2026_Elections_Ballot_Sorting_System_RFP.docx

PIERCE COUNTY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

TITLE: Elections Ballot Sorting System

Procurement and Contract Services posts solicitations to OpenGov. If you have not yet registered as a user, visit the site and request access.

RFP ISSUED BY:

Pierce County Procurement and Contract Services Attention: Procurement Specialist pcpurchasing@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-7456

Expected Term of Resulting Agreement The initial contract period is anticipated to be for one (1) year. The County has the option of renewing for an additional four (4), one-year successive terms after initial contract is executed.

Summary To provide Pierce County with an election ballot mail sorting system.

Background Pierce County serves 600,000 registered voters in 717 precincts in The State of Washington, an all vote-by-mail state. The Pierce County Auditor's Office ("Auditor") normally conducts four elections a year that can be county-wide or smaller in scope. All ballots are returned either through the United States Postal Service or deposited at a drop box. All voters are required to sign the outer envelope, and that signature is used to verify the voter’s identity before opening. The Auditor also sends out a variety of election related mail including confirmation cards, address updates, challenge letters, etc. We currently have three incoming mail sorters. These three are for throughput as well as redundancy.

Timelines/schedule THESE ARE REQUESTED DATES. FINALIZED DATES TO BE AGREED UPON ONCE FULL PCS/LEGAL/RISK REVIEW is complete

*If submission date(s) fall on a holiday, date/time will vary. Work with your assigned PCS representative to finalize details.

** TNT only allows listing of solicitations on Wed and Fri.

Project Description The purpose of this RFP is to contract with a qualified vendor for necessary equipment for the Auditor to process incoming ballot envelopes and other election related mail, sort envelopes to varying categories, capture images of envelopes, read and interpret information on the envelope face, interface with the voter registration system, verify expected contents, and open the envelope. Vendors should respond with their best proposed solution for the Auditor, listing options for potential enhancements.

SUBMITTAL CHECKLIST

For proposals to be considered the following must be included in your submittal:

1. Name, local address, email address, and phone number of the firm making the proposal.

2. The names and number of years the firm has been in business under current or previous names or additional assumed business names.

3. The name and title of the person authorized to execute a contract on behalf of the firm.

4. Any additional services or procedures of benefit to the County not specifically required by this Request for Proposal, which the Contractor offers to provide.

5. Complete pricing for all services in the proposal.

6. References listing customers with contracts for similar services.

7. The caption, cause number, Court, Counsel, and general summary of any litigation pending or judgment rendered within the past three (3) years involving the proposer.

8. Acknowledgement (via the County's eProcurement Portal) of each addendum issued

9. By submitting a proposal, proposer agrees that all documents, reports, proposals, submittals, working papers, or other materials prepared by the Contractor pursuant to this proposal shall become the sole and exclusive property of the County, and the public domain, and not property of the Contractor. The Contractor shall not copyright, or cause to be copyrighted, any portion of said items submitted to the County because of this solicitation.

Only electronic submittal via the County's eProcurement Portal shall be accepted. No hard copies, emails or fax submittals are acceptable.

Scope of Work The Auditor needs an incoming ballot envelope sorting solution. The solution must be in place no later than June 15, 2027, in time for the 2027 Primary Election. The solution must be able to meet all listed minimum requirements as well as offer enhanced services to help efficiently process incoming ballot envelopes as well as other election-related mail.

Minimum Requirements:

1) Vendor shall propose an automated envelope sorting system that is scalable with a minimum of eight sorting pockets. The system shall be modular in construction and capable of adding capacity at a later date. All upgrades shall be performed on-site.

2) Vendor shall propose a solution with at least two machines that function at the same time on the same server.

3) System operating software which interfaces with the current State voter registration system (VoteWA).

4) System software and hardware that is compatible with Pierce County’s local area network and network security requirements.

5) System shall provide an accurate count of processed mail pieces.

6) System must scan and capture one side of the envelope (at a minimum) with the ability to crop captured image to a signature block area.

7) System must identify ballot return envelopes that may not contain all contents expected to be returned and sort such envelopes to a pocket. This ability must be customizable for each election as ballot size and envelope contents can change.

8) System must be able to accommodate differing sizes of mail pieces.

9) System must have the ability to sort mail pieces by a user-defined sort scheme that can be changed with minimal effort.

