[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 145 (Monday, July 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45551-45555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18163]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[FR-5727-N-01]


Rebuild by Design--Competition and Registration

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under the authority of the America COMPETES Reauthorization 
Act of 2011, HUD and the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force (Task 
Force) announce REBUILD BY DESIGN, a multi-stage regional design 
competition to promote resilience for the Hurricane Sandy-affected 
region. The goal of the competition is two-fold: to promote innovation 
by developing regionally-scalable but locally-contextual solutions that 
increase resilience in the region, and to implement selected proposals 
with both public and private funding dedicated to this effort.

DATES: Application Due Date: Applicants were required to submit a 
proposal in response to the Request for Qualifications in Phase One to 
[email protected], no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 
19, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Bush, [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    In an effort to promote resilience for the Hurricane Sandy-affected 
region, HUD and the Task Force are holding a multi-stage design 
competition entitled REBUILD BY DESIGN. The goal of the competition is 
to attract world-class talent, promote innovation, and develop projects 
that will actually be built. Once

[[Page 45552]]

the best ideas are identified, HUD will make funds available through 
its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) 
program for project implementation along with other public and private 
funds. Examples of design solutions are expected to range in scope and 
scale--from large-scale green infrastructure to small-scale residential 
resiliency retrofits. Additional information is available at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/sandyrebuilding/rebuildbydesign

II. Objectives

    The competition seeks to bring local, regional, and international 
knowledge to bear in order to:
    (1) Contribute to a better understanding of the region's 
vulnerabilities, strengths, and interdependencies;
    (2) Generate design proposals that focus on regionally applicable 
solutions, increase resilience, develop and promote innovation, and 
integrate local efforts in the region;
    (3) Build capacity of local communities and federal agencies while 
promoting an integrated regional approach;
    (4) Connect to local efforts and strengthen the collaboration 
within governments and between government, business, academic, non-
profit, and other organizations;
    (5) Ignite innovation, outside-the-box perspectives, and address 
new trends; and
    (6) Execute world-class projects with regional impact (either large 
scale or replicable across the region).

III. Design Categories

    While REBUILD BY DESIGN may result in design solutions that are 
applicable across the United States, design teams are asked to focus on 
the most-affected and most-vulnerable areas of the Sandy-affected 
region within Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode 
Island. This is a complex region, with differing governance structures, 
culture, etc. To help navigate this complexity, the competition is 
organized around four focus areas: coastal communities, high-density 
urban environments, ecological and water body networks, and a catch-all 
category of unidentified or unexpected focus. Design teams will be 
expected to select one of the four focus areas, outlined below:
    (1) Coastal communities: This category focuses on small- to mid-
sized coastal communities. These communities are characterized by 
limited capacity and high coastal vulnerability. Here, there is often a 
tension between environmental and economic systems (i.e. the tourism 
industry is dependent on the environment and also vulnerable to it).
    (2) High-density urban environments: These economically-significant 
areas have impacts on both the region and the nation as a whole. These 
communities have highly complex built and human systems and significant 
economic value for the entire region. When storms like Sandy hit these 
communities they cause major disruptions to both the local and regional 
economy.
    (3) Ecological and water body networks: These networks are regional 
by nature; watersheds and ecosystems disregard administrative 
boundaries and must be considered from the regional scale. This 
category focuses on the interdependencies between the built and natural 
environments.
    (4) The unidentified and unexpected: This category allows for 
selected teams to pursue unexpected questions and innovative proposals 
outside of the framework provided above. This is an open category to 
encourage outside-the-box approaches and proposals.

