Attachment_1_-_Request_for_Proposals_-_DWMR_Lab_Services.docx

Community Services Department of Waste Management and Recycling

Request for Proposals Laboratory Testing Services

RFP publish date: Per OpenGov Closing date for questions: Per OpenGov Proposals due date: Per OpenGov

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of RFP

The County of Sacramento, Department of Waste Management and Recycling (DWMR or County) is soliciting proposals for laboratory testing services. DWMR has a continuous ongoing regulatory requirement for groundwater quality testing. The laboratory shall be accredited by the California State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water (or equivalent, if the laboratory is not located in California).

1.2 Background

Sacramento County owns three landfills, which have active groundwater monitoring programs. These are 1) Kiefer Landfill, 2) Elk Grove Landfill, and 3) Grand Island Landfill. Kiefer Landfill also has active leachate and unsaturated zone monitoring programs. Elk Grove Landfill also has a gas monitoring program. DWMR also has stormwater monitoring programs at numerous locations. DWMR staff currently performs all routine field and reporting activities for each site. Site documentation, existing monitoring well information, and monitoring reports for each site are available for review at the California Water Quality Control Board’s GeoTracker website.

1.3 Contact Information

Any inquiries or requests regarding this solicitation must be submitted via OpenGov. Contact with unauthorized County personnel during the selection process may result in disqualification.

Project Contact:

Melissa Burnias Senior Contract Services Officer Email: burniasm@saccounty.gov Phone: (916) 876-6369

Procurement Contact:

Melissa Burnias Senior Contract Services Officer Email: burniasm@saccounty.gov Phone: (916) 876-6369 Department:

Waste Management and Recycling

Department Head:

Jennifer Claiborne Director

2 General Rules

2.1 Important Instructions for Electronic Submittal

The County is accepting electronic proposal submissions. Proposers shall create a FREE account with OpenGov Procurement by signing up at Sign Up (opengov.com). Once you have completed account registration, browse back to this page, click on "Draft Response", and follow the instructions to submit your electronic proposal.

2.2 General Rules

2.2.1 Overview

This Request for Proposals (“RFP”) is an invitation for proposers to submit a proposal to the County. This RFP does not commit the County to award a contract to any proposer. Submission of a proposal shall neither obligate nor entitle a proposer to enter into a contract with the County.

2.2.2 Proposal format and content

When submitting a proposal the proposer must follow the format and contents detailed in Attachment 1. Failure to do so will likely prolong the evaluation process and could result in a proposal not being considered.

2.2.3 Proposal submission

Proposals must be received electronically BEFORE the deadline posted on OpenGov. Failure to submit a proposal on time may be grounds for rejection of the proposal; however, the County reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to accept proposals after the proposal due date.

2.2.4 Questions and communication

Questions concerning this RFP must be submitted in the project Q&A section in OpenGov Procurement.

Questions received via phone or e-mail to direct points of contact for this RFP will not be considered nor responded to. The County shall respond to questions properly submitted as described above via addenda, if the answer presents a material change to the solicitation, and/or via the Question & Answer section for non-material answers.

By submitting a response, proposer affirms review of all solicitation documents including all questions submitted and answers issued by the County on the project.

2.2.5 Addenda

The County reserves the right to modify the RFP at any time prior to the proposal due date. The County will modify the RFP only by formal written addenda. Proposer’s proposal should be based on this RFP document and any formal written addenda. Proposers should not rely on oral statements.

Addenda will be posted in OpenGov Procurement. It is the responsibility of each prospective proposer to assure receipt of all addenda.

2.2.6 County’s right to withdraw, cancel, suspend and/or modify RFP The County reserves the right to withdraw, cancel, suspend, and/or modify this RFP for any reason and at any time with no liability to any prospective proposer for any costs or expenses incurred in connection with the RFP or otherwise.

2.2.7 Proposer’s right to edit or cancel proposal

Proposers may edit or cancel their proposal in OpenGov Procurement prior to the due date.

2.2.8 Proposals will not be returned

Upon submission, proposals will not be returned.

2.2.9 Public disclosure of proposal documents

The County will treat all information submitted in a proposal as available for public inspection once negotiations with the selected party have been completed. If copies of proposals are included with Board materials, the County will make proposals available for public inspection once staff has made a recommendation for award.

