[Ord. No. 97-42, § 1, 2-4-1998]
As the Town is required to engage the services of professional firms from time to time to perform design, engineering or other professional studies and reports for the Town, it is the intention of the Town to establish rules, policies and procedures for the solicitation and award of such professional services. When it becomes necessary to obtain such outside professional services, it is the intention of the Town to utilize an objective process which identifies qualified providers of such services, yet facilitates the financial management objectives of the Town's administration. This objective shall be met warily through the implementation of the open competitive selection process.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 2, 2-4-1998]
When used in this article the following terms shall have the following definition, unless it shall be clearly stated that a different meaning is intended:
DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The duly appointed and acting director of the department of planning and community development, also called the Town planner, or the administrative officer of the Cumberland Planning Board.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
The duly appointed and acting director of the department of public works of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island.
MAYOR
The duly elected and acting chief elective official of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island pursuant to the Cumberland Home Rule Charter and the electoral laws of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE SELECTION COMMITTEE
A committee established by virtue of this article and further established and described hereinbelow.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Includes but not be limited to contractual professional services in such areas as architecture, engineering, landscape design, real estate appraisals, land surveying, title reporting, planning study, and the like, by individuals, companies, partnerships, corporations or other business entities or associations duly authorized, empowered, permitted or licensed by the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; or, holding licenses, permits or empowerment recognized by the duly constituted and recognized professional regulatory agencies of the State of Rhode Island.
PURCHASING AGENT
The duly appointed and acting purchasing agent of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island as defined by the Cumberland Home Rule Charter.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
A written request issued by the purchasing agent on behalf of the Town of Cumberland, its departments, agencies, commissions or instrumentality inviting professional service firms to submit proposals for the provision of services in a total amount greater than $5,000 and which outline the scope of the work as envisioned, the desired qualifications of the person or firm undertaking the scope of work and the criteria which is to be utilized in the selection of the responsible low bid firm.
RESPONSIBLE LOW BID FIRM
That person, partnership, corporation or other company, business entity or association which is determined to have offered the most comprehensive and responsible proposal for the lowest competitive and reasonable quotation deemed to be in the best interest of the Town of Cumberland.
TOWN
The Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island.
TOWN COUNCIL
The duly elected and acting elective governing body of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island pursuant to the Cumberland Home Rule Charter and the electoral laws of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 3, 2-4-1998]
It is the stated policy of the Town that the selection of professional services is to be based upon the recommendations of the professional services selection committee. Selection shall be based upon rules, policies and procedures established hereinbelow.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 4, 2-4-1998]
The purpose of the professional services selection committee (PSSC) is to subject the award of contracts for professional services to an objective review process. This process is specifically intended to avoid perceived or actual improper relationships with professional service providers to the Town and avoid the opportunity for noncompetitive contract awards. In addition it is the intent to prevent the award of multiple contracts to one bidder each under the amount of $5,000, but which, in the aggregate exceed $5,000.
It is the specific intent of the Town Council to identify as broad a pool of qualified professional service providers as feasible in order to establish a base of expertise. Another objective of this article is to enhance the competitive selection process by development of a pre-established listing of qualified personnel who will submit competitive bids on a project specific basis.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 5, 2-4-1998]
There is hereby established a professional service selection committee which shall consist of the director of public works, the purchasing agent, the Director of Planning and Community Development and a representative of the department, agency or commission for which services are being selected if not already represented by virtue of the three initial appointments thereto.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 6, 2-4-1998]
The following departments and employees shall be involved in the professional service selection process as follows:
(1) 
Department, agency, commission. The department, agency, commission or other municipal entity seeking professional services for any municipal function shall be responsible for the development of a written request for professional services-scope of services which will delineate the services desired, the timeframe for the provision of such services and the evaluation factors to be used in the review of the proposals to be submitted.
(2) 
Purchasing agent. It shall be the responsibility of the purchasing agent to publish notice of the availability of professional service contracts in newspapers and trade journals as appropriate. It shall also be the responsibility of the purchasing agent to distribute copies of the written requests for proposals to vendors who request such copies and/or to vendors who to the best of his/her knowledge have provided similar services to the Town and/or who are to the best of his/her knowledge recognized in the professional services field for which proposals are being sought. A copy of the request for proposals package shall be submitted to the Mayor and the Town Council president.
It shall be the responsibility of the purchasing agent to receive proposals from submitting firms and to publicly open proposals received and to publish a certificate of bid/proposal opening which shall contain the names and addresses of firms submitting proposals, the suggested fee of each proposal and a listing of persons attending such bid/proposal opening. Such information shall be a public document.
When the cost of professional services are estimated to be less than $5,000 and the disclosure of the solicitation of such services is determined to be injurious to the best interest of the Town, the professional service selection committee may authorize the solicitation by unadvertised written invitation provided; however, that at least three qualified firms shall be invited to submit proposals. Examples of such exemptions shall include, but not be limited to, solicitations for real estate appraisal services when the public knowledge of such solicitation may compromise the public interest.
(3) 
Professional service firms. Firms shall submit no less than six copies of their response to requests for proposals to the office of the purchasing agent no later than the time and date noted in the request for proposals. Such responses shall contain at minimum the following information:
a. 
Executive summary. This portion of the response should include an overview of the firm submitting the proposal and highlighting the firm's approach to meeting the needs of the Town for such professional services.
b. 
Relevant experience. This portion of the response should include a listing other relevant projects that the professional service firm has accomplished with similar concepts to the project(s) being considered.
c. 