IV. Competition Stages

    The competition consists of four stages, each with its own process, 
timeline and deliverable:

Stage One: Request for qualifications and selection of 5 to 10 Design 
Teams (July 2013)

--Request for qualifications and concepts issued.
--Selection of teams to participate.
    During Stage One, applicants were required to submit a short 
proposal, detailed in the REBUILD BY DESIGN Request for Qualifications 
(see Rebuild by Design Web site: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/sandyrebuilding/rebuildbydesign), which summarizes their 
interdisciplinary expertise and presents an initial approach related to 
one of the four focus areas. Applicants were required to submit both an 
idea on how they want to work on this (process) and what their initial 
thinking is on the issues at stake and the possible concepts that might 
emerge. Applicants were asked to illustrate these concepts in regard to 
what vulnerabilities their team would focus on. These concepts will 
serve as illustrations of the applicant's approach and innovative 
thinking; however, it is expected that selected Design Teams may need 
to adjust their approach based on the analysis process in Stage Two.
    Applicants were required to include professional expertise in at 
least three of the following fields: infrastructure engineering, 
landscape design, urban design, architecture, land-use planning, 
industrial design, community engagement, and communications design. 
Applicants with additional expertise in the following fields are 
preferred: community building, social science, economics, ecology, 
hydrology, water safety, transportation, resilience, sustainability, 
project management, finance, arts, graphic design, and others. 
Applicants must have demonstrable experience in interdisciplinary 
research, analysis, and design--especially related to the spatial 
impacts of ecological, economic, and social development on the regional 
scale.
    While by no means exhaustive, a Starter Kit of helpful information 
about the region was compiled and was also available on the Rebuild by 
Design Web site (http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/sandyrebuilding/rebuildbydesign). It contains a preliminary list of 
relevant datasets, general analyses, and existing plans.
    At the end of Stage One, the Task Force, serving as the Selection 
Committee, will identify five to ten applicants to proceed to Stages 
Two and Three as Design Teams.
    Stage One Timeline:
    June 19, 2013 Request for Qualifications and Approach is Released
    July 19, 2013 Deadline to Submit Response
    July 25, 2013 Review/Selection of 5-10 Design Teams
    Early August, 2013 Public Announcement of selected Design Teams
    Deliverables: PDF proposal outlining applicant's qualifications and 
conceptual approach.

Stage Two: Analysis of the region through collaborative process 
(August--October 2013)

--Research and collaborative analysis of the region with a wide-variety 
of stakeholders.
--Identification of key design opportunities.
    The selected Design Teams will participate in an intense 
participatory process that will involve HUD and its partners in the 
region. This process will include engagement with a wide-range of 
stakeholders (including state and local government) and experts to 
develop a comprehensive understanding of the region, its 
interdependencies, key vulnerabilities, and areas that warrant 
integrated design thinking and solutions. Teams that are selected to 
participate in Stage Two will receive $100,000 each to conduct their 
work.

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    Teams will be expected to participate in the following over the 
three-month analysis stage:
--Ongoing seminars around relevant themes and knowledge;
--A series of team symposia (one every three weeks) to discuss common 
needs for information/resources;
--Several regional site visits to interact with local stakeholders, 
engage the public, and witness affected spaces and structures; and
--An opening and closing conference for the analysis stage.
    Content from this facilitated analysis process, being collaborative 
in nature and involving a wide-range of stakeholders, will be public, 
meaning that it can be used by all teams and will be collected 
throughout the process and presented through a variety of mediums. This 
iterative research process will underpin the analysis conducted by each 
of the Design Teams in their chosen focus area, and inform each Design 
Team's production of a research report and public presentation.
    As part of the research and analysis stage, Design Teams must also 
identify at least three to five design opportunities resulting from 
their research. Design opportunities are defined as key opportunities 
or key projects that have the potential for maximum impact on the 
region's strengths and vulnerabilities. These opportunities can be both 
site-specific and/or representative of a typology that is regionally 
replicable.
    Through a collaborative process with the Design Teams, Competition 
Jury (see below), and other stakeholders, each Design Team will end up 
with one design opportunity for development and refinement in Stage 
Three in collaboration with state and local communities. By defining 
the design questions through the competition process, this competition 
will incorporate the regional scale and perspective and will reflect 
the insight and interests of state and local stakeholders. Design Teams 
will then select one design opportunity to focus on in Stage 3.
    Stage Two Timeline:
    Mid--August, 2013 Opening Conference
    August--October Ongoing Seminars and Team Symposia
    August--October Six Regional Site Visits (exact sites TBD)
    Late October, 2013 Closing Conference
    Deliverables: Each Design Team will be expected to submit a highly-
accessible digital research report that includes visual and non-visual 
analysis, and identification of at least three to five design 
opportunities within their focus area. Design Teams will publicly 
present their research at a conference in October 2013. These analyses 
will be compiled into a public catalog of submissions and synthesis 
document that could be used by a wide variety of stakeholders. The 
details and format for each of the Stage Two deliverables will be the 
subject of discussions and agreement with selected Design Teams.

