental review processes as required by the State of Kansas, EPA or other federal agencies.
• Coordinate with the City to assist with EPA reporting requirements consistent with EPA regulations, including periodic reports and progress and performance reports to be submitted to the EPA.
• Serve as a technical consultant to educate City officials in preparing and submitting all necessary reports to the EPA, including financial reimbursement forms, MBE/WBE forms, etc.
• Serve as technical liaison between the City and KDHE.
• Serve as technical liaison between the City and the EPA on all matters related to the EPA Community Grants Program.
• Assist the City or its legal counsel with preparing or negotiating contracts related to reclaimed water delivery for reuse or any other ancillary functions of the Water Reclamation & Reuse project requiring a contractual agreement.
• Assist in the identification and acquisition of easements or right-of-way access for any project infrastructure or other infrastructure related to the successful execution of the project.
• Assist the City or its legal counsel in securing formal agreements for implementing the Water Reclamation & Reuse Project with any identified partner entities.
• Coordinate work with partner entities and agencies during all phases of the project.
• Communicate progress regularly to the City
• Complete and distribute a final programmatic performance report summarizing all grant activities

The consultant must have an excellent working knowledge of the Water / Wastewater Infrastructure Design and Project Management, Kansas Water Rights Administration, Drought Resiliency Planning, Water Supply Planning, Hydrogeological Conditions, State and Federal Environmental Regulations, and Federal Grant Programs.

Schedule:

The estimated project start date is July 1, 2023. The grant project period will be determined after the pre-award activities are complete and a formal award is in place.

Project Deliverables:

The selected consultant will deliver the following reports/plans to the City of Garden City in conjunction with the scope of work:

• Project design and specifications
• Updated opinions of probable cost for the project design
• Reports required for EPA Grant Compliance
• Quarterly Performance Reports and associated milestone reporting reports
• Environmental Site Assessment Reports
• Final Programmatic Performance Report

Firm Selection:

The City will select a consultant based on Firm capabilities, past project experience, key staff assigned to the project, knowledge, and history of working in the community, including coordinating with the partner entities and agencies, understanding of the objectives and goals of the current redevelopment and revitalization plans for the City, and technical approach. Qualifying Firms must demonstrate experience managing federal grant projects related to environmental and public water supply issues.

Responses to this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) shall include the following sections (in order of importance):

1. Consultant’s Qualifications and Capabilities: Describe the qualifications and capabilities of the consultant as they relate to the managing of EPA grants and water reclamation, reuse, or drought resiliency projects, authoring grant applications, securing additional grant funding, and managing and complying with Federal contracts. Response to this section shall not exceed four (4) pages.
2. Past Project Experience: Include project summaries of relevant projects completed in Kansas, EPA Region 7 (or states directly adjacent) related to drought resiliency and water reclamation. Summarize the scope of work and provide client contact information. Response to this section shall not exceed five (5) pages.
3. Key Staff Assigned to the Project: Identify specific personnel assigned as the Project Manager and the Lead Technical staff for the project. Personnel identified in the proposal must be the principal staff that will work on the project and represents the majority of hours billed to the project. Resumes shall not exceed three (3) pages in length. To perform the work, project staff must meet all local, state, and federal requirements. Certified or licensed professionals must be used to perform the work as required. Response to this section shall not exceed three (3) pages.
4. Technical Approach: Describe the technical approach that will be used to complete the tasks described in this RFQ. Response to this section shall not exceed five (5) pages.
5. Project Costs:  Describe the Firms general cost of services structure for: Design Services, Architecture / Engineering Services, and Construction Inspection.

Required Acknowledgements and Certifications:

The following items are required for all statements of qualification submitted.

CERTIFICATION REGARDING DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION.

1. By submitting this qualification statement, the prospective lower-tier participant certifies that neither it nor its principals are presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any Federal Department or Agency.
2. Where the prospective lower-tier participant is unable to certify to any of the statements in this certification, such prospective participant shall attache an explanation to this statement of qualifications.

Insert a brief statement of acknowledgment regarding this condition.

DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (DBE) REQUIREMENTS.

1. Policy: It is the policy of the Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Garden City that businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (DBEs) have the maximum opportunity to participate in the performance of contracts financed in whole or in part with federal funds.
2. The obligation of the Firm to DBEs: The Firm agrees to assure that DBEs have the maximum opportunity to participate in the performance of this Agreement and any sub-consultant agreement financed in whole or in part with federal funds. In this regard, the Firm shall take all necessary and reasonable steps to ensure DBEs have the maximum opportunity to compete for and perform services. The Firm shall not discriminate based on race, color, religion, creed, disability, sex, age, or national origin in the performance of this Agreement or the award of any subsequent sub-consultant agreement.

Insert a brief statement of acknowledgment regarding this condition.

ANTI-LOBBYING ACT CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.

1. No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of an agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any Federal contract, the making of any Federal grant, the making of any Federal loan, the entering into of any cooperative agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative Agreement. Compliance with this requirement will be reported to the City by the Firm via written instrument complying with the provisions of 31 U.S.C § 3801 et seq., apply to this certification and disclosure, if any. With any contract award, the Firm will provide a certificate of this provision via EPA Form 6600-06 in its current revision.

Insert a brief statement of acknowledgment regarding this condition.

Proposal Information:

No questions shall be directed to, or contact made with, the Governing Body, the City Manager, or City staff other than as referred herein concerning this project until a Firm is selected. Violating this prohibition may result in the disqualification of the consultant from further consideration. The City is not obligated to enter into any contract based on any submittal in response to the RFQ. The City reserves the right to request additional information from any consultant submitting under this RFQ if the City deems such information necessary to evaluate the consultant’s qualifications fully. The City reserves the right to waive informalities and minor irregularities in submittals and determine what constitutes informalities and minor irregularities. Consultants shall be responsible for all costs associated with their submittal.

Any questions concerning the scope of this project, requests for additional information, or any other questions shall be directed to:

Fred Jones, Water Resource Manager

City of Garden City, Kansas

140 Harvest Street / PO Box 998

Garden City, KS  67846-0998

by 4:00 p.m. May 3, 2023. Responses, if any, shall be in writing.

Questions or requests for additional information shall be conveyed in writing. Responses to any questions will be provided to all persons who have been provided the RFQ.

In its sole discretion, the City reserves the right to reject all submissions, reissue a subsequent RFQ or RFP, terminate, restructure, or amend this procurement process at any time. This RFQ is not a bid. Evaluation of respondent qualifications will use the evaluation criteria contained herein. The City may contact any consultant after receiving its submittal to seek clarification of any portion thereof. The City reserves the right to request additional information from any consultant if the City deems such information necessary to evaluate the consultant’s qualifications.

In the event the City elects to negotiate a contract with a selected consultant, the City reserves the right to negotiate such terms and conditions of the Agreement, including, but not limited to, scope, role, price, and staffing, which may be in the best interest of the City. If the City receives a subsequent grant in the future, the City reserves the right to continue with the current consultant.

************THIS SPACE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK – SEE FOLLOWING PAGE************

Submit four (4) hard copies of the statement of qualifications.

The deadline for proposals is 4:00 p.m. May 3, 2023.

Send proposals to the following addresses based on the method of delivery: