Christopher Dorrington, Director
2701 Prospect ▪ PO Box 201001
Helena MT 59620-1001
Date:
August 15, 2024
Subject:
Request for Proposals
I-90 Wildlife Crossing Study
STW-0(014)
UPN 10564000
To Whom It May Concern:
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is accepting proposals from consulting firms
interested in the preparation of a strategic plan. One firm will be selected to perform the work
specified herein.
Teams may be established as necessary; however, it is expected that the prime consultant will be
capable of completing the vast majority of the work, and the proposal must clearly identify the
prime for this contract. As a rule, the prime consultant must complete at least 50% of the work
for a specific project or assignment unless written exception is given.
If your firm is interested, please submit a proposal as described herein.
Consultant Design Bureau
Phone: (406) 444–6209
Fax: (406) 444–6253
An Equal Opportunity Employer
Engineering Division
TTY: (800) 335–7592
Web Page: www.mdt.mt.gov
SCOPE OF WORK
The primary goal of the I-90 Wildlife Crossing Study is to evaluate wildlife crossing
accommodation(s) strategies that will maximize the reduction of wildlife-vehicle collisions,
while providing safe passage for wildlife movement within a 68-mile segment of I-90 between
Missoula and Garrison.
This planning study will be a two-to-three-year study focusing on identifying important
terrestrial wildlife movement corridors and use this information to determine the need, type, and
feasibility of constructing one or more wildlife crossings that will effectively accommodate both
wildlife and motorists.
Draft Scope of Services
LOCATION
The study is on Interstate 90 between Missoula, at reference post 106.0, and Garrison, at RP
174.0.
PROJECT SCHEDULE AND DELIVERABLES
The project schedule will be developed and negotiated prior to executing the contract agreement.
Project deliverables will be established through a scoping meeting and executed per the project
agreement.
STANDARDS, SPECIFICATIONS, AND POLICIES
Work is expected to follow MDT’s various Manuals, Guides, and Policies. These items may be
found on MDT’s Design Consulting web page at: http://www.mdt.mt.gov/business/consulting/.
PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL
Submit one (1) electronic version (Adobe© PDF format) of the proposal. Hard copy
proposals will not be accepted.
Submit the electronic version by uploading to the State of Montana File Transfer Service (FTS)
site, which can be accessed at this link: https://transfer.mt.gov. To upload to FTS, an account
must be created unless the person who is uploading already has an account. Uploading
instructions can be accessed at https://transfer.mt.gov/Home/Instructions. When your proposal
has been uploaded, the FTS system will prompt you for an email address to send to. Please send
this email of your uploaded proposal to the following individuals:
Sheryl Tangen: stangen@mt.gov
Kelly Williams: kwilliams@mt.gov
Ben Rickman: brickman@mt.gov
The Department must receive the proposals for this RFP no later than 3:00 PM MST,
September 10, 2024.
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Regardless of cause, late proposals will not be accepted and will automatically be disqualified
from further consideration. It shall be solely the vendor's responsibility to assure delivery at the
specified office by the specified time. Offeror may request the State return late proposals at
vendor’s expense or the State will dispose of late proposals if requested by the offeror. (See
Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) 2.5.509.). If no request is made, late proposals become
the property of the Department. All proposals submitted on time become the property of the
Department.
The costs for developing and delivering responses to this solicitation are entirely the
responsibility of the offeror. The State is not liable for any expense incurred by the offeror in the
preparation and presentation of this submittal.
TENTATIVE RFP/SELECTION SCHEDULE
The anticipated schedule for consultant solicitation and selection for this contract is as follows
(subject to change):
August 15, 2024: RFP released
September 10, 2024: Proposals due to be submitted to MDT Consultant Design
September 27, 2024: Proposals reviewed, rated, and ranked by the evaluation committee
October 2, 2024: Consultant Selection Board meeting to select consultant
October 23, 2024: Scoping meeting with selected consultant
There are three (3) members on the evaluation committee for this RFP (subject to change):
1. MDT Resources Section Supervisor
2. MDT District Biologist
3. FHWA Environmental Protection Specialist
PROPOSAL CONTENTS
The proposal must contain the information listed in this section. The proposal is limited to seven
(7) pages, not including the required Appendices. A single cover jacket/title page is allowed if
desired and will not count in the page limit. Each page is defined as one side of a letter size sheet
(no larger than 8 ½” x 11”), minimum font size of 10. Evaluation of information will begin with
the first page immediately following the cover jacket/title page, and every page will be counted,
in order, from that point forward, including any table of contents or divider pages the firm wishes
to include. Once the page limit is reached, any information included thereafter will be removed
and not considered or scored. Please organize your proposal in the same order and numbering
format as shown below, which will assist MDT in reviewing your proposal:
Questions
1) Team Qualifications
Provide a discussion on how the team you propose to use for this study (including
subconsultants, if used) is best qualified to respond to the requirements of this study.
