eITB Instructions to Bidders March2025.docx

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

THIS INVITATION TO BIDS REQUIRES ALL BIDS TO BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY THROUGH COUNTY’S E-SOURCING SYSTEM. NO PAPER, EMAIL, FAX OR OTHER SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

The County is requesting bids from prospective suppliers for the products and/or services as specified in this Invitation to Bids (ITB).

All bids are secure and may not be accessed by the County until the ITB closing date and time indicated in this ITB. It is the sole responsibility of the Bidder to ensure its bid is submitted before the closing date and time. The County is not responsible for any late or incomplete submissions due to any technical issues that may be encountered in the County’s E-sourcing system

The following are the requirements and procedures Bidders are required to follow in submitting a bid to the County.

1. TERMINOLOGY:

The following are definitions of terms used in the ITB:

· “Bidder” means the entity, offeror, supplier, person, firm, or corporation submitting a bid.

· “Contractor” means the individual or firm awarded a purchase order or contract as a result of its bid.

· “County” means County of Santa Clara.

· “ITB” means Invitation to Bids and refers to this particular ITB.

· “Time” stated as number of days shall mean “calendar” days.

2. PREPARATION OF BID:

2.1 All bid responses for this ITB must be submitted electronically through the County’s E-sourcing system, including required attachments, as applicable.

2.2 Time of delivery is a part of the bid and must be adhered to. Bidder shall respond to the delivery question set forth in the ITB.

2.3 Bid must be complete. All questions and requested submittals required by the ITB must be answered and/or provided.

2.4 All bids must have the Bidder’s name and must be submitted by a responsible officer or employee with the authority to bind the Bidder to contractual obligations. Obligations assumed by such a submission must be fulfilled.

3. COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ITB:

Bidder shall be solely responsible for all costs associated with the preparation and submittal of a response to this ITB.

4. QUESTIONS AND ADDENDA:

4.1 Bidder shall post questions related to the ITB within County’s E-sourcing system prior to the closing of the ITB. The County will not respond to any other method of questions (email, phone, etc.) while the ITB is still open. If a Bidder has a question after the closing of the ITB, Bidder is required to send an email to the Point of Contact for this ITB.

4.2 The County Procurement Department will respond to inquiries deemed necessary and relevant to responding to the ITB in a written Addendum posted within County’s E-sourcing system.

4.3 The County will post ITB and any addenda in County’s E-sourcing system. Bidders are responsible for checking County’s E-sourcing system for postings.

4.4 The County is not liable for verbal responses, interpretations or representations.

4.5 The County makes no guarantee that it will answer any questions submitted by a Bidder before the ITB closing date and time.

4.6 The County reserves the right to extend any deadlines, including the deadline for questions, by posting an addendum to the ITB in County’s E-sourcing system, if in the best interest of the County. Bidders are responsible for checking County’s E-sourcing system for any such addenda.

5. SUBMISSION OF BID:

5.1 Any bid not submitted electronically through County’s E-sourcing system, including any required attachments, shall be considered non-responsive and will be rejected.

5.2 Bids must be submitted electronically in County’s E-sourcing system in accordance with the County requirements. Bids submitted in any other form, including, but not limited to, the following forms, will not be accepted: Hard copy, oral, telephone, or facsimile.

5.3 In order for your bid to be considered, you must electronically submit your response to this ITB prior to the closing time and date of this ITB. The County will not accept any bid submitted after the closing date and time of this ITB.

5.4 All information submitted is subject to investigation, as well as to disclosure to third parties under the California Public Records Act.

5.5 If the County is unable to open a file due to a virus or because the file has been corrupted, the bid response may be considered incomplete and disqualified from further consideration.

5.6 The County has the capability of viewing documents submitted in the following formats: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or portable document format file (PDF).

5.7 Bidder should allow adequate time to submit its bid electronically. Submission of a bid response may not be instantaneous and may be affected by several events, such as temporarily losing connection to the internet or incorrect format. Bidders are solely responsible for ensuring their bids are completed and submitted electronically in County’s E-sourcing system prior to the closing date and time for this ITB.

5.8 If this solicitation is an aggregate (“All or None”) Bid, Bidder must complete all bid line items prior to submission of the Bid Form. If Bidder fails to complete a line item, County’s E-sourcing system will populate the line item with zero. The value of zero will be disregarded and the bid response will be deemed non-responsive and the Bidder will be eliminated. For all other types of bids, if a Bidder fails to complete a line item, the County will disregard the value of zero for that line item and will evaluate the completed line items of the bid as identified in the ITB.

6. MULTIPLE BIDS:

Only one bid will be accepted from any one Bidder.

7. PUBLIC BID OPENING:

There will be a public bid opening at the date and time specified in the ITB as per the Schedule of Events. For those unable to attend in person, a teleconference line will be available. The County does not guarantee an error free connection so a Bidder’s choice to attend using a teleconference line is at Bidder’s risk. See the Schedule of Events section of the ITB for the teleconference information.

