INVITATION FOR PROPOSALS
Requirement of Qualifications (ROQ)
PERMANENT EXHIBITION DESIGN & FABRICATION
The Sugar Land Heritage Foundation in Sugar Land, Texas, is now seeking qualifications of
firms for a future contract: “to design exhibits and perform fabrication services” for a new
history museum located in Sugar Land, TX.
The Sugar Land Heritage Foundation in Sugar Land, Texas, is accepting proposals for exhibition
design and fabrication services for a new history museum. Details are limited, but it is estimated
to include 20,000 square feet including static and interactive exhibits, traveling display space,
temperature and moisture controlled archival work area, archival storage area, offices and
meeting rooms. Target audiences will be elementary school students through college groups,
business and civic organizations, church organizations, families, individuals, along with national
and international tourists.
The Sugar Land Heritage Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit public organization with its
mission, “to inspire community pride by collecting, preserving, communicating and celebrating
the history of Sugar Land, Texas”. This will be accomplished by the planning and construction
of a new history museum on the former Imperial Sugar Refinery Site. This facility will utilize
educational, interactive, inspirational and entertaining exhibits to recreate the heritage of Sugar
Land, Texas.
Interested parties are asked to complete the following twenty-one items and forward them to the
Executive Director of the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation, Mr. Bill Benson,
bbenson@slheritage.org or P.O. Box 2998, Sugar Land, Texas, 77487. Firms must submit their
Requirement of Qualifications by November 1, 2012. It may not exceed 20, 8.5 by 11 inch,
single-spaced pages. Keep in mind you are limited to 20 pages but you can use both sides of the
page.
1) Submit a Letter of Interest
2) Provide your firm’s demonstration and recognition of accomplished display designs.
3) Provide experience of your organization/team as designer of exhibits of similar scale,
complexity, emphasizing your firm’s record of meeting budgets and time schedules.
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4) Provide examples of history or natural history exhibits designed by your firm which
incorporated audiovisual, digital, and/or traditional hands-on interactive elements at a total cost
no greater than $300 per square foot.
5) Identification and resumes of the personnel to be directly involved in this project: principal,
project designer, others expected to perform work, including those in affiliation. A collaborative
team approach that covers all aspects of exhibit design is encouraged.
6) Identify current workload of firm and personnel to be assigned to this project.
7) Experience of the proposed personnel with similar museum facilities including, names and
geographic locations.
8) Experience in working together in a collaborative effort with architectural firms, facility
design and construction teams.
9) Experience in working with client exhibit developers and collection teams for integrated
exhibit design.
10) Experience in designing exhibits, gift shops, rest rooms, storage and museum facility which
meet the Americans with Disabilities Act.
11) Identification of firm's experience with the public design process and Minority or Women
Owned Business requirements, multiculturalism and ethnicity.
12) Description of the firm’s design and project management philosophy.
13) Describe innovative design solutions for history museums designed by your firm. Described
how you incorporated audiovisual, digital, High Definition and/or other multimedia interactive
experiences at a total cost of $300 per square foot or less.
14) Describe how you provide electric load requirements to an architect.
15) Describe how you design for low cost while maintaining top quality. Provide examples.
16) Describe your approach to modular design, while maintaining continuity and consistency
with the overall theme.
17) Identify your in-house design capabilities and those services you would outsource.
18) Demonstrate experience in coordinating exhibits with long term management plans,
including the integration of warranties, operations and maintenance manuals.
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19) Document physical support after the facility is completed; when warranties have expired,
years later as the museum continues to operate and expand.
20) Distinguish between your experiences in presenting artifacts versus knowledge in developing
interactive and/or technologically sophisticated educational/entertaining displays.
21) References from at least three similar projects to include: key owner personnel, museum
executive director and contractors project manager.
A SUMMARY
The early era begins in 1823, when the Mexican government granted Stephen F. Austin, a charter
to bring the first 300 Americans into Texas, settling under Mexican rule on land from Mexico.
News of available land spread rapidly as Stephen F. Austin worked to fulfill his deceased father,
Moses’, contract with Mexico.
The new settlers arrived at their chosen land sites usually after a long exhausting and often
perilous journey. Of the initial 300 land grants issued by Stephen F. Austin in his colony, fifty of
the 300 were located in Fort Bend County, most of them along the Brazos River and Oyster
Creek. The first owner of the Mexican land grant on which the city of Sugar Land is today, was
Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas”.
This land was near the Texas gulf coast, along the meandering Oyster Creek, where once great
herds of buffalo grazed native grasses while being pursued by the Kawakawa Indians. It was
here where destiny waited patiently to reveal an epic Lone Star legend. In the 1820s, situated on
some of the world’s most fertile soil, great cattle ranches and cotton plantations were developing.
Slaves worked the soil, planting, cultivating and harvesting the crops. A Swedish immigrant to
the United States, S.M. Swenson, introduced sugar cane to this area. This tall grass plant would
change the landscape and thousands of lives for future generations. This became the birth place
of Imperial Sugar Company. Recognized throughout the United States for more than 150 years,
it was the only sugar cane refinery in Texas. To entice employees and their families to come and
stay, a company town was developed which included a school, churches, a mercantile store,
hospital and doctor’s office. These amenities provided comfort, security and peace of mind for
its work force. Tenant farmers worked the soil; dairymen made fresh sweet milk available, while
others provided labor to operate Imperial Sugar Company. Sugarland Industries owned
thousands of acres where tenant farmers worked the soil and raised livestock. Sugar Land
Railroad transported unrefined sugar, from the port of Galveston, inland to the Imperial Sugar
Refinery.
Sugar Land was chartered by the State of Texas in 1959. This small country town has matured
into a nationally and internationally recognized metropolitan city as of 2012.
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