Summary:
Through this Request for Pre-Qualification, the City of Merritt (the “City”) invites organizations that are experienced in the provision of engineering and associated services related to earth-filled dike construction and associated civil earthworks, to provide non-binding Submissions for the provision of such services for the City’s planned dike construction and associated earthworks programs that form part of the Coldwater River Renewal Plan (“CRP”).  The CRP is an overarching program, comprised of various projects that include; earth-filled dike construction/re-building, bank protection, slope stabilization, and other flood mitigation measures along the Coldwater River as it flows through Merritt, BC.  The value of construction projects that may be executed as a part of the CRP itself may exceed $60 million in value over several years.

Further details on the CRP and the RFQUAL process are provided in the RFQUAL documents.  Key summary details are as follows:

• As an outcome from this RFQUAL, the City will shortlist up to 3 Respondents that will then become ‘Pre-Qualified’ organizations.
• For all future engineering service assignments as part of the CRP (and including any other similar City earthwork-related projects which may not formally be part of CRP), the City may at its sole option either:
  • Direct Award contracts to any Pre-Qualified organization, where the value is below $75,000 or where a direct award situation is justified in accordance with the City’s policy and trade agreement obligations; or
  • Invite the Pre-Qualified organizations to participate in a ‘by-invitation’ only 2^nd-stage RFP process for the specific assignment; or
  • Conduct a public-Request for Proposals process open to both Pre-Qualified and non-Pre-Qualified organizations, where the specifics of the project warrant a further public process at the sole discretion of the City.
• The Pre-Qualification of organizations from this RFQUAL will be valid for a period of 3 years, in accordance with the requirements of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).    No further notices to solicit Submissions for inclusion in the Pre-Qualified list will be issued during the three-year period. 
• The project delivery model to be used for individual projects executed under CRP will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and may involve collaborative models such as Construction Management using the Canadian Construction Documents Committee CCDC5B method. 
• While individual projects executed under CRP will require engineering and related services from more than one discipline (e.g. civil/hydrotechnical/structural engineering, environmental management, geotechnical, surveying), the City requires the Pre-Qualified organizations from this RFQUAL to cover all identified disciplines (either through in-house services or through sub-consultants).  Additionally, the ‘Lead’ Engineering firm that provides the Submission to this RFQUAL must provide either Civil Engineering or Hydrotechnical Engineering as one of its core disciplines to clients.