1. Prime Environmental Planning (3 firms) VTA will select up to three (3) full-service environmental planning firms. Proposer must have a minimum of ten (10) years of experience and comprehensive knowledge of environmental planning, environmental analysis, and all the technical areas evaluated under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). • Proposer must demonstrate the following preferred experience: o Experience preparing a wide variety of state and federal environmental documents including Categorical Exemptions, Categorical Exclusions, Initial Studies, Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Reports, and Environmental Impact Statements. o Experience working on complex transportation projects, including transit, highways, facilities, bicycle, and pedestrian projects. Experience must include knowledge of Caltrans Standard Environmental Reference (SER) and associated forms and templates; environmental review process under the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) and associated guidance and documents from FTA’s Office of Environmental Policy and Programs; and transportation decision making under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). o Have a combination of qualified in-house staff or qualified subconsultants in all the technical areas evaluated under CEQA and NEPA. o Ability to provide public meeting support, including to prepare public notices, presentations, and other materials. o Experience preparing legally defensible responses to comments, mitigation monitoring and reporting programs, and sections required for projects with significant and unavoidable impacts. These sections include Findings and Statement of Overriding Considerations. o Experience filing the draft and final environmental documents with the Santa Clara County Clerk and the Office of Planning and Research, including but not limited to the environmental declaration, notice of completion, and notice of determination. o Ability to support compliance with the environmental commitments, including ensuring design requirements and environmental commitments that are included in environmental documents are appropriately reflected in plans and specifications; and documenting compliance with environmental commitments prior to, during construction, and following construction, as necessary, through the preparation of a quarterly environmental compliance record. Proposer must be able to develop environmental commitment records for individual design and/or construction contracts. This task includes retaining and managing any technical specialists that are required to fulfill the environmental commitments during construction. o Ability to manage the environmental process for VTA capital projects. The environmental process includes managing technical studies, environmental document preparation, public meetings, and other environmental requirements for VTA to obtain project approval pursuit to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and, for projects with federal funding, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Please note that this task may involve reviewing the work of another environmental planning firm under contract with VTA.
