ATTENTION FIRMS!

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

Townhouse Project

PROJECT MANAGER
Paul Finke, Facilities Engineer
Phone: 503-838-8129
FAX: 503-838-8081
Email: finkep@wou.edu

ISSUE DATE: 3 September 2004
RFQ CLOSING (DUE) DATE: 21 September 2004, 3:00 pm PST

NO LATE RESPONSES WILL BE ACCEPTED

MAILING ADDRESS
Western Oregon University
Attn: Paul Finke, Physical Plant Planning Office
345 N Monmouth Avenue
Monmouth, Oregon 97361

Introduction

Western Oregon University (WOU) is seeking qualifications from General Contractors interested in providing construction services for new townhouse units on WOU's Campus. (WOU is seeking responses from General Contractors that will themselves be significantly involved in performing the construction work, rather than from firms that would propose to act as developers for the Project.)

The Townhouse Project (the "Project") consists primarily of three or four townhouse buildings, parking lots, an access road, and other site improvements excluding landscape and irrigation. Each townhouse building features four townhouse apartments. The estimated direct construction cost for the Project is $2.3 million. Construction is expected to commence in November 2004, and must be complete by September 3, 2005.

WOU will utilize this RFQ/RFP process to obtain information to enable selection of the most qualified Proposer through evaluation of:

a. Responses to questions contained in this document;
b. Responses to questions contained in the Request for Proposals;
c. Information obtained during an interview with the Selection Committee; and
d. The results of discussions with the Proposers' references and others.

When selected, the General Contractor will be a part of a construction team composed of WOU staff, the Architect, and the General Contractor through completion of the Project.

Following this RFQ, WOU will issue an RFP, Plans and a Project Manual to those candidates selected to submit a proposal for the Project.

Selection Procedure and Timetable
Beginning with responses to this RFQ, the selection procedure will be used to evaluate the capabilities of General Contracting firms interested in providing construction services for the Project. The responses to this RFQ will be evaluated by the Selection Committee, which will be comprised of voting and non-voting representatives from WOU. On the basis of this evaluation, not more than five (5), firms will be selected for final consideration. Each of those will have the opportunity to promote their firm's capabilities through an interview process. Final selection will be based on all accumulated information including that gleaned through references and other sources.

Estimated timetable for contractor selection process:

Instructions to Proposers

Your response must follow the format outlined below in numerical order, and must be signed by an officer of your firm with the authority to commit the firm. Your response must be contained in a soft-bound (comb or spiral, spiral preferred - no three-ring binders) document not to exceed twenty (20) single-sided pages (regardless of the text equivalency in page length), including pictures, charts, graphs, tables, and text that the firm deems appropriate in response to the RFQ. To be considered for review, the information must be presented in the same order as the following questions. Resumes of key individuals, proposed to be involved in the Project, are exempted from the 20-page limit only if they are appended to the end of your response. Page size is limited to 8-1/2 x 11 inches (no fold-outs), with basic text information no smaller than 12-point type, and no less than 1 (one) inch margins. Only a cover letter and resumes of the proposed key individuals may be appended to the 20-page RFQ. Front and back covers and blank section dividers will not be counted in the 20-page limit. Any other inserted pages will be counted. Failure to comply with these instructions will result in rejection of your response.

WOU may reject any submittal not in compliance with all prescribed public bidding procedures and requirements and the requirements of this RFQ, and may cancel this solicitation or reject for good cause any or all responses upon a finding by WOU that it is in the public interest to do so.

Please note that throughout this procurement, WOU will not accept responses or queries that require WOU to pay the cost of production or delivery. WOU is an AA/EEO employer.

Telephone, facsimile, or electronically transmitted submittals will not be accepted.

No responses received after the closing date and time will be considered.

The following information categories constitute the evaluation criteria for scoring the qualification submittals. Please provide tabs keyed to each of the following numbered headings. You must respond to each question in numerical order. The Selection Committee will score each submittal on the basis of responses to these evaluation categories. Submittals will be rated based upon the weights assigned to each item as noted in the parentheses at the end of the categories.

