The New Orleans Community Support Foundation

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

for
CITY-WIDE PLANNING TEAMS
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

A. RFQ Introduction:

The New Orleans Community Support Foundation is seeking qualified planners

to deliver planning services for recovery and rebuilding in New Orleans,
Louisiana. Qualifications will be accepted from urban planning firms,
architecture, landscape architecture and urban design firms and individual
planners and designers as team members or consultants.

Requests for Qualifications are being solicited separately in two categories. One
category is for multiple independent Neighborhood Planning Teams. The other
category is for one City-wide Planning Team. Specifically, the Neighborhood
Planning Teams will work with present and displaced residents to develop
neighborhood plans and work with other neighborhood groups and planning
teams to compile the neighborhood plans into thirteen (13) separate district plans
(visit the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center’s website
www.gnocdc.org for maps). The City-wide Planning Team will work with the City
Planning Commission to develop a plan for city-wide infrastructure. Firms wishing
to apply in both neighborhood and city-wide categories must submit separate
statements of qualifications for each category. This Request for Qualifications is
for the City-wide Planning Team only.

The purpose of the planning process is to provide a consistent community driven

initiative and format for integrating approximately seventy-three (73)
neighborhood and thirteen (13) district plans into a single City-wide Post Disaster
Recovery & Rebuilding Plan. The plans will support the comprehensive
rebuilding of New Orleans that will foster racial and economic equity and provide
neighborhood-guided proposals for future development.

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Project Background:

The planning process in New Orleans began shortly after Hurricane Katrina
struck. In the late Fall of 2005, a preliminary planning framework was released by
Mayor Ray Nagin’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission. The planning
framework was developed by the Philadelphia-based planning firm of Wallace
Roberts and Todd. Following the BNOB Commission’s report, many
neighborhoods began to meet and develop their own independent neighborhood
plans, enlisting the help of local residents, planners, architects, national
universities and professional firms. Some additional neighborhood planning
support has also been provided in some neighborhoods by consultants retained
by the New Orleans City Council. By May 2006, some neighborhoods had
completed preliminary versions of their independent neighborhood plans. Others
are still trying to complete their work or are just beginning to meet.

In the Spring of 2006, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, a community

foundation and public charity, convened the New Orleans Community Support
Foundation (NOCSF) to provide additional planning support to neighborhoods
and also to support the creation of district-wide plans and a city-wide
infrastructure plan. The primary goal of the Community Support Foundation is to
support the City Planning Commission, the Mayor’s Office and City Council in
developing a rebuilding plan that will be used to seek funding and technical
support for the city’s recovery, growth and prosperity after Hurricane Katrina. As
much as possible, the process will be driven by technical data and standards,
incorporating the best national and international practices in community planning
and design. At a minimum, the planning program outcomes will meet or exceed
the published requirements of the New Orleans City Planning Commission, the
Regional Planning Commission, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Further information on these and other components of the planning process in

New Orleans can be found in Appendix A of this document.

B. Scope of Work:

This Request for Qualifications is for a City-wide Planning Team. The team is
expected to begin work in mid-July 2006. The selected firm or team of firms
and/or consultants is expected to understand and familiarize themselves with
New Orleans’ existing conditions and neighborhood planning processes and
follow established guidelines and deadlines for the planning process. The City-
wide Planning Team may request additional information from Neighborhood
Planning Teams if established neighborhood guidelines are not completely met.

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Both the city-wide and neighborhood planning components of the planning
process will be overseen by the New Orleans Community Support Foundation in
association with the New Orleans City Planning Commission.

C. Contract Terms and Applicable Contract Provisions:

The New Orleans Community Support Foundation reserves the right, with no
further discussion or liability, to require additional information from any
respondent, adjust the procurement schedule, reject all submitted qualifications
and materials , and cancel the RFQ announcement and process without notice.

Any incomple te submission of qualifications will not be reviewed.

