851034waterCarr.pdf

Carroll County Division of Utilities

Department of Public Works

225 North Center Street, Room 218 Westminster, MD 21157

Request for Proposal

Water and Wastewater Inspection Services

Bid Number: 71-F-2-26/27

Submittal Date: December 2, 2026

Submittal Time: 10:30 AM EST

Water and Wastewater Inspection Services Bid No. 71-F-2-26/27

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

General Information

1. Project Description

2. Project Summary

3. Scope of Work

4. Required Tasks

5. Application of Work

6. Costs

7. Contract Term

8. Pre-Submittal Meeting

9. Project Manager

10. Request for Proposal

11. Technical Proposal

12. Financial Proposal

13. Method of Selection

14. Evaluation Criteria

15. Request for Information, Questions, and/or Clarifications

16. Addenda

17. Request for Proposal Submittal

18. Award of Contract

19. Agreement

20. Proof of Insurance

General Instructions .............................................................................................. See Separate PDF

Request for Proposal

Bid Number: 71-F-2-26/27

1. Project Description The County Commissioners of Carroll County (hereinafter the “County”), wish to receive detailed Technical and Financial Proposals for professional inspection services as outlined in the Scope of Work contained herein.

2. Project Summary The County Commissioners of Carroll County (Owner) are requesting proposals for Water and Wastewater Inspection Services for various subdivision and site plan projects under Public Works Agreements with the County. Inspection services shall follow all applicable regulations and standard specifications found in the latest revision of the Carroll County Design Manual Water and Sewer. These services shall be considered as Resident Inspector projects. All Firms responding to this Request for Proposal (RFP) are required to have a full-time professional engineer, registered in the State of Maryland, on staff.

3. Scope of Work It is the intention of the County that the Firms hereunder shall furnish professional Water and Wastewater Inspection Services as described. The County is requesting detailed proposals to provide water and wastewater inspection services for various subdivision and site plan projects under Public Works Agreements with the County. All projects shall require the services of a Resident Inspector, Supervisory Principal and Professional Engineer as described in the Required Tasks section. Inspection services are to follow all applicable regulations and standard specifications found in the Carroll County Design Manual Water and Sewer or any updated version adopted by the County. All Firms responding to this Request for Proposal (RFP) are required to have a full-time professional engineer, registered in the State of Maryland, on staff.

4. Required Tasks A. Resident Inspector:

1. Attend pre-construction meeting.

2. Review minutes of pre-construction meeting.

3. Review material submittals and certifications.

4. Maintain on-site copy of current Carroll County standard specifications and details.

5. Review water and sanitary sewer plans and keep an on-site set of road and storm drain plans and property plats.

6. Check materials when delivered to site for damage and verify if materials are in accordance with approved process material submittals.

7. Monitor all pipe laying, structure installations, tap-ins and backfilling work.

8. The Resident Inspector shall work the same hours as the construction contractor, hereinafter the Contractor, during these times.

9. Photo document utility installation prior to backfilling, including any/all structures, connections, crossings, or other unique situations. Care shall be taken to clearly identify specific location photographed and date of installation to allow proper reference.

10. Complete inspector’s daily report (IDR) at end of each day. Required information will include workers and equipment on job, number of hours worked, idle equipment, work completed that day, any directives given to the Contractor, visitors to site, materials delivered, and general weather and sub-grade conditions.

11. Provide digital copies of all IDRs and photographs to the County on a weekly basis.

12. Review and confirm satisfactory soil proctor curve test result prior to commencement of work as well as compaction test results during backfilling operations.

13. Obtain and review surveyor’s stakeout and cut sheets during construction.

14. Spot check pipe elevations as necessary using Contractor supplied survey equipment.

15. Prepare Red-Line As-Built Drawings indicating any changes from original design and shall include location and depth of each water and sewer house connection. Any significant design changes due to field conditions are referred to the design engineer by way of the Supervisory Principal.

16. Monitor pressure testing and chlorination of water mains. Inspector shall take the sample to laboratory of Contractor’s choice for bacteriological testing. The Contractor shall pay for testing. Test results shall be supplied to Contractor, Inspector and County.

