537-24.pdf

Invitation No.: 537-24 Location: Statewide Commodity: Origin-Destination Data Service Pricing: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/PurchDocs/537pricing.xlsx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

State of Ohio, Department of Transportation Office of Contract Sales, Purchasing Services

Jack Marchbanks, Ph. D., Director

Bid Submission Deadline (Bid Opening Date):

May 11, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. eastern time

Submitted by:

Company Name:

Federal Tax ID No.:

Physical/Mailing Address: Remit to Payment Address:

Street Address:

P.O. Box:

City:

St:

Zip:

Contact Person and Phone Number:

(authorized to answer questions about your company’s bid)

E-Mail Address (required):

(person who filled out bid)

E-Mail Address (required):

(for notification of future bid opportunities)

Telephone Number 800 Number Fax Number

Return Properly Marked, Complete Bid Packages To:

contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov - Paper bids will NOT be accepted.

VENDORS MUST SUBMIT ANY QUESTIONS, CLARIFICATIONS, OR INQUIRIES REGARDING THIS

PROCUREMENT VIA THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Pages/PurchasePBQ1.aspx http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/PurchDocs/537pricing.xlsx mailto:contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov

Attachments to be submitted in the emailed bid response:

Completed Front Page (Separate Attachment)

Completed Signature Page (Separate Attachment)

Completed Affirmation and Disclosure form (Separate Attachment)

Completed Excel Pricing Page (Separate Attachment)

Anything Else You wish to Submit (Separate Attachments)

Send multiple emails, as needed, to complete your submission to contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov - Paper bids will NOT be accepted.

Zip files CANNOT be sent.

We respond to every submission. If you don’t get a response from us saying, we received your bid within a day, reach out or resubmit.

Invitation No. 537-24

Ohio Department of Transportation Request for Proposal No. 537-24 Origin-Destination Data Services

SECTION I. GENERAL OVERVIEW

1.1 Overview

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is seeking the services of qualified Proposers to provide Origin- Destination (OD) data via a web-based interface. Included with the data shall be a mechanism to query the underlying data set for various use cases. The proposed data solution should be responsive to the following key usages:

a. Regional OD flows between geographies either user-defined (typically Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs)) or standardized (census tracts, counties);

b. OD flow on and the travel sheds of a given segment of roadway;

c. OD flows (matching ODOT supplied volume totals) between any 2 roadway segments for example to determine the weaving movements on a freeway;

d. Understanding different components of that flow, most importantly distinguishing mode of travel (cars, trucks, buses, bikes and pedestrians);

e. Understanding temporal changes in OD flows and characteristics;

Access to the data shall be internet account based and available to employees of ODOT, Local Governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Universities, Transit Agencies and Other State of Ohio Agencies.

While account access will not generally be given to private entities, ODOT or an approved Ohio public agency account holder shall be able to provide the OD query results to a consultant(s) or a similar private entity working on their projects solely for use in that project. Approved account holders shall also be allowed to temporarily provide access to the OD data query tool to a private entity (such as a consultant) in order to perform queries solely for the purpose of working on that public agency’s project. At the conclusion of the project work that requires the OD information, access to the OD data will be withdrawn from the private entity.

This project does not have an MBE goal, however additional consideration will be given to State of Ohio MBE or EDGE vendors.

SECTION II. SCOPE OF WORK & SPECIFICATIONS OF DELIVERABLES

2.1 Scope of Work

2.1.1 Dataset

The Proposer may gather the data from whatever means they deem acceptable; however, the data should be representative of the vehicle mixtures utilizing the public roadway system. Data shall at a minimum be capable of querying OD information where either the origin or destination is within the state of Ohio or counties bordering Ohio.

Data shall be as accurate as possible, and it shall be the responsibility of the Proposer to provide detailed information related to both the accuracy of the data as well as its ability to reflect the relative mixture of vehicle types utilizing Ohio’s highways. Data discussion shall include:

a. Availability and accuracy of spatial level, temporal level and user class data;

b. Ability to provide daily average, hourly or other sub-daily breakdowns;

c. Ability to accurately provide vehicle mix representation (cars vs. trucks, resident vs. non-resident, personal

vs. business, walk vs. bike vs. auto vs. bus, others);

d. Discussion of the presence and effects of biases such trip length distribution, income, vehicle type etc.;

e. Discussion of how many years of historical data is available for query as well as the frequency that new data are added to the data set;

f. Effective sample size of the data and weighting and calibration techniques applied to the data. A table shall be included denoting the data sources that are used as input to the vendor’s data product with the monthly (or other specified time frame) sample size of each source. Only include datapoints located within

Ohio;

• Connected Vehicle passenger vehicle datapoints (total datapoints, number of vehicles, number of vendors, frequency and rate of vehicle turnover in the monthly (or other specified time frame) dataset) Specify model years of vehicles included in the full dataset.

