Boise City invites public artists to apply for an opportunity to join a project team to collaborate with and lead on the design and fabrication of public artwork(s) to be integrated into a new urban park in the Westside District of Downtown Boise.
Budget: $150,000 - $200,000 + engineering support up to $25,000
Eligibility: (none indicated)
Deadline: August 7th, 2019 at 1pm. Mountain Standard Time
BACKGROUND
Boise, Idaho is continuing to experience a very fast pace of growth, and with that, a coincident transformation of its downtown. Downtown’s Westside traditionally has been composed of office buildings and surface parking lots. In recent years, urban housing, dining, and entertainment has begun infilling those surface lots and vacant storefronts. As the character of the Westside changes there is a need to make investments that support this vibrancy. A strategic effort is underway to understand this neighborhood’s identity and build upon it with needed infrastructure improvements and public spaces that uplift and strengthen downtown’s Westside neighborhood.
Capital City Development Corporation (CCDC) is developing a plan for a new urban park to be located on the SW corner of the intersection of 11th Street and Bannock Street in downtown’s Westside. The vision of the project is to create a distinctive, urban open space, a neighborhood draw, a place for people to connect with the outdoors on a daily basis, and a hub for community events. The space should serve as a common area to bring urban livability to the office workers, residents, shoppers and visitors of the west side of downtown and serve as a catalyst for continued quality, urban, mixed-use development. The proposed park has been themed around the core concept of an oasis. The park is situated amongst urban activity and serves as an intermediate destination for pedestrians and cyclists traveling between the foothills, the Boise River, and other downtown destinations. The park’s eastern frontage is along the established 11th Street bicycle corridor that connects the Boise River Greenbelt to the foothills trail system. As well, the park’s northern frontage, Bannock Street, is the primary bicycle thoroughfare between the east and west end neighborhoods that flank downtown. As further information about the neighborhood brand becomes available it will be shared either during this selection process or during the initial art ideation process.
DESIRED SERVICES AND OUTCOME
We are seeking an Artist who is civic-minded, an adept collaborator, with proven experience on large scale public artwork. The ability to work with the stakeholder group, park design consultants, and members of the community is essential; a critical factor to providing a successful work of art. The artist will be invited to provide input during the park design process through development of the artwork. For this reason, clear and competent visual and communication skills provided by the artist will be evaluated.
The artwork(s) should play a major role in establishing or embellishing this neighborhood and park’s sense of place. It should inherently express the identity of the park, neighborhood and the people that dwell within it. The artwork should be interactive and engage audience members of all ages and backgrounds. It should be universally appealing in its presentation. We are striving to achieve a balance in the park design with an artwork that has a sophisticated look and feel for the urban context but interlaced with enticing opportunities for families to let loose and have fun. The artwork will become an icon of Boise and a landmark for this neighborhood.
We are seeking a piece that is expressive at a neighborhood-wide scale, a park scale, and the human scale. The park is planned to have a fog feature that, for ownership and maintenance reasons, cannot be integrated into the artwork itself. However, the fog feature and public artwork should recognize one another, perhaps even work in tandem, in a larger expression or interaction that contributes to the cooling oasis theme. The selected artist is expected to collaborate with the park and fog feature design consultants to achieve the coordinated oasis theme.
As directly described and often implied in this section, we are looking for an Artist partnership. We will choose the individual we deem best qualified to work with the community and the project team, amongst these concurrent projects and initiatives to create a unique and dynamic artwork. Therefore, our selection will be based on qualifications and not design proposals. We encourage you to consider this in your application and response.
PRE-APPLICATION WORKSHOP
A Pre-Application Workshop will be held July 18th, 2019 at 1:00 PM local time in the Boise City Council Chambers located at 150 N Capitol Blvd, 3rd floor, Boise, Idaho 83702. Attendance by the Applicants is strongly recommended but not required. At the Workshop, staff will review the application process, discuss the process for design, fabrication and installation, and answer any questions Applicants may have. This is the only opportunity to speak directly with Arts & History and Purchasing staff. Inquiries at any other time must be submitted in writing to Laura Sanders at lsanders@cityofboise.org.
ADDENDA
In the event it becomes necessary to revise any part of this RFQ, addenda will be issued. Information given to one Applicant will be available to all other Applicants if such information is necessary for purposes of submitting an application or if failure to give such information would be prejudicial to uninformed Applicants. It is the Applicant’s responsibility to check for addenda prior to submitting an application. Failure to do so may result in the application being declared non-responsive. No addenda will be issued fewer than four (4) business days before the proposal deadline unless the deadline is extended. Proposer shall indicate within their cover letter the addenda number(s) which they have incorporated into their submittal.
SELECTION PROCESS
In determining the best qualified Applicants, City of Boise will consider all acceptable applications on a basis consistent with this RFQ. A selection committee will rank all eligible applications directly from the evaluation process and basis of qualifications identified in this document. The selection committee may include representatives from: Boise City Arts & History Commission, the Arts & History Advisory Team, a local artist, a member from Boise Planning and Development Services, Boise Parks, CCDC, CCDC’s design consultants, and Rafanelli Nahas (development partner). Once the initial ranking is complete, the City of Boise may invite the three (3) highest ranked Artists to participate in an interview. Should any of the selected Artists not be available at that time, the City may invite the next ranked qualified Applicant(s) to interview. During the interview, the selection committee will further evaluate the performance record, the ability of the Applicant to perform the work, and the quality of the service being offered. Initial scoring will be adjusted based upon interviews resulting in a final ranking. The highest ranked Artist will be recommended for selection. The City may conduct reference checks by contacting references submitted by the Applicants. In addition, the City may contact references not listed by the Artist. The information obtained for the reference checks may impact the scores assigned by the selection committee.