D. Qualification and Submission Requirements

1. Qualification Requirements

The following standards and submissions are recommended:

a. The City-wide Planning Team’s project manager or principal

planner must possess a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in
Urban/City Planning, Architecture, Urban Design, Landscape
Architecture or Public Policy/Administration, have a minimum of ten
(10) years of professional experience with city-wide planning,
demonstrated experience in post-disaster recovery planning, and
must maintain all stated licenses and/or certifications throughout
the planning process;

b. Additional City-wide Planning Team staff and consultants must

possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban/City Planning, Architecture,
Urban Design, Landscape Architecture or Public
Policy/Administration, and non-lead planners must have a minimum
of five (5) years of city planning, preferably including disaster
planning experience;

c. The City-wide Planning Team must demonstrate familiarity with

local planning studies and current zoning laws;

d. The City-wide Planning Team, if not local, must demonstrate a

willingness to hire and work with local planning and design
professionals, as well as students;

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 e. The City-wide Planning Team should include participants who can
demonstrate a basic knowledge and experience with post-disaster
planning;

f. The City-Wide Planning Team should demonstrate an

understanding of the community-based planning principles and
strategies needed to work effectively in socially, economically and
ethnically diverse communities and thorough recognition and
knowledge of ongoing/completed neighborhood/district process in
New Orleans;

g. The City-wide Planning Team must have a minimum of ten (10)

years of planning experience, demonstrating code (i.e. zoning)
writing, policy development, economic development and at least
two (2) years of disaster planning experience;

h. The City-wide Planning Team should have the means to develop

an effective strategy for engaging evacuated New Orleans
residents in the diaspora (living outside the city and state);

i. It is preferred that planning teams include participants who are

familiar with the plans and regulations in New Orleans and who
reside within the New Orleans metropolitan area.

2. Submission Requirements

Please submit the following required documents for review in one

electronic copy (Word and PDF documents are acceptable) and six (6)
separate hard copies by 6:00 p.m. Central Time on Monday, June 26,
2006:

a. One page synopsis of firm’s main address, telephone and facsimile

numbers, email, website address, as well as a list of firm’s partners
or owners and brief summary of firm’s history;

b. One to two page statement that summarizes similar neighborhood

planning and or master planning/urban design qualifications for
team and associated consultants with similar neighborhood
planning projects;

c. Clear statement of planning team’s intent for planning in New

Orleans and approach to city-wide planning;

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 d. A minimum of five (5) refe rences with first hand knowledge of the
planning team’s performance on similar projects (please include
contact information for all references listed);

e. Descriptions and supplemental materials, such as drawings and

maps, of relevant work experience in neighborhood and/or post-
disaster planning;

f. Chart of hourly rates for principals and key staff who would be
assigned to work on the project;

g. A designated person of contact for all communications related to

the RFQ process.

Materials must be submitted to the following address:

New Orleans Community Support Foundation

c/o Greater New Orleans Foundation
Attn: City-wide RFQ
1055 St Charles Avenue, Suite 100
New Orleans, LA 70130

Materials submitted in response to this Request for Qualifications will become the
property of the New Orleans Community Support Foundation and will not be
returned to the applicant.

E. Equal Opportunity Notice

The New Orleans Community Support Foundation supports a fair and equitable
process for soliciting, reviewing and selecting proposals. We encourage firms
and individuals of all social and economic disadvantage, race, color, sex, gender,
disability and national origin to apply.

F. Inquiries

Questions regarding this Request for Qualifications must be submitted in writing

via email to Steven Bingler at Concordia, LLC at neworleansrfq@concordia.com
or via fax at 504-569-1820 before 6:00 p.m. (Central Time) on Monday, June 12,
2006 (no phone calls to the New Orleans Community Support Foundation or
Concordia please). Answers to substantive questions will be published on
Thursday, June 15 before 3:00 p.m. (Central Time).

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G. Proposal Submission Location

Please mail or hand deliver six (6) hard copies and one electronic copy of all
documents to the following address:

New Orleans Community Support Foundation

c/o Greater New Orleans Foundation
Attn: City-wide RFQ
1055 St Charles Avenue, Suite 100
New Orleans, LA 70130

H. Proposal Deadline

All documents and supplemental mate rials are due on or before 6:00 p.m.
(Central Time) on Monday, June 26, 2006. Faxes are not acceptable. Late
submissions will not be accepted in the interest of fairness to all applicants.

