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Request for Proposal Number: 12336
5.1 Background and Scope:
The Kansas Department of Transportation [KDOT] is required by federal and state regulations to identify and document historic/architectural (cultural) and archeological resources which may meet the criteria of significance for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and which may be affected by proposed state and local highway systems improvement projects. The applicable regulations include: Section 101(b)(4) of the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]; Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (as amended); the guidelines developed by the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation published November 26, 1980 (as amended); the amended Procedures for the Protection of Historic and Cultural Properties as set forth in Title 36 CFR, Parts 60-66, and Part 800 (as amended and as appropriate); the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974; Executive Order 11593; the Archeological Resources Act of 1979 (as amended in 1984); and the Kansas Antiquities Commission Act. To comply with these regulations, KDOT must take into consideration the effect that transportation undertakings will have on property listed on, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places, and must provide the information necessary to determine National Register eligibility to the State Historic Preservation Officer [SHPO], Federal Highway Administration [FHWA], or other federal lead agency. Because cultural resource investigations are a required first step in proposed transportation projects, their performance has significant schedule implications for KDOT’s entire construction program.
For more than twenty years, all historic/architectural (cultural) resource documentation (Activity I to Activity IV) required as part of KDOT projects were conducted by or subcontracted by the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) under the auspices of the Cooperative Agreement for Inventories of Cultural Resources and Their Preservation. Since 2001, in order to facilitate the contracting of Activity II to IV investigations of these resources when they are encountered on transportation projects, KDOT has contracted for the services of qualified consultants to conduct appropriate inventory, research, and documentation of buildings, structures (including bridges), or objects as required by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO).
KDOT is currently reaching the end of a ten-year (FY 2000-2009) Comprehensive Transportation Program (CTP) without a new highway program ready to take it’s place. This CTP has included numerous Substantial Maintenance projects, Major Modification Interstate projects, Major Modification Non-Interstate projects, Priority Bridge projects, and System Enhancement projects. For example, the CTP System Enhancement projects alone include ten rural and four urban corridors, five rural and four urban interchanges, and six bypasses. It has required a number of Activity II (Records Research and Field Reconnaissance Survey), Activity III (Determination of Eligibility) and/or Activity IV (Mitigation) investigations to identify and investigate National Register eligible or potentially eligible buildings, structures, or objects. It is unclear how many projects will be undertaken during the next five years and how many of those may have potentially eligible historic resources requiring investigation.
KDOT is seeking to retain a maximum of two (2) qualified consultants to conduct historic/architectural resources investigations to ensure compliance with state and federal cultural resource laws and regulations. Contracts will span a maximum of five (5) years with one base year and four (4) one-year renewals at the option of KDOT. These are statewide contracts for KDOT projects that may be located anywhere within the State of Kansas. Due to the variability of highway construction work and the phased nature of historic resource investigations, it is anticipated that some years there may be only a few investigations while other years several Activity II and III investigations may be required. As KDOT program needs change, schedules may be adjusted and surveys added or deleted to reflect new priorities. Consequently, demonstrated capability to accommodate schedule changes in a responsive and timely manner will be an important factor in the proposal evaluation process. KDOT makes no guarantee of a minimum number of projects or investigations that will be conducted. KDOT reserves the right to assign particular projects to qualified researchers from in-state academic and/or research institutions.
The intent of these contracts is to have qualified consultants on-call to perform Activity II, Activity III, and Activity IV historic/architectural resource investigations meeting all requirements of state and federal cultural resource laws and regulations in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner. KDOT will require the consultants to conduct the investigations during project planning and design when KDOT indicates that such investigations are warranted, and according to the scheduling needs and workload of KDOT. Schedules for product delivery may be as short as 30 working days.
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