This RFP available on Commbuys is seeking approximately 180,000 to 200,000 usable square feet of Laboratory, Evidence Storage, Office, Records Storage, and Meeting Space in Auburn, Berlin, Boylston, Grafton, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Millbury, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Upton, West Boylston, Westborough, or Worcester for a term of 20 years, with two 10-year extension options.
Questions and Answers, Addendum #2
1. Are there specifications needed for the exterior windows?
Answer: No, there are no specifications for exterior glass/glazing contained in the Request for Proposals.
2. Is there a diversity requirement for the ownership or development team?
Answer: While we encourage diversity, equity and inclusion in Proposals, there is no requirement in the Request for Proposals for an ownership or development team composition.
3. What is more desirable – an existing building or new construction?
Answer: The Commonwealth does not have a preference.
4.Will access control be required to enter the site or just at the crime lab building envelope?
Answer: Access control is required only for the crime lab building envelope.
5.Is natural gas service to the building required, or will an all-electric building that meets the criteria in the RFP be considered?
Answer: A building with all electric building and mechanical systems will be considered, but Lab equipment requires either Natural Gas or Propane.
6 Provided security requirements detailed in the RFP are met, is integration of the building to a multi-tenant campus with shared amenities an advantage or disadvantage for the site?
Answer: The Commonwealth does not have a preference.
7. What are the adjacencies of each department noted in the program? Are there certain departments that need to be located on the ground floor?
Answer: This will be determined during the design phase.
8. Do each of the departments noted need their own separate suites? Such as the labs and office supporting the labs will be its own secure suite?
Answer: This will be determined during the design phase.
9. Can the departments that are only office be located in a single area with a neighborhood concept?
Answer: This will be determined during the design phase.
10. Are the Future of Work metrics for hybrid work to be applied to the office part of the project? The program shows larger workstations and different sizes of offices.
Answer: The Future of Work metrics have been applied to the program.
11. The huddle areas vary in the program. Are these just different size conference rooms? .Are they rooms with a door and not open areas? Please confirm.
Answer: Huddle areas are rooms with doors. Please refer to the Space Allocation and Finish Schedule to verify the different room sizes.
12. Which of the files are high density files?
Answer: Please refer to the Space Allocation and Finish Schedule and the Room Data Sheets.
13. Will the lease allow financing with a public bond?
Answer: The mechanism for financing is the Landlord’s responsibility. DCAMM will evaluate the Proposals received, including the feasibility for financing the Landlord’s Improvements.
14. What is the significance of the target occupancy date? Any flexibility?
Answer: The target occupancy date is the anticipated date the space will be needed by the User Agency. The ability for the Proposer to meet the target occupancy date is one factor in the evaluation of Proposals.
15. What is the location, size, lease structure, rental rate, total occupancy costs, and expiration of the current crime lab?
Answer: The operations of the proposed State Police Crime Lab is currently located in 2 buildings. One is located in a state-owned building at 59 Horse Pond Road, Sudbury which has 27,100 GSF, and is co-located with other state operations. The annual utility cost for the Sudbury location, including the other state operations, is approximately $250,000. The second location is in a leased facility located at 124 Acton Street, Maynard. The lease is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office Lease, is a fully gross lease, excluding maintenance and fuel for the generator, and the term ends November 5, 2026. The Crime Lab occupies 94,480 USF at the Maynard location and the 2023-2024 rental rate is $30.92 per USF annually. The generator maintenance and fuel costs are approximately $4,000 annually.
16. We read the max budget to be $12.5M annually, including operating expenses and taxes, which is approximately $50 per square foot gross for 250k SF. Lab operating expenses can run $15-20 PSF, leaving approximately $30-35 PSF triple-net on the high end. Do we have these assumptions directionally correct from DCAMM’s perspective?
Answer: The $12.5M estimate was calculated at a given time. We encourage Proposers to submit competitive Proposals.
17. What happens if all qualified submissions exceed $12.5M annually?
Answer: See question number 16 above.
18. Do we need to provide requested modifications to the lease form with the submission or can this be done after conditional selection?
Answer: Any requested material modifications to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office Lease should be addressed when submitting a proposal.
19. Will there be a need for redundant internet service? We have internet service in the area but not sure if there needs to be two feeds?
Answer: No.
20. Adjacency diagrams are referenced on each of the Room Data Sheets in section B-3 but are not included in the RFP documents. Please advise if they are available.
Answer: This will be determined during the design phase.
21. All spaces within the lab program are listed as BSL-2 (including vehicle bays and storage rooms by example). Please advise if there is a more specific list of spaces that require BSL-2 containment.
Answer: No.
22. Confirm that User Agency will provide (furnish and install) systems furniture (desking and seating) for all office spaces. The SAFS and Room Data Sheets specify UA-Wkstn for partitions but not for systems office furniture.
Answer: UA-Wkstn identified on the Space Allocation and Finish Schedule are systems office furniture and will be provided and installed by the User Agency as identified in the RFP.
23. RFP Part 1 specifies, “Secured Covered Evidence Parking” for 30 spaces. Please confirm if all 30 parking spaces must be covered or if the requirement is for a covered canopy adjacent to the building for weatherproof pickup and drop off. Addendum #1 specifies that the access pathway does not need to be covered, but does not clarify if all parking spaces need to be covered. Do the parking spaces need to be covered?
.Answer: Yes, a minimum of 30 parking spaces for vehicles/vans must be covered.
24. CO2 and Oxygen are referenced in Specialty Gas Section 2.5.4.6 but are not listed as required services on the Room Data Sheets. Please confirm if centralized CO2 or Oxygen are to be furnished/installed by Landlord?
Answer: No. The CO2, Oxygen, Helium, etc. cylinder tanks will be furnished and installed by the User Agency.
