TF 09-23-940 - CONSULTANT FOR MILLS MEMORIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM FEASIBILITY STUDY

McMaster University is seeking to retain professional consultant services to prepare a feasibility study for the Mills Memorial Library (MML) and the McMaster Museum of Art (MMA).
McMaster University invites qualified bidders to submit responses for the supply of professional consultant services in accordance with the terms of this Request for Proposal (RFP).
Bidders must quote the entire bid. Partial bids will not be accepted.  
The successful Proponent must undertake to execute McMaster University’s standard Form of Agreement contract in form and substance acceptable to the University. The Contract will be reviewed with the Preferred Proponent.
The term of this agreement is for an estimated term of seven (7) months. The anticipated start date of the contact is November 7, 2023, subject to change at the University’s sole discretion. This is an estimated schedule and will be finalized in collaboration with the successful Proponent. Any extension to the above schedule by up to 3 months will not result in additional fees and should be taken into account by the Proponent in determination of its Proposal fees.

1. Conduct a detailed review of existing space programming and future space needs within the Mills Memorial Library and McMaster Museum of Art. This will include a review of Council of Ontario Universities (COU) space benchmarking, the University’s Size & Shape Study (to be provided to the successful Proponent), other university library precedents including but not limited to McGill University, and other gallery precedents including but not limited to York University and Queen’s University;
2. Conduct a detailed review of existing Library and Museum spaces to determine how these groups may reallocate space and adjacencies to increase traffic and collaboration between units. This will include a review of precedents including but not limited to the University of Calgary’s Taylor Family Digital Library, which also houses galleries;
3. Conduct a detailed review of existing archive collection spaces in MML and MMA;
4. Conduct a detailed review of key operational challenges, as listed in Section 3.3 below;
5. Lead the collection and analysis of additional stakeholder and user feedback through stakeholder inquiry and focus group sessions, refer to Section 3.5 for the proposed engagement schedule;
6. Lead an engagement survey open to the university community. This will include coordination the University’s Office of Institutional Research and Analysis (IRA), which will provide guidance on policies, ethics, distribution and collection of aggregate data;
7. Provide two (2) preliminary spatial design options that address future space and programming needs for review by the University. Each option should include a unique approach, synopsis, conceptual floor plans, reasoning for the spatial design and commentary on cost including details on future space needs and best-practice space standards for similar institutions;
8. Provide preliminary recommendations to address key operational challenges for review by the University. These will include modifications/changes to current operational practices and systems and will also include precedents, guidance on benchmark industry standards, potential risks and risk mitigation;
9. With input from the University, an agreed preferred spatial design option and operational recommendations will be further developed and will for the basis of the final feasibility study report;
10. Develop feasibility study report. The report shall include as final deliverables: (1) preferred spatial design option to address future space and programming needs, and (2) operational change recommendations. Additionally, the design and recommendations will be supported by any relevant data (including studies where required), reasoning, (including precedents and reference to best-practices/benchmark industry standards), rough order of magnitude costing (only for preferred design option and recommendations involving alterations, upgrades and/or additions to building infrastructure, systems and contents), and a minimum of five (5) full-page, computer-generated conceptual renderings of newly envisioned MML and MMA spaces;
11. Provide a breakdown of the ROM costing by recommendation/major design element in order to supply the University with guidance on feasibility and costing of the different aspects of the report;
12. Provide content quality control and adjustment to the report as it moves through internal governance approvals.