RFQ closed: 5 responses & next steps
On June 18, 2020, the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Stuart Lake Hospital Redevelopment Project closed and Northern Health received five responses from design-builder teams. Northern Health, with Partnerships BC, completed their evaluation and recommended a shortlist of three teams to proceed to the next stage of the process.
The next step in this process will be the release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the project to the three proponents shortlisted in the RFQ, this was issued on August 4th, 2020. This RFP process is open only to the top three companies that were shortlisted through the initial RFQ process. They are Clark Builders Design-Builder, Graham Design Builders LP, and The Design-Builder joint venture (JV) partnership between Smith Bros. and Wilson (BC) Ltd. (SBW) and 1229917 BC Ltd., a corporation wholly owned by Wright Construction Western Inc. (Wright).
The first RFP closes in October 2020, and Northern Health, with their consulting team, will evaluate the proposals to select one team to execute a Design Early Works Agreement and then proceed to the next stage, the second RFP for the construction.
A request for Qualifications (RFQ) is a process that allows organizations to consider proposals based on the experience and qualifications of firms interested in submission (a straight tender considers only price). A scoring matrix is included in this process, so that bidders understand what the organization is looking for. This assists in eliminating potential issues, including the avoidance of unqualified bidders submitting the lowest bid. An RFQ also encourages bidders who might otherwise not submit if the field of competition appears too large and the chances of bid success are presumed low. Putting together an accurate yet competitive tender price is a lot of work. If there is a higher likelihood that an unqualified bidder could put in a low bid then this discourages qualified and appropriate bidders from submitting.
Bidders passing the RFQ (usually up to three) are then able to respond to the next step of the procurement (a Tender or Request for Proposals, RFP) which then results in a Construction Contract (this type of contract requires that the contractor agree to be responsible for job execution at a set price).