• Connected Vehicle commercial vehicle datapoints (total datapoints, number of vehicles, number of vendors, frequency and rate of vehicle turnover in the monthly (or other specified time frame) dataset)

• Location Based Services datapoints (total datapoints and number of vendors)

• Consumer Credit data

• Web-based search data

• Other datasets used in the data product

• Other datasets used to train/develop models used in the data product

g. Discussion of other processing applied to the raw data such as outlier removal, trip end identification, road centerline snapping etc.;

h. Existence of tools provided in the web interface for user control of weighting and calibration using local data, including discussion of any advanced techniques such as but not limited to iterative proportional fitting as well as any other user control provided such as dwell time thresholds to trip end identification etc.;

i. Ability to provide unbiased temporal trend analysis and methods used to account for temporal changes in sample rates and sources;

j. Methods provided for indicating the geography for OD catchment including methods that can be implemented in-tool vs. support for uploading geography from GIS (in particular ODOT maintained TAZ and street center line files) as well as ability to indicate geographies by points, lines or polygons and the ability to segment or specify trips that begin/end at a geography vs. those passing through;

k. Ability to obtain roadway segment volumes, by both ODOT Linear Reference System (LRS) and other non-

ODOT segments (by class including auto, truck, bike, pedestrian etc.), speeds or other metrics with the query tool;

l. Discussion of size of data queries that are possible; i.e. how many geographic areas or roadway segments can be queried at once and whether all roadway segments within a subarea can be queried at once (and the maximum size of that subarea);

m. Ability to provide OD data for specific days or hours for the analysis of incidents, local/special events, or seasonal/weekend travel patterns.

In addition to the above, documentation and discussion of the data set accuracy shall be provided and may be quantitative and/or qualitative as deemed appropriate by the Proposer and may include studies (internal, 3rd party, academic, etc.). If studies are provided, they can be attached to the RFP response. Alternatively, the Proposer may also provide links to these studies if they are available on the internet. Study pages provided in an appendix to document data set accuracy do not count toward the provided page limits. Information related to the data as outlined in this section will be evaluated by ODOT as part of the RFP scoring criteria. Data availability beyond the NHS/Interstate/State Route/U.S. Route minimum requirement should be cited in this section as well as referenced in the Summary as potentially exceeding the minimum RFP requirements (see the Summary Section).

2.1.2 Data Query

The Proposer shall offer a means to query the OD data set. It is required that any approved account holders be able to perform their own queries (i.e., ODOT will not have to perform queries for other public agencies). Included with the RFP response shall be a description of how the data set is queried including information such as:

a. Variety of data sources, mix of real time data

b. How a query is performed;

c. Relative ease of use;

d. Typical time required to receive results from a query;

e. Versatility of the query mechanism;

f. The outputs provided by the query;

g. Other features that the Proposer believes ODOT may deem to be desirable particularly as regards data features alluded to in the Data section of this RFP.

The proposed OD query tool/query process will be part of the RFP scoring criteria.

2.1.3 Technical Support

The Proposer shall provide technical support to all Ohio account holders that are approved to use and query the OD data set proposed in this RFP. The Proposer shall describe how technical support will be provided as part of this contract.

The proposed technical support will be part of the RFP scoring criteria.

2.1.4 Training

The Proposer shall provide at a minimum a webinar training within one month of the execution date of the contract.

Anyone with approved access should be able to view the webinar. ODOT will work with the successful Proposer to determine mutually agreeable dates and times.

The Proposer shall provide information with their RFP response describing their offered training. Any additional training opportunities offered beyond the minimum training described above should be noted as well as referenced in the Summary as potentially exceeding the minimum RFP requirements (See the Summary Section).

The proposed training will be part of the RFP scoring criteria.

2.1.5 Summary

Proposers may provide a two-page summary of their proposal to summarize why they believe they are the most qualified Proposer. The Summary should also be used to reiterate any additional offerings above the minimum requirements of this RFP. If these additional offerings are deemed beneficial to ODOT they may possibly receive additional scoring consideration as denoted in the Scoring section of the RFP. It shall be solely ODOT’s discretion if additional offerings merit consideration for additional scoring.

The summary content will be used as part of the RFP scoring criteria.

2.2 Specifications of Deliverables

Task/Activity/Product Responsible Party

Start Date

End Date Measure

OD Data Products Consultant 7/1/2023 6/30/2024 Noted in 2.1.1

OD Query Tool/Query Process Consultant 7/1/2023 6/30/2024 Noted in 2.1.2

Technical Support Consultant 7/1/2023 6/30/2024 Noted in 2.1.3

Training Consultant 7/1/2023 6/30/2024 Noted in 2.1.4

2.2.1 Contract Duration

Contract duration shall be one year from the date of the executed contract with ODOT having the unilateral ability to extend the contract two times for one year each (i.e., maximum of three years if ODOT decides to execute both of the one-year extensions). ODOT makes no guarantees related to extending the contract for a second or third year.

SECTION III. VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

3.1 Mandatory Requirements – vendors MUST meet, at minimum, ALL of the following qualification requirements:

3.1.1 Qualifications

• Data shall be representative of the vehicle mixtures utilizing the public roadway system.

• Data shall be capable of querying OD information where either the origin or destination is within the state of

Ohio or counties bordering Ohio.

