Request for Qualifications Grant Management ServicesWater and Wastewater System Resiliency Projects

City of Lyons, Georgia

Request for Qualifications

(RFQ 5-26)

To Provide

Engineering Services

and

Grant Management Services

For

Water and Wastewater System Resiliency Projects

May 2026

City of Lyons, Georgia

Request for Qualifications

Engineering & Grant Management Services for

Water and Wastewater System Resiliency Projects

The City of Lyons, Georgia (hereinafter "Owner" or "City") is requesting Statements of Qualifications from professional firms interested in providing engineering and design services and grant management services. The services requested are for multiple water and wastewater system improvement projects funded in part by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) Hurricane Helene Resilience Funding Program. This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeks to identify one or more qualified engineering firms and one grant management firm to provide the above-mentioned services. Potential providers of each service type should have a strong record in successfully assisting local governments with public works infrastructure projects associated with Federal and/or State grant programs.

One or more firms for each type of service that respond to this RFQ and who are determined by the City of Lyons to be especially qualified for each type of service may be deemed eligible and may be invited to discuss and negotiate for these services. All respondents to the RFQ are subject to instructions communicated in this document and additional terms and conditions listed in the RFQ. Please note: The issuance of this RFQ invokes a Restriction of Communication on potential respondents, which, if violated, may result in proposal rejection (See Section 8 for details).

General Project Information

Project Descriptions & Goals

The overall goal of the projects is to address the impacts of Hurricane Helene and promote resilience in drinking water and wastewater facilities in Georgia, including decentralized wastewater facilities. The specific descriptions and goals for each project are as follows:

Drinking Water Project No.66 - Waterline Loop and Replacement

Replacement of 18,200 LF of 6-inch Transite waterline with 10" PVC pipe and the addition of a system loop to reduce breakage, leaks, and asbestos risk while improving pressure, flow, resiliency, and water delivery during outages.

Clean Water Project No.60 - Pump Station Improvements - Pumps

Replace (up-size) pumps at 16 City Pump Stations to increase pumping capacity, reduce spills and sewer overflows, and improve system resilience and redundancy. Pumps worn by sand and sediment during storms have reduced pumping efficiency.

Clean Water Project No.61 - Pump Station Improvements - Generators

Installation of emergency standby generators at 16 Lift Stations in the City to provide reliable pump and power to all of Lyons' lift stations. This will reduce overflows and environmental impacts, improving system resiliency and redundancy.

Requirements:

Engineering Firms: The firm must demonstrate experience in successful design and oversight of construction of municipal water systems.

Grant Administration Consultants: The grant administrator must demonstrate grant management experience in compliance with state and federal grant regulations.

The final scope of services will be developed during the negotiation process and agreed upon by the City and awardee(s) prior to the execution of the contract(s).

RFQ Schedule Of Events

The following Schedule of Events represents the City's best estimate of the schedule that will be followed. All times indicated are prevailing times in Georgia. The City reserves the right to adjust the schedule as the City deems necessary.

Selection Process

A Selection Committee, consisting of representatives of the City, will identify a selection of finalist firms through a qualifications-based selection process. The Selection Committee will receive and evaluate Statements of Qualifications submitted in response to this RFQ using the following criteria:

Criteria for evaluation of Statements of Qualifications

Finalist Notification

The names of the firms selected as finalists will be posted on the Georgia Procurement Registry. The firms selected as finalists will receive written notification (Finalist Notification) from the Owner which will address the necessary elements of the remainder of the selection process. These elements include, but may not be limited to, the following:

Interview

In the Finalist Notification, each finalist firm shall be informed of the place and time for the interview session. The time allotted to each firm will not exceed 60 minutes to include: setup (if applicable), the proposer's presentation (maximum of 30 minutes), Committee questions, and knockdown (if applicable). Additional interview instructions and guidelines may be provided in the Notice to Finalists, as well as the criteria which will be used to evaluate the interview.

