Project Description:
Facilities Design and Construction seeks to hire a design team strong in low-voltage electronics and perimeter door security for a project that will provide perimeter security upgrades and updates to standardize building access control throughout North, Central, South, West, and Centennial Biomedical Campus Precincts. The team should include an architectural consultant to address physical building changes that arise throughout the project. Scope includes perimeter access control and connections to central building access control head-end equipment locations. This project will design and install card access for all campus buildings that do not currently have card access, and will upgrade card access to current campus standards for those buildings that currently have card access. The design effort will begin by verifying a recent survey of the buildings. NOTE: Please refer to the additional project information provided at the end of this advertisement project summary.
Project Scope:
The budget of $4,000,000 incorporates design, construction, and associated soft costs.
Project Site:
The project is located at multiple buildings throughout the North, Central, South, West, and Centennial Biomedical Campus Precincts of the NC State Campus.
Pre-Submittal Meeting:
A Pre-submittal Meeting will not be held for this project. Please submit questions to the project manager, and a comprehensive list of questions and university responses will be posted as they are received.
Project Schedule:
- Design Start: October 2026
- Design Completion: July 2027
- Bidding September 2027
- Construction Start: November 2027
- Construction Completion: June 2028
Design Process:
The selected firm will work through Design and Construction, Campus Planning and Strategic Investment and the Project Manager along with a building committee that includes user representatives. The process will include normal involvement of the State Construction Office.
Critical Selection Factors:
In order to offer architectural or engineering services in response to this solicitation, the proposer must be licensed in the State of North Carolina. Interested firms can participate in the process by submitting a current SF 330 form and addressing the following in a written proposal. Please note that only electronic copies of the proposal, submitted via email to the project manager, are requested. Most of the criteria listed below can be accommodated in sections A-G of the 330 form. Section H can be used for any additional information. The total submittal, including letter of interest, is limited to 26 sheets of paper. Both sides of the sheet may be used for a total of 52 pages. Firms are requested to assure receipt of proposals at the email address listed below by 5:00 PM on July 18, 2026.
Criteria
- Experience and expertise with similar projects.
- Past performance on similar projects.
- Experience in design projects to be part of an existing campus context.
- Adequate staff and proposed consultant team – qualifications and examples of previous collaborations.
- Historically Underutilized Business representation in the proposed consultant team
- Current workload and State projects awarded.
- Proposed design approach or methodology.
- Recent experience with project cost estimates and schedule adherence.
- Construction administration capabilities.
- Record of successfully completed projects without major legal or technical problems.
- A minimum of three references with current contact information, including a phone number and an email address.
Designer Selection Process:
Following the receipt of proposals, a University Interview Committee, appointed by the Secretary to the University Board of Trustees Building and Property Committee, will shortlist, interview, and make a recommendation of selection to the University Board of Trustees Buildings and Property Committee.
Questions/Proposal Submittal:
In order that the selection process is as objective as possible, do not contact members of the Board of Trustees, or any university officials other than the project manager. All questions and project submittals are to be directed to:
David Hammock, PE
david_hammock@ncsu.edu
Request for Qualifications (RFQ): Campus Perimeter Security Optimization
NC State University Facilities Design and Construction is seeking an architect-led design team with expertise in low-voltage electronics, physical security, and door hardware. The selected firm will design a comprehensive bid package to deliver perimeter building access control and consistent mechanical door hardware improvements across five Campus Precincts.
- Total Budget: $200,000 (Design Fees Only)
- Target Facilities: Approximately 50 priority buildings (list to be provided).
- Core Objective: A construction document bid package to secure the campus envelope, eliminate vulnerabilities, specify door hardware upgrades, and design containment pathways ensuring reliable power and data communication.
- Phase 1: Discovery (Audit): Conduct a building by building door envelope audit. Identify any hardware inconsistencies, faulty doors, or deltas from provided source records and plans. Evaluate mechanical functionality and document hardware types across all exterior doors. Evaluate doors for designation as entrances or exit only and capture any required hardware modifications. Identify keying consistent with NC State perimeter keying strategy.