Questions and Answers , Addendum #1
1. Question: Is the congregating of labs in one area ( e.g. on a wing or floor,) and offices in another contemplated in the RFP?
Answer: Provided that all requirements of the RFP are met in a Proposal, congregating or stacking of labs in one area of the proposed building may be considered.
2. Question: Is the lab run 24/7?
Answer: No.
3. Question: Can the Commonwealth share a set of utility bills?
Answer: The anticipated configuration of the premises to be acquired will accommodate uses currently being carried out in two locations, and one of those locations accommodates uses that are not moving to the new premises. Therefore, current utility bills would not give an indication of what the energy bills would be for a new premises.
4. Question: Will the Commonwealth work to secure any Tax Increment Financing?
Answer: No, it is the Landlord’s responsibility to secure any tax increment financing available from the host municipality.
5. Question: What are the flammable storage requirements?
Answer: The lab will be required to be equipped with flammable storage, safety flammable cabinets, flammable liquid storage cabinets, and fume hoods equipped with flammable storage in accordance with the RFP. Please refer to the RFP to identify the location and method of flammable material storage. The lab will be required to store flammable materials in accordance with Section 307 of the 2015 International Building code. The lab does not have flammable storage that would exceed the limits identified in 527 CMR 1.00, which would require a license pursuant to M.G.L. c. 148, s. 13.
6. Question: Is there a possibility of getting some of the agency people, or their experts, in a room for a programming discussion?
Answer: There is no bidder’s conference scheduled. Please refer to the RFP for all requirements and specifications.
7. Question: Please confirm the required ceiling heights within the building. The RFP states that 11’-6” ceiling heights are preferred in laboratory spaces. This seems tall and amounts to a large volume of air that needs to be conditioned.
Answer: The preferred finished ceiling height for laboratories is 11’-6” or more. Additionally, an addendum has been issued regarding the finished ceiling height references in § B-2.5.1 removing ceiling height requirements of 9’-11’.
8. Question: The CSSS Vehicle Bays note tent shades and ducting from an exhausted hood. It also notes a vehicle lift charging station. Please provide information on the vehicle lift and expected clear height above finished floor in the two work areas.
Answer: The vehicle lift charging station will be provided by the User Agency. Please refer to Room Data Sheet 8.1.3.3. for ceiling height requirement.
9. Question: The secured covered evidence parking notes that these spaces must offer direct access into the building. Please further define the access path
requirements. Does this path need to be “secured” or just direct? Is the path required to be covered? Does this path need to be separate and independent from all other access points into the building (i.e., employee entrance)?
Answer: The path must be secured and direct, but it does not need to be covered. The path must be separate and independent from all other access points into the building.
10. Question: What is the security protocol for visitors entering the building? We assume there is a security station/x-ray/scanner at the visitor entrance/lobby. Is the same true at the employee only entrance or is there a different protocol?
Answer: There will be a secure reception area including ballistic glass and restricted access. There will not be a security station/x-ray scanner station as referenced in § B-2.11.8. Employee entrance(s) will have electronic card key access as referenced throughout the RFP specifications.
11. Question: Several lab spaces indicate corridor windows on the room data sheets. Are these windows a requirement of the space, such as for safety or security concern? Alternatively, are the windows a preference and not a requirement?
Answer: The windows are a requirement of the space as identified in the room data sheets and specifications in the RFP.
12. Question: The room data sheets indicate several labs that contain passthroughs; however, they do not indicate the spaces on the other side of these passthroughs. Please clarify.
Answer: The Space Allocation and Finish Schedule is broken down by the different departments within the Crime Lab. Each department with all its identified support areas will remain contiguous. The passthroughs will be to an adjacency within its own department. Passthroughs will be determined during the design phase.
13. Question: Several lab spaces depict adjacent gas storage. Are these storage spaces required to be adjacent to these labs, and separate from other gas storage spaces? Alternatively, could a centralized and condensed storage space with distribution to the various lab spaces work from an operational standpoint?
Answer: Depending upon the layout of the proposed premises, alternate gas storage spaces could be considered.
14. Question: Several spaces indicate multiple doors accessing the space, but no adjacencies are defined in the room data sheets (for example, DNA, QC / Training Suite – two doors are shown but no indication of what space is on the other side of each door. There is a Bio-vestibule scheduled for this room, which
is assumed to being one of these doors, but the second remains unclear). Are there required adjacencies that are not indicated in the room data sheet diagrams?
Answer: The multiple doors accessing the spaces identified in the RFP specifications and room data sheets are designed to move the evidence and equipment to and from its required destinations within the lab. The adjacencies will be determined during the design phase based on how the proposed space is configured.
15. Question: The RFP states that Concrete Masonry (“CMU”) walls are to be installed in all evidence rooms and where indicated on the room data sheets. The room data sheets only indicate the vehicle bays and firing ranges as receiving CMU walls. The extent of evidence rooms receiving CMU walls is unclear. Are we to assume that all laboratory and laboratory support spaces in the Evidence Control Unit (ECU) should be surrounded by 8” CMU walls with reinforcement as indicated in the RFP text?
Answer: In addition to where indicated on the Room Data Sheets, CMU walls are required in Evidence Storage Rooms. An addendum has been issued clarifying the requirement in § B-2.2.4 for CMU walls in Evidence Storage Rooms.
16. Question: Will proposals for buildings located outside of the cities and towns listed in the Request for Proposals be considered?
Answer: No
17. Question: How many laboratories are included in the program?
Answer: Please refer to the room data sheets and space allocation and finish schedule included in the RFP.
18. Question: Would a building that is approximately 100,000 square feet be considered a qualifying proposal?
Answer: No.
19. Question: Do you anticipate that there will be a consideration of extra time for this RFP response with other potential questions to come?
Answer: No.