Instructions to Bidders

Thank you for taking the time to look over our request for proposal. Below, you will find details of the bid timeline as well as additional instructions to bidders for your submitted proposal.

Instructions to Bidders

  1. Bidding Documents

Everything that we’ve published on our website belongs to us or we’re using it to give you a visual reference for this project. We’ve published it here so that you can have easy access to that info in the middle of a pandemic.

Our email to you is our invitation to bid. We don’t have to advertise or provide notice for a job of any size here at Kaycliff.

We sent you most of the bidding documents as an attachment, but here is a link that takes you to a all the other pages on this site that are relevant to this RFP

  1. Intent to Reply

Please reply with your intent to bid on this project by: Friday, December 11th, 2020.

After you reply with your intent to bid, we will forward your contact info to our architect, Alan Dryden. This will help with communicating any addenda on your proposal clearly and quickly.

  1. Site Examination

We’re going to be holding a non-mandatory site tour on Wednesday, December 16th 2020 at 11:00 AM. We anticipate this will take just over one hour and we’ll be walking outside.

We are publishing as much relevant information as possible to help you put together a bid.

We hope that this project is interesting enough to get builders excited to submit proposals. However, we don’t want to gather the entire Northeast Tennessee contracting industry together for a catered, sit-down, pre-bid conference in the middle of a pandemic. Additionally, we want to make your estimator’s job as easy as possible by gathering as much data as we can at the outset of this process.

We won’t accept a proposal from somebody that doesn’t take the time to familiarize themselves with the site conditions. If you are unable to attend this site tour, please arrange a time to visit the site by emailing us at info@kaycliffcenter.com. We will set these up at dates and times after Wednesday December 16th at 2:00 PM.

  1. Questions

If you have any questions about us, the site, this RFP, or anything else about this project, please email us at: info@kaycliffcenter.com by Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020.

We will, in consultation with our architect, answer your questions by Wednesday, December 30th, 2020.

  1. Substitutions

If you look over these bidding documents and think you have a better way of accomplishing the “big picture” that we want out here, please let us know. Justify your substitution using the evaluation criteria provided in this RFP and any other relevant info we need to evaluate your request.

Your request will be evaluated with how it keeps in the big picture and the spirit and vision of this project.

We will let you know what we think about any proposed substitutions by: Monday, January 4th, 2021.

  1. Scope of Proposal

You can bid on all of the work listed in this RFP or parts of it. Just check the applicable boxes on the Bid Forms.

Here’s why.

  1. Qualifications of Contractors

Bidders shall be familiar with applicable laws and local building codes applicable to this project.

  1. Bid Form and Submittal

Make bids on a provided bid form along with questionnaire and return as a PDF attachment to info@kaycliffcenter.com. 

Please submit all bid forms and any materials related to your proposal by:Friday, January 8th, 2021.

Please list any subcontractors in the body of your email, as well as in the space provided on the Bid form, along with their TN Contractor’s license number and classifications.

On the bid form, in the space provided, please provide a breakdown of your labor and materials for each part of this project. Provide a description of the materials and rough quantity. If your cost for steel (for example, on the bridge) is way out of other bidders’ ballparks, we’re gonna want to know why, but you don’t need to break down every fastener. Please give us an itemization of your major costs.

  1. Receipt of Bids

Kaycliff will provide all bidders with notification that we received your proposal.

After Friday, January 8th, 2021, all proposals will be forwarded to The Foundation’s Board of Directors for review.

  1. Consideration of Bids

To receive priority consideration, bids must follow these instructions and those on the bid form.

Bidders are encouraged to submit any supporting materials regarding any part of their proposal.

We are going to be evaluating bids based on a number of criteria: 

  1. Cost. We are not obligated to take the lowest bid for this or any project. However, we have to be good stewards of our funds.
  2. The bidder’s estimated time until deployment. We want to begin work on this project quickly.
  3. The bidder’s estimated time to complete the project. We want these improvements badly. But we also want to enable you to move onto higher ticket projects quickly, too.
  4. The bidder’s background in commercial construction, especially for parks, recreation, and tourism projects.
  5. The bidder’s choice of materials. How does your choice of building materials now defray maintenance and promote durability in the future?
  6. Responsiveness to requests and scheduling.
  7. Ability to demonstrate creative thinking. On the individual pages that detail our goals for this project, we outline that we are, in a sense, building a massive outdoor classroom. The Foundation hopes to find a builder that can fit well with all other criteria, and help bring a sense of imagination and adventure to all subsequent phases of this project.

11. Bid Presentation

We anticipate that all bids will be reviewed by Wednesday, January 13th, 2021.

Please be prepared to meet and present to our board of directors one-on-one between Friday, January 15th, 2021 and Tuesday, January 26th, 2021.

Kaycliff hopes that each bidder’s proposal documents are stellar. However, we anticipate that only a few will be invited for a bid presentation. If you have any questions about this project or the evaluation criteria, please ask.

Kaycliff will require a certificate of General Liability Insurance and Worker’s Compensation in order to enter into any agreement related to this project. It is suggested that bidders either send that information with their proposal or provide it at a bid presentation.