10) System must be able to open (mill) envelopes without damaging the contents. The milling area will have the ability to keep the area clean of all debris.

11) System must have the ability to sort out, into a different pocket, all mail pieces that are identified as not in the current mail processing job.

12) System must have the ability to sort out, into variable pockets, ballot envelopes that have been marked as challenged or rejected.

13) System must have the ability to identify and sort out automatically, into a different pocket, envelopes that have not been signed by the voter.

14) System must have the ability to upload information into the voter registration system (VoteWA) including but not limited to: return date, batch number, return source, challenge code, voter id, election id, envelope number, signature image, etc.

15) System shall store envelope images, voter data, and reports in a directory that can be accessible to the operator. All information shall be date/time stamped and archivable.

16) System must be equipped with a tray tag printer or other method of producing an identification tag for batches. Such tag information should be customizable by the operator.

17) System must include a tray audit report of all processed pieces that can be customizable by user.

18) System must have ability to append a return source (at least 60 different) to each envelope and transfer that data to the voter registration system.

19) System must include a solution for the system to automatically verify signatures in compliance with RCW 29A.40.110(3). This solution should also allow the machine to continue sorting ballots. Comment by Kyle Haugh: The current Runbeck product does not do this. I wrote as should hoping they offer a solution.

20) System must be able to read information on envelopes. At a minimum bar code information.

21) System must be ergonomically designed to minimize operator fatigue.

22) Vendor shall provide for standard support as well as extended support during election periods (including weekend, holiday, and after-hours support).

23) Vendor shall provide training on new equipment, manuals and documentation, as well as on-going support and maintenance services.

24) Vendor should have a proposal for using sorting equipment to face ballots instead of relying on human labor to presort the drop box returns. Comment by Kyle Haugh: The current Runbeck product does not do this. I wrote as should hoping they offer a solution.

questionnaire See Attachment B – Questionnaire for list of questions. Proposer must respond to all questions for the proposal to be considered responsive.

Our standard questionnaire in OpenGov includes:

1. Proposer/Bidder Acknowledgement

2. Supplemental Attachment Confirmations

· I confirm I have reviewed the content of the following attachments included under this RFP; Sample E-Verify Form and Sample Agreement and acknowledge I understand and agree to these requirements should my organization receive a contract as a result of this proposal.

3. Organization Information

· Business IDs

i. Washington State Unified Business Identification (UBI), and the *Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and Cage Code issued by SAM.gov.

ii. *An 'active' UEI number and cage code are required when the funding is federal and creates a subrecipient relationship between the contractor and the County.

· Ownership Type

· Organization Contacts

· Authorized Individual

4. Proposal Upload, Pricing Documents,

· Be sure to remove any password protections on your documents before uploading.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Matters relating to qualification to meet the County's needs will receive highest priority in evaluation. Matters relating to the means of meeting those needs described in the proposal will be considered secondary. Actual prices may be used to select successful offerors, and pricing methods and flexibility offered by a proposer for use in negotiation of a resulting contract may be considered in evaluation. After a proposal is selected, the County expects to negotiate the details of work to be performed based upon the proposal and the County's needs and appropriate pricing of selected tasks. If negotiations fail for any reason, including price, the County may choose to negotiate with other vendors to obtain an appropriate contract for needed services.

Firms will be evaluated on the following criteria (1-6 are pre-loaded in OpenGov and can be altered to your procurement need):

1. The ability of the firm to provide the proposed services based on the contemplated scope of work and volume of business.

2. The experience of the firm, length of time in business, and other matters relating to relevant experience.

3. Experience of the individuals who will be assigned to provide the proposed services.

4. Appropriateness and flexibility of pricing arrangements.

5. Customer references either submitted with the proposal or gathered by the County.

6. The firm's proposed approach to this work, including compliance with requirements, innovative offerings, services offered and other related matters.

7. Past performance when providing the requested services to the County. (Only applicable if discussed and approved with PCS, otherwise this is omitted)

8. Other information as appropriate.

-Be sure to include the points with each criteria -If your procurement need requires additional criteria: include criteria information, scoring method (points, Pass/Fail) in this form.

Auditor’s Office Evaluation Criteria:

See Attachment C – Scoring Chart for proposal scoring details.

