Arkansas Administrative Code

27 CAR § 91-905. Engineering change orders. (a) When the utility owner identifies a need for change to the quantity, type, or scope of preliminary or construction engineering, the utility owner shall inform the Utilities Section Head or resident engineer, as applicable, of the re…

27 CAR § 92-101. Introduction. (a) The design-build project delivery (design-build or D-B) method is an alternative delivery method utilized to deliver design-construction projects more efficiently and expeditiously than the more conventional design-bid-build project delivery (DB…

27 CAR § 92-102. Purpose. (a) The purpose of this part is to describe general Arkansas Department of Transportation processes for efficiently and effectively procuring and administering design and construction services for a transportation facility utilizing the D-B method. (b) W…

27 CAR § 92-103. Authority. (a) Acts 2003, No. 460, of the Regular Session of the 84th General Assembly authorized the State Highway Commission to enter into design-build contracts for highway construction projects and is included as Appendix A. (b) Acts 2013, No. 541, of the Reg…

27 CAR § 92-104. Definitions. The following definitions and acronyms apply to the design-build guidelines, processes, and procedures: (1)(A) “Adjusted price” means the value calculated at the completion of the proposal evaluation whereby the combination of the FMP, provided by th…

27 CAR § 92-201. Review. (a)(1) To determine whether the project is a suitable candidate for a design-build (D-B) delivery process, the Arkansas Department of Transportation should conduct a thorough review of the project’s key goals and objectives as well as a complete assessmen…

27 CAR § 92-202. Project selection. (a) Potential D-B projects may be proposed by Arkansas Department of Transportation staff for consideration by the Director of State Highways and Transportation. (b) The department may also receive an unsolicited project proposal (UPP) for a pr…

27 CAR § 92-301. Overview. (a) A D-B project will normally advance through the early stages of project development in the same manner as a DB-B project, however, each D-B project is unique and the Arkansas Department of Transportation must carefully assess the project development…

27 CAR § 92-302. Project programming. (a) Most agencies and other Arkansas Department of Transportation program D-B projects in the same manner as projects delivered using the more traditional DB-B delivery method. (b) It is important to note, however, that if D-B delivery is sel…

27 CAR § 92-303. Project scope. (a)(1) The project scope should be developed using existing work products and/or products from data gathered during the programming process. (2) These products and data should provide the basis to describe the existing conditions, the proposed proj…

27 CAR § 92-304. Project timeline and project schedule. (a) The project timeline, which includes the entire project period from initial development through the project final acceptance, must allow sufficient time for all required tasks outside of the D-B period, including: (1) En…

27 CAR § 92-305. Project funding. (a) In all D-B projects, the Arkansas Department of Transportation should identify funding sufficient to support the project, considering total project cost as well as cash flow requirements, prior to the initiation of the procurement process. (b…

27 CAR § 92-306. Project risk overview. (a)(1) Allocation of the project risks inherent in highway projects is a major factor in and underlying the D-B development model. (2) The definition of ownership and responsibility for each task and its associated risk is an important cons…

27 CAR § 92-307. Preliminary design and engineering. (a)(1) The level of preliminary design and engineering provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation for a D-B project can vary from project to project, but a twenty percent (20%) to thirty percent (30%) level of design…

27 CAR § 92-308. Environmental documentation. (a) The preparation of project environmental documents (PED), and the subsequent obtaining of required environmental and regulatory clearances, should normally be performed by the Arkansas Department of Transportation in accordance wi…

27 CAR § 92-309. Right-of-way coordination. (a)(1) Right-of-way acquisition will normally be the responsibility of the Arkansas Department of Transportation. (2) In order to prevent proposers from arbitrarily pricing uncertainty of ROW availability, right-of-way acquisition will …

27 CAR § 92-310. Geotechnical considerations. (a)(1)(A) In a more traditional DB-B project, any geotechnical investigation and subsequent report are provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation or an authorized representative firm prior to design to enable the department…

27 CAR § 92-311. Inter-agency agreement. (a) An inter-agency agreement (IAA) between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and another state or local agency, such as the Division of Environmental Quality, Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, or a city or county government, i…

27 CAR § 92-312. Utilities agreement. (a) A project utility agreement (PUA), either formal or informal, required for an adjustment, whether for protection only or relocation of the utility, is normally obtained by the Arkansas Department of Transportation prior to the issuance of…

27 CAR § 92-313. Public involvement. (a) A D-B project does not reduce the need for a comprehensive public involvement program from what would be required for the more traditional DB-B project. (b) In most cases, a D-B project will require that the public involvement be more comp…

27 CAR § 92-314. Public information. (a) The Arkansas Department of Transportation must maintain superior public communication throughout the duration of any project in order to: (1) Maintain the department’s role as a good neighbor; (2) Maintain a positive opinion; and (3) Avoid…

27 CAR § 92-315. Reference information documents. (a)(1) As noted in an earlier section, the outcomes of the preliminary engineering and environmental processes for a D-B project provide important information and requirements to be relayed to the short-list proposers as part of t…

27 CAR § 92-316. Value engineering. (a) A value engineering study (VES) is not required for projects delivered using the D-B method (Section 1503(a)(3) of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, Pub. L. No. 112-141), however, based on the parameters of a specific p…

27 CAR § 92-317. Stipend for unsuccessful proposers. (a) In the more traditional DB-B process, the Arkansas Department of Transportation does not reimburse the contractors that submit responsive bids but are unsuccessful in selection for the project. (b) In the D-B process, the c…

