In 2003, the Town Council approved a master plan for redevelopment of the Miami Lakes Optimist Park, the Town's largest active park, into a state-of-the-art recreational complex. The project consists of re-configuring the baseball fields and open space areas; a new concession and bathroom facility; new, state-of-the-art, energy efficient sports field lighting; redeveloping the tennis and basketball courts; an airnasium; adding new park amenities such as seating areas and water fountains; a potential telecommunications tower; and a walking path with exercise stations throughout the park. The estimated project cost is $4 million.

The design firm selected for award will assist in the planning, design, and implementation of the Project. Duties under the contract include providing analysis of the project, design documents, construction documents, permitting assistance, bid assistance, and construction administration services throughout the implementation of the Project.

The Town issued Request for Qualifications (“RFQ”) 2018-06 for Design Services for Miami Lakes Optimist Park on November 27, 2017. The RFQ was advertised in the Miami Daily Business Review, posted to DemandStar, Public Purchase, and posted in the Government Center Lobby.

To qualify for award, prospective Proposers were required to:

1.Be a Design firm licensed to provide Architectural or Landscape Architecture Services in the State of Florida;
2.Have employed, or subcontract with, personnel licensed to provide Engineering Services in the State of Florida;
3.Possess a minimum of five (5) years of experience performing similar design work; and
4.Provide verifiable client references demonstrating successful completion of at least three (3) park design and/or sports/athletic field design projects of a similar size, scope, and complexity with a total project amount of $3,500,000 or more in the past seven (7) years.

On the date of the proposal deadline, January 12, 2018, we received eight (8) proposals from the following Proposers:

1. Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Inc. (“Bermello”)
2. BG Design Studios, Inc. (“BG”)
3. CPH, Inc. (“CPH”)
4. Wolfberg, Alvarez & Partners, Inc. (“WAP”)
5. Miller Legg, Inc. (“Miller”)
6. Gili-McGraw Architects, LLP. (“Gili-McGraw”)
7. Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. (“KHA”)
8. BEA Architects, Inc. (“BEA”)

An Evaluation Committee was appointed, comprised of the following members:

1. Tony Lopez, Chief of Operations, Town of Miami Lakes
2. Barbara Hernandez, Parks & Recreation Director, City of Doral
3. Don Decker, Director of Parks & Recreation, City of Weston
4. George Navarette, Former Director of Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces

Procurement performed a due diligence review of the proposals for responsiveness and found that four proposals failed to meet the minimum qualifications. The proposals received from BG, WAP, Miller, and Gili-McGraw did not include the requisite number of client references and were deemed non-responsive. The review of the remaining proposals did not reveal any material defects with the proposals, nor with the Proposers' qualifications. Each Proposer has been in business for more than five years, they are appropriately licensed to do the work, and provided references for at least three projects of similar size and character. Procurement did not find any issues that would indicate any of the remaining Proposers were incapable of performing the Work.

The Evaluation Committee (“Committee”) was provided the responsive proposals and met on January 29, 2018, to evaluate and rank the proposals. At the conclusion of this meeting, the Evaluation Committee moved to establish the following ranking:

1. Bermello – 361 points
2. KHA – 352 points
3. CPH – 329 points
4. BEA – 306 points

Bermello, the highest-ranked Proposer, is a large multi-disciplinary firm with over 25 years of experience providing architectural services to many governmental agencies throughout South Florida. The firm has prior experience working with the Town as an architectural consulting firm for the last five years, providing design work on several parks and open space areas such as the dog recreation area, the 77th Court Beautification Project, and the Town's Beautification Master Plan.

The Committee scored Bermello's Proposal was highly due to its extensive experience with park design projects, the proposed team of professionals, and its specialized technical approach. Their proposal included large park design projects for Pompano Beach, Doral, and Homestead, which were of similar size and character to the redesign of Miami Lakes Optimist Park. The Committee felt that the projects included in Bermello's Proposal demonstrated more readily transferable experience that could be applied to the Town's project.

Bermello's project team was also a key highlight in their proposal. The team shares more than 579 years of experience between its 22 members, most of which is specialized in critical aspects of park design. The team includes several architects, landscape architects, engineers, sports lighting experts, irrigation experts, certified arborists, and other specialties unique to park design projects. Specifically, their proposed architect-of-record, Mr. Todd Osborn is LEED-certified and has extensive experience in parks, green space, and athletic facility design projects. The Committee noted that Bermello's team clearly demonstrated a firm understanding of the project and the work that it will entail.

Finally, Bermello's technical approach was more uniquely tailored to the Town's project. The technical approach went into great detail on several design goals or processes that are likely to arise during project implementation such as environmental/sustainable design elements, value engineering and cost control, coordination with the permitting process, responsiveness to the Town, context sensitive design, and utilizing the latest technology for better design. The Committee felt that the technical approach presented in Bermello's Proposal was much more catered and specific to the Town's needs for this project.

The proposed project schedule from Bermello anticipates final completion of the project at ninety (90) weeks after a notice to proceed is issued. Excluding the time for construction administration, the Town will have 100% Permitted Construction Documents forty-six (46) weeks after a notice to proceed is issued, approximately April of 2019. The estimates project schedule is included below for reference.

The work performed by Bermello will aid the Town in assessing its revenue generating opportunities for the project, including the telecommunication tower and the energy efficiency savings for the field lightings, as well as, refining the opinion of probable cost for the project.