SCADA System Upgrade Request For QualificationsPage 1 of 5
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQs)
FOR
KALISPELL WATER SYSTEM SCADA UPGRADES
INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS TO SUBMITTERS
1 ‐ GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1 Pursuant to the authority granted to it under MCA Title 7, Chapter 5, Part 43, the City of
Kalispell is soliciting proposals for services to perform a comprehensive SCADA system
upgrade for the City’s water production facilities.
1.2 The Statement of Qualifications must be received by the City Clerk at 201 First Avenue East
(PO Box 1997, 59903), Kalispell, Montana, by 5 pm local time, May 8, 2020.
1.3 General questions pertaining to the project should be directed to Joe Schrader at (406) 758-
7989, jschrader@kalispell.com.
1.4 The City of Kalispell shall not be held responsible for any oral instructions. Any changes to
this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) will be in the form of an addendum, which will be publicly
advertised.
1.5 The City of Kalispell reserves the right to reject any or all SOQ’s, to waive any informality
or irregularity in any Proposal received, and to be the sole judge of the merits of the respective
Proposals received.
2 ‐ ANTICIPATED SCOPE OF WORK
After being selected, the successful Firm will execute an agreement with the City to provide
services and/or materials to fulfill the excepted Scope of Services, provided in Attachment A.
3 ‐ PROPOSAL SELECTION CRITERIA
3.1 The SOQ will be selected through the following selection process. Firms interested in
providing the above described scope of services to the City of Kalispell must submit a Proposal
that addresses the following evaluation criteria. Applicants are encouraged to organize their
submissions in such a way as to follow the general evaluation criteria listed below. Information
included within the SOQ may be used to evaluate your firm as part of any criteria regardless of
where that information is found within the SOQ. Information obtained from the SOQ and from
any other relevant source may be used in the evaluation and selection process.
3.2 Cover Letter (1‐page) containing at a minimum: Company name, contact name, address, fax
number, and email address.
Page 2 of 5
3.3 Qualifications Criteria
3.3.1 General Information
a. Description of company
b. Legal company organization; organization chart with names
c. List of applicable Montana licenses
3.3.2 Relevant Company Experience (30 pts)
a. Applicant’s overall reputation, service capabilities and quality as it relates to the
services as part of this request for qualification.
b. A statement of recent (within the past five years) project specific experience in
SCADA system upgrades or instrumentation and control services for communities of
not less than 10,000 population. References and contact information shall be included
for each project listed.
c. Experience with communication system upgrades between different well facilities.
d. Provide particular expertise your company has in this area of work including:
i. Control system and panel design
ii. Control system networking and telemetry (including radio)
iii. Programmable logic controller (PLC) programming specific to Allen-Bradley
Micrologix PLC’s
iv. Operator Interface Terminal (OIT) programming specific to Allen-Bradley
PanelView Plus
v. Human Machine Interface (HMI) programming specific to Wonderware
System Platform HMI
3.3.3 Company Qualifications (10 pts)
a. Describe the company’s history in the industry.
b. Provide resumes of key personnel who will provide this service in Appendix A, and a
statement of specific responsibilities.
c. Identification of sub-consultants and specific roles and personnel.
d. Briefly describe certifications and licenses held by the company and employees in the
state of Montana.
3.3.4 Contract Understanding and Approach (20 pts)
a. Describe your understanding of the all aspects of the scope of work provided in
Attachment A.
b. Identify and discuss any potential difficult issues your company may face in
providing the service. Identify and discuss methods to mitigate these difficulties.
Page 3 of 5
3.3.5 Approach to Contract Management (30 pts)
a. Present a brief description of how the firm intends to organize and conduct the
project.
b. Provide a narrative outlining a proposed scope of work that includes description of
each task and work product, and a concise explanation of the firm’s approach to
accomplishing the tasks.
c. Describe a proposed time schedule of work with key milestones and product
deliveries.
d. Applicant’s capacity and intent to proceed without delay if selected.
3.3.6 Other Factors (10 pts)
a. Provide the firm’s record of commitment to schedule as demonstrated on past
projects.
b. Current contracts and ability to proceed promptly.
c. Firm’s record of commitment to professional service budgets as demonstrated on past
projects.
