Brooke Cooling Tower - Instructions to Bidders.pdf

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

Bid Documents available on COMM Buys

Awarding Authority:

Office of Court Management, Facilities Management & Capital Planning (FMD) Suffolk County Courthouse Three Pemberton Square Boston, MA 02108 Telephone: (857)895-1454 Email: thomas.prentiss@jud.state.ma.us

Project No. /Contract No.: BD-26-1107-FREG5-ACCOU-123584 Title: Brooke Cooling Tower Repairs

Project Description and Scope:

Replacement of numerous damaged louvers and louver supports on (2) Baltimore Air Coil (Model 3604C) Cooling Towers.

Examination of Sites:

Bidders are encouraged to attend the Site Walk Thru on February 26th, 2026 @ 7:00AM, prior to bid submission.

The Site Walk Thru will begin in the Garage (Garage access is located directly across the street from 85 Merrimac Street, Boston MA 02114).

If vendor is attending the Site Walk Thru it is required that they contact Jonathan Talley prior to the Wak Thru and provide a list of people (names) attending.

Jonathan.talley@jud.state.ma.us

(617) 686-4572

Deadline for filing General bids is at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 6th, 2026.

General Bid Opening is at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 6th, 2026.

The minimum wage rate requirements for this Contract are located in the Prevailing Wage Rate Requirements.

Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30, §39S(a) (2) all employees to be employed on the project must have successfully completed a course in construction safety and health approved by OSHA and of at least 10 hours in duration.

mailto:thomas.prentiss@jud.state.ma.us mailto:Jonathan.talley@jud.state.ma.us

The Contractor must provide written verification as detailed in the General Conditions at Article X, of compliance with Massachusetts and federal laws with respect to the employment of workers and Federal Department of Homeland Security Requirements, including, but not limited to, the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) Process.

Electronic Bid Forms and Contract Documents are available for download at Commbuys.com

The Minority Business Enterprise and Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) participation goal for this Contract is a combined goal of N/A.

The combined goal requires a reasonable representation of both MBE and WBE firm participation on the project, as further set forth in Section 8 below and the general conditions of the contract.

The applicable minority workforce utilization percentage is 15.3 %.

The applicable women workforce utilization percentage is 6.9 %.

The Commonwealth encourages the participation of Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises (“SDVOBE”) on its construction projects. The benchmark for SDVOBE participation on the Project is 0%.

The time for completion of the Work is specified in Article 2 of the Owner - Contractor Agreement. Liquidated damages for failure to complete work on time are as stated in Article 8 of the Owner - Contractor Agreement.

As used herein, capitalized terms shall have the meaning assigned to them in the General Conditions of the Contract and the Owner - Contractor Agreement unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

SECTION I - BIDDER'S REPRESENTATION

1.1 Each general bidder or sub-bidder (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "Bidder) by making a bid or sub-bid (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "Bid") represents and warrants that Bidder has visited and examined the Site and the Contract Documents, that Bidder is familiar with the local conditions under which the Work is to be performed, that Bidder has correlated personal observations with the requirements of the Contract Documents, and that where the Contract Documents require, in any part of the Work, a given result to be produced, the Contract Documents are adequate and that Bidder will produce the required result within the Bid price and that the Bid is made in accordance therewith.

1.2 Failure to so examine the Contract Documents and the Site will not relieve any Bidder from any obligation under the Bid as submitted. Neither the Commonwealth nor the Designer will be responsible for errors, omissions and/or charges for extra work arising from Bidder's failure to familiarize itself with the Contract Documents or existing conditions.

SECTION 3 -- REQUESTS FOR INTERPRETATION

3.1 Any questions by prospective Bidders concerning interpretation of the Contract Documents must be submitted in writing to the Awarding Authority and should be in its possession at least ten working days before the date set for the receipt of Bids. The Awarding Authority will post addenda or written clarifications that it deems necessary to the E-Bid Room for this project. Bidders who have registered as plan holders will receive a notification from Biddocs.com. Bidders may not rely upon oral communications or interpretations from the Awarding Authority or the Designer and the Awarding Authority shall not be bound by them.

3.2 It is the sole responsibility of the Bidder to ascertain the existence of any addenda issued by the Awarding Authority, whether or not the same are mailed to, or received by, Bidder.

Copies of addenda will be made available on Biddocs.com.

3.3 Wherever in the Contract Documents reference is made to Massachusetts General Laws, it shall be construed to include all amendments thereto effective as of the date of the issuance of the invitation to bid on the proposed work.

