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REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

FOR FLOOD WARNING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

CITY OF FORT WORTH TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT DIVISION

NOVEMBER 11 TO DECEMBER 9, 2016

The City of Fort Worth (City) is accepting Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from qualified

consultants to provide professional services for enhancement of the City’s Flood Warning

System (FWS). The FWS consists of a network of rain and water level gages, telemetry, and

software that collects, analyzes, and sends out alerts and warnings. The contract for not more

than $100,000 will be an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (Task Order) contract for one

year, with option to renew for another year for a similar amount. The selected consultant and

firm would ideally be experienced and knowledgeable in a wide variety disciplines (meteorology

and hydrology, telemetry, and IT) as they apply to flood warning and emergency management.

Questions related to this RFQ should be addressed to ranjan.muttiah@fortworthtexas.gov who

will be the official point-of-contact for this RFQ.

1.0 BACKGROUND & SCOPE

The City owns and operates a High-Water Warning System (HWWS) with flashers at 50

hazardous low-water crossings. Flashers at these crossings are triggered to go off when water

levels measured by pressure transducers exceed pre-set thresholds. 36 of these sites have rain

gages. Data controllers from low-water stations communicate their data on two radio

frequencies using Automated Local Evaluation in Real Time (ALERT) protocol to a receiving

antenna. Data is then sent to a dedicated server via the internet. Datawise (v10) is used to

collect, display, and disseminate data and alerts to external partners, relevant City staff and first

responders. The overall purpose of this RFQ is to ensure reliable rain and water level

measurement from the current and expanded gaging network, and to disseminate relevant flood

information to City staff, external partners, and the public. ALERT at new gaging sites will be

replaced with the newer ALERT2 protocol.

Selected consultant will be tasked with providing the following professional services. The City

will be responsible for purchase and installation of equipment and software associated with these

tasks.

1.1). Identify feasible sites to expand City’s rain gage network,

1.2). Best methods to supplement existing water level measurement with additional gaging,

1.3). Manage installation of Flood Warning Software,

1.4). Assist with selection and usage of specialized flood warning software,

1.5). Develop protocols for cross-validation and reduction of false signals,

1.6). Participate and follow-up (as necessary) at stakeholder and public meetings, and

develop appropriate alert data types and formats for the stakeholders,

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1.7). Develop a flood response & emergency action plan, including rehearsal and/or

simulation,

1.8). Ensure very high degrees of FWS system performance, and that project stays on

schedule by deliverables,

1.9). Update of current flood warning program Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),

1.10). Be available on-call.

2.0 STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS (SOQ)

The SOQ shall include the following information, and number of pages (excluding

resumes/attachments) shall not exceed 10 pages using Times New Roman font and size 11.

The MWBE office has waived the Small Business Enterprise (SBE) requirement for this

RFQ.

2.1). Cover letter: identify the point-of-contact, address, telephone and email address.

2.2). Firm capabilities: provide general information about consultant and sub-consultant (if

applicable) firm capabilities, including significant accomplishments in flood warning.

2.3). Project Personnel:

A). Demonstrate technical capabilities in: meteorology, hydrology, telemetry, Flood

Warning Software, IT project management, emergency management, and public

engagement.

B). State the proposed project lead, and team members and their experience working in

flood warning, with particular reference to how they relate to Fort Worth or similar

hydrological environment.

C). Availability of personnel during project period.

2.4). Project experience: select one or two flood warning implementation examples (for a

municipality or similar), including flood response planning, and highlighting challenges and

how they were overcome.

2.5). Project Performance: provide reference names and contact information for similar

project(s).

3.0 ATTACHMENTS

Attach one-page resume for each project participant. Additional pertinent information can be

included in the attachment section. Total number of pages in attachments shall not exceed 10

pages.

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4.0 SELECTION CRITERIA

The following selection criteria shall be used:

project lead capabilities 40%,

team capability 25%,

availability 15%,

past performance 20%.

Top scoring applicants will be notified if in-person interviews are required.

5.0.UNAUTHORIZED COMMUNICATIONS

Respondents’ contact regarding this RFP with employees or officials of the City other than the

official point-of-contact (Ranjan S. Muttiah TPW/Stormwater) may result in disqualification from

this procurement process. Any oral communications are considered unofficial and non-binding with

regard to this RFQ.

6.0 AWARD OF CONTRACT

It is understood that the City reserves the right to accept or reject any and all Proposals and to

re-solicit for Proposals, as it shall deem to be in the best interests of the City. Receipt and

consideration of any Proposal shall under no circumstances obligate the City to accept any

Proposals. If an award of contract is made, it shall be made to the responsible Proposer

whose Proposal is determined to be the best evaluated offer taking into consideration the

relative importance of the evaluation factors set forth in this RFQ.

Proposer acknowledges: that contents of the SOQ in whole or in part are valid items which

could be made part of the binding contract between proposer and the City, and that they

could become part of a grant sub-contractor requiring adherence to the grant funder’s

contract provisions.

7.0. SOQ SUBMITTAL

Six (6) copies of the written SOQ, and one CD containing a pdf file of the SOQ shall be

mailed or delivered by 4 pm December 9th, 2016 addressed to:

Stormwater Management Division, TPW

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street,

Fort Worth, TX 76102

ATTN: Ranjan S. Muttiah

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In-person deliveries may be made to Suite 200, 2nd

Floor of Gordon Swift Building, 900 Monroe

Street. Applications will not be accepted after the deadline. Submitted SOQs will be

acknowledged via email to the point-of-contact given in Section 2.0. This SOQ is posted on the

following website:

https://projectpoint.buzzsaw.com/fortworthgov/Advertised%20RFQs%20-

%20RFPs%20-%20SOI-

Qs/Flood%20Warning%20System%20Development%20Services?public