4 ‐ SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
4.1 The SOQ shall include a one‐page cover letter plus a maximum of ten pages to address the
RFQ criteria specified in Section 3 (excluding resumes). Table of Contents and section divider
pages do not count towards the total page count.
4.2 Five copies of the Statement of Qualifications must be submitted to the City Clerk at 201
First Avenue East, Kalispell, Montana, 59901 by 5 PM local time, May 8, 2020.
4.3 Failure to comply with the following criteria may be grounds for disqualification:
a. Receipt of submittal by the specific cut‐off date and time.
b. The number of originals and/or copies of the submittal specified.
c. Adherence to maximum page requirements.
4.4 Adherence to the maximum page criteria is critical; each page side (maximum 8 1/2” x 11”)
with criteria information will be counted. Pages that have photos, charts and graphs will be
counted towards the maximum number of pages.
5 ‐ SELECTION PROCESS AND SCHEDULE
5.1 A Project Evaluation Committee will evaluate each SOQ according to the above criteria and
may select up to three finalists that will be Short Listed for the contract. If interviews are
determined to be desirable, the Short List firms will meet with the Project Evaluation Committee
for interviews. The purpose of the interview will be to expand on the information provided in the
Proposal, not to repeat information already provided. Those firms selected for the Short List will
be provided additional instruction by the City. Those firms not selected for further consideration
Page 4 of 5
will be notified.
5.2 The following tentative schedule has been prepared for this project. Firms interested in this
project must be available on the interview meeting date.
SOQ due: 5 pm, May 8, 2020
Firms notified for interview: [TBD]
Interviews: [TBD]
5.3 Following the interviews, the Project Evaluation Committee will rank each Short List firm of
this RFQ. Consideration will be given to both the written Statement of Qualifications and any
oral presentations or interviews. No other factors or criteria will be used in the qualification
ranking.
5.4 The highest ranked firm will be recommended to the City Manager and City Council for
contract award.
5.5 Requests for debriefings or selection decisions shall be made in writing to the City. All
information submitted by firms and related Project Evaluation Committee evaluations and
rankings shall be considered confidential until after contract execution and award by the City
Council.
5.6 The City will enter a contract upon selection of the firm for the project to be submitted to the
City Council for approval. A template of the proposed contract with the City will be provided to
the Proposers upon request. If the selected firm determines not to enter into a contract with the
City, the City may then contact the second or third highest ranked team until a contract is
executed or may decide to terminate the selection process.
5.7 The City will not reimburse any cost associated with the preparation, submittal, or
presentation of any Statement of Qualification. Consultant design firms are advised that in
accordance with Montana law, any information submitted may be subject to public inspection.
Firms are further advised that, while the City is constrained by budget for this work, the City
does not consider cost proposals or estimates of fees in its evaluation of qualifications.
Publication Dates: April 12, 2020
April 26, 2020
Page 5 of 5
Attachment A: Scope of Services
The City owns and operates nine (9) water production facilities, which includes two (2) pressure
zones (including four (4) booster pumps and one (1) pressure reducing station), four (4) storage
tanks and eleven (11) water sources. This project includes the analysis, design, implementation,
programming and startup services to upgrade the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) and telemetry for all water production facilities.
The primary control system components will migrate to Allen Bradley Micrologix PLC’s,
telemetry data radios and associated instrumentation.
Scope of Work
In order to complete the SCADA system upgrade, it is anticipated that the following actions shall
be necessary:
Task 1:
• Evaluate functionality and compatibility of pertinent existing telemetry and
control system hardware and software.
• Identify state-of-the-art systems and technology for consideration.
• Identify and discuss advantages and disadvantages of the identified systems with
particular emphasis on communication, data processing, system controls, and
security aspects.
• Identify probable costs of various systems.
• Recommend type of replacement system and reasons for recommendation.
Task 2:
• Develop specifications and bid documents for replacement system.
• Provide engineering services and programming in support of the design and
implementation of the new system.
• Develop and provide Operation and Maintenance manuals and training at the
completion of the SCADA and telemetry system upgrade.