Consultant Selection

Upon completion of the evaluation and interview process by the Selection Committee, the firms will be ranked using criteria described herein in descending order of recommendation. Negotiations may then be initiated with the highest-ranking firm to finalize the terms and conditions of the contract, including the fees to be paid. In the event a satisfactory fee agreement cannot be reached with the highest ranking firm, the Owner will formally terminate the negotiations in writing and enter into negotiations in turn with the second highest ranking firm, and so on until a mutual agreement is established and the Owner awards contracts for the requested services. The actual Form of Contract may be developed by the Awardee or Owner but shall be in accordance with negotiation agreements.

Instructions for Preparing Statements of Qualifications:

A single PDF file of the Statement of Qualifications shall be prepared and emailed to prior to the submission deadline. Each submittal must include a transmittal letter. The transmittal letter must clearly indicate all services and projects for which the firm would like to be considered. Submittals must be able to print on standard (8 12" x 11") paper. The pages of the qualification submittals must be numbered. A table of contents, with corresponding tabs, must be included to identify each section. Each Statement of Qualifications shall provide a straightforward, concise delineation of respondent's capabilities. Fancy, colored displays, and promotional materials are not desired. Emphasis must be on completeness, relevance, and clarity of content. The content of all Statements of Qualifications must be categorized and numbered as outlined below, and responsive to all requested information:

Description and Resources of Firm

Provide basic company information: Company name, address, name of primary contact, telephone number, fax number, email address, and company website (if available). If the firm has multiple offices, the qualification statement shall include information about the parent company and branch office separately. Identify the office from which the project will be managed and this office's proximity to the project site. Provide form of ownership, including state of residency or incorporation, and number of years in business. Is the offeror a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), joint venture, or other structure?

Briefly describe the history and growth of your firm(s). Provide general information about the firm's personnel resources, including disciplines and numbers of employees and locations and staffing of offices

Has the firm been involved in any litigation in the past five years? Describe your experience with litigation with Owners, and/or Contractors. List any active or pending litigation related to the services requested and explain.

Provide a statement of disclosure, which will allow the Owner to evaluate possible conflicts of interest. Respondents must provide, in their own format, a statement of all potential legal or otherwise significant conflicts of interests possibly created by the respondent's being considered in the selection process or by the respondent's involvement in the project. Respondents should include information as to the nature of relationship(s) with parties in such potential conflict.

Has the firm ever been removed from a Services contract, had a contract terminated for default, or failed to complete a contract as assigned?

Experience and Qualifications

Provide professional qualifications and description of experience for principal Consulting Services personnel. (At this stage, firms are asked for information on lead staff only, but may list qualifications and experience on more than one lead individual who is qualified and available for the proposed project. If the firm is selected as a finalist, the Owner will request detailed information on the exact proposed expanded team and their relevant experience.) Firms that respond as joint teams will be expected to clearly demonstrate their team members' shared experience, as a joint team, on prior projects of similar magnitude and complexity.

Provide information on the firm's Engineering or Grant Consulting Services experience (as applicable) on projects of similar type, size, function, and complexity. Describe no more 10 and no less than five projects, in order of most relevant to least relevant, which demonstrate the firm's capabilities to perform the project at hand. For each project, the following information should be provided:

Project name, location, and dates during which services were performed.

Brief description of project and physical description of facilities, as applicable.

Services performed by your firm.

Owner's stated satisfaction level in the Consulting Services and/or overall service of your firm.

Owner contact information.

Describe the firm's experience and qualifications in a leadership role over multiple phases of similar projects as applicable to the role for which your firm is applying. Include any oversight of projects of relevant complexity, including experience in providing leadership in projects that utilize similar methods and applications to that of incumbent projects. Include any certifications, industry ratings, and achievement recognitions, etc., to attest to the level of experience and success. Describe innovations that the firm might have introduced or employed to increase the project's adherence to technical standards and compliance with Federal, State, and local laws and regulations.

