Obama Foundation Announces Requests for Qualifications for Construction Management Services for the Obama Presidential Center
June 15, 2017 at 9:24 AM CDT
Participating Firms Encouraged to Demonstrate Innovative Approach to Workforce Training and Ambitious Goals for Minority Hiring
Chicago – Today, the Obama Foundation released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), soliciting responses from firms interested in being considered for the role of construction manager for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC). The deadline for RFQ submission is July 7, 2017. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will follow to a select number of firms who responded to the RFQ.
The construction manager will join the existing OPC team and provide pre-construction services such as cost estimating, constructability review(s), value engineering, and logistics planning during the project’s design phase. Firms advancing to the RFP stage will be asked to provide information to be considered to perform all of the construction phase services for the project.
In a recent visit to Chicago, President Obama said he wanted to ensure the hiring process at the Obama Foundation created new and innovative ways to strengthen minority hiring. The Foundation is meeting with stakeholders on the South Side of Chicago to encourage local companies to engage in the process. The RFQ includes a section outlining the OPC’s commitment to inclusion and diversity, and seeks to inspire contractors to think expansively about how they can use the contract to “make an impactful and sustainable difference to local businesses, community members, and underrepresented communities.”
“In building a world-class presidential center in the heart of Chicago’s South Side, the Obama Foundation is committed to assembling the best project team possible,” said David Simas, CEO of the Obama Foundation. “President and Mrs. Obama have said they want the Obama Presidential Center to be a living center that brings together individuals and communities across the City, the country, and the world and creates economic opportunities here at home. We believe that a diversity of experiences and opinions will best help us achieve our objectives for the project, and we look forward to the responses to the open RFQ.”
“Today’s RFQ represents the next step in bringing the Obama Presidential Center to life,” said Roark Frankel, Director of Planning and Construction for the Obama Foundation. “We will be evaluating firms, in part, based on their commitment to training and hiring South Side residents who we want to be part of this historic process.”
The RFQ can be viewed here.
In April, the Obama Foundation announced that the Center Consortium will lead the project management for the OPC. The Center Consortium is a tri-venture comprised of Jones Lang LaSalle, McKissack & McKissack and Ardmore Associates and will manage the RFQ process on behalf of the Foundation. To ensure that the work of the Foundation is informed by a diverse set of viewpoints and is in line with its values of diversity and inclusion, the Obama Foundation announced the formation of an Inclusion Council in October 2016. In June 2016, the Obama Foundation announced the architectural team of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners and Interactive Design Architects to lead the design efforts for the Obama Presidential Center. This followed an extensive review process after the Foundation received 140 responses to its architect RFQ in September 2015.
Contact: Kate Berner, [email protected] (Opens in a new tab)