Project Information

Bid Title

Request for Qualifications: General Legal Services

Issuing Agency

NC Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

Location

North Carolina

Published Date

Feb 10, 2026

Closing Date

Feb 23, 2026

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Project Description

Request for Qualifications: General Legal Services

The North Carolina Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is seeking? a qualified firm or individual to serve as contract attorney for the agency.? The individual or firm acting as agency attorney would be required to perform general legal counsel services including but not limited to: 1) legal services to review and/or prepare agreements and contracts necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process in accordance with 23 CFR 420.113, 2) interpretation of applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidance necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process in accordance with 23 CFR 420.113, and 3) initial review and response to future litigation pertaining to the MPO’s roles in the metropolitan transportation planning “3-C” process. Selected firm(s) or individual(s) will be retained for a period of three fiscal years ? July 1, 2026 ? June 30, 2029.

Expected Scope of Services:

• Legal Services to review and/or prepare agreements and contracts necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process per 23 CFR 420.113. General Representation and legal review/interpretation of agreements, contracts and other legal instruments.
• Interpretation of applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidance necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process per 23 CFR 420.113 and any other purposes as requested by the MPO, including those related to local governments, transportation and environmental laws, public records, and open meetings laws.
• Initial review and response to future litigation pertaining to the MPO’s roles in the metropolitan transportation planning “3-C” process.

All interested parties will have demonstrated ability to provide the legal services described in the scope of services above; possess an expert understanding of applicable state and federal laws and legal principles; and demonstrated ability to undertake and complete the work tasks within allotted timeframes and budgets. It is expected that interested parties will be licensed to practice law in North Carolina. Completed Proposals are due no later than 11:00 a.m. on Monday, February 23, 2026, with a Notice to Proceed anticipated to be issued on July 1, 2026.

Go to full RFQ

TASK	TIME	DATE
Advertise the RFP		February 9, 2026
RFP Question Submittal Deadline Questions should be submitted via email to: Raul Rojas .	11 AM EST	February 16, 2025
CAMPO Responses to Questions	5 PM EST	February 23, 2026
Submittal Deadline for Proposals Deliver Proposals, per instructions in the full RFQ.	11 AM EST	February 23, 2026
Tentative Candidate Selection		March 9, 2026
Contract Negotiations		March 9, 2026 to March 30, 2026
Anticipated Notice to Proceed		July 1, 2026

Go to full RFQ

Attachment Preview

Request for

Qualifications

General Legal Services

Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

February 9, 2026

Page 1 of 24

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ)

CAPITAL AREA MPO GENERAL LEGAL SERVICES

PURPOSE

The North Carolina Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is seeking a

qualified firm or individual to serve as contract attorney for the agency. The individual or firm

acting as agency attorney would be required to perform general legal counsel services including

but not limited to: 1) legal services to review and/or prepare agreements and contracts

necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process in accordance with 23

CFR 420.113, 2) interpretation of applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and

guidance necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process in accordance

with 23 CFR 420.113, and 3) initial review and response to future litigation pertaining to the

MPO’s roles in the metropolitan transportation planning “3-C” process. Selected firm(s) or

individual(s) will be retained for a period of three fiscal years – July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2029.

RFQ SCHEDULE

Advertise RFQ

February 09, 2026

RFQ Question Submittal Deadline – 11 a.m.

February 16, 2026

RFQ Response Submittal Deadline – 11 a.m.

February 23, 2026

Tentative Candidate Selection

March 9, 2026

Contract Negotiations

March 9-30, 2026

Anticipated Notice to Proceed

July 1, 2026

LEAD AND SPONSORING AGENCIES

The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1962 required that transportation projects in urbanized areas of

50,000 or greater in population be based on a continuing comprehensive urban transportation

planning process undertaken cooperatively by the states and local governments. In an effort to

complete this transportation planning process in an effective manner, the North Carolina Capital

Area Metropolitan Planning Organization was created. The current Capital Area MPO planning

area boundary encompasses 1,579.51 square miles and a population of more than 1,000,000.

The Capital Area MPO is tasked with providing a regional, comprehensive and cooperative

planning process that serves as the basis for the expenditure of all federal transportation funds

in the area. Under Section 134 of the Federal Highway Act of 1973, MPOs are required to prepare

long range transportation plans for the planning area with a minimum of a 20-year planning

horizon.

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The Town of Cary serves as the Lead Planning Agency (LPA) for the Capital Area MPO. The MPO

is required to complete the transportation planning process in a continuing, cooperative and

comprehensive manner. In order to accomplish these goals, Capital Area MPO staff has the

responsibility of coordinating Technical Coordinating Committee and Executive Board activities,

completing a Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), reviewing and approving the

Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), adopting a Metropolitan Transportation Plan

(MTP) and a Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP), approving changes to the Federal-Aid

Functional Classification System, and establishing goals and objectives for the Transportation

Planning Process. The MPO also has several assigned responsibilities as part of the Wake Transit

governance structure, including developing and adopting the annual Wake Transit Work

Program and staffing the Transit Planning Advisory Committee (TPAC).

BACKGROUND

The Capital Area MPO is seeking a qualified firm or individual to serve as contract attorney to the

agency. The individual or firm acting as agency attorney would be required to perform three

legal counsel services: 1) legal services to review and/or prepare agreements and contracts

necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process in accordance with 23

CFR 420.113, 2) interpretation of applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and

guidance necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process in accordance

with 23 CFR 420.113, and 3) initial review and response to future litigation pertaining to the

MPO’s roles in the metropolitan transportation planning “3-C” process.