SECTION 4 -- PREPARATION OF BIDS; ALTERNATES

4.1 The Form for General Bid must be accessed through COMMBuys.com and must be completed in its entirety on-line with the bidder scanning and attaching all required documents.

4.2 Where so indicated on the bid form, sums shall be expressed in both words and numerals.

Where there is a discrepancy between the Bid sum expressed in words and the Bid sum expressed in figures, the Bid sum expressed in words shall control unless the intention of the Bidder clearly is otherwise as determined by the Awarding Authority in its sole discretion.

4.3 Each Bidder shall acknowledge all required alternates in Section C on the Form for Bid by entering the dollar amount of addition or subtraction necessitated by each alternate. Bidders shall enter on the Form for General Bid a single amount for each alternate that shall consist of the amount for all of the work required by the Alternate.

4.4 If an alternate includes work within the Bidder's scope of work and does not involve a change in the cost of the Bid, the Bidder shall so indicate by writing "No Change" or "N/C" or "0" in the space provided for that alternate.

4.5 The lowest Bidder will be determined on the basis of the sum of the base Bid and the alternates accepted by the Awarding Authority.

4.6 Each Bid must be accompanied by a bid deposit in the form of a bid bond; or a check certified by, or a treasurer's or cashier's check issued by, a responsible bank or trust company, payable to the Massachusetts Trial Court, Office of Court Management, Facilities Management & Capital Planning Department. Any bid bond shall be (a) in a form satisfactory to the Awarding Authority, (b) with a surety company qualified to do business in the Commonwealth and (c) conditioned upon the faithful performance by the principal of the agreements contained in the Bid.

4.7 All Bidders must scan and attach their bid bond with their electronic bid submission.

Cashiers Check Bid Deposits: All cashier's checks must be delivered to the Awarding Authority prior to the date and time of the bid opening. Cashier’s Check Bid deposit shall be enclosed in a sealed envelope with the following plainly marked on the outside:

Bid Deposit for:

o Awarding Authority Name o Project Name and Number o Bidder's Name, Business Address, and Phone Number

SECTION 5 - SUBMISSION OF BIDS

5.1 This project is being Electronically Bid (E-Bid). All bids shall be submitted online at Commbuys.com. Each Bid shall be submitted through Commbuys.com. Hard copy bids will not be accepted by the Awarding Authority.

• All required bid forms must be submitted in PDF format only. The bidder must complete all required signatures by using the signature authorization form.

• The bidder must enter bid price on the E-Bid form as a whole dollar value only with no punctuation. Sums shall be expressed in both words and figures on the bid form.

Note: The E-Bid form will automatically match the word value to the numeric figure entered by the bidder.

• Companies must register on Commbuys.com to receive an email notification when an addendum is posted.

• If a bid is submitted prior to an Addendum being issued, the bidder will only receive an automated email notification alerting the bidder to the Addendum if registered as a plan holder on Commbuys.com. The bidder must review the addendum, acknowledge all addenda, and resubmit the bid. If a bidder fails to acknowledge addenda their bid may be rejected by the Awarding Authority.

• Timely submission of an E-Bid shall be the full responsibility of the Bidder. The server clock is the time of record. It is the bidder’s responsibility to review and confirm online that a bid has been submitted and that the bid is 100% true, complete and accurate. All bidders are required to review their submitted E-Bid on the ebidding page and the bid confirmation email.

5.2 All Bids must be received by the Awarding Authority through Commbuys.com no later than the applicable date and time specified on page 1 of these Instructions to Bidders. Any Bid not received by the applicable deadline will not be accepted.

5.3 All bid results are posted on-line immediately when bids close. Sub-bids will be marked on-line as “official” once the awarding authority completes their review.

SECTION 6 - WITHDRAWAL OF BIDS; REJECTION OF BIDS

6.1 Any Bid may be withdrawn electronically prior to the specified deadline for the receipt of Bids by selecting the “Retract” option through Commbuys.com. Once retracted, the Bidder will receive a convenience email for informational purposes only.

6.2 A Bidder may withdraw its Bid without penalty at any time up to the time of Award as defined below in subsection 8.1 only upon demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Awarding Authority that a death or disability has occurred, or a bona fide clerical or mechanical error of a substantial nature was made during the preparation of the bid. Failure to demonstrate conclusively that a bona fide clerical or mechanical error of a substantial nature was made may result in forfeiture of the Bid Deposit.

6.3 The Awarding Authority reserves the right to waive any informality in or to reject any and all Bids if it is in the public interest to do so. Without limiting the foregoing, the Awarding Authority reserves the right to reject unit prices which it deems unduly high or unduly low as unbalanced.