If a proposer believes protected data is included in its proposal, the proposer shall clearly identify the data and provide the legal basis in support of the asserted classification. Proposer must present such information separately as part of its proposal OR type in bold red letters the term “CONFIDENTIAL” on that specific part or page of the Proposal which proposer believes to be confidential. Classification of data as trade secret data will be determined pursuant to applicable law, and, accordingly, merely labeling data as “trade secret” does not necessarily make the data protected as such under any applicable law.

In order for the County to assert the confidentiality of any such information in the event a Public Record Act request is received, the proposer must request, execute and submit a County-prepared written agreement to defend and indemnify the County for any liability, costs and expenses incurred in asserting such confidentiality as part of the proposal. A copy of that written agreement is attached as Attachment 2.

The final determination of whether the County will assert a proposer’s claim of confidentiality shall be at the sole discretion of the County. Any information determined to be non-confidential shall be considered public record. If the County determines that your information does not meet the criteria for confidentiality, you will be notified of the County’s intent to release the public record pursuant to any Public Records Act request.

The proposer agrees, as a condition of submitting its proposal, that the County will not, as between the parties, be liable or accountable for any loss or damage, which may result from a breach of confidentiality related to the proposal. The proposer agrees to indemnify and hold the County, its officials, agents, and employees harmless from all claims arising out of, resulting from, or in any manner attributable to any violation of any provision of the California Public Records Act, including legal fees and disbursements paid or incurred to enforce this provision.

2.2.10 Proposer’s costs

The County shall not be responsible for any costs incurred by proposer in connection with this RFP. Proposer shall bear all costs associated with proposal preparation, submission, and attendance at interviews, or any other activity associated with this RFP or otherwise.

2.2.11 Proposer’s ideas

To the extent permitted by law, the County reserves the right to use any or all ideas, concepts, or other information provided in any proposals. Selection or rejection of the Proposal does not affect this right.

2.2.12 Collusion

If the County determines that collusion has occurred among proposers, none of the proposals of the participants involved in the collusion shall be considered. The County’s determination shall be final.

2.2.13 Conflict of interest

The proposer affirms that to the best of its knowledge the submission of its Proposal, or any resulting contract, does not present an actual or perceived conflict of interest. The proposer agrees that should any actual or perceived conflict of interest become known, it will immediately notify the County and will advise whether it will or will not avoid, mitigate, or neutralize the conflict of interest.

The County may make reasonable efforts to avoid, mitigate, or neutralize a conflict of interest by a proposer. To avoid a conflict of interest by a proposer, the County may utilize methods including disqualifying a proposer from eligibility for a contract award or cancelling the contract if the conflict is discovered after a contract has been issued. The County may, at its sole and absolute discretion, waive any conflict of interest

3 Scope of Work

3.1 Analyses

The proposer shall be able to provide the analyses provided in Attachment 3, Attachment 4, and Attachment 5. See Attachments 3 and 4 for the complete list of required single analyte tests. See Attachment 5 for lists of analytes required for multi‑analyte tests. The proposer should be able to perform PFAS analysis despite the County not having a regulatory order to conduct PFAS analyses. The County reserves the right to partially or completely remove certain analyses from the contract in in favor of other laboratories as described in Section 3.4.

The proposer shall submit a list of proposed method detection limits (MDLs), reporting limits (RLs), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) test methods for each compound or parameter listed in Attachment 3, Attachment 4 and Attachment 5. The proposed MDLs and RLs shall have been achieved previously by the proposer. RLs shall be less than or equal to applicable Detection Limits for Purposes of Reporting (DLRs), wherever practical. Attachment 5 includes applicable DLRs. Estimated results falling between the MDL and RL shall be reported and flagged appropriately. MDLs and RLs shall be reported along with the results for each sample.

Alternative EPA test methods may be used provided the analytical methods have MDLs and RLs equal to or less than the analytical methods specified in this RFP.

Tentatively Identified Compounds (TICs) will be included in the EPA 8260B Extended List analysis and will be specified on the chain-of-custody, if needed. Any additional charges for TIC analysis shall be specified in the bid.

At a minimum 80 percent of the analysis (by dollar value) will be performed at the selected proposer’s laboratory. Subcontracted samples include any samples that the proposer is not capable of completing in house as well as when samples are analyzed by a different laboratory due to equipment downtime. A list of any subcontractors planned shall be provided with the proposal, as well as the rationale for using each subcontractor (proposal contractor not certified, hold time issue, etc).

3.1.1 Sample Volumes

Proposer shall specify minimum required sample volumes for the analyses. Proposers shall also specify the protocol for handling samples with less than the required sample volumes including whether the analysis can proceed with higher detection limits.

