City of Van Buren, Arkansas
Planning Commission
1003 Broadway • Van Buren, Arkansas 72956

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

The City of Van Buren, Arkansas is interested in obtaining the services of a professional preservation consultant/contractor to evaluate, revise, and update the existing Historic District design guidelines to suit the needs of the district as it stands now.  The Van Buren Historic District consists of approximately 80 commercial properties located from the 300 block to the 800 block of Main Street.  The previous design guidelines were completed in 2005.

This is a CLG Grant project that will be funded by an appropriation from the Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.  Work on the design guidelines must begin by November 6, 2023, and must be completed by June 17, 2024.  A complete project milestones timeline is as follows:

            1. The City will be under contract for consultant’s services by August 15, 2023.
            2. The consultant will begin work by November 6, 2023.
            3. A first draft of the new guidelines will be submitted to AHPP by May 6, 2024.
            4. The final draft of the new guidelines will be due to AHPP by June 17, 2024.

Qualifications should include experience with drafting historic design guidelines, capacity to perform the work, past record of performance, and familiarity with the history of the area.  The contractor must meet professional requirements according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Historic Preservation Professional Qualification Standards (62 FR 33708, June 20).

The following will be the requirements of the contractor:

1. The contractor will draft design guidelines that include, at a minimum:

            a.   A summary of the City’s ordinances, procedures, and bylaws relating to work regulated by the City’s Historic District Commission;
            b.   Maps describing the boundaries of any local or National Register historic districts in which work is regulated under authority of the Arkansas Historic Districts Act, A C.A. § 14-172-201, et seq., and local ordinance.
            c.   A list of addresses within such historic districts;
            d.   A history of the City as it provides historic context for any such local historic districts, National Register of Historic Places districts, or the City as a whole;
            e.   An overview of the architectural styles prevalent in the local historic districts within the period of significance as described in the most recent historic resources survey and/or nomination previously approved by the City’s Historic District Commission;
            f.    The text of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, as codified at 36 CFR 68.
            g.   Illustrated design guidance addressing appropriate rehabilitation of and additions to historic structures and sites and construction or development of appropriate infill structures and sites that addresses all historic architectural styles, periods, and methods of construction specific to the local districts.
            h.   Submittals including a cost estimate will not be accepted.

2. The contractor will facilitate public meetings to gather feedback from the public as well as from the Historic District Commission.

3. The contractor will provide copies of any ancillary work product or information compiled or generated by the contractor in the course of preparing work product on any project funded through this grant agreement, including but not limited to property data, databases, archival research, and photographs, to AHPP on request.

4. The contractor will grant the City, the State of Arkansas, and the United States of America a royalty-free, non-exclusive and irrevocable license to publish, reproduce and use, and dispose of in any manner and for any purpose without limitation, and to authorize or ratify publication, reproduction or use by others, of all copyrightable material first produced or composed under this agreement by the contractor, its employees or any individual or concern specifically employed or assigned to originate and prepare such material.

5. The contractor must be able to comply with deadlines and provide initial and completed deliverables by the dates set forth in the contract between the City and the Contractor.

6. The contractor will provide one full-color printed final clean copy of the design guidelines and/or preservation plan and attachments and one digital copy of the design guidelines and/or preservation plan and attachments created to the City and one full-color printed copies and one digital copy to AHPP.

A Letter of Interest and Qualifications will be accepted by the City of Van Buren Planning Department, 1003 Broadway, Van Buren, AR 72956, until 2:00 p.m., May 19, 2023, or by email at jwilloughby@vanburencity.org.  If additional information is needed, contact Jennifer Willoughby at 479-471-5006.

*Qualifications shall not be accepted after the designated response due date and time. It is the responsibility of vendors to submit qualifications at the designated location on or before the response due date and time. Qualifications received after the designated response due date and time shall be considered late and shall be returned to the vendor without further review. Vendor agrees that any additional terms or conditions that conflict with requirements in the bid solicitation, whether submitted intentionally or inadvertently, may cause the proposal to be rejected. If the City, in its sole discretion, determines that such a conflict applies to a material term of the solicitation, then the proposal shall be disqualified.