Up to three artists may be selected from this Request for Qualifications as finalists who will be invited to enter an interview process. Finalist artists will be interviewed by the project’s stakeholder group and selection committee and the selected artist(s) will be asked to join the project team to develop design options for a unique work or works of art to be integrated into the park.
The selected artist(s) will be compensated up to $200,000 to collaborate with the project design team, provide input on park amenity design, develop design options for artwork(s), formalize the design and respond to feedback from the project team, selection committee and public, fabricate the work, and transport the work to the site. Construction of the footing/anchor system and installation of the work will be coordinated with and managed by Capitol City Development Corporation’s (CCDC) contractor who has an Idaho State Public Works License and will be paid separately—up to $25,000--for installation by City of Boise and/or CCDC.
The City intends to award the contract to one artist; however, the City reserves the right to award to more than one Applicant, or no Applicants if none of the applicants are deemed acceptable.
SELECTION CRITERIA
The City of Boise reserves the right to reject any and all applications, to waive any irregularities in the applications received and to accept the applications that are in the best interest of the City. Boise City is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The City of Boise is exempt from Federal and State taxes and will execute the required exemption certificates.
PROJECT TIMELINE
The timeline is intended to provide artists, who are interested in applying, a loose framework for project phase expectations. The timeline, with exception to dates relating to the call-to-artists, are subject to change based on the approval process and needs of the overall project.
WHAT TO SUBMIT
The application format explained below is meant to allow uniform review and easy access to information by the Evaluation Panel. Applications not conforming to the requested format or not in compliance with the specifications will be considered non-responsive. The applications are to be clear and to the point. Applicants are invited to include information about innovative methods and/or ideas which they can provide to achieve successful results for the artwork and the urban park project. Unique qualities and/or capabilities and cost efficiencies may be identified. For each of the specific areas listed below, Applicants should include a description of qualifications to serve as an Artist.
The application must contain the following information in the sequence set forth below. Applicants will be ranked according to the articles below, with points applied per article (500 points total):
HOW TO SUBMIT
Applicants are responsible for all costs (including site visits where needed) incurred in preparing or responding to this RFQ. All materials and documents submitted in response to this RFQ become the property of Boise City and will not be returned. The submission package or envelope must be sealed and plainly marked for delivery BEFORE August 7, 2018 at 1pm Mountain Standard Time, as follows:
ATTN: Purchasing Department
Boise City Hall
150 N. Capitol Blvd.
Boise, ID 83702
Solicitation Number: RFQ 20-025
Project Name: Westside Park Public Art
The Applicant’s return address must also appear on the outside of the envelope or package.
Submissions made using "Express/Overnight" services must be shipped in a separate sealed inner envelope/package identified as stated above.
Submit a digital (PDF) version of the entire application on either one (1) flash drive or one (1) compact disk. The digital PDF file name shall be named RFQ 20- 025_[Artist name]_Application (example: RFQ 20-025_Smith_Application).
Submit individual digital files of each Image of Past Work, jpeg format, 300dpi, not more than 10” on its longest side. Provide these files on same flash drive or compact disk that contains the digital version of the application. The file name format shall be RFQ 20-025_[Artist name]_[image list number] (example: RFQ 20- 025_Smith_01).
For hand delivered submissions, it is the Applicant’s responsibility to have the City Purchasing Office time-stamp their application prior to the deadline. Allow yourself extra time when delivering your application to ensure it gets time-stamped before the deadline. Late, nonstamped, or incomplete proposals will not be accepted.
Oral, telephone, facsimile, and email submissions will not be accepted. DO NOT EMAIL OR FAX YOUR PROPOSAL. It is the Applicant’s sole responsibility to timely submit their application by the scheduled deadline date and time.
E-Bids: Electronic Bids/Proposals submitted through DemandStar (www.demandstar.com) or BidNet (www.bidnetdirect.com) will also be accepted for this project. Bids/Proposals must be signed and submitted in same required format. Submit one (1) electronic copy if using EBidding. After uploading your bid/proposal, Bidders are encouraged to verify the successful upload of the document. Sign your electronic bid/proposal. Bids/Proposals without written signature will not be accepted. All E-Bids must be submitted before the scheduled bid/proposal opening. In the event of a technology failure, the City reserves the right to accept all bids/proposals submitted and electronically time stamped prior to bid/proposal opening. The City will require bid/proposal receipt document to be on file as proof of timely submission. Bidders are encouraged to confirm the successful up-load of their bid/proposal document. The City will not accept bids/proposals after the scheduled time for opening. The Owner is the City of Boise. ALL BIDS/PROPOSALS MUST BE SIGNED.
QUESTIONS? Submit any questions or requests for clarifications by or before July 31st, 2019 by 5pm to: Laura Sanders, lsanders@cityofboise.org.
