Request for Qualifications November 2007 GIS Migration and Modeling Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1.0 Overview. 2.0 General Information

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1 REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS GIS Migration and Modeling November 2007 Closing Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 Closing Time: 3:00 p.m. (Local Time) Halifax Water 450 Cowie Hill Road P.O. Box 8388, Station A Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 5M1

2 GIS Migration and Modeling Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Overview 2.0 General Information 3.0 Required Information 4.0 Submission Requirements 5.0 Evaluation

3 GIS Migration and Modeling Page OVERVIEW 1.1 Introduction The Halifax Regional Water Commission (Halifax Water) is seeking to identify interested and qualified GIS consultants related to the planned GIS Migration and Modeling project in the coming year (2008). Recent studies on Halifax Water GIS (Geographic Information System) have recommended expansion of the GIS including the upgrade and exploration of new technology, responding more closely to user needs including data currency, and moving to the new ESRI geodatabase environment including applications for view, query, editing, and mapping. Consistent with these recommendations, Halifax Water recently completed a detailed GIS Strategy Modeling and Migration Project Charter for the GIS migration project. This project charter kicks off a key project identified in the user needs study of To carry out the range of improvements recommended, Halifax Water will require a range of GIS consultant services. This Request for Qualification (RFQ) document will be used to evaluate and identify suitably qualified GIS consulting firms/teams. Once teams have been deemed qualified, they will be invited to respond to detailed Request for Proposals (RFPs) for GIS professional services on certain specific components of the migration plan. 1.2 Background Halifax Water is the municipally owned utility responsible for the supply of potable water within the urban and suburban core of the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Halifax Water, with a staff of approximately 180, operates three (3) large water treatment plants, seven (7) small water systems, and over 1200 kilometres of distribution mains and related appurtenances. The Halifax Water GIS currently resides on a SUN 450 server using ESRI s ArcInfo librarian data structure. Until recently, Halifax Water had been receiving library updates from HRM which included roads, sewers, buildings, civic addressing, parcels and several other municipal data themes. This data when combined with the water utility data allowed the Halifax Water to distribute a comprehensive set of municipal data themes to staff. Halifax Water has been combining the spatial library data with attribute data from Oracle to create shape files. These shapefiles are distributed to our GIS server and accessed by a customized Arcview 3.x application for end user view and query. While this system is very user friendly, it has some deficiencies in terms of data currency. Because of the number of processes which need to be run to go from Libraries to shapefiles (with multiple themes), there is an extremely high overhead to keeping the data current. Data currency was identified as a key deficiency in feedback received from our users at Halifax Water. The migration of data to a geodatabase will not only lower the

4 GIS Migration and Modeling Page 3 cost and overhead of maintaining data but also provide the end user with current data for decision making. Another reason to justify our migration is our relationship with the HRM GIS and the recent merger of water and sewer into one utility, Halifax Water. HRM (who to this point have maintained sewer data) recently migrated their librarian data to an ArcSDE geodatabase structure and will no longer be maintaining libraries. Librarian is no longer supported by ESRI. HRM have created a corporate geodatabase which will house all HRM GIS data. Because of our data sharing and cooperation with HRM, it makes practical and economic sense to adopt the same data structure (geodatabase) and migrate away from the librarian data structure. If the Halifax Water did not proceed with this migration, we run the risk of not having current and complete data sets through our data sharing arrangement with HRM. Simply put, we would not be able to maintain and share data in an efficient manner. Therefore, while there are number of inherent benefits to be realized from upgrading and migrating our GIS, the three key business drivers are as follows: 1) Halifax Water GIS users need current data 2) Halifax Water needs to maintain consistency with HRM GIS development 3) Halifax Water needs to continue data sharing with HRM. The project mandate for Halifax Water is the migration of existing water infrastructure data to a new data structure called a geodatabase including: Creation of a new data model for the water infrastructure data Migration of existing data to the new data model and the corporate HRM geodatabase Develop new editing application and new view and query application Upgrade and integrate Oracle forms so that they work seamlessly with the geodatabase tables (or find an alternative form environment) Full testing of data migration, new applications for editing, mapping, and view and query as well as full training for staff. A full range of GIS professional skills, expertise, and services will be essential in order to implement the recommended improvements, including the following: 1. Technical project management experience 2. Data modeling experience (specifically in ESRI geodatabase environment and specific to water and sewer geodatabase models) 3. Application development experience (specifically in the customization of ArcGIS suite of products with particular emphasis on web based view, query, and editing); 4. Technical system design and optimization of ESRI SDE geodatabase environment working in a wide area network;