Project approach. This portion shall include a general synopsis of the professional service firm's suggested approach to the project.
d. 
Workload. This section should contain a list of all major projects the professional services firm has contracted to perform in order to demonstrate the firm's ability to perform in a timely manner. Special mention shall be made to all projects being performed for the Town.
e. 
Scheduling and personnel. This section shall include an appropriate timeframe of interim submissions for the project, which is under consideration not including turn-around time for the appropriate reviews. Also included should be the name, title and approximate percentage of employee's time to be dedicated to work on the products to result from the professional service contact.
f. 
Resumes. This section shall include a complete, up-to-date, resume for each and every professional employee assigned to the project. This section should also include this information on all subcontractors utilized by the lead firm on the project. If subcontractors are not utilized at the time of initial submission but are at a later date, the Town reserves the right to reject such subcontractors for reasonable cause such as previous non-performance as either prime contractors or subcontractors.
g. 
Supplemental information. Any other information that the Town deems necessary to properly evaluate each professional service firm under consideration relevant to the proposed project.
(4) 
Selection committee. The professional services selection committee shall be responsible for the following:
a. 
Receiving copies of the proposals submitted to individually review and evaluate in accordance with a standard and predetermined set of objective evaluation criteria.
b. 
Meeting to review the technical merits of the submitted proposals and prepare a "short list" of professional services firms that shall be requested to submit further information if appropriate, and/or to be interviewed by the professional services selection committee. The professional services selection committee shall attempt to ensure that a minimum of three professional service firms are interviewed for each project.
Meeting to discuss the proposals received; interview the firms that have been "short listed" and submit recommendations to the Mayor and/or Town Council. [Attachment A — so-called "Purchase Advice" form can be found with the Town Clerk].
The recommendation of the professional services selection committee shall be in writing and contain at minimum the following:
i. 
A list of the firms submitted and their quotations (the certificate of bid/proposal opening).
ii. 
A copy of the newspaper and other advertisements published which solicited proposals.
iii. 
An explanation of the rationale for recommending the professional services firm being proposed for contracting when the recommended firm is not the low bid firm.
iv. 
The recommendation of the professional services selection committee shall be forwarded to the Mayor for action or referral to the Town Council based upon the criteria established hereinbelow.
(5) 
Mayor. Based upon the recommendation of the professional services selection committee, the Mayor shall act as follows, utilizing the purchase advice form:
For contractor over $5,000.
Approve the award of the professional services contract to the selected firm and submit a resolution to the Town Council recommending the legislative approval and authorization of professional services contract by and between the Town and the professional services firm.
Reject the recommendation and instruct the committee to seek alternate proposals.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 7, 2-4-1998]
In the conduct of its determinations; the selection of the recommended firm and in rendering its recommendation, the professional services selection committee shall adhere to the following rules, policies and procedures:
A. 
The director of public works shall be chairperson of the professional services selection committee. The purchasing agent shall be vice-chairperson of the committee. The chairperson shall set the agenda for each meeting of the committee.
B. 
The chairman may, when he/she believes it is necessary or prudent supplement the information available to the selection committee by the involvement of other municipal employees or others who have appropriate expertise, an interest in, or a contribution to make to the selection process.
C. 
The record and recommendation of the selection committee shall be public record.
D. 
In evaluating the submitted proposals, the following factors shall be considered for the purpose of evaluation, but not in this order of importance:
1. 
Staff qualifications of the professional services firms presenting proposals.
2. 
Previous experience of the firm and the proposed employees who will serve on the project.
3. 
Previous similar projects with the firm for the Town and the resultant experience therefrom.
4. 
Current workload of the professional services firm and his/her ability to meet the requirements of the in a timely and efficient manner.
5. 
Past performance in terms of quality of work and the timeliness of accomplishment.
6. 
Familiarity with the standards, content, personnel and procedures of the Town.
7. 
The overall cost of services and the cost effectiveness of the proposal.
8. 
Other relevant factors that would have an affect on the professional services firms ability to satisfactorily complete the work within the stipulated time period.
9. 
The possession of licenses or permits to undertake the type of work for which the contract for services is being proposed.
10. 
A certificate of good standing with the office of the secretary of state's division of corporation.
11. 
If a Cumberland based firm, the payment of all financial liabilities to the Town such as licenses, real estate and property taxes, etc.
E. 
To implement the above policy, it is the responsibility of the selection committee to:
1. 
Review all professional service firms holding contracts with the Town.
2. 
The dollar amount of the contract as proposed and the available funding for such project.
F. 
The final recommendations of the professional services selection committee shall be made to the Mayor in writing and shall be duly signed by the chairman of the selection committee and the purchasing agent utilizing the "purchase advice" form and any supplemental information deemed appropriate.
[Ord. No. 97-42, § 8, 2-4-1998]
Amendments to professional service contracts shall be in writing and shall be handled in the same said manner as the original contract with reference to approvals thereof. Any contract not requiring approval by the Town Council may be amended to an increase not-to-exceed 20% of the original contract amount. Amendments to contracts originally requiring approval by the Town Council may only be approved by resolution of the Town Council; provided, however, that amendments of less than $3,000 and/or 10% of the original contract amount may be approved by the Mayor without Council approval; provided, further however, that the purchasing agent shall notify the Town Council of such amendment in writing at their next regularly scheduled meeting. Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this article, no professional service contract may be amended more than once without the approval of the Town Council by resolution.