The Proposers shall include a description of their qualifications, experience and any other reasons why they believe they are the most qualified to provide the OD Data services described in this RFP. Qualifications will be used as part of the RFP scoring criteria.

If a State of Ohio Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) or Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) vendor, provide a copy of that current certification from the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (or whoever issues it). Additional consideration will be given to State of Ohio MBE or EDGE vendors.

3.2 Organizational Experience and Capabilities – vendors will be evaluated based on the following:

3.2.1 Experience with Transportation Use Cases

It is ODOT’s desire to purchase access to a data set that has been successfully used by other public agencies for transportation related use cases as shown under the Proposal Purpose Section. The Proposer’s data set shall have been used in a minimum of four (4) completed transportation-based use case projects that were sponsored by a public agency. At least one use case will demonstrate the Proposer’s data set was used to perform safety analysis.

The proposal shall summarize these four projects. With each cited project, include a brief project description highlighting the use case along with public agency references for the projects. Additional completed projects beyond the four minimum required may also be provided in this section. Citations of additional public agency sponsored transportation use case projects in excess of the minimum four should also be referenced in the Summary as potentially exceeding the minimum RFP requirements (see the Summary Section).

• Experience in conducting at least four (4) similar types of projects/programs within the past 2 years that demonstrate expertise in the provision of Origin-Destination Data Services

• Name and contact information for leaders of those projects/programs

• Name(s) of any subcontractor(s) that will be involved in working with the vendor, and their experience/qualifications

Successful project experience of the OD data will be part of the RFP scoring criteria.

3.3 Staff Experience and Capabilities – proposals should demonstrate significant expertise by assigning staff to key leadership roles. Proposals must include, at minimum:

• Data Scientist with experience in limitations of data used in data product (see 2.1.1) and developing additional data analytics (e.g. 30th highest hourly factors).

• Project Manager/Programmer with experience in providing a Data Query Tool (see 2.1.2).

• Project Manager/Trainer with experience in developing and/or providing training in using the Data Query

Tool.

Resumes/curriculum vitae of those key staff that describe appropriate education, experience and expertise needed for the project/program.

3.4 Sensitive Personal Information – It is the sole responsibility of the vendor submitting a proposal to remove all personally identifiable and confidential information (such as names, home addresses and social security numbers) of vendor staff and/or of any subcontractor and subcontractor staff from resumes or any other part of the proposal package. Following submission to ODOT, all proposals submitted may become part of the public record. ODOT reserves the right to disqualify any vendor whose proposal is found to contain such prohibited personal information.

Proposal Submission Requirements

A. Delivery of Documents

Emailed submissions for this Request for Proposal will be received until 1:00PM eastern time on May 11, 2023 to the following email address:

contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov

Required for Submittal:

Completed Front Page (Separate Attachment) Completed Signature Page (Separate Attachment)

Completed Affirmation and Disclosure form (Separate Attachment) An electronic pricing page (Separate Attachment) Anything Else You wish to Submit (Separate Attachments)

No proposals will be accepted after the date and time specified on this page. No hardcopy proposals will be accepted. ODOT reserves the right to reject any and all proposals. Timely receipt of proposals will be determined by the date and time the emailed proposal is received by the Office of Contracts. Receipt of proposals by any other mechanism other than email delivery to the Office of Contracts shall not be considered timely.

All materials submitted in accordance with this solicitation become the property of the State of Ohio and shall not be returned. All materials submitted in accordance with this solicitation shall remain confidential until Successful Proposer(s) are selected after Round 2 at which time all submitted information becomes part of the public record.

B. Inquires

Pre-proposal questions must be received no later than the close of business the Thursday prior to the scheduled opening date. An addendum being issued is dependent upon the information received and the impact on the competitive bidding process.

All pre-proposal inquiries must have the following: Name of the Sender, Contractor or Company Name, Phone Number, Project Number, Letting Date, a detailed description of the question.

Proposers are NOT to contact any other ODOT office, including District offices, for responses to pre-bid questions.

Department responses will be posted to the following website:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Purchase/PBQ-

Answers.doc

Proposal Inquiries may be submitted at this link:

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Pages/PurchasePBQ1.as px

Based upon the content of any received questions/clarifications, proposal requirements may, solely at the discretion of ODOT, be modified, changed or deleted. Any such changes to this RFP will be communicated by addendum and published to the ODOT website at the following URL:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Lists/PurchaseUpcomingIT Bs/RFP.aspx

Proposal Response

The RFP Proposal response must contain information on how the Proposer intends to perform the services outlined in the RFP. Omission of required information may render a Proposer ineligible, and http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Purchase/PBQ-Answers.doc http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Purchase/PBQ-Answers.doc https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Pages/PurchasePBQ1.aspx https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Pages/PurchasePBQ1.aspx http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Lists/PurchaseUpcomingITBs/RFP.aspx http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Lists/PurchaseUpcomingITBs/RFP.aspx incomplete responses may result in the loss of points. The selected Proposer will become the

Vendor of record with ODOT.