Discussion should focus on the requirements for this specific study, particularly your
team’s expertise and experience, as it relates to the work described in the “Scope of
Work” section above. Provide examples of previous related project experience as it
relates to these services. Include an organizational chart of your team for this project.
Resumes may be considered as supplemental information for scoring this question.
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2) Project Approach
Describe your team’s project approach and understanding of the study including
challenges you foresee as they relate to this study and its requirements.
Appendix A: Resumes
Include brief resumes for the key personnel to be assigned to the contract. Resumes are
limited to one (1) page per person.
Appendix B: Cover Page Form
Include a completed version of MDT’s standard cover page form, available at the following
location:
http://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/webdata/external/cdb/MDT-CDB-002-Proposal-SOQ-Cover-Sheet.pdf
Information presented in the cover page form will not be considered in proposal scoring.
Appendix C: References
Submit references that includes a minimum of five (5) separate contracts from the past
three (3) years. If applicable, you may submit multiple contracts for a single client. Each
contract must pertain to work similar to the proposed scope of services. Include client
name, a currently employed primary contact person, an alternative contact person,
corresponding valid phone numbers and emails for both contacts, a range of contract value,
and a brief description of the work performed. If MDT needs to use these references for the
Past Performance Score (as described in the “Evaluation of Proposals” section below) and
is unable to contact the required number of references after a reasonable effort, the firm
will receive a zero for the missing reference(s).
EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
All proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the following factors:
1) Team Qualifications (50 points possible)
2) Project Approach (100 points possible)
3) Record of past performance (30 points possible)
a) If two (2) or more MDT evaluations specific to the discipline for this contract are
available for the consultant, the average score of these evaluations will be used.
Evaluations for Project Management & Overall Performance will also be included.
b) If fewer than two (2) MDT evaluations specific to the discipline for this contract are
available for the consultant, but there are two (2) or more MDT evaluations are
available for other work disciplines, the consultant’s current overall past performance
score from MDT evaluations will be used.
c) If there is only one (1) MDT evaluation available for the consultant, the record of past
performance score will be an average of the MDT evaluation and one (1) reference
check from the references provided in the unbound attachment.
d) If no MDT evaluations are available, the average score of two (2) reference checks
from the references provided in the unbound attachment will be used for this score.
Regardless of partnership/teaming relationships, the past performance of the prime
consultant will be the past performance scored that will be used for this score.
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All Proposals will be evaluated using the following basic scoring methodology:
o Outstanding/Exceptional response: 90-100% of the available points
o Good response: 70-90% of the available points
o Average response: 50-70% of the available points
o Poor response: 30-50% of the available points
o Qualifications not clearly met: 0-30% of the available points
Following the review, evaluation, and rating of all proposals, the final results will be presented to
the Consultant Selection Board (Board) at the MDT Headquarters Building. At this time, the
Board will select the most qualified firm(s) to perform the work. The Board may consider any
proposal scoring within 2% of the highest-scoring proposal as equally qualified and take into
account its knowledge of the firms’ workload, past performance, and familiarity with the project
area and local entities in selecting the most-qualified consultant. In the event that a firm cannot
be identified as the most qualified through an evaluation of these proposals, MDT reserves the
right to narrow down the list of responding firms to an appropriate short list. Short-listed firms
will either be asked to provide a supplemental proposal or asked to be interviewed or provide a
presentation. Scores from the proposals, supplement project proposals (if used), and interviews
(if used) will be carried forward to determine final consultant score. Consultant selection is
finalized by MDT at the Consultant Selection Board meeting.
INDIRECT COST RATE REQUIREMENTS
Proof of the firm’s Indirect Cost Rate (overhead rate) is not required with this proposal
submittal. However, an Indirect Cost Rate may be required prior to executing a contract
according to MDT’s Indirect Cost Rate Requirements:
All submitted indirect cost rates must be calculated in accordance with 23 CFR 172 for the cost
principles of 48 CFR part 31 and include the required items identified in the MDT Indirect Cost
Rate Policy located in Appendix A of the Consultant Services Manual on the MDT Internet
website.
http://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/webdata/external/cdb/consultant_manual/consultant-design-
manual_combined.pdf
Do not show any actual numerical financial information such as the overhead rate or
personnel rates within your proposal. Specific cost information of the firm or team should not
be part of the proposal.
AGREEMENT REQUIREMENTS
Contract agreements will generally be administered on a cost-plus fixed fee basis. The contracts
will have negotiated cost ceilings. If a consulting firm is selected for a specific project and a
contract agreement is successfully negotiated, certain financial information will be required as
part of the contract agreement. As described in the Indirect Cost Rate Requirements section
above, all Consultants and subconsultants must provide the Department with an Indirect Cost
Rate (as applicable) audited (when applicable) in accordance with 23 CFR 172 for the cost
principles of 48 CFR Part 31 and based on the firm’s latest completed fiscal year’s costs.
Personnel rates, profit, and direct expenses must be clearly outlined and provided to the
Department. The standard MDT agreement can be found at the following address:
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This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.