HomeMy Public PortalAbout528662To: All Prequalified Consultants
From: Brian Hoelscher, Executive Director
Date: April 11, 2013
Re: Policy Revisions Clarifications
The following are clarifications to the draft information presented at the March 28, 2013 meeting resulting
from comments received. Staff is presenting this information to keep the consulting community up-to-
date on its thoughts on the selection process. Any final documents will be distributed and selection
schedules adjusted as needed based on the acceptance date of the Disparity Study.
. Do any of the employees considered for local office staff as part of either the local staff
multiplier used during selection or the local office workforce requirements for projects over
$500,000 that take effect after selection have to be U.S. citizens? — The answer is no.
2. How is a minority female counted for the purposes of the local staff multiplier used during
selection or the local office workforce requirements for projects over $500,000 that take
effect after selection? — For both purposes, minority females may be counted in whatever way is
advantageous to the consultant/consultant team.
3. What do we do with local office staff whose job duties do not cleanly fit into the definitions
provided? — For the local staff multiplier used during the selection process, MSD will allow all
local staff employees to count regardless of job duties or titles. For the local office workforce
requirements for projects over $500,000 that take effect after the consultant is selected, the job
titles/duties to be considered will be those described in Chapter 2, Part III of the Workforce Study.
4. What are the standards for a full-time employee? — For the sake of employees used for the
local staff multiplier used during the selection process, a full-time employee shall be one who has
been continuously employed for the last three months prior to submittal and who has worked an
average of at least 30.0 hours per week during that time period.
5. Work award conflict during watershed CM selections — To again clarify conflict due to work
award for watershed CM contracts, MSD will guarantee that it will not request that team
member's participation be adjusted after short -listing or selection as long as the filar in question
does not, a) propose as a sub -consultant with a participation over 10% on one project while
proposing as a prune on another project, or b) does not propose as a sub -consultant on both
projects with a total participation exceeding 40%. If MSD feels an adjustment is needed, it will
occur after either short -listing or selection and will in no way interfere with the short -listing
or selection process. It is quite possible that participation above the levels listed above may be
OK, but MSD will not be able to make that determination until it sees all of the proposals and
completes the evaluation process. These guidelines are being provided as requested by the
consulting community.
6. Conflict due to work duties on Watershed Contracts — The same rules still apply. If your
company is already a member of a watershed team and you are considering participating on
another Watershed Team that will be working on the same projects as the team you are on, you
will need to check with MSD to see if there is a conflict. MSD's concern is that we do not want
companies who are in any way involved in the design process to all have a role in the CM process.
If you have any questions or would like to propose a teaming arrangement with conditions that
may be acceptable, please contact Brian Hoelscher at 768-6245 to schedule a meeting to discuss.
7. Who counts as a minority for workforce purposes? — We will use the EEOC guidelines as
listed below —
Minority: The smaller part of a group. A group within a country or state that differs in race, religion or
national origin from the dominant group. According to EEOC guidelines, minority is used to mean four
particular groups who share a race, color or national origin.
These groups are:
® American Indian or Alaskan Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of
North America, and who maintain their culture through a tribe or community.
Asian or Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original people of the Far East,
Southeast Asia, India, or the Pacific Islands. These areas include, for example, China, India,
Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Samoa.
Black (except Hispanic). A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Hispanic. A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other
Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
The many peoples with origins in Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East make up the dominant
white population. Of course, many more minority groups can be identified in the American
population. However, they are not classified separately as minorities under EEO law. It should be
noted that women are not classified as a minority. However, they have experienced the same kind
of systematic exclusion from the economy as the various minorities. Thus, they are considered as
having "minority status" as far as the law is concerned.