Council selects HDR-led team to negotiate FRA Dolphin Drive/CSX grade-separation engineering contract

The Gautier City Council on Aug. 19 authorized the city manager to negotiate for professional engineering services up to $1,500,000 for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Dolphin Drive CSX grade-separation project. City staff said the FRA grant requires compliance with federal procurement rules and particular requirements under 20 CFR for minority and disadvantaged business participation; the city ran a qualifications-based selection process and convened a scoring committee. City staff reported three qualified submittals. The selection committee — Sam King, Selena Montgomery, Scott Anderson, Romani Morgan and the city manager — recommended a team led by Single Engineering with HDR, Urban Systems, and Burns Cooley & Dennis. Mark Seymour of Seymour Engineering presented the local team partners and Ryan Hedlund of HDR described HDR's national bridge and rail engineering capacity and the team's experience with CSX and FRA requirements. Councilman George moved to authorize the city manager to negotiate the professional-services agreement not to exceed $1,500,000; Councilman Minor seconded the motion and the council approved it. Council members asked for transparency about scoring and packet materials; Councilman Jackson said some scoring detail had not been in the original package he received and requested clearer documentation for public transparency. City staff said the RFQ evaluation criteria and scores were included in the materials provided to council and that staff would provide any additional requested details. The authorization directs the city manager to negotiate the contract; final award and any required ordinances or grant amendments will return to the council for approval. Staff emphasized that compliance with FRA procurement and minority/disadvantaged business participation (per 20 CFR) was mandatory for grant reimbursement.