Bid Detail

12-369 - RFQ: Legal Services for Projects related to proposed Casino Development and Community Impact

Through this Request for Qualifications (RFQ), the City of Springfield ("City") seeks outside counsel to provide legal advice and services related to the implementation of "An Act Establishing Expanded Gaming in the Commonwealth", codified at Chapter 194 of the Acts of 2011, including activities related to the development of a gaming facility within Western Massachusetts (Project), and any regulations promulgated by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission ("Commission") pursuant to the Act (collectively referred to herein as the "Act").

The services include but are not limited to assisting the City in negotiating one or more host community agreements, negotiating one or more surrounding community agreements, and live entertainment venue mitigation agreements, setting up oversight procedures, advising the City as to permitting, construction, zoning and licensing issues related to the development and construction of a casino, determining the potential impacts of such a development and mitigation measures, etc.

Proposals are sought from qualified firms with substantial experience in municipal legal affairs, representing municipalities, complying with gaming industry regulations, licensing, permitting, construction and land development administration. In addition, consideration will be given to proposals providing a team approach to the process so as to provide the City with negotiation skills and strategic advice related to the gaming industry, and the capacity to review engineering, economic, environmental, and other consulting reports that may become part of the process.

The City is particularly interested in engaging a firm with substantial experience in municipal law within the Commonwealth to aid the City in maximizing the benefits to the City and its residents through effective and thorough management of the casino development process from start to finish, in accordance with the Act.

The City reserves the option to award contracts to multiple Consultants but would prefer to award to a single Consultant which is able to provide all of the services requested.

The City intends to award a contract to the Firm which submits the most advantageous proposal, taking into consideration the qualifications in the Technical Proposal, and the Price Proposal.


SCOPE OF SERVICES

The purpose of this contract is to engage outside counsel to advise the City regarding gaming facility development issues related to the implementation of the Act within the City of Springfield. Counsel must have extensive experience in providing legal services related to the development of City infrastructure to support such a development as well as best methods of community mitigation. Counsel must have a reputation for integrity, professionalism, intellectual rigor, and independence in its advisory roles.
Positive references must be available from public sector clients for the specific types of services solicited.

Illustrative examples of the types of services being procured include, but are not limited to, the following:

A thorough review and assessment of the Act, and any regulations issued thereunder, advice regarding compliance with the Act in regards to the components of a host community agreement, any surrounding community agreement/s, the referendum vote, and oversight and compliance monitoring of any applicant awarded a license to operate a casino in Springfield.

1. Assisting with the drafting and negotiating a host community agreement with the casino applicant, consistent with the requirements of the Act, and any surrounding community agreement/s if a license is awarded to a casino applicant in another Western Massachusetts community, and live entertainment venue mitigation agreements for Springfield Symphony Hall and CityStage, in accordance with Chapter 23K and the Act.

2. Assisting with any further procurements needed for the negotiation of the host community or surrounding community agreements;

3. Advising on issues related to the handling of competitively sensitive or other proprietary information that may be provided to the City; and

4. Assisting with responding to relevant questions from City officials and representatives and other interested parties.

B. TASK ORDERS

1) From time to time, the City, through its duly authorized representatives, will request that the successful Proposer perform certain services in furtherance of the activities described in the RFQ. Each request will be in the form of a document authorizing the completion of certain Services, referred to as a "Task Order". For each Task Order, the City and the successful Proposer will mutually agree on a detailed written description the Services to be performed by Consultant, including a task description, a maximum compensation amount, a proposed schedule for delivery of Services, the estimated number of hours to complete the task, and a list of the job titles and names of the members of the Firm and the Firm's team assigned to the task. Any Task Order must be in writing and approved and signed by the Firm's authorized designee, and either the City Solicitor, or the Chief Development Officer, or their authorized designees. The Consultant shall not incur hourly charges or other expenses for a Task Order in excess of the approved lump sum amount without prior written approval from the designated officials. The Consultant shall invoice the City only for actual time incurred to complete the work on a Task Order.

2) The Consultant will be responsible for tracking Task Order progress by regular (bi-weekly or monthly, as requested by the City) reports from the Consultant to the City that will include the following information: a) percent completion of task order, b) amount of fees invoiced to date, and c) amount of allotted time used. Analysis and comparison of information in (a), (b) and (c) above against the Task Order budgets for these items will provide the monitoring information necessary to ensure successful performance and completion of Consultant's obligations.


3) ADDITIONAL SERVICES: The City reserves the right to request additional services as provided in the RFQ. When requested by the City, the Consultant shall provide, or as needed retain the services of, professional and technical experts to provide services which are not included within the job titles listed in the RFQ. The Consultant shall obtain proposals from qualified third parties and recommend to the City for approval, which shall become part of the applicable Task Order. No additional services shall be performed without prior City approval, including work by professional and/or technical experts. Additional Services shall be considered a reimbursable expense to the Consultant, and shall be billed to the City at the rate agreed upon in the particular Task Order.

C. ESTIMATED COSTS PER CONTRACT PERIOD:

The City estimates the following as the not to exceed amounts for each fiscal year during the Contract term. These amounts are estimates only, and may be affected by the timetable for casino development license applications and procedures once established by the Commission. Funding for the contract in each City fiscal year (July 1st to June 30th) after the first fiscal year is subject to appropriation.