J. Evaluation Criteria

All submissions will be evaluated by an independent review panel of local and

national planning experts convened by the New Orleans Community Support
Foundation. The panel will rank the submissions on a scaled point system based
on the qualification and experience criteria outlined in Section D. Firms and
teams will be invited for required interviews with the New Orleans Community
Support Foundation, government officials and neighborhood representatives
shortly after the panel’s convening.

K. Procurement Schedule

Pre-submittal Questions Due June 12, 2006 (6:00 p.m. CT)

FAQs Released June 15, 2006
Qualifications Due June 26, 2006
Notification to Firms or Planners By July 10, 2006
Interviews Early to mid-July 2006

L. Proposal Changes and Withdrawals

Submissions may be withdrawn at any time before the submission deadline.

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APPENDIX A

Planning Precedents:

On August 29, 2005, New Orleans suffered the impact of Hurricane Katrina. The
following days and weeks slowly became a manifestation of a worst case
hurricane-related scenario that planners, political leaders, and residents feared
most, with 80% of the city flooded and over 160,000 homes damaged. To begin
the process of recovery, several conceptual and actual planning initiatives are
being implemented at the state and local le vels.

Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference

More than 650 citizens, community leaders, architects, planners, engineers,

business people, and public officials gathered in New Orleans on November 10–
12, 2005 for the Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference. The three-day
program marked the beginning of a process, directed by the Louisiana Recovery
Authority (LRA). It brought together a wide range of national and state leaders,
citizens and design experts to help develop a body of planning principles and,
ultimately, parish-by-parish rebuilding plans that will guide long-range recovery
efforts. The conference was planned by The American Institute of Architects and
the American Planning Association, with support from the National Trust for
Historic Preservation and the American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition,
the conference received support from AmericaSpeaks, a nonprofit group that
coordinated facilitation and instant feedback, and from the Rockefeller Brothers
Fund, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New
York. The conference focused on constructive, transparent dialogue between
experts and citizens. It was the first opportunity for Louisiana residents to meet
and discuss long -term statewide recovery efforts, goals, and planning. A report
from the Louisiana Recovery Conference is available at:
http://www.louisianarecoveryandrebuilding.org/

Louisiana Speaks Planning Process

Following the Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference, Louisiana

Speaks, a South Louisiana regional planning process, was initiated by the not-
for-profit Louisiana Recovery Authority Support Foundation. The planning
process has been supported through private donations. The Louisiana Speaks
planning team is led by Peter Calthorpe of Calthorpe Associates with support
from Fregonese Calthorpe Associates; Duany Plater-Zyberk; Urban Design
Associates; Policylink; the Brookings Institution and others. The process was
initiated in January 2006 and is scheduled for completion in December 2006.
Additional information about the statewide planning process can be found at:
http://www.louisianaspeaks.org

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 Bring New Orleans Back Commission

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin established the seventeen-
member Bring New Orleans Back Commission to study and determine an
appropriate course of action for the city moving forward. The commission’s
planning work was implemented through seven sub-committees representing: 1 -
Education; 2-Infrastructure; 3- Economic Development; 4- Health/Social
Services; 5 - Culture; 6 - City Planning; and 7-Administration/Governmental
Efficiency. Additional information about the Bring New Orleans Back
Commission’s report and subcommittee reports can be found at:
http://www.bringneworleansback.org

Urban Land Institute Planning Initiative

More than 50 ULI members, all specialists in urban and post-disaster

development, toured the city of New Orleans, held a public forum drawing more
than 300 people, and interviewed more than 150 citizens representing a broad
range of interests, including business, civic, political, cultural, utility, healthcare
and education representatives and community activists. Prior to the panel's visit,
ULI spent more than a month making repeated visits to the city to gather citizens'
input and collect research. Additional information about the Urban Land Institute
planning initiative can be found at: www.uli.org

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has conducted a short term ESF –
14 disaster recovery planning process. The outcome of the process is a series
of proposed projects to support initial recovery and mitigation. Additional
information about the FEMA ESF-14 project can be found at:
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/2005katrina/index.shtm

Neighborhood Planning Initiatives

In addition to the planning initiatives implemented by public and private

institutions, a system of planning initiatives has emerged in New Orleans at the
neighborhood level. Some of these initiatives have included planning support
from local and national planners as well as universities and other institutional
planning resources. Additional information about some of these neighborhood
initiatives can be found at: http://neighborhoodsplanning.com/