Request for Proposals-Space Planning for Truro Rural Resilience Hub or Hubs

Location:	Massachusetts
Posted:	Jan 22, 2026
Due:	Feb 24, 2026
Agency:	Town of Truro
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	30 - Mechanical Power Transmission Equipment X - Lease or Rental of Facilities
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

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TOWN OF TRURO

24 Town Hall Road, P.O. Box 2030

Truro, MA 02666

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR

Space Planning for Truro Resilience Hub or Hubs

Pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, c. 7C, § 44-58, Designer Selection Law

This Request for Proposals (RFP) has been issued pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter c. 7C

section 44-58, Uniform Procurement Act, under the designer selection law. All stages of the selection

process will be governed by that Act. The RFP and related information may be obtained beginning

January 22, 2026 by going to our bid and proposals website at https://www.truro-

ma.gov/home/pages/bids-proposals or by contacting Chris Palmer, Climate Action Coordinator, Town

of Truro, at cpalmer@truro-ma.gov

The Town of Truro publishes its solicitations, attachments and addenda online. These are available for

viewing and download at the following address:

https://www.truro-ma.gov/home/pages/bids-proposals

Town of Truro

24 Town Hall Road, P.O. Box 2030

Truro, MA 02666

Notice of Request for

Proposals

Space Planning for Truro Rural Resilience Hub or Hubs

Background

The Town of Truro seeks proposals from qualified architects, engineers, or developers with experience

in the space planning, design, and construction of Town financed and owned resilience hubs.

The potential hubs are existing community-owned facilities -- the elementary school located at 317

Route 6 and the public library & the community center located together at 7 Standish Way -- that the

Town would like to determine if they could be upgraded to support residents, coordinate

communication, distribute resources, and reduce carbon pollution while enhancing quality of life for all

Truro residents. The Hubs will have two main functions:

1. For storm events and other climate/non-climate related emergencies and their aftermath and

recovery, the Hubs serve as an emergency shelter, provide uninterrupted telecommunications and

renewable energy, food and water, emergency medical services, and other needs.

2. In the time outside of an emergency disruption, the Hubs create everyday resiliency for local and

vulnerable residents, by working towards community cohesion, social equity, economic stability,

and environmental sustainability.

Proposals must include a description and location of the proposed Hub, demonstrate compliance with

laws and regulations, give examples of previous associated work, preliminary design samples, and

project timelines. Space planning work shall also consist of four overlapping phases that are to be

completed by June 30, 2026, in order to fulfil the requirements of a grant from the Commonwealth:

1. Examine two resilience hub candidate sites and issue an opinion on the feasibility of each site

• Truro Central School, 317 Rt 6 and Truro Community Center/Library, 7 Standish Way.

2. Engage with town officials and Truro’s public engagement process:

• Discuss the project as needed with town staff

• Attend the Steering Committee’s monthly meetings (remote participation is fine)

• Attend two Truro community forums (in person)

• Provide input into the Truro resilience hub survey and consider its results

3. Conduct programming and space planning for the hub or hubs

• Building on the feasibility study and town and steering committee direction, consider whether

narrowing the decision path to one site can meet all program needs, including a dependable

emergency shelter with water and power.

• Consider precedents from relevant emergency shelters to resilience hubs.

• Provide programming and space planning analysis under both:

▪ Storm events, and,

▪ other climate or non-climate emergencies and their aftermath, particularly a

breakdown in food and medical supply chains.

• Address the needs of those with disabilities, housebound, and those with trauma.

• Include applicable generalized cost estimates.

4. Assess green infrastructure opportunities to support the hub(s)

• Make the resilience hub attractive and comfortable.

• Provide outdoor space to support the hub.

• Offer nature-based solutions for lighting, stormwater, and cooling needs.

• Include generalized applicable cost estimates.

• Assess Mechanical systems, solar photovoltaic potential, and battery storage potential with

cost estimates.

Budget taskings are funded by a grant:

The maximum available budget, including all change orders, is $78,000, as follows:

• Community and committee engagement included in all other tasks

• Two site feasibility study

$19,000

• Programmatic and space planning

$29,000

• Green infrastructure

$15,000

• Mechanical, solar, battery, and resilience $15,000

This is a performance contract, and each component shall be invoiced and payable (45 days net) as a flat fee

upon the successful completion and Town acceptance of that component.

Information about the Town of Truro

Truro is a very narrow, exposed, rural, coastal community, 1.6 miles wide at its narrowest. It is bounded by

the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Cape Cod Bay to the west and Provincetown to the North. In a large storm,

Truro is one of the most vulnerable communities in Massachusetts and can be cut off from resources needed

for daily life. It also has one of the oldest populations in Massachusetts, often with mobility impairments

and medical needs that require resources. This combination can be deadly, especially for under-resourced

residents. The Town also has an income-based Environmental Justice population and as well as a significant

minority (heavily Jamaican) population.