5 GIS Migration and Modeling Page 4 5. Database experience (specifically in the Oracle environment) 6. Documentation and training experience (specific to ArcGIS products) 7. Data conversion experience The ideal consulting team should possess the full range of skills and expertise identified above by utilizing local or regional resources. Components of the above project requirements combined with professional services will be packaged as a fixed rate project(s) in an RFP. Other components of this migration will be achieved using in-house staff working with GIS consultants on a per diem rate. 1.3 Procurement Methodology The first phase of the procurement process is a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify interested and qualified GIS professional consultants for this project. The consultant teams responding to the RFQ will be reviewed based on skill, experience, and capacity. From this review, Halifax Water will establish a short list of qualified consultant firms/teams. Halifax Water will use the list of qualified consultants to determine a list of firms/teams to respond to Request for Proposals (RFPs) for specific projects. The list of firms invited to respond to the RFPs will be determined by Halifax Water based on the size and scope of the project, the relevant skills, experience of the consulting teams, availability of teams to work upon the projects, and the timeline for completion. 2.0 GENERAL INFORMATION 2.1 Licensing Requirements The Consultant team members and key personnel shall be licensed, or be eligible to be licensed in Nova Scotia in their appropriate professional fields. 2.2 Security Requirements The successful firms will be required to submit documentation of security background clearances for all team members proposing to work on Halifax Water projects. 2.3 Team Members Key personnel named in the RFQ submission shall be available during the period of the migration project which is specific to their area of expertise. Substitution of designated team members on subsequently awarded consulting work shall not be permitted without prior approval of Halifax Water.

6 GIS Migration and Modeling Page Payment There shall be no direct payment nor reimbursement to proponents by Halifax Water for the preparation and submission of RFQ proposals. There shall be no direct payment nor reimbursement to proponents by the Halifax Water for the preparation and submission of subsequent RFP submissions. 2.5 Background Documents A copy of the following documents will be available for review by proponents at Halifax Water, 450 Cowie Hill Road, prior to the closing date: 1. Halifax Water s GIS Migration and Modeling Project Charter Proponents wishing to view these documents are to make prior arrangements with the contact person listed below. 2.6 Inquiries The proponent shall prepare the RFQ proposal on the basis of information provided in the RFQ document. The proponent shall be responsible to seek clarification for any terms and conditions contained within the RFQ document. Any proponent who has questions or requires clarification as to the meaning or intent of any part of this RFQ or of the proposed project, or who believes that this RFQ contains an error, inconsistency or omission, should submit a request for clarification. All requests for clarification or inquiries concerning this RFQ should be forwarded in writing to the Halifax Water representative listed below. It shall be the proponents responsibility to ensure that inquiries are received by Halifax Water. Harold MacNeil, P. Eng., Engineering Information Engineer Halifax Water 450 Cowie Hill Road P.O. Box 8388, Station A Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 5M1 Phone: (902) Fax: (902) Responses to requests for clarification will be provided by Halifax Water in writing to all proponents no later than 3 working days prior to the RFQ date for submission. Verbal responses to inquiries are only binding when confirmed by written addenda.

