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Hillsborough County panel qualifies five firms for land‑development consulting pool
Summary
An evaluation committee for Hillsborough County’s RFQ25-00141 reviewed seven proposals, rejected two as unacceptable and by consensus qualified five firms for a consultant pool to provide land‑development policy and regulations services; three firms received DMD/WBE bonus points.
Hillsborough County’s evaluation committee unanimously recorded consensus scores for five firms and deemed them qualified to receive future solicitations under RFQ25-00141, the county’s request for qualifications for land‑development policy and regulations consulting services.
The panel — meeting virtually and chaired by Jose Fernandez of the Development Services Department — evaluated five proposals from Image Network Inc. (d.b.a. Dover Collin Partners), Inspire Placemaking Collective Inc., Kimley‑Horn & Associates Inc., Johnson Engineering LLC, and Waitram Inc. Two proposals, Imagery Educational Consulting Services LLC and The Coogler Group, were found unacceptable during procurement’s initial review and were not considered further.
The scoring followed the solicitation’s published criteria: qualifications (40 points), experience (40 points), technical approach (20 points) and a 5‑point DMD/WBE bonus. After discussion and reference checks, the committee recorded consensus scores and added bonus points where the economic‑development reviewer had confirmed DMD/WBE eligibility.
Inspire Placemaking Collective Inc. received the top total consensus score, 105 points, after receiving the full 5 DMD/WBE bonus. Kimley‑Horn & Associates Inc. totaled 104.5 points (including 5 bonus points). Johnson Engineering LLC totaled 100 points (including 5 bonus points). Image Network Inc. (d.b.a. Dover Collin Partners) received 96.5 points. Waitram Inc. received 94 points.
Committee members discussed strengths and limits of several proposers. Jose Fernandez, committee chairperson, thanked respondents for their work: “I would like to thank every company that submitted for this bid — they did a great job putting all these proposals together,” he said. Members noted that some firms emphasize form‑based codes and design‑oriented approaches, which committee members said may be well suited to special‑area or form‑based projects but less directly applicable to countywide Euclidean zoning updates. One committee member said that for projects requiring engineering or construction‑document expertise, teams should include engineering subconsultants.
Several committee members reported checking references, and speakers named a range of jurisdictions as references for proposers, including Pensacola, Kissimmee, Collier County and Citrus County. The economic‑development reviewer confirmed DMD/WBE documentation for Inspire Placemaking Collective Inc., Johnson Engineering LLC and Kimley‑Horn & Associates Inc., and 5 bonus points were added to each firm’s total as recorded by the committee.
Procurement staff reminded attendees that the meeting was being recorded and that the county’s cone of silence remained in effect; the cone ends either five business days after the county posts its notice of intent to award contracts associated with the solicitation or when the solicitation is canceled. Dawn Denina, senior buyer for the project, said she would post the recording and complete the consensus‑scoring spreadsheet for signatures before closing the meeting.
Next steps: the county will publish the notice of intent to award as required by procurement procedures. The committee’s scoring and the qualified cohort establish the pool of firms that will receive subsequent requests for proposals or task orders under RFQ25‑00141.