Reserved Rights and Procedures:

1. Pierce County expressly reserves the following rights:

a. To waive any and/or all irregularities in the proposals submitted.

b. To reject any or all proposals or portions thereof.

c. To base awards with due regard to quality of services, experience, compliance with specifications, and other such factors as may be necessary in the circumstances.

d. To make the award to any vendor or combination of vendors whose proposal(s), in the opinion of the County, is in the best interest of Pierce County.

2. Pierce County may return unopened any proposal or modification received after the hour and date specified.

3. Prior to final contract award:

· Pierce County reserves the right to seek, review and research company financial information.

· Pierce County reserves the right to enter into a lease contract in lieu of purchase.

· Pierce County reserves the right to conduct presentation/demonstrations/interviews with top proposers. An oral presentation/demonstration/interview may be required of vendors whose proposals are under final consideration. Prospective contractors may be informed that an oral presentation is desired and will be notified of the date, time and location of the oral presentation.

Evaluation Criteria:

Matters relating to qualifications to meet the County's needs will receive highest priority in evaluation. Matters relating to the means of meeting those needs described in the proposal will be considered secondary. Actual prices may be used to select successful vendor, and pricing methods and flexibility offered by a proposer for use in negotiation of a resulting contract may be considered in evaluation. After a team is selected, the County expects to negotiate the details of work to be performed based upon the proposal and the County's needs and appropriate pricing of selected tasks. If negotiations fail for any reason, including price, the County may choose to negotiate with other vendors to obtain an appropriate contract for needed services.

A Vendor’s proposal will be initially evaluated on the following criteria:

4. Other information as appropriate.

Final evaluation for short-listed firms will be on the following criteria:

1. Customer references which may be requested to be submitted from a firm, or may be gathered by the County.

Project interviews, presentations, and demonstrations as invited by the County, when deemed necessary. The County will notify invited teams of the schedule, agenda and any additional information being requested.

RFP GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS Included in OpenGov Reserved Rights and Procedures:

1. Pierce County expressly reserves the following rights:

a. To waive any and/or all irregularities in the proposals submitted.

b. To reject any or all proposals or portions thereof.

c . To base awards with due regard to quality of services, experience, compliance with specifications, and other such factors as may be necessary in the circumstances.

d. To make the award to any vendor or combination of vendors whose proposal(s), in the opinion of the County, is in the best interest of the County.

The County will not reimburse proposers for any costs involved in the preparation and submission of responses to this RFP or in the preparation for and attendance at subsequent interviews.

4. Cooperative Purchasing The Washington State Interlocal Cooperation Act, Ch. 39.34 RCW, authorizes public agencies to cooperatively purchase goods and services if all parties agree. By responding to this RFP, Consultants agree that other public agencies may purchase goods and services under this solicitation or contract at their own cost and without Pierce County incurring any financial or legal liability for such purchases. Pierce County agrees to allow other public agencies to purchase goods and services under this solicitation or contract, provided that Pierce County is not held financially or legally liable for purchases and that any public agency purchasing under such solicitation or contract file a copy of this invitation and such contract in accordance with RCW 39.34.040.

5. Public Records and Proprietary Material Proposers should be aware that any records they submit to the County or that are used by the County even if the proposers possess the records may be public records under the Washington Public Records Act (RCW 42.56). The County must promptly disclose public records upon request unless a statute exempts them from disclosure. Proposers should also be aware that if even a portion of a record is exempt from disclosure, generally, the rest of the record must be disclosed. Exemptions are narrow and specific.

Proposers should clearly mark any record they believe is exempt from disclosure.

6. Title VI Compliance Pierce County, in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 252, 42 U.S.C. 2000d to 2000d-4 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, subtitle A, Office of the Secretary, Part 21, nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs of the Department of Transportation issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises as defined at 49 CFR Part 26 will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, national origin, or sex in consideration for an award.

7. E-Verify Pierce County requires contractors attest to participation in the E-Verify program. A sample E-Verify form will be attached to this solicitation and will be required to be completed by the contractor and returned with contract documents prior to the start of the contract term.

DEPARTMENT-PROVIDED ATTACHMENT(S)

Listed first in OpenGov, PCS standard attachments are listed second

· Attachment A – Pricing

· Attachment B – Questionnaire

· Attachment C – Scoring Chart

STANDARD PCS ATTACHMENTS (INCLUDED IN OPENGOV)

Attachment __: Sample services agreement (if applicable) Attachment __: Sample E-Verify form (if applicable) image1.jpeg