3.2 Turn Around Times

The proposer shall email final laboratory reports of results within 10 or less working days turnaround time. The proposer shall submit a price schedule and/or multipliers for turnaround times shorter than the contractual turnaround times with the bid. All QA/QC data shall be reported.

3.3 Sample Containers and Blank Water

Water sample containers shall be provided free of charge with the appropriate preservatives already in the containers. Field blank water shall also be provided free of charge. All sample containers and field blank water shall be labeled and should be shipped to DWMR’s office address or dropped off by courier. See Section 3.4 for additional details regarding courier services.

3.4 Sample Receiving Services

Subject to the exceptions/waivers herein, proposer shall provide courier service for sample pickup at DWMR’s office, Kiefer Landfill or Kiefer Treatment Plant (KTP) with 48 hours advance notification. Samples will not be available for courier pick up until 3:00 PM on the date that samples are taken; however, 3:30 PM or 4:00 PM is preferred. Samples may also be picked up prior to 3:00 PM on business days following sample collection; however, it is the proposer’s responsibility to meet all required hold times. Any charges for courier service, non-office pickups, mileage; required minimum order amounts; or pickup time limitations for non-office pickups or specific days of the week, shall be specified in the bid. DWMR will not ship samples.

DWMR’s current office location is 10863 Gold Center Drive, Rancho Cordova CA 95670. Kiefer Landfill is located at 12701 Kiefer Boulevard, Sloughhouse, CA 95683 and KTP is located approximately 0.5 miles southeast of the entrance to Kiefer Landfill. The courier service requirement is waived for vendors with a service center or laboratory location that is located within 10 miles of DWMR’s Rancho Cordova office location, and that is staffed during normal business hours of at least 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

The proposer’s plan for sample logistics and courier services will constitute a significant portion of the proposal rating.

The County reserves the right to partially or completely remove frequently requested shorter-hold time analyses (nitrate, TDS) from the contract at its discretion, to achieve operational efficiencies using more flexible local laboratories with late afternoon or following day pickup/dropoff times. The County’s goal is to reduce mid-afternoon sample transfers to once or twice weekly.

3.5 Electronic Data Files and Electronic Data Deliverables

Electronic Data Files (EDFs) in GeoTracker format (EDFFLAT preferred) shall be provided. Additionally, Electronic Data Deliverables (EDDs) in an excel format shall also be provided and should contain at a minimum the sample name, sample date, and sample results with units in a format that can be arranged to match DWMR’s report tables. Costs and capabilities of providing EDDs and EDFs shall be specified in the bid.

If samples are subcontracted out of the proposer’s laboratory, the EDFs and EDDs are required to be verified by the proposer. Any necessary changes or revisions to the EDFs or EDDs will be conducted prior to submittal to DWMR.

4 Evaluation and Selection

4.1 Proposal evaluation and recommendation for selection

The County reserves the following rights, to be exercised in the County’s sole and absolute discretion: 1) to determine whether any aspect of a proposal satisfactorily meets the criteria established in this RFP; 2) to seek clarification or additional information from any proposer; 3) to negotiate, sequentially or simultaneously, pricing and/or terms with any proposer or vendor; 4) to reject any or all proposals with or without cause; 5) to waive any irregularities or informalities in a proposal; 6) to cancel or amend by addenda this RFP, in part or entirely; 7) to award multiple contracts to proposers; and/or 8) award a contract to a vendor that did not submit a proposal.

Evaluation of proposals by a selection committee, evaluation panel, County staff, a technical advisory committee, or by another group, individual or entity is advisory only. The County of Sacramento Board of Supervisors or its designee may consider or reject such evaluation(s) for any or all proposals. Such evaluations are for the sole benefit of the County of Sacramento Board of Supervisors or its designee, and as such, they are not binding upon the County, nor may they be relied upon in any way by a proposer.

The County will issue a Notice of Intent to Award (NOIA) and/or a Notice of Award (NOA), as applicable, to be published on OpenGov Procurement naming County’s selected consultant following completion of the evaluation process.

4.2 Evaluation of responsiveness

The County will consider all the material submitted by the proposer to determine whether the proposer’s offer is in compliance with the terms and conditions set forth in this RFP. Proposals that do not comply with the provisions in this RFP may be considered nonresponsive and may be rejected.

4.3 Evaluation of responsibility

To determine whether a proposer is responsible, the County will consider the proposer’s general qualifications to perform the requested services in a satisfactory manner; financial responsibility; integrity; skill; past performance; and ability. Proposals from proposers considered non-responsible will be rejected.

