Proposals are in and city staff was set to interview candidates Thursday
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
Requests for proposals for the Sunset Pool project have been returned and city staff were looking to complete interviews of three candidates Thursday afternoon.
According to City Administrator Sam Tapson, RFPs were sent out to six firms, of which four returned proposals for the project. Firms which returned the proposals included MSA Professional, combined with Water Technology, Stantec Consulting, Burbach Aquatics, and Kincaid Architectural.
Tapson said the proposals returned were evaluated by three city officials, himself being one, based on a five-point matrix. According to Tapson, when reviewing proposals, city officials paid close attention to, firstly, the firms credentials and experience, both in terms of the firm and the assigned project team.
In addition, Tapson said officials reviewed how responsive the firms were to the RFP, how they grasped the idea.
“Are they responsive to it, have they missed it, have they even taken it a step or two further,” he said.
“Do they exhibit a good, solid, full understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish?”
Stantec Consulting was ranked highest among the four firms with a composite rating of 32.36 across the eight areas city staff looked at. MSA came in at second with a 30.7 rating, Burbach in third with a 24.05, and Kincaid in fourth with a 12.7 rating.
Tapson said often times, looking at basic information about the firms shows that all come with the same pedigrees.
“What really tends to begin to separate people out is when you sit in a room with them and you do the interviews, you get a feel for that person and whether or not there’s a comfort level established in terms of whether or not this person, or firm, fits with the people they have to work with,” he said.
“That’s really subjective, and I get that, but that’s really what some of this comes down to at the end of the day.”
In interviewing the three selected candidates, Stantec Consulting, MSA and Burbach Aquatics, Tapson said Monday this is one of the things city staff would be evaluating. In addition, Tapson said questions specific to the project would be presented to the potential candidates.
“You’re also looking for people who seem to take a more creative approach to the project, the methodology they’re going to apply, those kinds of things,” he said.
“Like any interview, whether it’s an employment interview or some other, it often turns on that compatibility factor.”
After the completion of interviews, Tapson said, using a qualification based selection (QBS) model, city staff hopes to select a candidate, at which time they would begin to look at pricing for the project.
“We haven’t really looked at pricing yet,” he said. “So after the interviews, I think it’s appropriate to slice open the envelopes and at least take a look at pricing.”
In the event the scope of service, the “price tag,” as Tapson put it, was beyond where the city thought it ought to be for that candidate, they would sit down and attempt to negotiate.
“You want that firm to be the best selection,” he said. “If you can’t negotiate it, you move onto the next firm in line and try to negotiate with them.”
However, Tapson reiterated that at this point the city is focused on selecting the firm offering the best quality product at this point.
“That’s what we’re looking for,” he said. “Everyone of them come to the table with strong credentials and background, there’s no doubt about it…it’s trying to select the best qualified, best fit.
“It’s a process that we’ve used countless times for other projects…these are best practice kind of approaches.”
Tapson said the city would like to wrap up this part of the process over the next few weeks so they can get the project up and running, so to speak, allowing the consultant to start the process. From here, the idea of a citizen-based steering committee to help with designing the new swimming facility would come into play.
According to Tapson, those interviewing candidates included himself, Council President Brian Olson, Alderman Gary Payson, and Parks and Recreation Director Wendy Ard. Tapson said it was possible Alderman Hoss Rehberg would be involved in the interview process as well, however, was unsure prior to Monday evening’s special council meeting.