1. Firm Background, Experience, and Success

Describe your firm's history. Include information identifying the firm's annual volume, financial/bonding capacities, and the firm's stability in the marketplace. Information identifying the firm's strengths and weaknesses, along with special capabilities, will assist in the evaluation. Include a company-wide organization chart. Describe your firm's experience with projects of similar size, type, schedule, and complexity. Identify those projects you feel to be the closest to the Project in terms of size and complexity and for what reasons. (5)

2. Firm Workload

Provide the status for current major work within the firm in terms of schedule and dollar volume, and discuss your firm's staffing and bonding capability to undertake the Project. (5)

3. Key Personnel

Demonstrate the proposed key personnel's specific experience on projects of similar size, complexity, and scope as the Project described in this RFQ. Specifically identify on-site management personnel. For all management personnel, identify the length of their employment with your firm, their responsibilities on the Project, and their primary office location. Indicate their time commitment for the Project during the pre-construction and construction phases. Address the individual's experience, if any, with new construction, and construction projects on college campuses. (10)
Provide the names and phone number of references for each of the key personnel you propose for the Project. The references should represent at least one of each of the following: Owners, Subcontractors, and Architects. These references should be from projects of a size, scope, and/or complexity comparable to the Project described in this RFQ. Verify that the references identified had direct contact with your team member and the phone number is current.

4. Scheduling

Address the firm's planning, scheduling, phasing, and project monitoring skills and processes as it pertains to a project of this scope and complexity. Identify the firm's success in constructing projects with similar schedules. (10)

5. Experiences with Higher Education Housing Projects

Identify any projects your firm has completed for the Oregon University System. Describe your firm's relevant experience by project and by date with the most recent first. (15)

6. Firm References

Provide the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three Owners, three Subcontractors, and three Architects to be used as references for the Project. These references should be from projects that have similarities to the Project identified in this solicitation. Please verify that the individuals identified have had direct contact with the referenced project, and the phone number is current. WOU may check these references and/or may check other references associated with past work of your firm. While reference results themselves will not be scored, results obtained in reference checks may be used to score other evaluation criteria. (0)

7. Claims Against the Owner

Provide a narrative defining the firm's philosophy regarding claims against the Owner. Please specifically address philosophy and actions on general, subcontractor, and material supplier claims associated with delays, deficient documents, strikes, and differing site conditions. Describe any efforts made to minimize these claims. (5)

Failure to fully comply with the requirements above will constitute grounds for rejection of the Proposal.

Proposal Evaluation

This RFQ is the first step in WOU's process to select a General Contractor for the Townhouse Project. Each member of the Selection Committee will score each category of the RFQ between 0 and 5, and multiply that number by the weight assigned to the respective category. The weighted scores will then be added to obtain a total score for each firm. This total will be used to rank all respondents. The Selection Committee will then collectively tally the scores, and discuss strengths and weaknesses of each firm in an effort to identify a maximum of five finalists. Those five candidate firms will be invited to respond to a Request for Proposal, visit the site, and participate in an interview. In the interview, candidate firms may be asked to respond to additional questions designed to clarify and/or expand on their statements of qualifications. Interviews will include a presentation period and Q&A session for each candidate firm. Following the interviews, the Selection Committee will rank the finalists to determine the winning firm. Final selection will be based on evaluation and review of all available information received, presented, and discovered through this selection process.

Responsibility Evaluation

WOU reserves the right to investigate and evaluate, at any time prior to award and execution of the contract, a submitting firm's responsibility in accordance with the requirements of Oregon Administrative Rules 580 Division 50, including but not limited to the firm's responsibility to perform the anticipated Project, and to consider information obtained from any source as part of its evaluation. Submission of a signed response shall constitute approval for WOU to obtain any information WOU deems necessary to conduct the evaluation, including but not limited to credit report information and information discovered during reference checks.

Financial Information: WOU shall notify the firms, in writing, of any other documentation required, which may include, but need not be limited to, recent profit-and-loss history; current balance statements; assets-to-liabilities ratio, including number and amount of secured versus unsecured creditor claims; availability of short and long-term financing; bonding capacity and credit information, etc. Failure to promptly provide this information shall result in rejection of the submission.