17. Monitor testing and inspection of sanitary sewer mains as described in Section 2.4 – Article 4 of the Design Manual.

18. Notify Contractor and the County of any unsafe conditions.

19. Review documentation of existing residences with private water and sewer systems that will tie into new public systems (sketch containing house, well, septic system, depths, etc.).

20. Attend semi-final and final inspections.

21. Inspector shall be fluent in English.

22. Other duties as assigned.

B. Supervisory Principal:

1. Attend pre-construction meeting.

2. Provide inspection cost estimate, based on plans to be included in the Public Works

Agreement calculations.

3. Attend, record, and distribute minutes, including the list of attendees for preconstruction meeting, semi-final inspections, and final inspections.

4. Attend meetings in field on an as-needed basis.

5. Take pre-construction photos to provide a record of existing utilities and property conditions.

6. The Contractor will submit catalogue cut sheets and/or certifications of materials to the

Supervisory Principal. The Supervisory Principal shall review the submittals ensuring they meet or exceed County design criteria. One copy of each approved submittal is returned to the Contractor, one copy is provided to the inspector, and one copy is provided to the County’s Project Manager.

7. Visit each project at least once a week.

8. After semi-final inspection and completion of punch list items, provide the County with a package containing: Red-Line As-Built Drawings, minutes of meetings, test results, processed material submittals, inspector’s daily reports, surveyor’s cut sheets, material tickets, and certification.

C. Professional Engineer:

1. Monitor overall quality of work.

2. Review monthly estimates.

3. Be available as required for engineering assistance.

5. Application of Work

All inspection services to be performed will be within Carroll County, Maryland. The various construction projects normally run ten to one hundred-fifty days but can be longer in some cases.

The contract will be based on the construction time specified by the County’s Project Manager on each project. The Resident Inspector may be required to work continuously, forty hours or more per week, based on construction activity and schedules, until the project is completed. The exceptions shall be shutdowns due to Contractor moving off site, rain or other weather delays, or utility shutdowns for other on-site subdivision work. The Resident Inspector shall keep all the necessary records, including pay quantities, test results, construction photographs, and as built drawings. The successful Firm shall furnish the Resident Inspector with a vehicle and all necessary testing equipment for the determination of compaction of soil, concrete slump, etc., including a Troxler nuclear gauge and/or sand cone method for moisture density testing if Contractor does not provide geotechnical services. The Resident Inspector will be under the general supervision of the Supervisory Principal. The overall contract requirements shall be the responsibility of the professional engineer, registered in the State of Maryland.

6. Costs Prior to beginning any inspection services task, the County’s Project Manager will provide the successful Firm with plans associated with the specific construction project. The Firm shall then provide the Project Manager with an inspection services cost estimate for the anticipated work.

Costs shall be all inclusive, with the exception of mileage and printing expenses, and shall include time for pre-construction conferences, daily inspections, semi-final and final inspections, meetings and phone calls to address project problems and changes to approved plans, preparation of full proctor curves, shop drawings review, preparation of as-built drawings, and final paperwork.

7. Contract Term This is a contract for a one-year period beginning on or about January 2027, after approval and proper execution of the contract documents. There is a renewal option for four additional years, in one-year increments, pending fiscal availability and satisfactory performance. This will be at the sole discretion of the County. The County does not guarantee a minimum or maximum number of projects under this agreement. If the Firm chooses to not renew this agreement for any renewal year, or if price adjustments are requested pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the Firm shall notify the Carroll County Office of Purchasing in writing ninety days prior to the current term’s expiration date.

8. Pre-Submittal Meeting There will not be a pre-submittal meeting for these inspection services.

9. Project Manager The Project Manager supervising this project will be Mr. Sean Hartman, Utilities Engineer for the Division of Utilities. Mr. Hartman’s contact information will be provided to the Firm at Notice to Proceed.

10. Request for Proposal The Request for Proposal will consist of two separate components, the Technical Proposal and the Financial Proposal. These are to be submitted as two separate PDFs.