Proposers must submit a response for the following areas:

A. Implementation/Management Plan/Work Plan

B. Organizational Structure/Staffing Plan

C. Cost Proposal (submitted SEPARATELY ATTACHMENT)

D. Completed Front Page

E. Completed Signature Page

F. Completed Affirmation and Disclosure form

Implementation/Management Plan

The Proposer shall submit a statement of the Proposer’s understanding of the scope and his/her/their capabilities to perform the requirements of the RFP, along with a narrative of how the Proposer intends to implement and manage each of the tasks set forth in this RFP. Provide a technical description of the methodology anticipated in the performance of the services described above. Other good innovative and creative approaches to accomplish the goals of the contract will be given consideration and should also be included in this section.

Page Requirements are listed in the table below. One page shall be considered one printed side. If text is printed on two sides that will be counted as two pages.

Introduction/Qualifications 1 page

Dataset 5 pages (note – if Proposers choose to include studies related to their data accuracy the studies may be attached as appendices or alternatively one additional page can be included solely for the purpose of providing URL links to studies)

Data Query Tool 3 pages

Technical Support 1 page

Training 1 page

Summary 2 pages

Experience with Transportation Use Cases (including public agency references)

2 pages

A. Organizational Structure

The Proposer must provide the names and résumés of each individual that will be working on the RFP.

Designate the individual who will be committed to ensuring performance of all tasks under the prospective contract (Project Manager). Provide a résumé and contact information for the Project Manager. Please provide a staffing plan the list any other professionals who will be given key responsibilities in fulfilling the requirements necessary to perform the services. Provide supporting documentation, such as a résumé, for each individual summarizing their experience on similar assignments or projects. Each résumé must identify each employee with the years of service, educational background, the duties and responsibilities for that employer, and a phone number for a contact person.

Identify each individual and the percent of time that each person would be assigned to each major task in the Scope of Services.

B. Cost Proposal

The Proposer shall submit a SEPARATE Cost Proposal in the emailed response. Any proposal in which this Cost Proposal is not included will be considered non-responsive and the proposal will be rejected.

The Proposer’s completed Cost Proposal shall become a part of the contract upon award of the contract.

Note that ODOT does not guarantee any contract extensions past year one. The Cost Proposal is for one year of access. If the proposer anticipates different pricing by year it shall provide separate yearly pricing tables with this understanding and shall not provide alternative pricing scenarios based upon the future ODOT decision to extend the contract or not.

The Cost Proposal shall be submitted in the Excel format. As a separate attachment from the proposal.

C. Signature Page

A Signature Page must be included with a proposer’s response to this RFP. Submitted proposals not containing a signed signature page may be rejected and deemed non-responsive.

Technical Proposal Score Sheet

Scoring of Technical Proposal Technical Proposals will be collectively scored by a Proposal Review Team (PRT) appointed by ODOT. For each of the evaluation criteria given in the score sheet, reviewers will collectively judge whether the technical proposal does not meet, partially meets, meets or exceeds each criterion, and assign the appropriate point value. The scoring is by consensus and one official score sheet will be completed for each technical proposal that is scored.

Criteria for Considering the Cost Proposal The cost proposal will be reviewed by the PRT. The grand total of the vendor’s cost proposal will be divided by that vendor’s final technical proposal score. This compares the cost with the quality of the technical proposal, which will provide an average cost-per-quality point earned on the technical proposal.

ODOT may, at its sole discretion, negotiate with all technically qualifying vendors for a revised cost proposal. Vendors may then: 1) Submit one last and best offer; 2) request that ODOT view its original cost proposal as its last and best offer; or 3) May formally withdraw from further consideration. The vendor shall formally indicate its choice according to directions provided by ODOT at that time. Upon receipt of all last and best offers, ODOT will then consider those vendors’ revised cost proposals.

PHASE I: Initial Qualifying Criteria

The proposal must meet all of the following Phase I proposal acceptance criteria in order to be considered for further evaluation. Any proposal receiving a “no” response to any of the following qualifying criteria shall be disqualified from consideration.

ITE

M

PROPOSAL ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA YES NO

1 Was the vendor’s proposal received by the deadline as specified in the RFP?

2 Did the vendor submit a proposal comprised of a Technical Proposal and, in a separate, attachment, a Cost Proposal?

3 Are the data representative of the vehicle mixtures utilizing the public roadway system?

4 Is the dataset capable of being queried for OD information where either the origin or destination is within the state of Ohio or counties bordering Ohio?

PHASE II: Criteria for Scoring of Technical Proposal

Qualifying technical proposals will be collectively scored by a Proposal Review Team (PRT) appointed by ODOT. For each of the evaluation criteria given in the following score sheet, reviewers will collectively judge whether the technical proposal exceeds, meets, partially meets or does not meet the requirements expressed in the RFP, and assign the appropriate point value, as follows:

0 6 8 10 Does Not

Meet Requirement

Partially Meets

Requirement

Meets Requirement

Exceeds Requirement

Technical Performance Scoring Definitions:

“Does Not Meet Requirement”- A particular RFP requirement was not addressed in the vendor’s proposal, Score: 0

“Partially Meets Requirement”-Vendor proposal demonstrates some attempt at meeting a particular RFP requirement, but that attempt falls below acceptable level, Score: 6

“Meets Requirement”-Vendor proposal fulfills a particular RFP requirement in all material respects, potentially with only minor, non-substantial deviation, Score: 8

“Exceeds Requirement”-Vendor proposal fulfills a particular RFP requirement in all material respects, and offers some additional level of quality in excess of ODOT expectations, Score: 10

A technical proposal’s total PHASE II score will be the sum of the point value for all the evaluation criteria. The review team will collectively score each individual qualifying proposal.