4.4 Evaluation panel and evaluation criteria

After review of each responsive proposal, the County may award a contract to a successful proposer based on the evaluation criteria, or it may establish a short list of proposers for further consideration. The short list of proposers may be asked to provide additional information. The short list of proposers may also be asked to attend an in-person or telephone interview/presentation, as determined by the County in its sole discretion.

Evaluation criteria shall include the following:

1. Quality of the proposed services, including:

· How well the proposed services meet the requirements as stated in the RFP

· Demonstrated understanding of the scope of work and County’s needs

2. Experience and qualifications, including:

· Experience

· Expertise of staff

· Capability

· Past performance

· References

3. Quality of proposal compliance, including:

· Compliance with proposal format & content

· Acceptance of the County’s terms and conditions (Attachment 1)

4. Cost, including:

· Unit rates

· Overall value of services, based on item scores above

4.5 Execution of contract

The selected proposer shall execute an agreement with the County of Sacramento, using the standard consulting agreement (Attachment 1). Any requested revisions, deletions, or additions, to the language in the attached sample agreement shall be clearly set forth in the proposal for the County’s consideration.

Before a contract becomes effective between the County and any proposer, the contract must be reviewed by County Counsel and the contract award must be approved by the County Board of Supervisors or its designee. If for any reason the County Board of Supervisors or its designee does not ratify and sign the contract then there are no binding obligations whatsoever between the County and the proposer relative to the proposed contract.

5. Proposal Format and Content Proposals must adhere to the following format:

5.1 Cover letter

Proposers must submit a cover letter that includes the following:

a. A statement that the proposal is effective for a period of one hundred eighty (180) days or the date the contract takes effect, whichever is later;

b. A statement confirming that the proposer has reviewed and agrees to be bound by County of Sacramento Terms and Conditions (Attachment 1) including insurance provisions; or, alternatively, a statement confirming that the proposer has reviewed and agrees to be bound by County of Sacramento Terms and Conditions (Attachment 1), excluding only those provisions that have been redlined for negotiation purposes and are included in their Proposal;

c. A statement that the proposer does not have an actual or perceived conflict of interest regarding this RFP or in submission of their proposal; or alternatively, a statement explaining any conflict of interest and how to avoid, mitigate or neutralize the conflict;

5.2 Proposal

The proposal must contain the following information (and in the same order):

a. A brief profile of the proposer, including the size, organizational structure and history.

b. A plan for delivering services consistent with the scope of work in section 3, including but not limited to the following:

· description of the proposed services

· procedures for carrying out services

· description of prior experience performing such services

· capacity to perform the services, including availability of staff and resources

c. Name of project or account manager to be assigned to the County.

d. Resume of key staff. Information for key staff must include:

· professional credentials;

· education or certifications;

· expertise and capability;

· applicable professional affiliations and accreditations, and

· applicable professional experience.

e. A narrative of the experience of the proposer in implementing similar services for other clients, including governmental clients similar in size to Sacramento County, if available.

f. Three (3) references for whom the proposer has provided services similar to those described in this RFP. The County reserves the right to check other references not provided by the proposer. The following information is required for each reference:

· customer name and address;

· point of contact (name, telephone number, email) for contractual/administrative matters and technical performance;

· period of contract performance; and

· description of work performed.

Emphasis should be given to providing references where 1) the resources used are the same or mostly the same as those who will be used for the County’s purposes, and 2) the references are governmental organizations of similar size to the County. The County may request additional references from proposer.

g. Pricing in the form of a proposed rate sheet. Rate sheets should include labor and other expenses which may be necessary to complete work outlined in the scope of work. Markup fees for materials, equipment rentals, and similar should be included in proposed rate sheets and adhere to County requirements. Rate sheets should include a broad scope of items to reflect the nature of work requested and minimize the need to amend pricing tables during the life of the contract.

Rate sheets shall clearly state effective date ranges and/or expiration dates and shall be in effect for the minimum of the initial 3-year contract period.

6. Evaluation Phases

· 1. Quality of the proposed services

· 2. Experience and qualifications

· 3. Quality of proposal compliance

· 4. Cost

8 Attachments Attachment 1 – RFP Attachment 2 – County of Sacramento Standard Consulting Agreement, Sample Agreement Attachment 3 – Written Agreement to Indemnify for Release of Propriety Information Attachment 4 – Laboratory Analysis Details Attachment 5 – Vendor Price Proposal Attachment 6 – Analyte List image1.gif