Resource Navigator & Administrator and Quality Control Inspector for the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) and the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund (GHDNRF or Fund) Advisory Board request proposals from qualified professionals, social services organizations, or consulting firms to serve as 1.) the Resource Navigator & Administrator and 2.) Quality Control Construction Inspector for the GHDNRF.    

a.      The Resource Navigator & Administrator will receive and review applications for funding from the GHDNRF (Applications). The URA and Advisory Board would like the Resource Navigator & Administrator to assist the GHDNRF applicants to submit completed applications and connect applicants with additional resources as necessary. The Resource Navigator & Administrator will work with the Applications Review Committee (made up of Advisory Board members and URA Staff) and adhere to the “emergency” guidelines/criteria, programmatic guidelines/criteria to address implementation of awards, collect and track insurance certificates naming the URA and the GHDNRF Advisory Board as an additional insured. The Resource Navigator & Administrator will evaluate and make “Recommendation Reports” regarding funding of qualified applications to the Applications Review Committee in accordance with established guidelines and criteria described in the GHDNRF processes, Allocation Plan and Allocation Categories. The Resource Navigator & Administrator will evaluate “Emergency” applications and promptly notify the Applications Review Committee of emergent condition(s), assist GHDNRF awardees in collecting and submitting necessary documentation (e.g., invoices) for receipt of GHDNRF funds, and maintain a database of applicants to the Fund. An Emergency is defined as conditions that, if unaddressed, will result in severe damage or distress within 30 days. The Resource Navigator & Administrator will ensure the process for equitable/consistent review of Applications. If an application is denied, the Resource Navigator & Administrator will communicate results and make recommendations to improve the next Application submission [See Exhibit A-process chart].  

b.     The Quality Control Construction Inspector will manage and coordinate construction and rehabilitation projects, design reviews and confirm cost estimating for conformance with applicable building codes and design standards to approve plans, specifications, and construction costs. The Quality Control Construction Inspector will provide quality control oversight to ensure that GHDNRF funded developments are constructed/rehabilitated in accordance with applicable building codes, design standards, and project specifications within approved schedules, as well as review and approve general qualifications submitted by contractors and developers to perform GHDNRF-funded work. The Quality Control Construction Inspector reviews environmental assessments, topographic and boundary surveys and subdivision plans and manages the implementation of environmental remediation and demolition contracts funded by the GHDNRF. The Quality Control Construction Inspector will negotiate bids with homeowners, contractors, and developers and prepare scopes of work and work write-ups, review work in place during construction and perform stage and final inspections as needed. The Quality Control Construction Inspector will participate in dispute resolution when difficulties on projects arise, advise on construction work performed through GHDNRF programs, and work to ensure that the contractor’s scope of work is financially feasible. The Quality Control Construction Inspector will meet with clients and contractors to explain program goals and procedures, oversee the construction aspects of a project from development of specifications to completion, including inspecting and verifying conformity to building and health codes and safety regulations. The Quality Control Construction Inspector will confirm payments of GHDNRF funds to contractors and developers, perform final inspections, monitor demolition and property management of GHDNRF-funded projects, prepare written documentation and reports to track all activity, and perform other duties as assigned.    

The URA and Advisory Board intend to select one or more respondents to serve as the Resource Navigator & Administrator and/or Quality Control Construction Inspector.   

As part of the Lower Hill Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) financing structure, the concept of a Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund was established to generate revenue for implementing the goals, objectives, strategies, and processes outlined in the Community Collaboration and Implementation Plan (CCIP), which is attached hereto as Exhibit B [CCIP]. The purpose of the Reinvestment Fund shall be to attract investing in or providing financing for development projects, and funding other community needs on the 28-acre site (as defined in the CCIP) and elsewhere in the Greater Hill District Geographic Area. On a yearly basis, all property owners receiving the Lower Hill LERTA are required to contribute half of the abated real estate taxes to the Fund. The Fund is a segregated, restricted account held by the Trustee Monies in the Reinvestment Fund may be expended for administration of the eligible categories as defined in the GHDNRF Guidelines, which are attached hereto as Exhibit C [GHDNRF Guidelines].  Additional details of the Fund can be found in the allocation plan and Application descriptions, which are attached hereto as Exhibit D [Allocations and Descriptions].  

