The county in question is the San Joaquin Valley’s fifth-largest by population and serves about 280,000 residents. Among its recent technology work, it serves as a test site for self-driving cars and guides waste management via a smartphone app.
In a request for statement of qualifications (RFSQ) released Sept. 6, Merced County indicates it wants to hear from a qualified “Design-Build Entity (D-BE) to design and construct a new Sheriff’s Administration and Operations Building.” Among the takeaways:
- A location hasn’t been set but ultimately, the project will be the design and construction of a new sheriff’s administration and property structure on county-owned land. The project is “up to 36,000 square feet guaranteed,” but the county is exploring “master plan options” for 34,000 square feet that would involve the relocation of the Coroners Division Evidence Division and Special Operations Vehicle Storage. The new building should be built of “durable materials suitable for a county office government building environment.” The downtown jail and sheriff's administration building, according to the RFSQ, “will need to be demolished when the new jail replacement project currently underway is completed.”
- The D-BE must identify the general contractor and architect. Mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, mechanical subcontractor, security electronic subcontractor, detention equipment subcontractor and other subs are optional. The D-BE should indicate whether, during the last five years, the general contractor and architect have completed or substantially completed any design-build detentions or corrections projects as a team. Evidence of relevant project experience — two comparable projects each for the general contractor and architect — must be provided, defined as an “office building, or public safety facility with a construction cost of at least $15 million,” done in the U.S. during the last 10 years. The general contractor must have been the “primary, at-risk construction entity” on the project; the architect must have been the “architect of record or partnering architect.”
- The project has a “guaranteed maximum construction cost” of $24 million. Responses are due by 4 p.m. Oct. 21 and must include a cover letter, prequalification requirements, the evaluation of prequalification documents, responses to the included questionnaire and the surety declaration and certification. The RFSQ does not commit the county to issue a request for proposals or to award a contract. The RFSQ is the first step in the process; the county will score and rank submissions with as many as the three highest scoring being eligible to move on to the second step, the request for proposal (RFP).
