Tampa council narrows RFQ scope for fire fleet facility after Lowry Park work order surfaces

Tampa City Council on Aug. 7 approved a substitute scope for a contract tied to a request for qualifications to assess fire fleet and supply needs and directed staff to return with a cleaned-up scope before the close of business.

Council members said the original RFQ was land-agnostic and focused on fire fleet and warehousing. Administration and legal staff told council that a separate, property-specific work order for Lowry Park has already been issued to the same consultant and that the Lowry Park work can and should be handled outside the master RFQ scope.

Councilmembers were primarily concerned with deconflicting the general RFQ from the property-specific work order. John Bennett, chief of staff, said the RFQ “was land agnostic” and that Lowry Park “came up when we landed the property,” adding that the administration’s preference was to separate the Lowry Park assessment into its own work order so the RFQ would remain general. Justin Vaske of the legal department said the cleanest route was to “clean up the agreement” and strike language that tied the RFQ to a particular site if the task would not be performed under that agreement.

Contract administration staff told council that initial RFQ estimates anticipated $200,000–$300,000 to cover site investigations at multiple properties. They said some work already performed by the selected firm reduced the incremental Lowry Park assessment to about $142,000. Council discussed two procedural options: (1) amend the contract scope now and return it the same day, or (2) delay formal adoption to the Aug. 20 meeting; legal advised either approach was workable.

Council then approved a substitute scope of work for the agreement and voted to have staff return with a finalized, amended scope before the close of business to remove site-specific Lowry language. The substitute scope motion was moved from the dais and approved unanimously.

Next steps discussed included completing a six-month assessment of operational needs and then using that assessment to scope design work and a possible design-build procurement for a fleet and supply facility. Contract administration recommended completing the assessment before final design, but council members asked that site testing and preliminary design planning be coordinated to shorten the schedule. Administration estimated the assessment phase at roughly six months, followed by another six to eight months before design work would start.

Council’s actions were procedural: they did not authorize construction, a property purchase, or a final design. Instead they ordered the RFQ text clarified, confirmed a separate Lowry Park work order exists, and set direction for staff to return with the amended contract language.

Ending: Council members said they will monitor the amended scope when it returns and that any work orders under the $200,000 threshold would be administered by departments but that cumulative thresholds could bring items back to council for review.