City of Seattle
Request for Proposal
RFP No. SPU-565
TITLE: SPU South Transfer Station Educational Exhibit
Closing Date & Time: 06/03/2013; 4:00PM
Table 1: Schedule of Events
Events / DateRFP Release / 05/10/2013
Optional Pre-Proposal Conference / 05/16/2013;10:00 AM
Deadline for Questions / 05/20/2013
Sealed Proposals Due to the City / 06/03/2013; 4:00PM
RFP Interviews (if Necessary) / 06/10/2013
The City reserves the right to modify this schedule at the City’s discretion. Notification of changes in the response due date would be posted on the City website or as otherwise stated herein.
Mark the outside of your mailing envelope with RFP SPU-565.
PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED ON OR BEFORE THE DUE DATE AND TIME
AND MUST BE DELIVERED TO THE LOCATION LISTED IN SECTION 6:
1. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
By responding to this Request for Proposal (RFP), Proposer agrees that s/he has read and understands all documents within this RFP package.
Purpose:
The purpose of this contract is the design, fabrication and installation of an interactive interpretive exhibit(s) for the purposes of educating the public and private visitors. The specific audience and goals of the interpretive exhibit(s) shall be provided to the vendor by Seattle Public Utilities. While suitable for a general adult audience the exhibit(s) shall also be accessible both physically and educationally to youth, with a maximum reading level of approximately 6th grade.
Background:
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has constructed a new solid waste transfer station at 130 South Kenyon Street, Seattle, WA. An observation room, roughly 620 square feet, is located directly above the south end of the self-haul section of the transfer station floor. This room is intended to provide a safe and controlled environment for observation of the floor and for exhibits and information that educate visitors about the solid waste stream as managed by Seattle Public Utilities.
SPU educational content criteria for this exhibit(s) includes:
· How Seattle’s solid waste system works. How garbage, recycling, and compost are handled.
· How the transfer station works, highlighting LEED Gold features of the facility.
· What visitors can do at home or work to minimize garbage (reduce, recycle, compost) and how this impacts other environmental issues such as limited natural resources and climate change.
Single Award: With this solicitation, the City intends to award one contract and does not anticipate award to multiple companies. Regardless, the City reserves the right to make multiple or partial awards.
2. SOLICITATION OBJECTIVES
The City expects to achieve the following outcomes:
· Provide a skilled vendor that has a strong record and experience, so the City is assured to get dependable, responsive, proven and expert services;
· Get the best value, with consideration to experience, skills, and other selection criteria as well as price.
· Provide the best environmentally-educational product relevant to the transfer station.
3. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
The following are minimum qualifications and licensing requirements that the Vendor must meet in order to be eligible to submit a RFP response. Responses must clearly show compliance to these minimum qualifications. Those that are not clearly responsive to these minimum qualifications shall be rejected by the City without further consideration:
1. Vendor must have a minimum of five years continuous experience during which time display design, fabrication and installation services has been the primary business service.
2. Vendor must have successfully performed at least one contract with one of the following during the last three years; a public or private agency of similar size to the City of Seattle; a museum; an education or environmental center; or another venue with similar requirements
4. LICENSING AND BUSINESS TAX REQUIREMENTS
This solicitation and resultant contract may require additional licensing as listed below. The Vendor needs to meet all licensing requirements that apply to their business immediately after contract award or the City may reject the Vendor.
Companies must license, report and pay revenue taxes for the Washington State business License (UBI#) and Seattle Business License, if they are required to hold such a license by the laws of those jurisdictions. The Vendor should carefully consider those costs prior to submitting their offer, as the City will not separately pay or reimburse those costs to the Vendor.
Seattle Business Licensing and associated taxes
§ If you have a “physical nexus” in the city, you must obtain a Seattle Business license and pay all taxes due before the Contract can be signed.
§ A “physical nexus” means that you have physical presence, such as: a building/facility located in Seattle, you make sales trips into Seattle, your own company drives into Seattle for product deliveries, and/or you conduct service work in Seattle (repair, installation, service, maintenance work, on-site consulting, etc).
§ We provide a Vendor Questionnaire Form in our submittal package items later in this RFP, and it will ask you to specify if you have “physical nexus”.
§ All costs for any licenses, permits and Seattle Business License taxes owed shall be borne by the Vendor and not charged separately to the City.