11. Technical Proposal A. The Technical Proposal may not exceed fifteen (15) standard 8-1/2 by 11-inch pages, one-sided, all-inclusive (meaning that cover letters and/or submittal cover pages will count towards the fifteen sheet maximum). Any drawings, photographs, plans or tables must be sized to fit within the dimensions of a standard 8-1/2 by 11 inch page. Oversized pages will not be accepted. The minimum font size used within the Technical Proposal shall be 12 point.

Exceptions will NOT be granted. If the total page count of the Technical Proposal submittal exceeds fifteen, the Firm will be disqualified from participation. Do not include any financial information in the Technical Proposal. If that is done, the Firm will be disqualified from participation.

B. The Technical Proposal shall be limited to the following sections:

1. Technical Ability.

2. Similar Experience and Project References. A minimum of three and a maximum of five project references are required to be provided as part of the Technical Proposal. It is the Firm’s responsibility to provide responsive points of contact including name, title, email address and telephone number for each referenced project.

3. Management Approach.

4. Qualifications of Personnel.

12. Financial Proposal The Financial Proposal must include the information described below. Any deviation from this will disqualify the Firm from participation.

A. A fee schedule that shows burdened hourly rates for each of the positions listed below.

Burdened hourly rates include salaries, overhead and profit. It is understood that Firms may use different titles for positions. However, for the purpose of evaluating and comparing all proposals, it is required that burdened hourly rates be shown for all the positions identified below.

1. Professional Engineer: The person assigned to monitor overall quality of work and provide professional insight/advice as needed.

2. Supervisory Principal: The person responsible for day-to-day project management, scheduling, and budget preparation.

3. Resident Inspector: The person assigned to daily construction inspection responsibilities.

B. The traditional direct expenses of printing and mileage shall be included as separate line items.

13. Method of Selection The selection process will include two separate steps:

A. The Technical Proposals will be evaluated individually by the members of the review committee. The Firms will be scored based upon the evaluation criteria as described within this packet. The committee will meet and the technical scores will be tabulated and finalized by committee consensus. The technical scores will then be submitted to the Office of Procurement. The Technical Proposal will represent 80% of each Firm’s overall score.

B. At that time, the Office of Procurement will provide the review committee with the Financial Proposals. These proposals will be evaluated by applying the submitted hourly rates against a standardized sample project. The Financial Proposal will represent 20% of each Firm’s overall score.

C. The technical and financial scores will be tabulated into overall scores by the review committee and will then be submitted to the Office of Procurement for final review.

14. Evaluation Criteria The table below details how the Technical and Financial Proposals will be evaluated and scored.

The overall maximum possible score is 500 points, and the minimum possible score is 100 points.

Evaluation Criteria Evaluation

(1 to 5 points, to tenths of points)

Weight Score

Firm’s technical ability to perform the tasks included under the Required Tasks section.

5 – Superior, 4 – Excellent, 3 – Good, 2 – Average, 1 – Below Average

Firm’s experience on similar projects and project references.

5 – Superior, 4 – Excellent, 3 – Good, 2 – Average, Management Approach towards the tasks included under the Required Tasks section.

5 – Superior, 4 – Excellent, 3 – Good, 2 – Average, Qualifications of Personnel to be assigned to this overall project.

5 – Superior, 4 – Excellent, 3 – Good, 2 – Average, Financial Proposal – Direct comparison of hourly rates and direct expenses by sample project.

5 – Superior, 4 – Excellent, 3 – Good, 2 – Average, Total 100

15. Request for Information, Questions, and/or Clarifications Applicants shall submit their Questions through the Public Purchase web site, using the instructions below. Questions shall be submitted by no later than 4:00 PM EST on Wednesday, November 18, 2026. Firms may submit questions to the agency on specific bids. Click on the title of a bid, on the right of the bid page click [View/Ask Questions] to open a new page that lists all previous questions and answers. Click "Ask a Question," enter your question in the field provided and click "Save" to submit your question. Your question is immediately sent by email to the contact person for the bid. When your question is answered you will be notified by email and the answer may be posted on the bid. Tip: By using the "Questions" feature your questions and the agency's answers can be posted on Public Purchase making them available to all other vendors that are registered with the agency. If you would like to confidentially submit questions to the agency, contact the bid's main contact. It will be up to the discretion of the Buyer to decide if questions/answers are confidential.