Technical proposals which do not meet or exceed a total score of at least 600 points (a score which represents that the selected vendor has the capability to successfully perform the project/program services) out of a maximum of 800 points, will be disqualified from further consideration, and its cost proposal will neither be opened nor considered. Only those vendors whose Technical Proposals meet or exceed the minimum required technical points will advance to PHASE III of the technical proposal score sheet.

ITEM

EVALUATION CRITERIA Weighting Doesn’t

Meet

Partially Meets

Meets

Exceeds

WORK REQUIREMENTS

PROPOSED WORK PLAN

1 Introduction/Qualifications 5

2 Dataset meeting items noted in 2.1.1 30

Experience with Transportation Use Cases (including references) (see 3.2.1)

4 Data Query Tool noted in 2.1.2 10

5 Technical Support noted in 2.1.3 5

6 Training noted in 2.1.4 5

Summary noted in 2.1.5 (possible additional points based upon proposed offerings above and beyond minimum requirements)

BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

Is a State of Ohio Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) or Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) vendor included?

Column Subtotal of "Partially Meets" points

Column Subtotal of "Meets" points

Column Subtotal of "Exceeds" points

GRAND TOTAL SCORE:

Based upon the Grand Total Technical Score earned, does the vendor’s proposal meet or exceed the minimum technical score of 600 points?

Yes__________ No_____________ (If “No” vendor’s Cost Proposal will NOT be opened)

Cost Per Quality Point

Vendors Total Submitted Cost: ________________ / Grand Total Technical Score:

Cost per Quality Point: _______________

The Technical Proposal with the lowest Cost per Quality point will be recommended for award of the contract.

If ODOT finds that one or more Proposals should be given further consideration, ODOT may select one or more of the highest-ranking Proposals to move to the next phase.

ODOT may alternatively choose to bypass any or all subsequent phases and make an award based solely on the Proposal evaluation phase.

Demonstrations/Selection

At the conclusion of the scoring ODOT will, based upon scoring, decide if a conditional selection will be made or if further evaluation is necessary via a Short List selection process.

1. Conditional Selection – A conditional selection will be made if ODOT believes that sufficient information, scoring results and our understanding of the Proposal justify one Proposer to be conditionally selected. If a conditional selection is made, that Proposer will be invited to provide a Demonstration. Based upon the results of this Demonstration, ODOT may opt to make the selection final. Alternatively, based upon the results of the Demonstration, ODOT may opt to continue the selection process via implementation of a short list selection.

2. Short List Selection – A short list selection may be made if in ODOT’s opinion that multiple Proposals could potentially meet our needs. In the case of a short list selection, multiple Proposers will be invited to provide a Demonstration at a date and time determined by ODOT. In the event of a Short List selection, scoring will be performed again after completion of the Demonstrations to make the final selection. If a Proposer is not available at the date and time determined by ODOT, ODOT may remove the Proposer from further consideration.

In either case, the Demonstrations will focus on how the data set is queried utilizing potential use cases as examples. In addition, during the Demonstration ODOT may ask for clarifications or additional information regarding the RFP response, the data set or the query tool. Invited Demonstrations will be given 90 minutes for their presentation and to answer ODOT questions or clarification requests. Demonstrations will be stopped after 90 minutes.

The Demonstration may be in person (ODOT Central Office) or via webinar format at the discretion of the Proposer.

If a webinar format is used it shall be the responsibility of the Proposer to host the webinar. The demonstration will occur within 35 days of the RFP release date.

State of Ohio, Department of Transportation (ODOT) Office of Contract Sales, Purchasing Services

Terms and Conditions for Submitting Excel Pricing File in Bid Package (Last Revised 07/2020)

1. DOWNLOADING THE EXCEL PRICING FILE: Bidders can access and download the most current Excel Pricing File for this procurement by following the hyperlink provided below:

2. SUBMISSION OF EXCEL PRICING FILE: Bidders should submit the pricing page in the original excel format.

3. UNAPPROVED ALTERATIONS TO EXCEL PRICING FILE: Bidders who materially alter the original content of the Excel pricing file (e.g. specifications, formulas, etc.) issued by the Department may be found non-responsive and ineligible for award of this procurement.

4. CHANGES TO EXCEL PRICING FILE: The Department will only make modifications to the Excel pricing file by written addendum only. Where changes are necessary to the Excel pricing page, the Department will issue a new Excel pricing page indicating the revisions made and a revision date for the changes.

It is the sole responsibility of the bidder to check for issued addenda prior to submitting a bid package to ensure the most updated Excel pricing file is being utilized.

5. DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE: Bidders may electronically provide any descriptive literature (e.g. brochures, spec/cut sheets, drawings, MSDS, etc.) regarding the products and/or services offered by the bidder. As this literature may be publicly posted for viewing by purchasers, bidders must not submit any literature electronically in which they consider to be a trade secret, proprietary, or confidential in any way.

(the remainder of this page has been left intentionally blank)

Office of Contract Sales, Purchasing Services

INSTRUCTIONS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR BIDDING

(Last revised 11/30/2020)

1. BIDDER REGISTRATION: The Department requires awarded bidder(s) to successfully register as a State of Ohio Supplier with the Department of Ohio Shared Services and successfully obtain an OAKS vendor identification number (OAKS ID) within fourteen (14) calendar days from the date of contract award and execution. The Department cannot utilize awarded Contracts to purchase from a bidder who cannot obtain an OAKS ID from Ohio Shared Services. In the event an awarded bidder is unable to obtain an OAKS ID, the Department shall reserve the right to revoke its award to the bidder and immediately cancel any resulting Contract.

A Supplier Information Form and W-9 must be completed and sent back directly to Ohio Shared Services in order to register and apply for an OAKS ID. The following website can be accessed by bidders to obtain both the forms and specific instructions for obtaining an OAKS ID:

http://ohiosharedservices.ohio.gov/SupplierOperations/Forms.aspx

It is strongly recommended that all interested bidders not already registered with Ohio Shared Services submit the above paperwork prior to the bid submission deadline.

2. HOW BIDS MUST BE PACKAGED: All submitted bids in response to this procurement must be emailed to contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov – Paper bids will NOT be accepted.

3. WHAT NEEDS INCLUDED IN BID PACKAGE: Submitted bid packages should include, at a minimum, a completed Signature Page, a completed Excel pricing page, and all necessary supportive documentation, forms, and any other information required herein. The Department may deem a bid non-responsive for failure to submit any of the documents requested above.

4. PREBID QUESTIONS, DISCREPANCIES, AND CLARIFICATIONS: Any discrepancies, omissions, ambiguities, or conflicts in or among the bidding documents or doubts as to the meaning shall be brought to the Department’s attention by the bidder no less than three (3) business days prior to the bid submission deadline. All questions, discrepancies, clarifications, etc. must be submitted electronically (hyperlink below). During the competitive bidding process, bidders (and their agents) are prohibited from contacting any ODOT office, including District offices, other than the Office of Contract Sales, Purchasing Services section to obtain responses to any questions. The Department may find a bidder non-responsive for failing to adhere to any of the above requirements.

Pre-bid questions/inquiries must be submitted electronically through the following website:

Answers to Pre-Bid Questions/Inquiries will be posted on the following document available for download at the following website:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Purchase/PBQ-Answers.doc

It is each bidder’s sole responsibility to check the website for updates to pre-bid questions and answers before submitting its bid package to the Department.

5. MODIFICATIONS TO THE BIDDING DOCUMENTS: When it is deemed necessary to modify these bidding documents, the Department will only do so by written addendum. The issuance of an addendum is dependent upon the information received and the impact on the competitive bid process. All issued addenda will be posted to the Department’s Upcoming ITB’s website and shall be automatically incorporated into the bidding/contract documents:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Lists/PurchaseUpcomingITBs/UpITBs.aspx

In addition to posting on the above website, the Department also may email addenda information out to all known bidders for convenience purposes only. The Department shall not be held responsible for a bidder’s http://ohiosharedservices.ohio.gov/SupplierOperations/Forms.aspx mailto:contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Pages/PurchasePBQ1.aspx http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Purchase/PBQ-Answers.doc http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/Lists/PurchaseUpcomingITBs/UpITBs.aspx failure to receive the email with the addenda information. It is the sole responsibility of all interested bidders to diligently visit the above-listed website to see if any addenda have been issued prior to submitting their bid to the Department. Those interested in obtaining addenda information via email for a particular procurement must send the Department its request in writing to the following email address:

Contracts.Purchasing@dot.ohio.gov

6. PRE-BID CONFERENCES: The Department reserves the right to hold mandatory or optional pre-bid conferences at its discretion. Conferences may be held either in-person or via webinar/phone conference formats. Bidders will be required to sign-in at all pre-bid conferences. The sign-in sheet for all pre-bid conferences is considered a public record, will be kept in the bid file, and will be shared with any requesting party. Additionally, any business cards collected during any pre-bid conference shall be considered public records and may be distributed out to all conference attendees. Any changes to the requirements or specifications of a procurement, as a result of the pre-bid conference content, will be made by written addendum and publicly posted.

For mandatory pre-bid conferences, the Department requires that those companies intending on submitting a bid be in attendance for the entire duration of the pre-bid conference. Mandatory pre-bid conferences will officially begin five (5) minutes after the scheduled date and start time at the location specified in the Special Terms and Conditions. Those bidders not in attendance at that time will be considered ineligible to submit a bid. The conference will be considered adjourned and complete when a representative of the Office of Contract Sales, Purchasing Services section indicates so. To be considered in attendance and eligible to bid, a bidder must have at least one representative of the company in attendance. A single representative cannot be present on behalf of two or more companies (bidders). Each company (bidder) must send its own representative on behalf of their organization. It is the sole responsibility of the bidder to ensure that the representative follows the sign-in procedures to properly document the bidder’s attendance.

