Town of Fair Bluff Small Business Center – Suite Restaurant Upgrade

1. REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATION

SOLICITING AGENCY: Town of Fair Bluff

PROJECT TITLE: Town of Fair Bluff Small Business Center – Suite Restaurant Upgrade

SERVICES SOLICITED: Professional Services

2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION/PURPOSE OF SOLICITATION:

The Town of Fair Bluff has received a $188,888 Rural Business – Cooperative Service, US Department of Agriculture, Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) to assist in the design and renovation of Suite 100, Town of Fair Bluff Downtown Development Center.

Kousins Kitchen Soul & Catering (Kousins) is leasing Suite 100 to operate its restaurant and catering service. The suite’s retail store open space layout does not support separate table service, take-out, and/or on-site food preparation resulting in it not being conducive for restaurant use. The suite food preparation limitations result in the Columbus County Health Department, restricting Kousins restaurant to a deli style menu that does not require food preparation.

The Town of Fair Bluff is seeking qualification statements from interested firms to provide professional services to enable it to retrofit Suite 100 retail space to enable its use as a full-service restaurant with food preparation that meets the needs of its current tenant, Kousins Kitchen Soul & Catering (Kousins), as well as, Columbus County Health Department guidelines. Professional service and construction contracts using RBDG funds must meet applicable Federal (RBDG) requirements.

It is the intent of the Town to obtain qualification statements for comparison by soliciting proposals from an adequate number of sources to permit reasonable competition consistent with the nature and requirements of the project.

The qualifications of firms submitting proposals will be evaluated as provided for in the” Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to State, Local and Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments (24 CFR 85). The Town of Fair Bluff reserves the right to make such investigations to determine the qualifications and ability of each offeror to perform the work in a satisfactory manner within the specified time frame.

3. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A responding firm must meet the following requirements at a minimum to submit a proposal:

• Have previous experience with providing planning, design, permitting, bidding, construction observation and administration services for the construction, and or, renovation of a public/private building.

• Must be licensed to practice in the State of North Carolina and currently maintain and continue to maintain an office in the State;

• Must have an architect and engineer on staff with the appropriate North Carolina professional; and

• Must provide a "Certificate of Insurance for professional liability and Workmen's Compensation” with the Qualification Statement.

Determination of the qualifications and ability of offers shall be made, among other factors, on the following:

• Completeness of the proposal.

• Content of the proposal.

• Past performance of the firm or individual on similar projects.

• Qualifications of persons to perform the work.

• Minority, Small Business, Local Business, Section 3 Business Status.

4. RECEIPT OF QUALIFICATION STATEMENT:

The Town of Fair Bluff will receive proposals from qualified professional firms registered and licensed in the State of North Carolina to perform the tasks as outlined in the Scope of Work set forth in Section 5. Each firm submitting a proposal shall be responsible for the examination of this Request for Qualification and shall become familiar with all requirements thereof, including site visitations if necessary to become thoroughly and fully acquainted with the factors affecting the work.

Proposals responding to this request are to contain the following information:

• A resume of the firm. – If using a subcontractor, also provide for the subcontractor.

• Identification and brief qualifications statement on key personnel to be assigned to the project. – If using a subcontractor, also provide for the subcontractor.

• A list of experience with design/build; design; construction; and the operation/maintenance of similar projects with references. – If using a subcontractor, also provide for the subcontractor.

• A "Certificate of Insurance for professional liability and Workmen's Compensation".

All proposals that are incomplete, unconditional, obscure, altered, contain additions or materials not requested, or which have any irregularities of any kind may be rejected since it is the intent of the Owner that all proposals be comparable for purposes of evaluation.

Five sets of Qualification statements must be addressed to Bobbie Faircloth, Project Manager, Town of Fair Bluff, 1054 Main Street, Fair Bluff, North Carolina 28439-0151. Qualification statements must be received by 2:00PM, May, 27, 2026. Each envelope should be clearly marked on the outside “Town of Fair Bluff Professional A/E Services – RBDG Small Business Center project with the name of the A/E firm. Qualification statements not received by this time and date shall not be considered.

Each offeror shall agree to comply with all applicable state, federal and municipal laws, rules, regulations and ordinances governing this project, and any other requirements that may be dictated by state or federal agency participating in project funding.

The Town of Fair Bluff reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to negotiate price and service with any offeror it may choose.

5. SCOPE OF SERVICES:

The Town of Fair Bluff is seeking to enter into a single “turn-key” professional contract that will include:

a) Schematic design,

b) Design development,

c) Construction document design and permitting,

d) Construction document procurement/bidding,

e) Construction inspection/observation, and

f) Construction administration that includes construction bid/contract documents containing RBDG requirements.

6. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT

The Town of Fair Bluff prohibits discrimination in any manner on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age or handicap or sexual orientation and will pursue an affirmative policy of fostering, promoting, and conducting business with Historically Under-utilized Businesses (women and minority-owned and Section 3 business enterprises.