1. (a) Notice of intent (NOI). Not fewer than 21 days before the letter of interest due date, the department will post on an electronic bulletin board a notice identifying:

   1. (1) the solicitation number;
   2. (2) work category codes;
   3. (3) the type of selection in accordance with §9.39 of this subchapter (relating to Selection Types, Contract Types, and Projected Contracts);
   4. (4) the general description of the project and work to be done;
   5. (5) the due date and time;
   6. (6) qualification information if the work type is not an approved category according to §9.43 of this subchapter (relating to Precertification Requirements);
   7. (7) whether the department has waived the precertification requirement of §9.41 of this subchapter (relating to Precertification) when the total contract fee for professional services is anticipated to be less than $250,000 on an individual contract;
   8. (8) selection criteria to be used to determine the short list; and
   9. (9) the assigned HUB or DBE participation goal for the contract(s) (The department may assign individual contract DBE or HUB goals pursuant to 49 CFR Part 26 or 34 TAC §20.13, respectively.).

2. (b) Letter of interest (LOI).

   1. (1) The provider shall send a letter of interest to the department notifying the department of the provider's interest in the contract prior to the deadline published in the notice.
   2. (2) The following requirements apply unless otherwise specified in the NOI. The letter of interest will consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of five pages plus attachments. The maximum page length will be stated in the notice. Attachments will be restricted to precertification information required in paragraph (3) of this subsection. The department will not accept a letter of interest by electronic facsimile or electronic mail.

   3. (3) To be considered:

      1. (A) a prime provider or a subprovider that will be performing work in any individual work category must be precertified by the deadline for receiving the letter of interest in accordance with §9.41 of this subchapter unless the work category is not approved according to §9.43 of this subchapter;
      2. (B) a prime provider or subprovider must demonstrate in an attachment to the LOI how it meets the minimum qualifications for work that does not fall within any work category approved according to §9.43 of this subchapter (The attachment is in addition to the maximum pages allowed for the LOI.);
      3. (C) in the LOI, a subprovider that is not precertified must identify both the service to be provided for which there is no dedicated pre-certified work category and the precertified or non-listed work category that the service supports;

      4. (D) if the total contract fee for professional services is anticipated to be less than $250,000 on an individual contract and the department has waived the precertification requirement of §9.41 of this subchapter, then a provider or subprovider that:

         1. (i) is not precertified must submit an attachment with the LOI that describes how the prime provider or subprovider meets the minimum requirements specified for the work category approved according to §9.43(b) of this subchapter or how it possesses the knowledge and skill to perform the work in those categories (The attachment is in addition to the maximum pages allowed for the LOI.); or
         2. (ii) is precertified must submit a LOI, but is not required to submit an attachment describing its qualifications in precertified categories (If the firm proposes to do work in categories in which it has not been precertified, then it must submit an attachment describing how the firm meets the minimum requirements or how it possesses the knowledge and skill to perform the work in those categories.);
      5. (E) the proposed team must demonstrate that they have a professional engineer, architect, or surveyor registered or licensed in Texas who will sign and/or seal the work to be performed on the contract;

      6. (F) the provider must demonstrate that it is registered with the appropriate State of Texas licensing board, such as the:

         1. (i) Texas Board of Professional Engineers;
         2. (ii) Texas Board of Architectural Examiners; or
         3. (iii) Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying; and
      7. (G) the letter of interest is received by the department by the deadline specified in the notice.

   4. (4) The letter of interest shall include:

      1. (A) the solicitation number;

      2. (B) an organizational chart containing:

         1. (i) the prime provider's project manager (who may be replaced during the selection process and before contract execution only by another person proposed in the LOI for the prime provider and approved by the director of the Design Division); and
         2. (ii) names of the prime provider's and any subprovider's key personnel (who may be replaced during the selection process and before contract execution only by another person from the team proposed in the LOI and approved by the CST);
      3. (C) information addressing the criteria stated in the notice;
      4. (D) evidence of compliance with the assigned DBE/HUB goal;
      5. (E) name and contact information for references from the department or other entities; and
      6. (F) other pertinent information addressed in the notice.

Source Note:The provisions of this §9.33 adopted to be effective April 1, 1997, 22 TexReg 64; amended to be effective June 21, 1998, 23 TexReg 6258; amended to be effective March 21, 1999, 24 TexReg 1821; amended to be effective March 15, 2001, 26 TexReg 2053; amended to be effective January 9, 2003, 28 TexReg 363; amended to be effective February 17, 2005, 30 TexReg 725; amended to be effective November 18, 2010, 35 TexReg 10056; amended to be effective January 5, 2012, 36 TexReg 9348.