7 GIS Migration and Modeling Page Rights to Accept or Reject Halifax Water reserves the right to reject any or all submissions received in response to this RFQ call. Halifax Water also reserves the right to waive any informality in any or all proposals. 3.0 REQUIRED INFORMATION 3.1 Mandatory Information: All RFQ submissions must follow the format and numbering system outlined below. 3.2 Proponent Information:.1 Provide the following basic information of the Proponent Firm:.1 Name.2 Address.3 Principal office location, local office location.4 Form of Business: corporation, partnership, sole proprietor, etc..5 Number of years under current Form of Business..6 List former names and years, if applicable..7 List Provinces of formal registration..8 List names of officers..9 Written proof of professional liability, indicating dollar value to be provided..10 Number of current staff and their roles in the firm..2 Identify the key personnel, describing their respective roles, their number of years experience with related GIS projects of similar function, size, scope and delivery method, with resumes (maximum 2 pages per person), who will be available as part of the Halifax Water s GIS migration project..3 List and briefly describe up to 3 similar projects and undertakings completed by the consultant team within the last 5 years; name, size, and location of the project. briefly describe key features of the project. Briefly describe hardware/software/technical components of project. indicate initial and completion schedule. indicate initial budget/bid and completed cost. list key personnel involved in each project. provide name of Project Manager.

8 GIS Migration and Modeling Page Team Capability list other design consultant firms involved on the project, and key individual names. provide owner/client reference contact name and phone number..1 Provide an organizational chart identifying the roles, responsibilities, and reporting requirements of each firm and key individual within those firms (where applicable)..2 Provide a list of per-diem rates for key team members and for support staff / services (drafting, clerical, administration). Subject to CPI adjustments, the rates are to be held for the duration of the Halifax Water s GIS migration project. 4.0 SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS 4.1 Time and Location RFQ submissions will be received at the following location no later than Wednesday, December 5, 2007, at 3:00 p.m. local time: 4.2 Form of Submission Halifax Water 450 Cowie Hill Road Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 5M1 Attention: Mr. Harold MacNeil, P.Eng. Project Reference: GIS Migration and Modeling RFQ Four (4) copies of the RFQ submission must be submitted. All submissions are to be in hard copy form, 8½ x 11 size. No facsimile transmissions of the submission will be accepted, however, amendments to the original submission will be accepted by facsimile before the submission closing time. Originals of the faxed amendments must be forwarded to Halifax Water within 24 hours of the submission closing time so that they may be attached to the original hard copies for validity. 4.3 Proposal Revision Any changes or revisions to the RFQ will be issued to all proponents in writing as a formal addendum to this RFQ. Prior to the submission closing date, Halifax Water may modify any provision or part of the RFQ at any time, upon notice in writing to the proponents, if a reasonable time is allowed by Halifax Water for the proponents to

9 GIS Migration and Modeling Page 8 respond to such modifications including, without limitation, the opportunity to make any necessary revisions to their respective submissions. 4.4 Submission Limitations Only one submission per proponent will be accepted. If more than one submission is received from a proponent, all submissions shall be rejected and no further consideration shall be given to the proponent. Proponents shall be solely responsible for the delivery of their proposals in the manner and time prescribed. 4.5 Late Submissions The date and time of receipt of a submission shall be the date and time indicated by Halifax Water s date and time stamped upon the proposal. Proposals received after the closing time for submission will not be accepted, and will be returned to the proponent unopened. 4.6 Length of Submission The RFQ submission document should be limited to 20 single spaced, single sided pages including corporate promotional material. 5.0 EVALUATION 5.1 Evaluation Criteria The RFQ submissions will be evaluated by a committee of Halifax Water staff. The evaluation will be based on a relatively equal weighting of the four following criteria:.1 Knowledge and Experience of the individual proposed team members;.2 Demonstrated skills and successful track record of the proposed team, availability of local staff resources;.3 Proponent s demonstrated understanding of the scope of the Halifax Water s GIS Migration and Modeling project requirements;.4 References. Based on the evaluation, Halifax Water will establish a short list of qualified consultant firms/teams. Halifax Water will notify each proponent as to whether their consultant team is included on the short-list.

10 GIS Migration and Modeling Page Future Assignments During the period of the GIS migration project, Halifax Water will use the list of qualified consultants to determine a list of firms/teams to respond to Request for Proposals for specific assignments. The list of firms invited to respond to the RFPs will be determined by Halifax Water based on the size and scope of the assignment, the relevant skills, and experience of the consulting teams, the availability of teams to work upon the projects, and the timeline for completion.