The Department shall not be held responsible for a bidder’s failure to arrive at the meeting on time, properly sign-in, or failure to stay for the entire duration of the meeting.

7. WHERE BIDS MUST BE DELIVERED TO: contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov - Paper bids will NOT be accepted.

8. LATE BIDS: A bid received after 1:00 p.m. eastern time, on the bid submission deadline (bid opening date) established, shall be deemed “Late” and will not be considered for award of this procurement. The late bid package will be marked as late, remain sealed, and will be kept in the Department’s bid file to serve as official record of a late bid having been received.

Note: The Office of Contract Sales, Purchasing Services timeclock takes precedence over any other timekeeping device (e.g. cell phones, other ODOT clocks, wrist watches, etc.) and will be utilized by the Department to determine whether or not a bid was received by the 1:00 p.m. deadline.

9. BID OPENING PROCEDURE: Bids will usually be available within a day of the bid opening. Vendors can submit requests for the bid tab to contracts.purchasing@dot.ohio.gov.

10. BIDS FIRM: Once opened, all bids are firm and cannot be altered by the bidder. Once a Contract is awarded and executed, the Vendor shall deliver all products and/or services at the bid prices and terms contained in the Contract. All submitted bids shall remain valid for a period of sixty (60) calendar days after the date of the public bid opening. Beyond sixty (60) calendar days, bidders will have the option to either honor their submitted bid or make a written request to withdraw their bid from consideration. The Ohio Department of Transportation shall receive the benefit of any decrease in price during the sixty (60) day period.

11. WITHDRAWAL OF BIDS: A bidder may, by way of written notice to the Purchasing Services section, request to withdraw their bid response prior to the bid submission deadline. The request must be received by the Purchasing Services Section PRIOR to the start of the public bid opening (beginning at 1:01 p.m.)

on the date of the bid submission deadline. Such written notice must set forth the specific reasons for the bid withdrawal.

For requests to withdrawal a bid after the bid opening has begun, the bidder may request to withdraw their bid response from consideration if the unit bid price(s) submitted are unreasonably lower than the other bids received, provided the bid was submitted in good faith, and the reason for the unit bid price(s) being substantially lower was due to an unintentional and substantial arithmetical error or unintentional omission mailto:Contracts.Purchasing@dot.ohio.gov of a substantial quantity of material or labor in the compilation of the bid. Written notice of any such request to withdraw after the bid opening must be received by the Purchasing Services section within no later than forty-eight (48) hours of the scheduled bid opening.

The decision to allow a bid to be withdrawn is at the sole discretion of the Purchasing Services section. If the bid is to be awarded by category, lot, or group the withdrawal request will apply to all items within the category, lot, or group. All documents and conversations relating to any withdrawal request will become a part of the permanent bid file.

12. MODIFICATION OF SUBMITTED BIDS PRIOR TO BID OPENING: A bidder may request to modify their bid response prior to the scheduled date and time set for the public bid opening (i.e. bid submission deadline). To modify a bid response, the bidder must provide an alternate, complete bid package containing all required forms and necessary documents. The alternate bid package must have in the email subject line “REVISED”.

13. UNIT BID PRICES: The unit bid price(s) submitted shall govern the award of this procurement unless otherwise specified in the bid evaluation criteria. The unit bid price should be entered for each required bid item on the Department’s pricing page. Use of ditto marks, arrows, or other markings in lieu of the actual unit price may result in a non-responsive bid determination. Lot or group prices listed in the unit bid price area shall be considered as the unit price unless clearly identified as the lot price. Unless specifically allowed in the contract’s terms and conditions, requests to change or alter unit bid prices after the public bid opening are prohibited.

The following requirements also apply to unit bid prices:

a. DECIMAL POINT: Bidders should not insert a unit cost of more than two (2) digits to the right of the decimal point. Digit(s) beyond two (2) will be dropped and not recognized by the Department for the purposes of bid evaluation or contract award.

b. CREDIT CARD FEES: Bidders must incorporate into their unit bid price(s) submitted all costs and fees associated with the State’s use of a payment (credit) card.

c. DISCOUNTS: While bidders may offer to the Department discounts for prompt payment and other similar incentives, discounts and incentives these will not be used to alter the submitted unit bid price(s) for purposes of bid evaluation and contract award. This section only applies to bids awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder either by individual bid item or group of bid items and does not include bids which are awarded to all responsive and responsible bidders (i.e. Multiple Award Contracts).