Stage Three: Development of design solutions and community/partner 
engagement (November 2013-February 2014)

[ballot] Development of site-specific schematic design solutions
[ballot] Community engagement and intense collaboration with state/
local government partners
    During this stage, Design Teams will receive an additional $100,000 
to design site-specific proposals for locally-implementable and/or 
regionally-scalable projects. In addition to design drawings, Design 
Teams will be expected to propose a strategy for implementation that 
identifies partners, funding, and timing. The design development phase 
will involve a facilitated, iterative community engagement process with 
all levels of government. Design Teams will engage with local political 
leadership in order to identify specific sites and individual projects 
relevant to the design opportunity identified in Stage Two, and to 
partner with a local or state government entity.
    The Competition Jury will evaluate the final design proposals 
(based on criteria that will be provided) and identify winning projects 
that may be implemented by local or state governments with federal 
disaster recover resources. Winning projects will be presented publicly 
at a regional planning and design conference in the Sandy-affected 
region, as well as at TBD international venues.
    Stage Three partners will include the Municipal Art Society of New 
York, the Regional Plan Association, and the Van Alen Institute. These 
partners will develop an iterative design process, rooted in the 
research from Stage Two, to help connect Design Teams with key partners 
and develop place-based design solutions.
    Stage Three Timeline: TBD
    Deliverables: Design and refinement of place-based design solutions 
implementable with CDBG-DR and other funding.

Stage Four: Implementation of winning designs by state and/or local 
governments with federal disaster recovery funds (March 2014--TBD)

[ballot] Design development of winning design solutions
[ballot] Implementation of winning design solutions with federal 
disaster recovery funds A winning Design Team or Design Teams will 
proceed from Stage Three to Stage Four and work closely with state and/
or local government entities to implement their winning designs and key 
projects. Following the announcement of the competition winners, HUD 
may make an allocation of CDBG-DR funds for Sandy impacts and identify 
how these funds may be used to implement the winning projects/
proposals.
    Stage Four Timeline: Spring 2014
    Deliverables: State or local governments receiving a final round 
CDBG-DR allocation will submit an action plan or action plan amendment 
to HUD identifying how it intends to use the funds consistent with 
guidelines and requirements published by Notice in the Federal 
Register.

V. Managing Partners and Jury

Managing Partners

    While the Task Force is launching the competition, lead 
responsibility will transfer to HUD as the Task Force winds down in 
late summer/early fall 2013. The National Endowment for the Arts is 
lending their expertise to advise the Task Force and HUD in management 
and design of the overall process. In addition, many other federal 
departments and agencies are involved in the process both through the 
Task Force and in subsequent stages.
    The Task Force is working with the Rockefeller Foundation and New 
York University's Institute of Public Knowledge, in collaboration with 
regional and other non-profit partners, to design and run the analysis 
process in Stages Two and Three.