SCOPE OF SERVICES

In order to be considered, proposals must address each of the requests for information included

in this document. In addition, information regarding rates and fees must be submitted for each

category below. The scope of services for which fees and rates are requested is divided into three

categories as shown below. The selected firm or individual will be required to provide detailed,

itemized billing for each category, on a quarterly basis.

I. Legal Services to review and/or prepare agreements and contracts

necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process per 23

CFR 420.113. General Representation and legal review/interpretation of

agreements, contracts and other legal instruments.

II. Interpretation of applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and

guidance necessary and reasonable to carry out the metropolitan planning process

per 23 CFR 420.113 and any other purposes as requested by the MPO, including

those related to local governments, transportation and environmental laws, public

records, and open meetings laws.

III. Initial review and response to future litigation pertaining to the MPO’s roles

in the metropolitan transportation planning “3-C” process.

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All interested parties will have demonstrated ability to provide the legal services described in

the scope of services above; possess an expert understanding of applicable state and federal laws

and legal principles; and demonstrated ability to undertake and complete the work tasks within

allotted timeframes and budgets. It is expected that interested parties will be licensed to practice

law in North Carolina. Experience working with and/or representing a Metropolitan Planning

Organizations is desirable but not required.

STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS, INTEREST AND EXPERIENCE

Statements of Qualifications of no more than 5 pages, numbered 1 through 5, plus a one-page

cover letter shall be submitted via email to Raul.Rojas@campo-nc.us as a digital file in a Portable

Document Format (PDF), labeled “Capital Area MPO General Legal Services”. Statements of

Qualifications will need to include a comprehensive response describing the consultant’s

knowledge and experience with the tasks described in the above Scope of Services. Statements

of Qualifications shall include the following:

1. General Experience Summary: The summary will need to emphasize the individual or firm’s

experience with providing general legal services to public agencies consistent with the requested

Scope of Services as presented above.

2. Project References: References will need to include a brief project description, contact name,

address, telephone number, email address, and provide evidence of similar work completed

within the last five (5) years.

3. Project Team: Provide resumes for specific personnel that will be assigned to provide the

project, including verification that they have experience with similar work and will be available

to complete the assigned tasks within the allotted timeframe. Rates for each team member for

scope categories I, II and III as applicable should be included.

4. General Information: A profile of the individual or firm and description of current projects will

need to be included in this section. This section can also be used to provide additional

information the firm feels would be useful during the evaluation process.

5. Vendor ID Numbers: Any interested respondent must be a registered vendor with the Town of

Cary and the NC Department of Transportation prior to signing a contract with the MPO. If

available, vendor identification numbers for both organizations should be provided in the cover

letter accompanying the RFQ response.

EVALUATION PROCESS

Statements of Qualifications will be evaluated according to the proposer’s relevant knowledge

and experience in the tasks described in the Scope of Services and thoroughness in addressing

the Statements of Qualifications requirements. Evaluation criteria include, but are not limited to:

 Professional qualifications of the individual or firm, previous experience with similar

agencies, and legal competence of consultant team

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 Understanding and approach toward scope of services and demonstrated ability to

successfully interact with clients

 Appropriateness of organization, key personnel and their availability

 Quality of references

 Ability to undertake project in a timely manner and meet deadlines

The selected individual or firm will be evaluated on the basis of information that is submitted in

response to the RFQ. The first task to be undertaken will be to more specifically define work

elements that are generally described in the Scope of Services, so that work will be authorized

on a task assignment basis based on negotiated hours agreed to as necessary to complete the

assigned task.

During this solicitation process, the MPO will ensure that all answers or clarifications to

questions posed by interested parties are provided through the MPO website by 5:00 p.m. on

February 23, 2026. The Capital Area MPO reserves the right to negotiate a contract (or

contracts), with any respondent or other qualified party, and the MPO may enter into contracts

with multiple respondents depending on the evaluation of qualifications.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Capital Area MPO will not accept faxed information as a valid submission in response to the

RFQ. The successful firm must enter into a contract with the Capital Area MPO, which specifies

requirements for indemnification, insurance and other applicable policies.

The Capital Area MPO reserves the right to suggest to any or all respondents to this request for

qualifications that such respondents form into teams of individuals or firms or organizations

deemed to be advantageous to the Capital Area MPO in performing the scope of work. The Capital

Area MPO will suggest the formation of such teams when such relationships appear to offer

combinations of expertise or abilities not otherwise available. Respondents have the right to

refuse to enter into any suggested relationship.

The Capital Area MPO may reject any or all of the submissions as it deems it to be in its best

interests. The Capital Area MPO reserves the right to waive any irregularities or technicalities

when it deems the public interest will be served thereby.

This request for qualifications does not commit the Capital Area MPO to award a contract, to pay

any costs incurred in preparation of a response to this invitation, or to procure or contract for

services or supplies. The Capital Area MPO reserves the right to accept or reject any or all

responses received as a result of this request for qualifications, or to cancel this request in part

or in its entirety if it is in the best interest of the Capital Area MPO to do so.

Commencement of an engagement with any selected firm(s) is subject to negotiations of terms

acceptable to CAMPO. Attachment A: Federal Requirements is included as a consideration for this

Request for Qualifications.

Regarding this RFQ and subsequent procurement process, Proposers shall make NO CONTACTS

regarding this procurement, either written or verbal, with any MPO employee during the period beginning

with the

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Commodity Codes

• NAICS 541110Offices of Lawyers

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