RFQ Questions and Answers

The Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization issued an RFP in March 2007 for Vermont's Western Corridor Transportation Management Plan. Below is a list of questions and answers received from consultants interested in submitting proposals. For more information on these questions, or to ask a new question, please contact Eleni Churchill ~ 802.660.4071, Ext. 11.

1. Proposal page limit (20 pages) double or single sided – if double sided, does that mean 10 sheets?

No, the limit for the proposal is 20 pages if double sided or 40 pages if single sided. Double sided is preferred.

2. The letter of transmittal, and qualifications/relevant experience/resumes are shown in the RFP to be part of the technical proposal, and as such are they within the 20 page limit??

Except for the Cover Letter, all other documents should be within the page limit.

3. Do you want parts I and II of the SF 330? As Part I is essentially the project examples and resumes, it would repeat information requested in sections VI and VII of the Technical proposal (Pg. 5 of RFP).

Yes, please provide parts I and II of the SF330. The Technical proposal should be a stand alone document that contains all the information listed on pages 4 & 5 of the RFP.

4. At present in the RFP the SF330 is included as part of the financials with the AF38. Should it be both Parts I and II and included in the Technical Proposal package? If so, then it looks like we could then keep the qualifications sections within the body of the technical proposal very brief – lists, paragraph resumes – since the bulk of the information will be available to reviewers in the SF330.

Financial forms (SF330 and AF38) and the Technical proposal are distinct documents that serve different purposes. Financial forms are not necessarily reviewed by all members of the Consultant Selection Committee so the Technical proposal should include all information listed on pages 4 & 5 of the RFP.

5. What do you mean by the statement: “anticipated budget for the Western Corridor Transportation Management Plan (WCTMP) includes managing and participating costs for the CCMPO and the participating RPCs” (RFP, page 2)?

The CCMPO and the participating RPCs will have costs associated with their involvement in the WCTMP—these costs are included in the overall project budget ($500,000). The CCMPO will be managing the study and the RPCs will be participating as members of the Steering Committee and they will also be involved with the public outreach in their regions (meetings and forums). In the proposed “Public Involvement Plan” (Technical proposal, section V), consultants are encouraged to provide their vision of what the RPCs role should be and how best to utilize RPC resources. The estimated CCMPO and RPC costs should be subtracted from the overall project budget to arrive at the consultant contract amount.

6. Is VTrans staff available to run the statewide model?

VTrans staff will be available to assist the selected consultant with running the statewide model but the consultant will be responsible for interpreting model outputs and incorporating them into the study.

7. Will the study include western corridor routes other than US 7, such as I-89 north of Burlington, and VT 22A and VT 30 from Vergennes and Middlebury to Manchester? Is Task 1 intended to determine the answer to this question?

All major routes within the western corridor study boundaries should be addressed to a certain extent—consultants should propose the level of analyses for each major highway in the study area. Under Task 1 (Establish Study Goals and Objectives and Define Corridor Boundaries) specific facilities (highways and rail) and traffic generators will be finalized for analyses purposes.

8. Are there any specific modeling and micro-simulation tools that should be used for this analysis, or is any applicable software platform acceptable?

It is up to the consultant to determine the best modeling or micro-simulation tool to be used for this study. Please note that the statewide and regional models run on specific modeling platforms (see RFP, page 15).

9. The RFP indicates that the WCTMP should address present and future transportation needs through, among other things, land use strategies and policies. Are there any specific goals or objectives that relate to land use in the corridor?

Specific land use strategies to achieve overall corridor goals will be developed and prioritized during tasks 4 & 5 (RFP, page 10). All proposed strategies (land use, transportation, etc.) will go through a vigorous public process (study committees and the general public) to reach consensus on the preferred strategies.

10. No data collection is required. What is the level of traffic data (Automatic Traffic Recorder Counts and Intersection Turning Movement Counts) available? Some data collection may be necessary if available data is not sufficient, especially for simulation.

Please check available traffic data on the CCMPO’s and VTrans’ web sites (http://www.ccmpo.org/data/counts.html and http://www.aot.state.vt.us/planning/Documents/TrafResearch/Publications/pub.htm). We do not anticipate that consultants will need to collect additional data for the purposes of this study.

11. What is the level of simulation that is expected? The corridor is very long for a complete microsimulation and would also require a great deal of data collection.

It is up to the individual consultant to determine if and where microsimulation is needed. As suggested in the SOW, the highway corridor could be divided into sub-sections that are consistent in character and functionality for analyses purposes.

12. On Page 2 of the RFP, details are given for the consultant responsibility regarding public meetings. Will the CCMPO and RPCs be responsible for advertising the public meetings (mailing, flyers, and newspapers) and maintenance of databases of those interested in the project or are these considered consultant responsibilities?

No, the selected consultant will be responsible for these tasks with assistance from the CCMPO, RPCs and VTrans.

13. On Page 5, the RFP states: “…the consultant should anticipate presentations (not to exceed two) to VTrans Executive Staff, CCMPO Board and Operations Council as well as the Vermont Senate and House Transportation Committees.” Does this mean two meetings for each of these (a total of possibly 10 meetings) or does it mean just two meetings total, each of which will be with one or more of these entities?

It means a maximum of two meetings per organization listed, except for the Senate and House Committees for which we anticipate one meeting per committee.

14. Please explain the relationship between this project and the Western Corridor Rail Study currently being advertised by VTrans?

Even though the primary goals of the two studies are quite different, the Western Corridor Transportation Management Plan will take into consideration outputs from the VTrans study when future strategies for the corridor are being developed.

15. Do sub-consultants need to complete Parts I and II of the Federal Form 330?

No, sub-consultants need to complete only Part II of the form. Prime consultants are required to fill up both parts.

16. Under Part I, Section F of the Federal Form 330, ten projects should be presented that illustrate the consultant team’s qualifications for the project. Should these projects represent work done by the prime consultant only or could sub-consultant projects presented as well?

Relevant sub-consultant projects could be presented too.

last updated: 5 Apr 2007