Statement of Suitability

Provide any information that may serve to differentiate the firm from other firms in suitability for the project. Suitability may include, but is not limited to, the firm's fit to the project and/or needs of the Owner, any special or unique qualifications for the project, current and projected workloads, the proximity of office to project location, and any services offered by the firm that may be particularly suitable for this project.

Provide any non-discrimination and affirmative action policies of the firm and the firm's history of W/MBE inclusion in sourcing for projects.

Submittal of Questions and Requests for Clarification

Questions about any aspect of the RFQ, or the project, must be submitted in writing (email is preferable) to: . Questions will be answered via addendum only. The deadlines for submission of questions relating to the RFQ are the times and dates shown in the RFQ Schedule of Events in Section 3. Proposers are cautioned to review and adhere to the Restriction of Communication (See Section 8) for this Project.

Submittal of Statements of Qualifications

A single PDF file of the statement of qualifications shall be prepared and received by the City prior to the submittal deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted. Each submittal must include a transmittal letter. Submittals must be able to be printed on standard (8 12" x 11") paper and the words "Statement of Qualifications" and the services offered must be clearly indicated on the outside of the envelope or in the filename. Statements of Qualifications must be received by the Owner prior to the deadline indicated in the Schedule of Events (See Section 3). Submissions must be emailed to or mailed to the address below:

Lyons City Hall, Attn: Jason Hall

161 N.E. Broad Street

Lyons, Georgia 30436

Additional Terms and Conditions

Restriction of Communication

From the issue date of this (RFQ) solicitation until a successful proposer is selected and the selection is announced, proposers are not allowed to communicate about this solicitation or this Project for any reason with any members of the Selection Committee, the Owner, except for submission of questions as instructed in the RFQ, or as provided by any existing work agreement(s). For violation of this provision, the Owner reserves the right to reject the proposal of the offending proposer.

Submittal Costs and Confidentiality

All expenses for preparing and submitting responses are the sole cost of the party submitting the response. The Owner is not obligated to any party to reimburse such expenses. All submittals upon receipt become the property of the Owner. Labeling information provided in submittals "proprietary" or "confidential", or any other designation of restricted use will not protect the information from public view. Subject to the provisions of the Georgia Open Records Act, the details of the proposal documents will remain confidential until final award.

Award Conditions

This request is not an offer to contract or a solicitation of bids. This request and any statement of qualifications or proposal submitted in response, regardless of whether the proposal is determined to be the best proposal, is not binding upon the Owner and does not obligate the Owner to procure or contract for any services. Neither the Owner nor any party submitting a response will be bound unless and until a written contract mutually accepted by both parties is negotiated as to its terms and conditions and is signed by the Owner and a party containing such terms and conditions as are negotiated between those parties. The Owner reserves the right to waive non-compliance with any requirements of this Request for Proposal and to reject any or all proposals submitted in responses. Upon receipt and review of responses, the Owner will determine the party(s) and proposal(s) that in the sole judgment of the Owner is in the best interest of the Owner (if any is so determined), with respect to the evaluation criteria stated herein. The Owner then intends to conduct negotiations with such party(s) to determine if a mutually acceptable contract(s) may be reached.

Statement of Agreement

With submission of a statement of qualifications or proposal, the Proposer agrees that he/she has carefully examined the solicitation, and the Proposer agrees that it is the Proposer's responsibility to request clarification on any issues in any section of the solicitation with which the Proposer disagrees or needs clarified. The Proposer also understands that failure to mention these items in the proposal will be interpreted to mean that the Proposer is in full agreement with the terms, conditions, specifications and requirements in the therein. With submission of a proposal, the Proposer hereby certifies: (a) that this proposal is genuine and is not made in the interest or on behalf of any undisclosed person, firm, or corporation; (b) that Proposer has not directly or indirectly included or solicited any other Proposer to put in a false or insincere proposal; (c) that Proposer has not solicited or induced any person, firm, or corporation to refrain from sending a proposal.