Staff recommends that City Council award a Contract for Professional Services to Kittelson & Associates, Inc. in the amount of $170,365.

Council is asked to consider authorizing and executing a Contract for Professional Services with Kittelson & Associates, Inc. for services related to the development of the Transportation Corridor Plan. The City of Billings, through this planning effort, seeks to identify community priorities to establish a vision and framework for continuing to build and maintain a safe transportation network. Through this strategic transportation plan, the City of Billings will develop guidance for transportation corridors that accounts for community desires, the functions of the roadways, neighborhood character, and future land use, while recognizing that not every street can or should prioritize every mode. This plan will be reflective of the community's needs, meaning community engagement will be comprehensive and critical.

This contract is focused on the community outreach component of the project, and the majority of the contract is for community engagement and technical analysis. Community engagement will be accomplished by using visual aids (renderings, infographics, maps, graphic-based surveys) to gather feedback and gain an understanding of the community's vision for arterial and collector roadways within Billings. The scope of work includes significant time for in-person engagement (open houses, community group meetings, pop-up events) and assistance in developing online engagement (website, social media engagement, online surveys). This project will be led by City staff and assisted by the Consultant. Significant staff time will be spent on this phase of the project, with coordination occurring between various City departments. This contract does not include the final plan, although the results of this effort will be thoroughly documented. The intent is that the scope of work for the final plan will be determined after the community engagement component is completed. A contract for the final deliverable document (Transportation Corridor Plan) may be requested after this contract is completed.

The City publicly advertised a Request for Proposal in the Yellowstone County News and on the City website on September 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, and October 4th, 2024. Two proposals were received - one from Kittelson & Associates, Inc. and one from Sanbell. The Kittelson & Associates team was selected based on staff review of their proposal, which demonstrated experience in transportation planning and engineering, public outreach, and local knowledge. The selection was based on criteria including firm experience, project manager, key project staff and subconsultants, available resources and consultant location, and project methodology and approach. 

City Council may:

• Approve a Contract for Professional Services with Kittelson & Associates, Inc. in the amount of $170,365; or,
• Not Approve a contract for Professional Services with Kittelson & Associates, Inc. If the contract is not approved, the project will not move forward as scoped.

The project is funded with $75,000 from the Planning Department's Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and $95,365 of gas tax fumds.