16. Addenda Addenda to Bids may occur at any time prior to the due date. The responsibility lies with the Firm to visit the Public Purchase website on a frequent basis to obtain addenda once a bid solicitation has been downloaded. This is even though Firms will receive an e-mail from Public Purchase notifying them of addenda, per the explanation below from Public Purchase: Any change or addendum made to a bid will be listed at the bottom of the bid showing the information that was added or changed on the bid. Vendors who are invited to a bid or any vendor who has previously responded to the bid will be notified by email when a change or addendum is made. Vendors can also see which bids have recently been changed or had addenda added from the lists of bids on their home tab. The date of the last change or addendum on the bid is posted on the right-side column of your bid list.

17. Request for Proposal Submittal The Submittal Date and Time for this project is no later than 10:30 AM EST on Wednesday, December 2, 2026. All Firms shall upload their submittal information in PDF format only.

Submittals will only be accepted via electronic submittal through Public Purchase. Submittals submitted in any other manner will be rejected.

Please upload the following to public purchase in separate pdf documents. Please do not combine the technical and financial or it will be rejected.

1. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL – PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PRICING. PLEASE UPLOAD

SEPARATELY OR THE PROPOSAL WILL IMMEDIATELY BE REJECTED.

2. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL – PLEASE UPLOAD SEPARTELY FROM TECHNICAL OR IT WILL

IMEEDIATELY BE REJECTED.

3. REDACTED COPIES OF BOTH THE TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSALS

It is the responsibility of the contractor to register five days prior to the due date to confirm registration. Failure to register five business days prior will not constitute acceptance of a late submission or submission in any other manner.

18. Award of Contract

Award of a Services Agreement may be made to one or more of the highest ranked and rated Firms following the evaluation process. The Agreement shall be awarded on the basis of technical and financial evaluations. The County will send written notice of award of agreement to the successful Firm(s). This written notice shall constitute acceptance of the successful proposal(s).

The County will notify all unsuccessful Firms after the award(s) of this contract. The County reserves the right to reject any proposal where the available evidence or information does not satisfy the County that the Firm is qualified to fulfil the terms of the contract.

19. Agreement The successful Firm(s) will be required to enter into a contract with the County after approval by the Board of County Commissioners. A sample contract is included within the General Instructions. Exceptions, if any, to the County’s draft Agreement must be noted on a separate sheet and uploaded with the bid documents. Exceptions to the County’s Agreement may result in rejection of the bid. The County will not accept any exceptions to the Agreement after the opening date and time of this solicitation.

20. Proof of Insurance The successful Firm(s) must furnish certification of adequate liability insurance protection. This shall include insurance coverage for employees working on County property. Proof of insurance shall be submitted within seven (7) days of award of this bid. Insurance requirements can be found in the General Instructions PDF. The successful Firm(s) shall not perform any work on County property until the insurance certificate is received by the Office of Procurement, 225 North Center Street, Westminster, MD 21157. The Firm must maintain insurance coverage as required by the County while this agreement is in force. The Firm shall provide documentation of insurance satisfactory to the County’s Risk Manager.

21. Reservations The County reserves the right to cancel this RFP at any time after issuance, to reject, in whole or part, any and all proposals received, to waive minor technicalities in proposals, and to negotiate with responsible contractors in any manner necessary to serve its best interests. The County reserves the right to reject any/all proposals where the available evidence or information does not satisfy the County that the Contractor is qualified to carry out the terms of the contract. The county reserves the right, at any time, to competitively bid these services with a formal solicitation outside of this RFP.

22. Background Checks Prior to any employee of a contractor/firm, or any employee of a subcontractor, doing work on behalf of the county, at the Contractor/Firms expense, the county may at its sole discretion require such individual to submit an application for federal, state and local criminal history background checks, as well as a check through the National Sex Offender Registry. Contractor/Firm likewise shall provide the County with the results of such background checks on themselves. Any findings must be reported to the Contract Officer, and the County in its discretion may refuse permission for any individual to perform on-site work whose background check reveals a prior criminal or sex offender history.

1. Project Description