2. GI-Bids-25-15499R-FM.docx

GENERAL INFORMATION – ITB

1. Understanding of the Work: All participating firms or individuals (herein referred to as Vendor) are expected to examine all documents contained herein. Failure to do so shall in no way relieve a Vendor from obligations concerning his/her bid or to the resultant award. Nonresponsive and incomplete submittals may be deemed cause for rejection. The County is not required to consider any claim of misunderstanding.

2. Questions: Vendors, by their signature hereunder, shall agree to comply with all the conditions, requirements, and instructions of this Invitation to Bid (herein referred to as Invitation) as stated or implied herein. Should the County omit anything from this Invitation that is necessary for a clear understanding of the project, or should it appear that various instructions conflict, then the Vendor shall secure instructions from Jefferson County Purchasing. All questions must be submitted in writing to Jefferson County Purchasing by the time and date specified in the Invitation and must reference the Bid Number and Project Title. Responses to Supplier inquiries for project budget or engineer's estimate will be deferred until after bid opening (for competitive sealed bids) or after award (for competitive sealed proposals).

3. Invitation Modifications: Modifications to any of the terms, conditions, or specifications of this Invitation which are made by the County after the Invitations have been distributed to prospective firms, and before the due date and time, will be made in writing, and signed by the Purchasing Manager. No employee of Jefferson County is authorized to modify any of the terms, conditions, or specifications of this Invitation without written approval of the Purchasing Manager. This is not to imply that bids will not be accepted or considered for specifications that are different than those herein.

4. Joint Ventures: Principals from all firms participating in a joint venture must be present at the pre-bid conference, if Mandatory, and indicate on the sign-in sheet their intentions to bid as a joint venture.

5. Collusion: By submitting a bid, the Vendor certifies that (a) the prices in the bid have been arrived at independently without collusion, consultation, communication, or agreement to restrict competition as to any matter relating to such prices with any other participating firm or with any competitor; (b) the prices quoted herein have not been and will not be knowingly disclosed, directly or indirectly, by the Vendor to any other participating firms, competitors or County's representatives before the final date for submission of such bid; and (c) no attempt has been made and none will be made by the Vendor to induce any other person, partnership or corporation to submit a bid or not to submit a bid (complementary or otherwise) to restrict competition.

6. Obligation: By submitting a bid, the Vendor acknowledges that (a) the preparation and submission of the bid, and other quotations herein contained, does not obligate the County in any way; (b) the County assumes no obligation to agree to the project; (c) all Invitation documents are understood; and (d) the Vendor has the equipment, technical ability, personnel and facilities to complete the project as specified herein per the Invitation documents.

7. Proprietary Information: Any information submitted may be subject to disclosure as a public record under the Colorado Open Records Act, § 24-72-201 et seq., C.R.S. (“CORA”). If you consider any of the information being submitted to be trade secrets, privileged information, or confidential commercial, financial, geological, or geophysical data, it is your responsibility to label the information as such. The County has the final discretion in determining whether information is subject to disclosure under CORA.

8. Payment for Information: Any costs, fees, and expenditures paid for, or incurred by, the Vendor in connection with (1) the Invitation and (2) negotiations (if any) between the Vendor and Jefferson County shall be the Vendor’s sole responsibility, and the Vendor shall have no recourse whatsoever against the County for reimbursement of such expenses.

9 Pre-submittal Corrections: Bids should be free of erasures. Errors may be crossed out with corrections printed in ink or typed adjacent and must bear the dated initials of the person signing the bid.

10. FOB Point: All prices bid are to be FOB DESTINATION unless otherwise specified.

11. Exceptions/Deviations: Any item that does not fully comply with all of the terms, conditions, or specifications of this Invitation must be identified on a point-by-point basis on a separate sheet of paper and returned with your bid. Indicate the paragraph numbers from the Invitation or describe the specific location of a requirement specified in any attachment, for each deviation proposed. Deviations may be considered, provided that you submit an adequate explanation and justification for any proposed deviation. If there are no exceptions/deviations, state them under the EXCEPTIONS section of the proposal sheet.

12. Prices: All prices bid shall be less all taxes and discounts, and shall, in every way, be the total net price which the Vendor will expect the County to pay if awarded the bid.

13. Withdrawal of Bid: No bid shall be withdrawn for a period of one hundred eighty (180) days after the opening of bids without the consent of the County's County Purchasing director or his/her delegated representative.