- Phase 2: Infrastructure Design (Pathways): Develop engineering plans for electrical power and low-voltage data systems in compliance with National Building Code and NC State requirements. This includes a comprehensive raceway and conduit strategy following NC State SAT and ComTech standards to support new electronic access control at specified entry points.
- Phase 3: Procurement Support (Bid Documents): Provide a detailed, line-itemed set of bid documents suitable for procurement, incorporating add-alternates. These packages must maintain a distinct separation between physical hardware repairs and upgrades (Scope A) and the required electrical and pathway infrastructure (Scope B).
- Pre-Submittal Meeting: A pre-submittal meeting will not be held.
- Proposal Deadline: July 18, 2026 by 5:00 PM (Electronic PDF submission)
- Design Period: August 2026 – February 2027 (contingent upon strategy for delivering project)
4. Submittal Requirements & Criteria
- Compliance: Must be licensed to practice architecture or engineering in North Carolina.
- Prime Contractor Requirement: This solicitation requires a design team strong in low-voltage electronics and perimeter door security for a project that will provide perimeter security upgrades and updates to standardize building access control throughout North, Central, South, West, and Centennial Biomedical Campus Precincts. The team should include an architectural consultant to address physical building changes that arise throughout the project.
- Format: Current SF 330 form (Sections A-H). Strictly limited to 26 sheets / 52 pages maximum (if double-sided).
- Key Evaluation Factors: Past performance on similar campus low-voltage and physical security projects; consultant team depth and HUB representation; methodology integrating the 3-phase framework; cost-estimating accuracy; and a clean technical/legal record supported by three professional references.
5. Critical Procurement Clarifications & Guardrails
- Strict Exclusionary Conflict of Interest: Any design team consultant, engineer, partner, or provider participating on the selected design team will be strictly precluded from bidding on the subsequent installation, integration, or construction contracts.
- Solicitation Scope Limits: This current solicitation is strictly for the design team to produce construction documents. This is not a turnkey construction solution, part-and-smarts, or box sale proposal. Security vendors, integrators, and contractors should monitor the official NC State solicitations website for the future construction bid advertisement.
- System Platform Constraints: Access control system software selection and head-end platform architecture (e.g., Software House or alternative standalone systems) are completely out of scope. The campus standard is already established around a JCI CCure 9000 environment. The design team’s role is strictly limited to building-level door security, physical pathways, and electrical infrastructure designed in accordance with existing University Guidelines and details.
6. Technical Baseline & Designer Responsibilities
The selected architect-led design team must incorporate the following constraints into the development of their construction documents:
- Building-Level Scope of Work: Design documents must detail and specify local hardware adjustments, including the removal of exterior trim, removal of dogging functions, hardware conversion to storeroom functions, door/leaf patching, adding or replacing door closers, and verifying proper hinge alignment and closing operation.
- Hardware Re-Use & New Components: The designer will evaluate existing equipment to determine where door hardware can be safely reused or removed as appropriate (e.g., upgrade vs. conversion to exit-only) and specify new components as required to secure the envelope.
- Division 28 & Division 8 Labor: Specifications created by the designer must explicitly delineate future contractor labor requirements, including the removal/demolition of existing compromised components and the supply of new locking hardware.
- Cabling & Network Infrastructure: The design team must engineer conduits and wiring pathways to strict NC State ComTech standards. No additional network or ethernet communication switches need to be specified by the designer. Final bid sheets will indicate that all field cabling, terminations, testing, and system programming will be provided by the future winning security integration contractor.
- Exclusions: The design package will not require the inclusion of card credentials, badge printers, or spare parts/additional field devices beyond what is required to satisfy physical exterior entrances and exits.
- Plan Creation: The winning design firm is responsible for building out the marked plans and data sheets; finalized marked plans with security equipment layouts do not exist and are a core deliverable of this contract.
To maintain objectivity, do not contact university officials or Board members. Direct all technical questions and PDF proposals to:
David Hammock, PE | Project Manager
david_hammock@ncsu.edu