The Advisory Board, in accordance with the GHDNRF Guidelines, shall receive and review all Applications and issue Recommendation Reports to the Board of Directors of the URA regarding Applications that have been recommended by action of the Advisory Board pursuant to these policies and procedures. The Advisory Board may also take steps to identify, analyze, and facilitate potential Revenue Streams (as defined in the CCIP). Members of the Advisory Board act in an advisory capacity with regard to Applications; the Board of Directors of the URA shall approve Applications based on the advice and recommendations of the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board is responsible for overseeing this process to maintain equitable and consistent reviews for all applications. The Advisory Board seeks to create and uphold sustainable opportunities for Hill District residents and businesses to benefit the entire Pittsburgh community.   

The URA is the City of Pittsburgh’s economic development enterprise. The URA is committed to building a prosperous and equitable economy for all of Pittsburgh.  The URA is the administrator of the LERTA and Fund.

The URA and GHDNRF Advisory Board seek Consultants that will:

a) Support the Advisory Board with the Application review process,
b) Support the Advisory Board with programmatic processes,
c) Provide quality control measures, and
d) Provide other support to the Advisory Board and URA staff relative to the GHDNRF as needed.

The URA and GHDNRF Advisory Board seek Consultant(s) with:

a) Operational and Administration Experience. The following areas of expertise will be required:
1. Direct human and social services, community engagement, grant and loan application preparation and review, coordination with nonprofit organizations, facilitating communication between partnering organizations, database management, and volunteer boards.
2. Knowledge of structure, operations and processes in public sector organizations is a plus.
3. The work required will be remote and on location in the Hill District Neighborhood on an occasional, as-needed basis.

b) Personnel: The selected respondent(s) shall, at its (their) own expense, employ all personnel required to accomplish the Objectives listed above. The Consultant(s) shall retain all subcontractors and/or subconsultants necessary for implementation of the Fund as described herein. The Consultant(s) shall be solely responsible for the work, compensation, direction and conduct of personnel and subcontractors performing work for or on behalf of the Fund during the term of the contract(s).
1. The respondent shall submit with its proposal: (1) resumes of its senior management, its leadership and the proposed lead contact(s); and (2) representative resumes and biographies of its personnel and any subcontractors who will perform the services described herein.
2. The respondent, if selected, will be expected to use substantially the same personnel and subcontractors identified in the proposal to perform the services.
3. All personnel furnished by the Consultant(s) shall be employees, or approved subcontractors of the Consultant, and not of the URA, the Advisory Board, or the City.

ii. Consultant Team: Respondents that anticipate retaining subcontractors/subconsultants to provide a portion of the services should provide the following information in their proposals: the identities of subcontractors/subconsultants; the services to be provided by said subcontractors/subconsultants; the extent, if known, of the identity and title of the subcontractor/subconsultant personnel to provide services for the Fund; and the hourly rates for such personnel.

iii. Subcontractor/subconsultant: If selected, the respondents will be authorized to enter into subcontracts for specialized services as required for the performance of the services described herein.
1. Such subcontracts shall be subject to prior written approval by the URA.
2. Criteria for approval includes submission of a scope of services, terms of compensation and the principal responsible for supervising the performance of the subcontractor’s/subconsultant’s activities.
3. The Consultant(s), and not the URA, will be responsible for the subcontractor’s/subconsultant’s work, acts and omissions.
4. The proposal must identify one individual who will have the primary responsibility to supervise and coordinate the subcontractor/subconsultant services.

c) Employment Terms and Compensation
1. Selected respondent will commit to an annual contract, based on available funds. Subject to performance review, termination, or contract renewal.
2. Compensation for services will be:
i. Resource Navigator & Administrator: Proposals not to exceed $75,000
ii. Quality Control Construction Inspector: Proposed by the respondent with a per project pricing structure to be negotiated and approved by the Advisory Board and the URA.