Withdrawal of inadvertently erroneous bids before the award may be permitted if the Vendor submits proof that clearly and convincingly demonstrates, as determined by the County, that an error was made. BIDS MAY NOT BE RE-SUBMITTED.

14. Submittal Deadline: Hard copy bids, faxed bids, and emailed bids are stamped with the date and time they are received in the County’s Purchasing office. Electronic bids are stamped with the date and time they are received on the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System (RMEPS). Your bid must be received by Jefferson County Purchasing in the format requested by the County no later than the date and time indicated in the Invitation to Bid. Late bids will not be accepted or considered.

It is the responsibility of the Vendor to ensure the bid arrives in the County's Purchasing office or is uploaded to RMEPS by or before the time indicated on the Invitation. The County will not accept any late bids, regardless of the cause (e.g., traffic, inclement weather, parking, courier service, erroneous delivery to any other County office, delays in electronic uploads, etc.), unless the County causes the delay.

15. Clarification: The County reserves the right to request additional written or oral information from Vendors to obtain clarification of their bid.

16. Bid Award Recommendation: The award recommendation shall be made to the responsive, responsible Vendor whose bid is most advantageous to Jefferson County, price, and other factors considered.

17. Preliminary Procedures: The Invitation, the Invitation process, and any negotiation towards a final contract are preliminary procedures only and SHALL NOT BE BINDING on the County unless and until the County has duly approved and executed a written agreement with the Vendor.

18. Process Termination: The County may terminate the Invitation process and any negotiation or discussion in connection with the Invitation at any time with or without notice to the Vendor or any other person. In such event, the county shall have NO LIABILITY whatsoever to the Vendor or any other person in connection with such termination.

19. Terms of Payment: The term of payment shall be Net 30 following inspection and acceptance of goods/services or receipt of invoice, whichever is later, unless agreed to otherwise.

20. Nonperformance: Vendors who fail to perform by their bid are subject to the County striking that Vendor from future bidding opportunities for some time to be determined by the Purchasing Manager.

21. Acknowledgement: By signing the Bid Sheet contained in this Invitation, the Vendor acknowledges that it has the proper legal authority to sign the document, it has received a copy of the Invitation and it has read and understands each of the foregoing, and all other documents in this Invitation package.

22. Cooperative Purchasing: Jefferson County encourages cooperative purchasing to assist other agencies in reducing their cost of bidding and to make better use of taxpayer dollars through volume purchasing. Suppliers may, at their discretion, agree to extend the prices and/or terms of the resulting award to other state or local government agencies, school districts, or political subdivisions in the event they need the same product/services. Usage by any other entity shall not harm Jefferson County in the current term or in any future terms.

23. Disposal of Unsolicited Financial Data: If unsolicited financial data is submitted with a bid response, such information will be destroyed so as not to become part of the public record open to inspection. Vendors are advised to not submit financial information unless it was specifically included as a requirement of the bid response.

24. Consideration of Past Performance: Jefferson County reserves the right to consider past performance, historical information, and facts, whether gained from the Vendor’s bid, interviews, references, or any other source in the evaluation process.

25. Specifications Development Vendor Exclusion: Vendors that develop or draft specifications, requirements, or statements of work associated with the work included in this Invitation, or that assist in these activities, are excluded from submitting a bid. By submitting a bid, the Vendor affirms that they did not draft or develop any of the above-referenced items associated with this Invitation.

26. Information Obtained from Private Plan Rooms: Jefferson County is not responsible for the accuracy of information obtained by Vendors from private plan rooms or other sources not authorized by Jefferson County.

27. Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: For federally funded projects: All disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to all invitations and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin for all proposals for negotiated agreements. Vendors are encouraged to utilize the services of the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce as applicable.

28. Domestic Preferences: For federally funded projects: Vendors shall to the greatest extent practicable consistent with law, use goods, products, or materials produced in the United States for their bid.

29. Recoverable Materials: For federally funded projects: Vendors shall make maximum use of products containing recovered materials that are EPA-designated items unless the product cannot be acquired based upon not being competitively available within a timeframe included in the performance schedule; not meeting the bid performance requirements; or not being available at a reasonable price. Refer to https://www.epa.gov/smm/comprehensive-procurement-guideline-cpg-program.

GI-Bids.docx (REV 11-10-23)