§ The apparent successful Vendor must immediately obtain the license and ensure all City taxes are current, unless exempted by City Code due to reasons such as no physical nexus. Failure to do so will result in rejection of the bid/proposal.
§ Self-Filing You can pay your license and taxes on-line using a credit card https://dea.seattle.gov/self/
§ For Questions and Assistance, call the Revenue and Consumer Protection (RCP) office which issues business licenses and enforces licensing requirements. The general e-mail is . The main phone is 206-684-8484, or call RCP staff for assistance ( Anna Pedroso at 206-615-1611, Wendy Valadez at 206-684-8509 or Brenda Strickland at 206 684-8404).
§ The licensing website is http://www.seattle.gov/rca/taxes/taxmain.htm.
§ The City of Seattle website allows you to apply and pay on-line with a Credit Card if you choose.
§ If a business has extraordinary balances due on their account that would cause undue hardship to the business, the business can contact our office to request additional assistance. A cover-sheet providing further explanation, along with the application and instructions for a Seattle Business License is provided below for your convenience.
§ Please note that those holding a City of Seattle Business license may be required to report and pay revenue taxes to the City. Such costs should be carefully considered by the Vendor prior to submitting your offer. When allowed by City ordinance, the City will have the right to retain amounts due at the conclusion of a contract by withholding from final invoice payments.
State Business Licensing and associated taxes.
Before the contract is signed, you must have a State of Washington business license (a State “Unified Business Identifier” known as a UBI#). If the State of Washington has exempted your business from State licensing (for example, some foreign companies are exempt and in some cases, the State waives licensing because the company does not have a physical presence in the State), then submit proof of that exemption to the City. All costs for any licenses, permits and associated tax payments due to the State as a result of licensing shall be borne by the Vendor and not charged separately to the City. Instructions and applications are at http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/file.html.
5. SPECIFICATIONS and SCOPE OF WORK
Task 1 - Design, fabricate, and install exhibit(s)
Task description:
Design interactive exhibit(s), based on the content criteria specifications outlined in this scope. The exhibits will be fabricated at the vendor's facilities and then assembled and installed at the transfer station by the vendor's technicians, during regular transfer station hours. The transfer station education room will not be open to the public during installation or maintenance. All materials and workmanship will be warranted for a minimum of 2 years from date of final approval of installation unless superseded by a manufacturer's warranty.
This task shall include a needs assessment to ensure the exhibit(s) are relevant to the audience in addition to meeting the educational criteria mentioned above.
Exhibit Criteria:
· The target audience age is general audience, with any text not exceeding a 6th grade level of reading ability.
· The exhibit(s) may consist of custom artwork, interactive sculptures and graphic displays.
· The vendor will install exhibit components to existing plumbing and electrical systems.
· No structural modifications to the existing education room will be done under this contract.
· Exhibit(s) may not contain loose parts (e.g. balls, blocks, writing utensils, etc.). Exhibits are to be self-contained and require no re-stocking of parts.
· Exhibit(s) shall be designed to be operated in a manner that does not require SPU staff to provide instruction, be present, or to maintain functionality or maintenance.
· Exhibit(s) shall not obscure the viewing room window, or inhibit transit to/from restrooms, meeting rooms, stairways, etc.
· Exhibit(s) shall be designed so that at least two adults or four children can view it simultaneously.
· The line of sight from the education room looking out the tipping room floor window shall not be impeded by the exhibit(s).
· Exhibit(s) shall be ADA accessible and maintain all ADA accessibility throughout the room.
· Exhibit(s) shall not allow any “hiding” areas for small children or feature any safety concerns.
· Exhibit(s) shall highlight environmentally-responsive construction features, including post-consumer recycled content materials, locally salvaged or reused materials, etc.
· Exhibit(s) shall include “information-rich” feature(s) for visitors who want to know more.
· Note: A television monitor and a brochure rack are already established so should not be included in a proposal.
The Vendor shall provide SPU with a detailed design proposal for SPU review and approval. Exhibit(s) fabrication shall not be executed prior to SPU approval of the exhibit(s) proposal. The design proposal will highlight the exhibit(s)’s relevance to SPU’s content and criteria goals. The proposal shall also outline any and all additional research and design objectives that were discovered during the design draft stage.