Jury

    The REBUILD BY DESIGN Jury functions as an expert panel throughout 
the competition, providing critical input during the analysis and 
design stages. The Jury will also help evaluate submissions at the end 
of Stage Two and ultimately judge the final designs at the end of Stage 
Three.
    Subject to the requirements of 15 U.S.C. 3719(k), the Secretary of 
HUD will appoint one or more qualified individuals to act as jury 
members for this contest and may appoint himself as a jury member as 
well. Jury members

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may include individuals from outside HUD, including from the private 
sector. Jury members will operate in a transparent manner.
    A jury member may not have a personal or financial interest in, or 
be an employee, officer, director, or agent of any entity that is a 
registered entrant in this contest, and may not have a familial or 
financial relationship with an individual who is a registered entrant.
    Specific tasks related to the judging process may be delegated to 
HUD employees or employees of a collaborating Federal agency. Third 
parties may perform judging tasks subject to supervision by HUD or by a 
collaborating Federal agency.
    Jury members shall have the authority to obtain from any entrant 
additional information, clarification of information, or assistance in 
resolving any technical issues relating to the installation, use, 
testing or evaluation of any entry, so long as doing so causes no 
substantial benefit or detriment to any entrant.

VI. Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition

    Teams are required to demonstrate professional expertise in at 
least three of the following fields: infrastructure engineering, 
landscape design, urban design, architecture, land use planning, 
community development, communications design, public finance, or real 
estate. Teams with additional expertise in the following fields are 
encouraged: social-science, economic development, ecology, hydrology, 
water safety, transportation, resilience, sustainability, project 
management, finance, arts, graphic design, industrial design, or other 
disciplines as appropriate. Teams must have demonstrable experience in 
interdisciplinary research, analysis, and design--especially related to 
the spatial impacts of ecological, economic, and social development on 
the regional scale. All levels of experience were encouraged to apply 
in order to attract innovative thinking and new approaches, however, at 
least one team member must have experience working with publically 
funded projects.
    In accordance with section 24(g) of the America COMPETES 
Reauthorization Act of 2010, any private entity participating in the 
competition must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of 
business in the United States, and in the case of an individual, 
whether participating singly or in a group, must be a citizen or 
permanent resident of the United States. An individual or entity shall 
not be deemed ineligible because the individual or entity used Federal 
facilities or consulted with Federal employees during a competition if 
the facilities and employees are made available to all individuals and 
entities participating in the competition on an equitable basis.

VII. Registration Process for Participants

    Applicants must submit a proposal in response to the Request for 
Qualifications in Phase One to [email protected] no later than 
5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 19, 2013.
    All proposals were required to be submitted in PDF format; hardcopy 
proposals were not accepted. Proposals were limited to 12 one-sided 
pages (format US Letter), including text, images, and/or drawings. Font 
size could not exceed 11 points; file size cannot exceed 20MB. 
Applicants were required to address the following in their proposals:
--List of team members (1 page): Include each team member's name, 
affiliation, contact information, and Web site. Clearly identify a 
single lead contact for follow up.
--Focus area: Clearly identify your team's selected focus area (i.e. 
coastal communities, high-density urban environments, ecological and 
water body networks, or other). See Page 1 of the Competition Brief for 
detailed information.
--Summary of team's strengths and relevant experience (2-3 pages): 
Provide a narrative summary of the team's collective strengths and 
experience relevant to the goals of the competition and to the team's 
selected focus area. Clearly articulate each team member's specific 
contribution to this effort and the interdisciplinary strength that 
distinct the team. Discuss past collaborative efforts among team 
members, if applicable.
--Selected relevant projects and expertise (3-6 pages): Submit 
highlights of previous work relevant to the goals of the competition 
and to the team's research focus and design approach. Include both 
visual and non-visual examples. Do not include links to external 
documents.
--Conceptual approach (2-4 pages): Include a narrative description of 
the team's proposed research and design approach and initial ideas 
within one of the four focus areas. Submit your ideas on how the team 
wants to work (process) and what your initial thinking is on the issues 
at stake and the possible concepts that might emerge. Illustrate these 
concepts in regard to what vulnerabilities your team would focus on. 
Elaborate on your strategy for connecting research and analysis 
activities to the development of implementable, place-based design 
solutions. Note that these ideas are illustrations for the team's 
approach and innovative thinking. Selected Design Teams will finalize 
their focus based off of their research during Stage Two.
    For more information, please consult Appendix A of the competition 
Design Brief at: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/sandyrebuilding/rebuildbydesign