d. MULTIPLE AWARD CONTRACTS: Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 5513.02, the Department may award Contracts to all responsive and responsible bidders for articles (i.e. bid items) meeting the general specifications provided. These are referenced by the Department as ‘Multiple Award Contracts’. Unit bid prices submitted for Multiple Award Contracts shall be considered by the Department as an amount-not-to-exceed unit bid price for the entire duration of the Contract. These awarded, amount-not-to-exceed bid prices often do not reflect potential quantity discounts, freight discounts, nor other similar discounts/incentives offered periodically by a distributor, manufacturer, or supplier. Where like or similar bid items are being offered by two or more awarded Vendors (bidders) on the awarded Contract, the Department reserves the right to obtain quotes from all awarded bidders on the Contract in order to achieve the best and most up-to-date pricing available to the Department at the time of ordering.

e. UNBALANCED BIDS: The Department will not accept unit bid prices that are deemed to be either materially or mathematically unbalanced. The final determination of an unbalanced unit bid price shall be at the Department’s sole discretion.

f. TIE BID PROCESS: If two or more responsive bids offer the same unit bid price, ODOT may break the tie as follows: during the bid evaluation process, the bidders that submitted tie bids will be contacted and given up to three (3) business days to submit a written revised unit price for the affected item or items. Bidders are not required to submit a revised unit price. In the event a tie still exists after the above-prescribed deadline has passed, ODOT will schedule a coin flip to be conducted in the presence of both bidders. The winner of the coin flip will be deemed awarded the affected bid item(s).

14. PREFERENCE FOR OHIO/BORDER STATE PRODUCTS: The bid award for this procurement may be subject to the domestic preference provisions of the Buy America Act, 41 U.S.C.A., 10a-10d, as amended, and to the preference for Ohio products under O.R.C. Sections 125.09 and 125.11 and Ohio Administrative Code Rule 123:5-1-06. A bidder must complete the enclosed Ohio Bid Preference Certification Statement form to be eligible to receive any applicable bid preferences.

15. RESPONSIVE BIDDER: A bidder is responsive if its bid responds to the bid specifications in all material respects and contains no irregularities or deviations from the specifications that would affect the amount of the bid or otherwise give the bidder an unfair competitive advantage.

16. MINOR INFORMALITIES OR IRREGULARITIES IN BIDS: A minor informality or irregularity is one that is merely a matter of form and not of substance. It also pertains to some immaterial defect in a bid or variation of a bid from the exact requirements of the invitation that can be corrected or waived without being prejudicial to other bidders. The defect or variation is immaterial when the effect on price, quantity, quality, or delivery is negligible when contrasted with the total cost or scope of the supplies or services being acquired. The Department either shall give the bidder an opportunity to cure any deficiency resulting from a minor informality or irregularity in a bid or waive the deficiency, whichever is to the advantage of the Department.

17. BIDDER RESPONSIBILITY: The Department will only award this procurement to what it deems to be a responsible bidder. The Department’s determination of a bidder’s responsibility includes, but is not limited to, the following factors:

a) experience of the bidder;

b) bidder’s financial condition;

c) bidder’s conduct and performance on previous contracts;

d) the bidder’s facilities;

e) the bidder’s management skills;

f) the bidder’s employees;

g) past experience and/or quality of bidder’s proposed subcontractors;

h) the bidder’s ability to execute the contract;

i) review of Federal and Department debarment lists;

j) bidder has history of successful performance on contracts of similar size and scope; and

k) current or impending legal actions against a bidder.

18. APPARENT CLERICAL MISTAKES: Clerical mistakes apparent on the face of the bid may be corrected, at the Department’s discretion, before contract award. The Department first shall obtain from the bidder a verification of the information intended and will attach written verification of the mistake by the bidder in the contract file and award documents. Example of apparent clerical mistakes are:

(1) Obvious misplacement of a decimal point or comma;

(2) Obvious incorrect discount factor; or

(3) Transcription error in Part Number.

19. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The Department reserves the right to request additional information to evaluate a bidder’s responsiveness to the procurement’s requirements and/or to evaluate a bidder’s overall responsibility. These requests may require the bidder’s submission of confidential materials (e.g. financial statements). If a bidder does not provide all of the requested information within the prescribed timeframe, the Department may find the bid non-responsive and ineligible for award.

20. PRODUCT SAMPLES: The Department may require bidders, by procurement or by request during bid evaluation, to provide sample supplies or equipment or examples of work, at the Bidder’s expense.

Samples must clearly identify the Bidder, the bid number, and the item the sample represents in the bid.

The Department will return samples that are not destroyed by testing, at the Bidder's expense, upon the Bidder’s timely request. The Department may keep the samples of the Bidder awarded the contract until the completion of the contract. Unsolicited samples submitted in response to this procurement will not be evaluated and the Department may dispose of them in any way it chooses.

21. SPECIFICATIONS: The Department is authorized by Sections 5513 and/or 125.02(B) of the Ohio Revised

Code to prepare specifications and establish contracts to obtain the supplies, equipment, and/or services referenced within this procurement. The purpose of the provided specifications is to describe the supplies, equipment, and/or services to be purchased and will serve as a fair and equitable basis for comparison of submitted bids. The Department may use any form of specification it determines to be in the best interest of the Department and that best describes the supplies or services to be purchased. Specifications may be in the form of a design specification or a combination thereof.