This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Portsmouth, Ohio. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

Purpose of this Request for Proposals: The City of Portsmouth, through this Request for Qualifications (RFQ), is seeking a qualified environmental consulting firm to provide assistance with: (a) securing state grants for the assessment, cleanup, or redevelopment of brownfield properties, and (b) implementation of environmental investigations, remediation activities, risk assessments, community outreach, and other environmental or planning components of grants for which funding is secured. This solicitation is being issued in part to comply with State of Ohio requirements for hiring of a Certified Professional Firm to assist communities with grants awarded by the Ohio Department of Development. 1.2 Background Information: The purpose of the RFQ is to select a consultant with experience in brownfield assessment and remediation combined with grant application and management experience. The objectives of the City of PORTSMOUTH may expand at a later date to include individual sites targeted for assessment, depending on the future availability of funding. The successful consultant will bring experience and insight to a partnership with the City of PORTSMOUTH to obtain and implement a remediation grant as well as to explore other grants and brownfields initiatives as funds become available. 1.3 Type of Contract and Contract Term: The City of PORTSMOUTH prefers to award a contract to one full-service firm to serve as a partner in successfully obtaining grant funding and then achieving the goals required to successfully complete the grant funded work. The contract period will begin with notification from the City of PORTSMOUTH of selection. Individual projects under the contract will start upon identification of grant application activities and will continue through the completion of the individual grant agreement associated with each project. The contract period may be extended at the option of the City of PORTSMOUTH if additional grant funds are available. 1.4 Payment Procedures: Payments for implementation of successful grants will be monthly for work specified and completed and in accordance with the budget developed and approved by the City of PORTSMOUTH and the grant program. 3. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS: 3.1 General Expectations: Consultants are asked to submit proposals describing their capacity and success within the Ohio Department of Development as well as their ability to manage and implement these types of grant funded projects. Any clarification or questions regarding this proposal shall be submitted in writing via email to the below contact person, clarification will be provided within 3 business days, phone calls or in person visits will not be accepted. Ms. Tracy Shearer TShearer@portsmouthoh.org Proposals are limited to ten single sided (10) pages, exclusive of a maximum of five (5) resumes, limited to 2 pages each. Standard advertising brochures should not be included in the proposal. The proposal shall include the following information in the order presented below: 1.0 Business Organization: Name, contact information, a brief history of the firm, size, office locations, and applicable expertise. The name, address, and telephone number of the specified contact person and/or prospective project manager regarding the proposal shall be included. 2.0 Management Outline and Project Approach: A description of how the consulting firm will work with the PORTSMOUTH in preparing successful grant application(s) and subsequent implementation of said brownfields grants. 3.0 Experience and Capabilities: The relevant management and technical experience and capabilities of the consulting firm shall be defined with respect to the following activities related to implementation of successful grants:1. Experience with Ohio EPA Projects. 2. Experience with Ohio Department of Development Grant Projects. 3. Experience with brownfield sites in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio: A description of relevant brownfield projects the consultant is currently working on or recently completed in Southeast Ohio. 4.0 Project Experience of Key Personnel: A. Please provide a demonstration of experience for proposed personnel with the following activities: 1. Experience preparing successful grant applications. 2. Conducting environmental investigations and cleanups in Southeast Ohio. 3. Brownfield project experience. 4. Community involvement activities related to brownfields properties. B. Please provide a demonstration of proposed personnel experience with Regulatory and Scientific/Technical Knowledge: 1. Knowledge and expertise pertaining to federal and state environmental grant programs and track record preparing successful grant applications. 2. Knowledge and expertise working with Ohio EPA. 3. Knowledge and expertise pertaining to Ohio EPA environmental and other Federal, laws, and regulations. 4. Individual staff knowledge and technical experience relative to ESAs, brownfield projects and contaminated site remediation. 3.3 General Process: The City of PORTSMOUTH will review and evaluate the proposals with the following criteria in mind: successful track record in obtaining grant funding; expertise related to relevant project component; firm and staff experience related to brownfields assessment, familiarity with the local community; ability to facilitate public outreach activities; demonstrated ability to provide comprehensive and innovative environmental services. The City of PORTSMOUTH reserves the right to accept or reject proposals on any basis it deems appropriate. Terms and Conditions : The City of PORTSMOUTH reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals, of portions thereof, without stated cause. The City of PORTSMOUTH reserves the right to re-issue any RFQ or cancel the RFQ if none of the proposals are deemed satisfactory to the City of PORTSMOUTH. If the City of PORTSMOUTH, for any reason, is unable to reach a final agreement with this finalist; the City of PORTSMOUTH then reserves the right to reject such finalist and negotiate a final agreement with another finalist who has the next most viable proposal. The City of PORTSMOUTH may also elect to reject all proposals and re-issue a new RFQ. 3.5 Public Information: Information supplied by the Proposer to the City of PORTSMOUTH is subject to the Ohio Public Records Law. Such information shall become public unless it falls within one of the exceptions in the statute, such as security information, trade secret information, or labor relations information. If the Proposer believes any information which is not public will be supplied in response to this RFQ, the vendor shall take reasonable steps to identify for the City of PORTSMOUTH what data, if any, it believes falls within the exceptions. If the proposal data is not marked in such a way as to identify non-public data, the City of PORTSMOUTH will treat the information as public and release it upon request. In addition, the City of PORTSMOUTH reserves the right to make the final determination of whether data identified by the proposer as not public falls within the exceptions within the statute. 3.6 Proposal Time Schedule: The timeline for completion of this request for proposals is outlined below. December 16, 2021 Formal announcement date for RFQ January 7, 2022 Deadline for submittal of proposals January 10, 2022 Proposal evaluation is completed (anticipated) January 14, 2022 Contract inception date (anticipated actual date may depend on approval by the City of PORTSMOUTH Council) 3.7 Notification of Award: The City of PORTSMOUTH plans to select a consultant by approximately January 14, 2022. Should either party fail to execute a contract within 30 days of notification of award, the City of PORTSMOUTH reserves the right to rescind the award and select services from another interested firm. 3.9 Late Proposals Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered. 4. VENDOR REQUIREMENTS The Proposer agrees to comply with all federal, state, and local laws, resolutions, ordinances, rules, regulations, and executive orders pertaining to unlawful discrimination on account of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, sexual preference, disability, or age. When required by law or requested by the City of PORTSMOUTH, the Proposer shall furnish a written affirmative action plan.