July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013: Not to exceed $125,000.00
July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014: Not to exceed $50,000.00
July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015: Not to exceed $50,000.00


Complete responses must be submitted by June 12, 2012, Section I.G, no later than 2:00 p.m. (EST), Eastern Standard Time. Responses must be submitted by mail or hand-delivered to:

City of Springfield Office of Procurement
Attn: Lauren Stabilo
36 Court Street, Room 307
Springfield, MA 01103

1. one (1) original Technical Proposal(clearly labeled as "original") and seven (7) hard copies of its complete response in the following format:
• Proposal must not be in excess of 10 pages (excluding required forms, tables listing client references and résumés, which may be attached as exhibits).
• Each copy should be labeled with the name of the response document it contains.
• The sections of the response documents should be labeled to correspond with the section heads ("Technical Proposal" and "Price Proposal") and section numbering in the RFQ. No pricing information to be submitted with the Technical Proposal.

2. one (1) electronic copy (Technical) of its complete response on CD or flash drive; No pricing information to be put on CD with Technical Proposal

3. one (1) original Cost Proposal (clearly labeled as "original") and seven (7) hard copies of its complete response sealed separately from the Technical Proposals in the following format:
• Proposal must not be in excess of 10 pages (excluding required forms, tables listing client references and résumés, which may be attached as exhibits).
• Each copy should be labeled with the name of the response document it contains.
• The sections of the response documents should be labeled to correspond with the section heads ("Technical Proposal" and "Price Proposal") and section numbering in the RFQ.

4. one (1) electronic copy (Cost Proposals) of its complete response on CD or flash drive; this CD shall be separate from the Technical Proposals

5. a cover letter that clearly states the name of the bidder organization, principal address, local (greater Springfield) address (if applicable, and if different from principal address), and the name, address, e-mail, fax and telephone number of the bidder's contact person. The letter must:
• be signed by an individual authorized to bind the contractor;
• clearly commit the key personnel named in the response to being available to THE CITY during the term of the Agreement;
• clearly identify any significant subcontractors, their roles, and responsibilities; and
• include a statement that the bidder's proposal will remain in effect until the time for acceptance has expired or a contract resulting from this RFQ is executed, whichever is later.

Unnecessary samples, attachments or other documents not specifically asked for should not be submitted.

B. Technical Proposal

1. Required Forms

Bidders must submit as part of their Technical Proposal the following City required forms.

• Request for Qualifications Coversheet signed.
• Non Collusion/Fraud Form
• Tax Certification Affidavit
• Affirmative Action Plan Page
• W-9 Form
• All forms to be completed, signed and notarized where applicable.

Unnecessary samples, attachments or other documents not specifically asked for should not be submitted.


Procurement Terms and Conditions

A. Issuing Office

Chief Procurement Officer
City of Springfield Office of Procurement
36 Court Street, Room 307
Springfield, MA 01103

B. Comm-PASS

This is a single document associated with a complete Solicitation that can be found on Comm-PASS at www.comm-pass.com at no charge.

All Bidders who obtain this document from Comm-PASS (1) are responsible for reviewing and adhering to all information, forms and requirements found in all tabs and related forum records, if any, for the entire Solicitation, and (2) will be treated as an official recipient only if they use the "Interested in Bidding" link to enter complete contact information.

To locate the Solicitation associated with this document, go to www.comm-pass.com, select the "Search for solicitations" link, enter the Bid Number specified below in the "Document Number" field, and select the "Search" button.

Bidders who need help regarding Comm-PASS navigation may refer to the Comm-PASS Resource Center at www.mass.gov/osd for documents and guides. Bidders may also contact the Comm-PASS Helpdesk at comm-pass@state.ma.us or the Comm-PASS Helpline at 1-888-MA-STATE. The Helpline is staffed from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday Eastern Standard or Daylight time, as applicable, except on federal, state and Suffolk county holidays.

Comm-PASS is the official system of record for all procurement information which is publicly accessible at no charge at www.comm-pass.com. Information contained in this document and in each tab of the Solicitation, including file attachments, and information contained in the related Bidders' Forum(s), are all components of the Solicitation.

Bidders are solely responsible for obtaining all information distributed for this Solicitation via Comm-PASS, by using the free Browse and Search tools offered on each record-related tab on the main navigation bar (Solicitations and Forums). Forums support bidder submission of written questions associated with a Solicitation and publication of official answers. All records on Comm-PASS are comprised of multiple tabs, or pages. For example, Solicitation records contain Summary, Rules, Issuer(s), Intent or Forms & Terms and Specifications, and Other Information tabs. Each tab contains data and/or file attachments provided by the Procurement Management Team. All are incorporated into the Solicitation.

It is each bidder's responsibility to check Comm-PASS for:

• Any addenda or modifications to this Solicitation, by monitoring the "Last Change" field on the Solicitation's Summary tab; and
• Any Bidders' Forum records related to this Solicitation (see Locating an Online Bidders' Forum for information on locating these records).

The CITY accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to bidders who submit a response based on an out-of-date Solicitation or on information received from a source other than Comm-PASS.

Addenda and other documents relevant to this procurement will be available through the Comm-PASS website. It is the responsibility of the vendor/proposer to visit Comm-PASS in order to obtain such documents. City of Springfield intends to establish a list of those interested in this procurement so vendors and proposers are requested and encouraged to enter complete and accurate information via the "Interested in Bid Partnering" link.

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