Consultants should have at least 3-5 years of experience and include relevant information about the following areas of expertise, as applicable, in their submission:     

Scope 1: Resource Navigator & Administrator
a.      Receive and Review Applications under grant and loan review process as established by the Applications Review Committee.
b.      Program Management – Refer Applications to agencies or authorities who can provide help in place of the Fund, identifying partnerships and respondents to assist with capacity building. If needed, make recommendations to the Applications Review Committee to amend structure and/or process.
c.       Administrative Experience with grants, loans, and financial instruments
d.      Aims to preserve funds relative to other funds in the City and County
e.      Community Engagement  
f.       Provide website content management support to URA
g.      Identify and refer partner organizations to support programmatic areas of the Fund  

Scope 2: Quality Control Construction Inspector
a.     Review and approve potential Commercial and Residential projects
b.     Project Management 
c.     Commercial and Residential Inspection and Compliance

a)     One (1) electronic copy of proposal from each respondent shall be submitted via IWT
b)     Cover Page – include the respondent’s name, contact person, and contact information
c)     Table of Contents
d)     Transmittal Letter containing:
i. A statement regarding the respondent’s understanding of the work to be done
ii. A statement attesting that the respondent will perform the work according to professional standards
iii. A statement that the respondent understands that, after a selection is made—regardless of if the respondent is selected, all qualifications/submitted materials may be public records subject to disclosure under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law
iv. A statement that neither the respondent nor any partner, principal, member, or officer of the responding entity is currently in violation of or being investigated for violation of any local, state, or federal governmental agency that may have a material impact on the entity’s ability to provide the services requested.
v. A statement that should the status of item (iv) above change while the entity is under contract with the URA, the respondent will notify the URA and Advisory Board in writing within thirty (15) days of discovery that such condition changed and the general nature of the issue
e)     Technical Proposal:                           
i.       Please respond to the following sections, clearly marking them accordingly. If you are unable to provide a response to a particular question, simply leave the section blank. Please do not provide any information other than what is specifically requested.

1.      Experience
A.      Briefly describe similar consulting work your entity or team has completed as relevant within the Scope of Services described herein
B.      Please describe any innovative or unique aspects of previous relevant work which your entity or team helped to complete in any of the examples listed above. Please limit your discussion to three (3) examples.
C.     Please describe your entity’s or team’s experience working with economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and/or communities of color.
D.     The quality of the respondent/s management, reputation and references.

2.      Organization Profile Provide a brief profile of your entity using the format below:
A.      Number of total employees; and
B.      Number of employees who will be dedicated to the work described in this RFP.                                             
The respondent shall also submit with its proposal:
A.      Resumes of respondent’s senior management, its leadership and the proposed relationship lead; and
B.      Representative resumes of respondent’s personnel and those of the subcontractors/subconsultants who will perform the services. 

3.      Biography of Assigned Principal Personnel - Identify the staff within the organization who will be working on the scope of services identified herein. Please include the individuals’ relevant experience and their work location.  

4.      References - Provide three (3) references from City or State governments or other entities that have worked with your entity on similar projects. Provide only references who have directly worked with one or more members of the entity’s proposed team. Include the reference’s name, title, address, direct telephone number, and email address.  

5.      Primary Qualification - Provide a brief narrative that explains why your entity is best qualified to create the Scope of Services.  

6.      Methods and Timeline - Provide a detailed narrative of methods and plan to carry out the scope(s) of work; include a project timeline with key milestones.  

7.      Pricing - Describe how you will assess your costs to the URA. Please provide a line-item budget estimate for the work.  