SECTION 7 -- CONTRACT AWARD

7.1 "Award" means the determination, selection, and notification of the lowest, responsible and eligible Bidder by the Awarding Authority.

7.2 The Awarding Authority will award the Contract within thirty days, Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays excluded after the opening of Bids in accordance with M.G.L. c.149 §44A.

7.3 The Contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible and eligible Bidder as determined by the Awarding Authority, except in the event of substitution as provided under M.G.L. c.l49, §§44E and 44F, in which cases the procedure as required by said sections shall govern the award of the Contract.

7.4 As used herein, the term "lowest responsible and eligible Bidder" shall mean the general bidder whose Bid is the lowest of those Bidders who, in the Awarding Authority's opinion, are ready, willing and able to comply with all requirements of the Contract Documents and demonstrably possess the skill, ability, and integrity necessary for the faithful performance of the Work, based on the determination of past performance and financial soundness under (i) M.G.L. c.l49 §44A and following sections, (ii) the rules, regulations, orders, guidelines and policies promulgated from time to time by the Commissioner of DCAMM and (iii) any other relevant criteria that the Commissioner may prescribe. If the Awarding Authority determines that any non-filed subcontractor chosen by a Bidder is not qualified or responsible, then the Bidder shall obtain another subcontractor satisfactory to Awarding Authority and the contract price shall not be adjusted.

7.5 The general bid price shall be the price set forth in paragraph C of the Form for General Bid.

No general Bid shall be rejected (i) because the sum of the prices set forth in Item 1 and 2 does not equal the general bid price set forth in said paragraph C or (ii) because of one or more errors in setting forth the name, the sub-bid price of a sub-bidder, or the total of Item 2, provided that the sub-bidder or sub-bidders designated are clearly identifiable, or (iii) because the plans and specifications do not accompany the Bid or are not submitted with the Bid.

7.6 Should the Contract Documents require submission of special data to accompany the Bid, the Awarding Authority reserves the right to rule the Bidder’s failure to submit such data an informality and to receive said data subsequently within a reasonable time as set by the Awarding Authority, provided that no such ruling shall result in an unfair advantage to the Bidder.

7.7 In addition to the general bid price set forth in paragraph C of the Form for General Bid, the Awarding Authority will also factor in the labor rates set forth in the Supplemental Bid Form to determine the lowest responsible and eligible Bidder.

SECTION 8 - EXECUTION OF CONTRACTS

8.1 Upon receipt of the Award, the general bidder awarded the Contract shall submit three (3) properly executed originals of each of the following documents prior to execution of the Contract by the Awarding Authority. All such documents shall be in the form prescribed by the Awarding Authority. Note: The successful general bidder must submit its Schedule for Participation of Minority/Women Business Enterprises and Letters of Intent as set forth in Section 8.4 above prior to Award of the Contract.

-Owner-Contractor Agreement -Certificate of Joint Venture (if appropriate) -Certificate of Compliance with State Tax Laws and with Unemployment Compensation

Contribution Requirements -Performance and Payment Bonds with power of attorney attached -Certificates of Insurance evidencing coverages in amounts required by the Contract Documents.

-Any other documents that the Awarding Authority may reasonably require in connection with the Contractor's execution of the Contract.

SECTION 9 - RETURN OF BID DEPOSITS

9.1 All Bid Deposits of general bidders, except those of the three (3) lowest responsible and eligible general bidders, shall be returned within five (5) days, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays excluded, after the opening of the general bids. The Bid Deposits of the three (3) lowest responsible and eligible general bidders shall be returned upon the execution and delivery of the General Contract or, if no award is made, upon the expiration of the time prescribed in M.G.L. c. 149, § 44A for making an award; except that, if any general bidder fails to perform its agreement to execute the Contract and furnish Performance and Payment Bonds as stated in its Bid, then said general bidder's Bid Deposit shall become the property of the Commonwealth as liquidated damages; provided that the amount of the Bid Deposit that becomes the property of the Commonwealth shall not exceed the difference between the Contractor's Bid price and the Bid price of the next lowest responsible and eligible Bidder;

and provided further that, in the case of death, disability, bona fide clerical or mechanical error of a substantial nature, or other similar unforeseen circumstances affecting the general bidder, such general bidder's Bid Deposit shall be returned.

9.2 In addition to the provisions for the return of Bid Deposits as provided above, upon receipt of a Bid Bond in an amount not less than the amount of the required Bid Deposit, the Awarding Authority shall return any Bid Deposit of a Bidder forthwith after the public opening of Bids.