This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Florence, South Carolina. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

The City of Florence, South Carolina (the City) is soliciting proposals from qualified consulting firms specializing in historic preservation or a related field. The selected proposal will provide the City with services for the development of new Design Guidelines for the City's overlay districts. This project is funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and administered by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH). The Downtown Design Guidelines will also assist and support the City's existing and projected regulatory plans and ordinances including the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and Comprehensive Plan and Existing City Report. Responses should be submitted based on the information and guidelines provided in this Request for Proposals (RFP). This RFP is being publicly advertised. The City will make the selection based on the responses submitted, interviews with firms, and then negotiate a final agreement with the selected firm. Responders are welcome to establish consortiums or teams of firms in connection with this RFP. The final selection of the firm will be based on the criteria set forth in this RFP. This solicitation does not commit the City of Florence to award a contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a response, or to procure or contract for services. The City of Florence reserves the right to accept or reject any or all submissions received as a result of this Request for Proposals, or to cancel it in part or in its entirety if it is in the best interest of the City of Florence. MINORITY AND WOMAN OWNED BUSINESS Minority Business Owners (minority or woman owned businesses) will be afforded full opportunity to submit a response to the Request for Proposals and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, creed, sex, or national origin in consideration for an award. It is the policy of the City that minority business and women owned business enterprises (MBE/WBE) have an opportunity to participate at all levels of contracting in the performance of City contracts to the extent practical and consistent with the efficient performance of the contract. Please indicate that you are a minority or woman owned business with your proposal submission. The successful contractor(s) must ensure that all subcontractors, agents, personnel assigned by or employees of prime company and subcontractors are not discriminated against because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The successful contractor(s) must make positive efforts to provide equal employment opportunity for minority and women owned businesses. All submitted materials shall become the sole property of the City of Florence. Contractors will relinquish claim for return of submitted material. The City shall have sole discretion in evaluating the responses. The City reserves the right to reject any and all responses and is not bound to accept any response if it is contrary to the best interest of the City. QUESTIONS AND INQUIRIES: The deadline for the submission of any and all questions and inquiries concerning this RFP is January 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm. All questions must be directed to Lynwood F. Givens, Purchasing Agent in written format and e-mailed to lgivens@cityofflorence.com. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The current Design Guidelines were drafted in 2005 to serve as standards for City staff, residents, and appointed Design Review Board members charged with reviewing projects in Florence's historic districts. Though the City ordinance has been regularly updated, the Design Guidelines remain unaltered since their adoption nearly two decades ago. Florence's five local downtown districts see considerable activity, and often Board members are tasked with interpreting broadly written guidelines or evaluating materials that were not in use when the guidelines were written. The goal of this project will be a new document that addresses new materials and technologies, expands on and clarifies the approval process, provides updated historic standards, and includes more image-based content. Educating property owners and the general public as to the value of historic preservation and historic character are also goals of the new Guidelines. The City of Florence intends the updated Guidelines to support efforts to improve the available resources for current and prospective residents in the downtown districts, the Board members, and City staff. SCOPE OF WORK The proposed consultant will be responsible for but not limited to the following: A. Initial Meeting with City and Public Meetings 1. City staff will schedule a meeting with the consultant before work begins to discuss the scope of work, methodology, schedule, data formatting issues, and other matters as necessary. All work associated with this request will be subject to review and approval by SCDAH. 2. City staff will also schedule an initial public meeting with the consultant to introduce the project to the public and receive public comment. This may be part of a regularly scheduled Design Review Board meeting or a separate public meeting specifically for this purpose. 3. The Consultant will be required to make a public presentation to summarize the final approved design guidelines. 4. The Consultant will be required to conduct a training workshop on use and application of the final approved design guidelines specifically for City staff and members of the Design Review Board. B. Design Guidelines 1. The consultant will tour the five (5) districts in order to understand the scale, context and architectural styles of Florence. 2. The consultant will recommend appropriate formats for the design guidelines, allowing for future updates as needed. 3. The City will choose a format and authorize the consultant to proceed with the design guidelines. 4. The document produced by the consultant will include guidelines that assist the City of Florence Design Review Board and property owners in determining appropriate design for rehabilitation of existing buildings and appropriate design for new buildings proposed for construction within the historic district. Illustrations, a combination of photographs and drawings, may include both local and national examples to accompany text to show examples of appropriate and inappropriate design choices for the district. 5. The City of Florence and SCDAH will review a draft of the design guidelines. The Design Review Board and the public will also be afforded the opportunity to review and comment on the draft document which shall be considered in finalizing the document. The consultant will address all review comments in the final draft. FINAL PRODUCTS The consultant will provide the City with five bound copies of the final Design Guidelines, plus one unbound security copy. The Design Guidelines should also be provided in digital format so that the City may make future additions or changes. The consultant will additionally provide SCDAH with three bound copies, one unbound copy, and one digital copy. As part of their proposal, Consultants should affirm their compliance with the following: 1. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in programs assisted by the U.S. Department of the Interior. 2. Debarment Certification, 43 CFR, Part 12, Section 12.510 and stating that neither the consultant nor its principals is presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any Federal department or agency. Final deliverables must be completed and provided to the City of Florence no later than September 15th, 2024.