8.      MWBE Participation – The URA has a long history of diversity and inclusion within all of its programs and other activities. The URA encourages the full participation of minority and women business owners and professionals in this effort. State, as succinctly as possible, what specifically your firm is doing to promote opportunities for women and minority professionals within your organization. MWBE participation can be satisfied by:
A.     Ownership/Partnership of firm;
B.     Employment levels of minorities and/or women in the organization;
C.     Use of minorities and/or women as part of consultant team;
D.     Firm's use of minority- or women-owned businesses as vendors for legal, printing, office supplies, travel, etc.; and
E.     Subcontracting with organizations owned and controlled by minorities and/or women. If this is to be done, the name of the proposed subcontracting/subconsulting organizations must be clearly identified in the proposal. Following the award of the contract(s) described herein, no additional subcontracting will be allowed without the express prior written consent of the URA.  
9.      Other Information- Please provide any other information which you believe is pertinent to the URA’s and Advisory Board’s consideration of your firm for this opportunity. Please limit your response to no more than two (2) letter-sized pages.  
10.   Mandatory Elements
A.     The respondent, including any and all team members, must have no conflict of interest with regard to any other work performed by the respondent with the URA or any related entity.  If the respondent has a conflict of interest with the Advisory Board, it must be disclosed in writing in the RFP response.
B.     The respondent must adhere to the instructions contained in this RFP in preparing the submitted proposal.  

  For this RFP  process, reviewers will be relevant URA staff and the Advisory Board.

a)      The reviewers will check responses against mandatory criteria to include Application categories and Allocations [See Exhibit D – Application descriptions & Allocations] to determine level of experience.
b)     Formal interviews with respondents may be scheduled at the discretion of the reviewers.   
c)      During the evaluation process, the reviewers reserve the right to request additional information or clarifications from the respondents or to allow or waive corrections, errors or omissions at its  sole discretion.   
d)     The reviewers will review and evaluate all qualifications and responses that are submitted. The reviewers shall recommend to the Advisory Board and URA Board of Directors one or more respondents to this RFP based on demonstrated experience, demonstrated full understanding and ability to successfully fulfill the RFP and scope of services. However, the URA/Advisory Board will be under no obligation to select any respondent and may reject any or all responses.

The URA and Advisory Board intend to select one (1) or more respondents based upon information in the response to the RFP submitted by the respondents, performance in previous undertakings, and other pertinent factors. The selected respondent(s) will be chosen on the basis of the selection criteria and guidelines listed herein.  

The Applications Review Committee will base selections on the Proposal Submission Requirements (Section 6) in addition to, but not limited to, the following general considerations:
a)      The quality of the submission the degree to which it demonstrates a full understanding of the ability to perform the services to be rendered
b)     The content of the response demonstrating the respondent’s full understanding of the Scope of Services, along with the sample and other requested materials.

Respondents shall submit their proposal package using IonWave Technologies, the URA’s RFP response program. The proposal should be combined into one file in PDF format. Do not send hard copies. Link to ION Wave Technologies: https://ura.ionwave.net/Login.aspx            

If you have any questions or issues using IonWave Technologies, please contact:                                                           

Attention: Ivy Coleman: Icoleman@ura.org  

ALL RESPONSES MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE RESPONSE DUE DATE AND TIME AS STATED IN  THE RFP TIMELINE FOR CONSIDERATION. Any late responses or responses received outside of IonWave Technologies will not be reviewed.   

ALL RESPONDENT QUESTIONS WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED AND ANSWERED THROUGH IONWAVE SUBMISSION, WHERE THE RESPONSE WILL BE MADE PUBLIC.

a.      The URA and Advisory Board have the right to verify the accuracy of all information submitted and to make such investigation as it deems necessary to determine the ability of each respondent to perform the obligations in the response. The URA and/or Advisory Board, in their discretion, reserve the right to reject any response when the available evidence or information does not satisfy the URA and/or the Advisory Board that the respondent is qualified to carry out properly the obligations of the response.
b.      The URA and/or the Advisory Board reserve the right to accept an offer or proposal other than the highest offer and will determine awards at their sole discretion.
c.      The URA and the Advisory Board shall be the sole judges as to which, if any, respondent best meets the selection criteria. The URA and the Advisory Board reserve the right to reject any or all responses, to waive any submission requirements contained within this response, and to waive any irregularities in any submitted response.
d.      This form is submitted subject to errors, omissions, and/or withdrawal without notice by the URA and/or the Advisory Board at any time.
e.      All responses, including attachments, supplementary materials, addenda, etc. shall become the property of the URA and will not be returned.
f.       Respondent and team members must disclose any conflict of interest with regards to any other work performed by the respondent for the URA, the City of Pittsburgh, the members of the Advisory Board, or any related entity.