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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9-15-2023 - RFQ Questions & AnsweredRequest for Qualifications: Recycling & Organics Technical Assistance to Businesses 1 ANSWERS TO CONSULTANT QUESTIONS (for questions received as of 9/14/23) 1. What educational materials will be available for use or would we [consultants] have to come up with something ourselves? This depends on the capacity of the consultant. If the consultant has expertise in developing materials such as multilingual signs for waste areas, letters to businesses, or mailers, then the City of Renton will collaborate with the consultant to develop these. Otherwise, the City of Renton will develop the materials and share them with the consultant for feedback. 2. Do the cities [Renton and Kent] have a separate budget for direct costs like recycling and organics containers, bags, bag dispensers, signs, etc.? Or do these expenses come out of the listed $225,000 budget? The City of Renton has a separate budget for supplies and will directly purchase all supplies, such as signs, interior waste containers, and compostable bags. The estimated consultant budget of $225,000 is to be spent on planning, direct outreach, and basic reporting. 3. How do the consultants divide their time and/or # of deliverables among two cities? The consultant will do about $40,000 worth of direct outreach to businesses in Kent. The rest of the budget will be spent on direct outreach to businesses in Renton as well as planning, project management, and basic reporting. 4. What metrics do the cities need for reporting for the two grant funders? Metrics for King County Re+ City Grant • # of businesses provided with technical assistance • # of businesses receiving technical assistance that started organics service • # of businesses receiving technical assistance that started organics service and have an active subscription • # of businesses receiving technical assistance that started recycling service • # of businesses receiving technical assistance that started recycling service and have an active subscription • % increase of organics service levels • % increase of recycling service levels • % decrease in # of containers with “high” contamination • % increase in # of containers with “no” contamination Note: The City of Renton expects the consultant to check containers for degree of contamination (no, low, medium, or high) but does not require estimated % of contamination, e.g. “This container is 13% contaminated.” Metrics for Ecology LSWFA grant • Pounds of recyclables diverted • Pounds of organics diverted • Cubic yards of contamination reduced Note: The City of Renton expects the consultant to use standard formulas from Ecology to convert increases in recycling and organics service levels to pounds. To calculate contamination reduction in cubic yards, the City of Renton expects to convert degrees of observed Request for Qualifications: Recycling & Organics Technical Assistance to Businesses 2 contamination (low, medium, high) to set percentages (such as low = 5%, medium = 25%, high = 60%) and then to convert those percentages into cubic yards based on recorded service levels and standard formulas from Ecology. Depending on consultant capacity, the City of Renton may be able to serve as the lead for the data analysis, but the consultant will still be responsible for primary observations of on-site waste infrastructure and practices. 5. What is the page limit for the Statement of Qualifications (SOQ)? What will the SOQs be evaluated on, is there a rubric? There is no page limit for submitted SOQs. SOQs will primarily be evaluated on the degree to which they demonstrate that the consultant has • Experience providing waste prevention technical assistance to a variety of businesses, • Staff who are fluent in Spanish and Vietnamese OR can subcontract with staff who speak these languages, • Staff who can do in-person site visits to Renton and Kent businesses OR subcontract with staff who can make these visits in-person, and • Capacity to complete the work within the provided time frame and budget, and • 2 references that the City may contact to verify the Consultant’s experience with similar projects. 6. What's the schedule to select consultants and when do the cities [Renton and Kent] want the work to start? Here is the anticipated schedule: • Select consultant by 10/6/23 • Execute consultant contract by 11/21/23 • Consultant starts work as soon as contract has been executed • Technical assistance to Kent businesses finishes by 11/1/24 • All work completed by 5/1/25 We recognize that business outreach in December may be a challenge, due to holiday sales and staffing, so the City will work with the consultant on how to time technical assistance during December. 7. Can consultants bill the cities [Renton and Kent] separately? In turn, I assume we would need to have individual contracts? Is this possible or worth exploring? For this project, the City of Kent will not enter into any contracts with consultants. All grant funds are being provided directly to the City of Renton, so all consultant contracts will be with the City of Renton. The City of Renton may enter into more than one consultant contract for this project, depending on consultant capacity and/or interest in pairing with another consultant.