Truro has no emergency shelter and no health care facility. The nearest official evacuation shelters are 10 to

16 miles away in Eastham, or 3 to 8 miles away in Provincetown. Both can be cut off during a storm event.

Limited emergency health care is available in Wellfleet and Provincetown at Outer Cape Health Services

(OCHS) and the closest hospital is in Hyannis, 39 miles away. Access to any of these health service

providers depends on Route 6, the only major road connecting Truro to other towns in both directions, being

passable. In a major storm event or climate emergency, that may not be the case.

Truro and other towns on the Outer Cape are vulnerable to climate impacts, including flooding and coastal

erosion from sea level rise, storm surge, and more intense rainfall events; heat waves and increased wildfire

potential; air pollution events from fires elsewhere; electrical service interruption from local or regional

transmission interruptions; water quality and quantity degradation from saltwater incursion due to storm

surge and other factors.

These impacts are felt now but will be greatly intensified looking ahead 50 years to 2075. The need for

Resilience Hubs will grow over the decades, but a direct hurricane hit could come at any time, and is a

question of when, not if.

In addition to climate, Truro has other unique challenges. Being a small and rural community means a lack

of local services, with most services an hour’s drive away in Hyannis with very limited public

transportation. Being a seasonal community brings with it a housing crisis and wealth disparity, both visible

and invisible. These social determinants of health add to Truro’s vulnerability, and the worsening climate

crisis is set to exacerbate our local issues.

The two proposed Hubs explicitly build resilience in Truro in three modes of operation:

1. Everyday. At its core, Resilience Hub(s) serves as a central point to design and implement a

strategy to address root causes of vulnerability and help the community thrive. In addition, the

Resilience Hub can deliver preparedness messaging to the communities the Hub serves, and site

leaders can work with trusted community leaders to disseminate information and facilitate stronger

community ties before disruption.

2. Disruption. A community’s Resilience Hub can be the central point for gathering, assessing

impact, sharing stories, assembling information, accessing resources, and spearheading response.

Ideally, residents, businesses, and organizations will collectively manage the Hub including both

internal and external communications.

3. Recovery. A hub can play a critical role in post-disruption recovery and ongoing communications

needs. For resilient communications, the site can remain a central point for gathering, sharing

information, and accessing resources. Hubs can also provide space for additional experts, aid

organizations, volunteers, and support networks to gather and better understand and help meet

community needs.

Having two Resilience Hubs, given the public facilities that already exist in Truro, may be less expensive to

develop and better serve our population than having just one Hub. Our two existing facilities that we are

exploring for Hubs, the Community Center/Library and the School, each have some available space,

capacity on their mechanical systems, and existing staff who can, with small capital investments, serve

Resilience Hub needs. Expanding either site into a single Resilience Hub would require a greater facility

expansion need and increase the overall capital cost. This provides the additional benefit of having Hubs

closer to our population, some of whom don’t have access to cars, especially during emergencies, and

provides the best access to trusted spaces (e.g., the school for parents with school-age children).

I. Minimum Qualifications

In order to be eligible for selection, each Respondent must certify in its cover letter that it meets the

minimum requirements detailed below. Any response that fails to include such certification in its response

demonstrating that these criteria have been met will be rejected without further consideration.

1. Each response shall be accompanied by a completed Design Selection Board (DSB) Application, a

copy of which is attached hereto.

2. Responses shall be signed as follows: (1) if the respondent is an individual, by her/him personally; (2)

if the respondent is a partnership, by the name of the partnership, followed by the signature of each

general partner; and (3) if the respondent is a corporation, by the authorized officer, whose signature

must be attested to by the Clerk/Secretary of the corporation and the corporate seal affixed.

3. Each Respondent must designate an individual who will serve as the Project Director and Project

Manager.

4. Both the Project Director and Project Manager shall be registered by the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts as an architect or professional engineer and have at least eight (8) years of experience

in the construction and supervision of construction and design of public buildings, or; if not registered

as an architect or professional engineer, they must have at least ten (10) years’ experience in the

construction and supervision of construction and design of public buildings.

5. A thorough knowledge of the Massachusetts State Building Code, Stretch Code, Specialized Code,

and the regulations of the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board, and the Americans with

Disabilities Act.

6. A thorough knowledge of all Massachusetts public bid laws, including without limitation, M.G.L.

Chapter 149, Section 44A-M.

7. Prior experience acting as design consultant construction projects of similar size and scope.

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.

Bid Title:	Request for Proposals-Space Planning for Truro Rural Resilience Hub or Hubs
Category:	Town-Wide Bid Postings
Status:	Open