R96-105 AUTHORIZING AN AGREEMENT FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES

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• pa�e � . . The proposals were reviewed by the selection panel of Bruce A. McNabb, Director of Public Works; .Stephen P. Swanson, City Engineer; Nlatthew C. Newell, Traf�c Engineer; and Douglas Ripley, Transportation Planner. The selection panel decided to interview all four firms based on the quality of each firm and their respective proposals. The interviews were conducted in mid-January. The firms were rated by panel members following the interviews. The basic rating factors included the quality of the presentation, responsiveness to the City's request, project understanding, experience with similar projects and the ability to serve and meet the City's expectations and time schedule. After evaluation of written proposals and interviewing each firm, the panel came to a consensus in rating the firms, in order of preference, as follows: Homer L. Chastain & Associates ' Clark Dietz, Inc. with Phillip W. Cochran, Consulting Engineer Blank, Wesselink, Cook & Associates, Inc. , WVP Corporation r L. Chastain & Associates Chastain staff dela ed its After the selection of Home ( ), y ' negotiations with Chastain for two major reasons. The first related to continuing discussions with the Village of Forsyth regarding several transportation issues in the vicinity of Hickory Point Road. This was important as it related to best defining the work that the City wanted Chastain to perform and to avoid unnecessary costs to the City. The second reason related to being certain that the project would be budgeted in Fiscal Year 1996-97. After it was reasonably certain the project was going to be budgeted, staff began its negotiations with Chastain to finalize the scope of services and the fee for the project. It was decided by the panel that the project should be undertaken in two phases. The agreement with Chastain is for the first phase only. The first phase is essentially a design concept study. At the conclusion of this phase, Chastain will recommend a preferred alignment for the MLK extension to the City. In the process of preparing a recommendation, Chastain will assess a limited number of alignments to deternune their respective feasibility, estimated costs, expected benefits, impacts to private properties and environmental concerns. The alignments to be assessed by Chastain will be based on general guidelines provided by the City. The environmental information obtained in this phase will be used later to obtain the required clearances from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for the project. Chastain is to complete their work in about three and a half months, exclusive of the review time required by the City and other outside agencies including IDOT. The second phase is the final design of the improvements. During the first phase, Chastain's recommended alignment will be presented to the City Council. This represents a logical breakpoint in the project to determine a comfort level with the recommended alignment and whether to proceed with the second phase. A stafF recommendation as to how to proceed will be presented to the City Council for approval. • A copy of the agreement with Chastain is attached. The negotiated a;reement is for a fee not to exceed $99,038.37. The agreement does not specify that Chastain would complete the second phase of the project. This decision will be made following completion of the first phase.