27 CAR § 92-401. Introduction. (a)(1) The Arkansas Department of Transportation will normally utilize a two-step process during the procurement phase of the project to select a design-builder. (2) The first step is the Arkansas Department of Transportation solicitation for potent…

27 CAR § 92-402. Project director. (a)(1) A project of the size and importance that will be attractive to the Arkansas Department of Transportation as a D-B project will extend several years from initial project identification through all the stages of the project, i.e., prelimin…

27 CAR § 92-403. Department procurement team. (a)(1) Development of the procurement documents and the process utilized to select a design-builder is a unique experience in that the effort involves creating documents other than plans, technical specifications, and selection factor…

27 CAR § 92-404. Project training. (a)(1) Each individual assigned to the procurement, evaluation, or monitoring during the procurement process should be required to attend training. (2) It is important for each individual to understand: (A) How a D-B procurement process function…

27 CAR § 92-405. Confidentiality and security. (a)(1) It is important to understand that the procurement process and the requisite evaluations and selection is a very competitive process. (2) As such, the Arkansas Department of Transportation as a whole, and the DPT and PET in pa…

27 CAR § 92-406. Proposer request for clarification. (a) The Arkansas Department of Transportation, and similarly the DPO, should be aware that the development of the D-B proposal involves an extensive design effort by each short-list proposer and will likely generate a greater n…

27 CAR § 92-407. Location and logistics. (a) Due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the SOQs and proposals, and the necessity for SOQ and proposal details to remain secure, all evaluations should take place in a single secure location, with PET members involved in the ev…

27 CAR § 92-501. Generally. (a) An example of a flow diagram representing a design-build procurement process is included as Appendix G. (b) Some of the general steps included in the process are discussed in this subpart.

27 CAR § 92-502. Step 1: Issue solicitation of interest (optional). (a) Prior to the initiation of the formal procurement process that occurs when an RFQ is released for a D-B project, the Arkansas Department of Transportation may consider releasing a solicitation of interest (SO…

27 CAR § 92-503. Step 2: Prequalification (optional). (a)(1) The Arkansas Department of Transportation may require that the proposers, or possibly only the design-builder, or any component firms/personnel be prequalified prior to execution of the DBA with the department. (2) Wher…

27 CAR § 92-504. Step 3: Prepare the request for qualifications. (a)(1) The request for qualifications (RFQ) is a request from the Arkansas Department of Transportation to interested proposers to submit a well-defined package typically outlining: (A) Historical information relate…

27 CAR § 92-505. Step 4: Evaluate the statement of qualifications. (a)(1) The evaluation and scoring of the statement of qualifications (SOQ) should be performed by the project evaluation team (PET), which should ideally be comprised of individuals who possess a broad array of ex…

27 CAR § 92-506. Step 5: Prepare the request for proposals. (a) General. (1) The purpose of the request for proposals (RFP) is to furnish sufficient information for a short-list proposer to prepare a detailed proposal which would normally include both a technical proposal and pri…

27 CAR § 92-507. Step 5A: Acquire and organize reference material — Reference information documents. (a) The reference material available in the project corridor should be gathered by the DPT from the Arkansas Department of Transportation, other agencies, and other private source…

27 CAR § 92-508. Step 5B: Instructions to proposers. (a) General requirements. (1) The general requirements detail how the short-list proposer should respond to the RFP and prepare the proposal. (2) The general requirements section is similar to the general requirements of a DB-B…

27 CAR § 92-509. Step 5C: Agreement and technical provisions. (a) Project scope. (1)(A) The primary goal in the development of the project scope is to define, obtain, or develop all pertinent information required to describe performance-based criteria for the short-list proposers…

27 CAR § 92-510. Step 5D: Prepare the request for proposals forms. (a) The request for proposals (RFP) forms should be acquired and/or prepared for the project by the department procurement team (DPT). (b) The typical D-B proposal forms would include, but are not limited to the: …

27 CAR § 92-511. Step 5E: Publish the RFP documents. (a) The assembly and printing production of the RFP will be a similar, although more in-depth, operation to the Arkansas Department of Transportation procedure to publish specifications. (b) The RFP will have attachments, such …

27 CAR § 92-512. Step 5F: Respond to proposer requests for clarification. (a)(1) A short-list proposer that will develop a proposal will require a clear understanding of the project to be successful. (2) Project understanding can be derived from the information provided by the Ar…

27 CAR § 92-513. Step 5G: Alternative technical concepts. (a)(1) Throughout the RFP phase, each short-list proposer will normally propose modifications to the project scope that the short-list proposer would like the Arkansas Department of Transportation to either include in the …

27 CAR § 92-514. Step 5H: Schedule of values. (a)(1) Most D-B projects are bid on a lump-sum basis and the RFP should require a bid breakdown to be submitted in the proposal in the form of a schedule of values (SOV). (2) The RFP should specify any specific subordinate breakdown r…

27 CAR § 92-515. Step 6: Evaluate the proposal. (a)(1) For most D-B projects, the short-list proposers will be required to submit a proposal which is comprised of a technical proposal and price proposal. (2) These documents should be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transp…

27 CAR § 92-516. Step 6A: Technical proposal evaluation. (a)(1) The technical proposal should address specific requirements the Arkansas Department of Transportation has established for the project. (2) The technical proposal should be evaluated and scored on how well it meets th…