Assumptions:
SPU and the vendor will discuss the primary criteria and priority elements preliminary to the design. The final design for the exhibit shall be approved by Seattle Public Utilities. This process shall be facilitated by the vendor and all actions proposed by the vendor shall be approved by Seattle Public Utilities prior to execution by the vendor.
Deliverables:
· SPU-approved Design Proposal indicating and detailing the design and methodology for the exhibit(s).
· Detailed mock-up drawings
· Completed exhibit(s) installed and fully functional per criteria outlined in this scope.
· Five (5) hard copies of the Operations and Maintenance (O&M Manuals) manuals for the exhibit(s) in addition to an electronic version submitted to the SPU project manager.
· A minimum of one on-site training for project manager and other key staff
· A complete set of design, fabrication, and installation specifications for potential replication for other venues. The city will own the design upon contract award.
Schedule:
All work within this contract shall be completed by the timeline below with the final invoice received within one month after completion. Contract schedule is flexible only by written agreement with SPU.
Estimated Schedule & Milestones:
06/18/2013 / Purchase Order Executed07/08/20/13 / Design proposal due to SPU from Vendor
07/19/2013 / SPU review comments due
08/08/2013 / Design proposal review process complete. SPU & Vendor mutually accept design proposal. Comments, Review and Design Proposal approval completed.
09/20/2013 / Installation of SPU-Approved exhibit installation completed. Provide intermediate project status updates.
Continuance of work contingent to SPU Approval.
09/30/2013 / Training for exhibit(s) completed by this date. O&M Manuals submitted.
Task 2 - Project/Contract Management
Task description:
The vendor shall provide SPU with monthly invoices and updates. The invoices shall include a detailed report of all actions performed during the invoice period. The vendor shall provide financial oversight and invoices with supporting documentation to meet both generally accepted accounting practices and SPU’s requirements and format.
The vendor shall respond to information requests from the SPU project manager within two business days, or on a mutually agreed deadline.
The SPU project manager and consultant shall meet as needed to ensure progress of project.
Assumptions:
Format of regular updates, reports and invoices shall be approved by Seattle Public Utilities prior to execution.
Deliverables:
· Monthly invoices in an SPU approved format.
· Written status reports submitted with each invoice, based on a template approved by SPU. Status reports shall include the work performed, any research done and pertinent information relating to the current status of the exhibit.
· Vendor shall maintain a detailed record of all contacts made during the contract period. The format of the record shall be approved by SPU prior to execution
Schedule:
Invoices with status reports are due monthly. Final invoice due 30 days after installation of exhibit
Design Proposal Mock Up: After award, the City will require the apparent successful Vendor to submit a detailed mock up drawing of the product(s), along with samples of the materials that will be used. The cost of the mock up and samples may not be charged to the City and must be included in the unit price of the fixture. In the event the mock up does not meet performance and/or capability requirements in the opinion of the City, the City will notify the Vendor. The Vendor may be asked to modify the mock up to the City’s satisfaction and submit a new mock up at no additional cost to the City unless mutually agreed upon otherwise in advance of such costs being incurred, or the City may choose to terminate the contract.
Expansion Clause: Any resultant contract or Purchase Order may be expanded as allowed below. A modification may be considered per the criteria and procedures below, for any ongoing Blanket Contract that has not yet expired. Likewise, a one-time Purchase Order may be modified if the bid reserved the right for additional orders to be placed within a specified period of time, or if the project or body of work associated with a Purchase Order is still active. Such modifications must be mutually agreed. The only person authorized to make such agreements on behalf of the City is the Buyer from the City Purchasing Division (Department of Finance and Administrative Services). No other City employee is authorized to make such written notices. Expansions must be issued in writing from the City Buyer in a formal notice. The Buyer will ensure the expansion meets the following criteria collectively: (a) it could not be separately bid, (b) the change is for a reasonable purpose, (c) the change was not reasonably known to either the City or vendors at time of bid or else was mentioned as a possibility in the bid (such as a change in environmental regulation or other law); (d) the change is not significant enough to be reasonably regarded as an independent body of work; (e) the change could not have attracted a different field of competition; and (f) the change does not vary the essential identity or main purpose of the contract. The Buyer shall make this determination, and may make exceptions for immaterial changes, emergency or sole source conditions, or for other situations as required in the opinion of the Buyer.