WOU may postpone the award or execution of a contract or selection of finalists in order to complete its investigation and evaluation. Failure of a firm to demonstrate responsibility, including but not limited to financial responsibility, shall render them non-responsive and shall constitute grounds for response rejection.

Submission
Submit eight (8) copies of your written Proposal by 3:00 pm, September 21, 2004 by messenger or delivery service to:

Western Oregon University
Attn: Paul Finke, Physical Plant Planning Office
345 N Monmouth Avenue
Monmouth, OR 97361

Questions
All questions and contacts with WOU regarding this RFQ must be addressed either in writing, fax, or email to Paul Finke at the address, fax, or email listed in this document. If you are unclear about any information contained in this document (project, scope, response format, etc.), you are urged to submit those questions for formal clarification.

Solicitation Protests
Respondents may submit a written request for change of particular solicitation provisions and specifications and conditions (including comments on any specifications that a firm believes limits competition) or a written protest to Paul Finke at the address, fax, or email listed in this document. Such requests or protests must be received no later than 3:00 pm September 14, 2004. Requests for change and protests shall include the reasons for the request or protest and any proposed changes to the solicitation provisions and specifications and conditions.

Change or Modification
Any change or modification to the specifications or the procurement process will be in the form of an addendum to the RFQ and will be made available to all firms by publication on the Project web site:
http://www.wou.edu/admin/plant/project/Townhouse RFQ.htm
It is the responsibility of each firm to visit the website and download any addenda to this RFQ. Failure to do so may render the firm's submission as non-responsive. No information received in any manner different than as described herein shall serve to change this RFQ in any way, regardless of the source of the information.

Selection Protests
Any respondent to this RFQ who claims to have been adversely affected or aggrieved by the selection of a competing respondent shall have five days after notification of that selection to submit a written protest of the selection to: Darin Silbernagel, Vice President for Business and Finance, Business Office, 345 N Monmouth Avenue, Monmouth, OR 97361. Any such protests must be received by Mr. Silbernagel no later than five days after the selection has been made. It is estimated that the selection decisions will be available upon request on October 6, 2004.

Proprietary Information
The Owner shall retain this RFQ and one copy of each original response received, together with copies of all documents pertaining to the award of a contract. These documents will be made a part of a file or record, which shall be open to public inspection after responder selection and award is announced. If a response contains any information that is considered a trade secret under ORS 192.501(2), mark each sheet of such information with the following legend: "This data constitutes a trade secret under ORS 192.501(2), and shall not be disclosed except in accordance with the Oregon Public Records Law, ORS Chapter 192."

The Oregon Public Records Law exempts from disclosure only bona fide trade secrets, and the exemption from disclosure applies only "unless the public interest requires disclosure in the particular instance." Therefore, non-disclosure of documents or any portion of a document submitted as part of a response may depend upon official or judicial determination made pursuant to the Public Records Law.

In order to facilitate public inspection of the non-confidential portion of the response, material designated as confidential shall accompany the response, but shall be readily separable from it. Prices, makes, model or catalog numbers of items offered, scheduled delivery dates, and terms of payment shall be publicly available regardless of any designation to the contrary. Any response marked as a trade secret in its entirety shall be considered non-responsive and shall be rejected.

Certification of Compliance with Tax Laws
By submission of our qualifications the signatory (a duly authorized representative of the submitting firm) shall certify that the firm is not, to the best of their knowledge, in violation of any Oregon tax law. For purposes of this certification, "Oregon Tax Laws" means a state tax imposed by ORS 401.792 to 401.816 (Tax For Emergency Communications), 118 (Inheritance Tax), 314 (Income Tax), 316 (Personal Income Tax), 317 (Corporation Excise Tax), 318 (Corporation Income Tax), 320 (Amusement Device and Transient Lodging Taxes), 321 (Timber and Forestland Tax), 323 (Cigarettes and Tobacco Products Tax), and the elderly rental assistance program under ORS 310.630 to 310.706; and any local taxes administered by the Department of Revenue under ORS 305.620.

END OF RFQ