VIII. Selection Process

    Designees from the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force will serve 
as the Stage One Selection Committee and will select 5-10 design teams 
based on the criteria listed below. The Task Force is chaired by HUD 
Secretary Shaun Donovan and is made up of executive-level 
representation from over 20 federal departments and agencies including 
White House offices. Applicants that are chosen by the Selection 
Committee will be invited to participate in Stages Two and Three, at 
which point they will be expected to enter into an agreement and 
provided a Scope of Work. Selected Design Teams will be provided 
$100,000 to participate in Stage Two. Teams proceeding to Stage Three 
will be provided with another $100,000 to advance their design 
proposals. All winning design teams selected to advance from Stage One 
are expected to continue to participate through Stage Three, although 
HUD reserves the right to remove participants that fail to comply with 
the Scope of Work agreement entered into at the beginning of Stage Two. 
The Jury will select the finalists that advance to Stage Four.

IX. Evaluation Criteria

    The Stage One Selection Committee will identify Design Teams based 
on the following criteria:
1. Team composition
    a. Depth of interdisciplinary experience.
    b. Capacity to work collaboratively on interdisciplinary teams.
2. Quality of past work
    a. Demonstrated excellence in each of the team member's respective 
disciplines.
    b. Commitment to participatory design and public engagement--
especially to underserved populations.
    c. Relevance of the team's experience to the proposed research 
focus and design approach.
    d. Track record of publically-funded, built projects. NOTE: This 
criterion is not required for all design team

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members; however, someone on the team must have experience successfully 
working through a public process.
3. Clarity, style, and thoroughness of proposal

Rules and Regulations

    1. All proposals must have been sent in English.
    2. Proposals must not have exceed 12 single-sided pages and be no 
larger than 20 megabytes.
    3. Individual practitioners or offices may participate on multiple 
teams for the purpose of a submitting a response to the RFQ, however if 
selected they must select one team on which they will serve.
    4. If your team is selected to proceed to Stages Two and Three then 
any changes to team members must approved by the Task Force/HUD.

Amount of the Prize

    Applicants that are chosen by the Selection Committee will have the 
opportunity to participate in a facilitated analysis and design 
process, over the course of six months, gain access to a wide-variety 
of stakeholders, and be designated as a REBUILD BY DESIGN team. These 
Design Teams will be provided $100,000 to participate in Stage Two and 
$100,000 to participate in Stage Three. At the end of Stage Three, the 
competition Jury will evaluate Design Teams' final design solutions/
projects and winning proposals to be implemented.
    Prizes awarded under this competition in Stage Two and Stage Three 
as described above will be paid by electronic funds transfer and may be 
subject to Federal income taxes. HUD will comply with the Internal 
Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where 
applicable.

Additional Information--Intellectual Property (IP)

    a. Neither HUD nor the Task Force is responsible for a registered 
contestant's or entrant's lack of compliance with copyright, trademark, 
patent or other Federal law. Contestants and entrants will hold 
harmless, defend, and indemnify the Federal Government and any agency 
or component thereof from and against any suit, claim, demand, 
liability, damages, costs and expenses (including attorneys' fees and 
costs of defense), of whatever nature, whether groundless, false or 
fraudulent, arising out of any use, licensing or relicensing of any IP 
that is incorporated in the entrant's entry.
    b. Contestants and entrants are responsible for obtaining all 
third-party licenses required to allow HUD, the Task Force and its 
contractors to receive any and all IP installed on any virtual machine, 
to run any and all testing software or scripts, and to demonstrate an 
entrant's product.
    c. HUD may in its sole and absolute discretion choose to negotiate 
with any entrant to acquire, license, use or convey any other 
intellectual property developed in connection with this contest.

Public Comment

    With this notice, HUD invites the public to comment on the 
information collection request described above. HUD will address all 
comments in a follow up notice to this publication.
    For more information, visit the Rebuild By Design Web site at 
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/sandyrebuilding/rebuildbydesign.

    Dated: July 23, 2013.
Laurel Blatchford,
Executive Director, Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.
[FR Doc. 2013-18163 Filed 7-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P