8. LATE RESPONSES:

The County will not accept late responses. The County is not responsible for any late or incomplete submissions due to any technical issues that may be encountered in County’s E-sourcing system.

9. ACCEPTANCE OF BID:

The County may award a contract to a Bidder at any time within 90 days after the ITB closing date and time. The bid constitutes an offer that shall be firm and irrevocable for 90 days from the deadline for submission offers. If there is a delay in the award beyond the bidders' acceptance period, all bidders can be asked, before expiration of their bids, to extend the bid acceptance period in order to avoid the need for re-solicitation, if it is in the County’s best interest.

10. NO WAIVER:

It shall not constitute a waiver of any requirement of the ITB by the County if the County does not address errors or omissions in a bid or acceptance of a bid.

11. WITHDRAWAL OR MODIFICATION OF BID:

Bidders may modify or withdraw their bids in County’s E-sourcing system until the ITB closing date and time. If Bidders have questions related to the ITB process they are required to submit these through County’s E-sourcing system. For technical questions, Bidders should contact County’s E-sourcing system.

In the event a Bidder wants to withdraw its bid from consideration after the ITB closing date and time, the Bidder must submit a written request which includes the reason for the withdrawal request to the Procurement Officer identified as the Point of Contact. The Procurement Officer will determine whether the withdrawal of the bid is appropriate.

12. GROUNDS FOR REJECTION:

Any materially false, incomplete or otherwise unresponsive statements in or in connection with a bid or any documentation or other information supplied to the County by a Bidder shall be cause for rejection by the County of the bid or disqualification of the Bidder at the County’s sole discretion. Any judgment as to the significance of any falsity, incompleteness or unresponsiveness shall be made at the sole discretion of the County, and its judgment shall be final.

13. RESERVATION:

The County reserves the right to do any of the following at any time if it is in the best interest of the County:

13.1 To reject any and all bids;

13.2 Waive or correct any minor or inadvertent defect, irregularity, informality or technical error in any bid;

13.3 Require bidder to submit breakdown of cost or pricing data provided in bid;

13.4 Award based on an aggregate (“all-or-none”) basis, by separate line items, by grouped items, or by lots as specified in the ITB document. In the absence of identification of award basis, “all or none” will be the default;

13.5 Terminate this ITB or any portion of the ITB process and issue a new ITB any time thereafter;

13.6 Extend any or all deadlines in the ITB, including the deadline for accepting bids;

13.7 Disqualify any Bidder on the basis of any real or apparent conflict of interest or evidence of collusion that is disclosed by the bid or other data available to the County. Such disqualification is at the sole discretion of the County and its decision shall be final;

13.8 Reject the bid of any Bidder that is in breach of or in default under any other agreement with the County;

13.9 Reject any bid deemed by the County to be non-responsive and/or conditional;

13.10 Make such investigations as deemed necessary to determine if a Bidder is capable of meeting contract requirements. The determination of the County as to the Bidder’s ability to perform is at the sole discretion of the County and its decision shall be final;

13.11 Determine whether a bid meets, exceeds or does not meet County’s specification;

13.12 To waive or correct any minor or inadvertent defect, irregularity or technical error in the ITB;

13.13 To amend, modify, or withdraw the ITB, or the content or format of the ITB;

13.14 To reject, eliminate or disqualify a Bidder for any false, or misleading information posted on or submitted in the ITB; and

13.15 To deem a bidder as non-responsible.

14. ITB EVALUATION CRITERIA:

If an award is made, it will be made to the lowest responsive and responsible Bidder.

County reserves the right to negotiate with the lowest responsive and responsible Bidder in order to obtain best pricing for the County.

A Bidder will be deemed to be responsive if it has submitted a bid that conforms in all material respects to the requirements for this ITB.

A Bidder will be deemed to be responsible if the Bidder:

14.1 has the ability, financial capacity, business experience, personnel, resources, and other necessary skills to provide the goods in accordance with the bid specifications;

14.2 has the ability to provide the goods promptly or within the time specified without delay;

14.3 has equipment, facilities, and resources of such capacity and location to enable it to provide the goods;

14.4 is able to provide future maintenance, repair, parts and service for goods, if required by the bid specifications;

14.5 has a record of performance and integrity, including a record of satisfactory or better performance under prior contracts with the County and other purchasers;

14.6 has complied with all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and orders governing prior or existing contracts; and

14.7 has complied with all applicable Federal, State, and local wage and hour laws and has satisfied any final judgments, decisions, or orders issued by a court or investigatory government agency finding that Bidder has violated any applicable wage and hour laws. If a Bidder has not satisfied any such judgments, decisions, or orders, the Bidder will not be deemed responsible.

15. PRICING:

Prices should be stated in the units specified. If there is a discrepancy between the unit price and total or extended price, the unit price shall prevail.

16. PROMPT PAYMENT DISCOUNT:

Prompt payment discounts shall not be considered in the evaluation of bids. However, any prompt payment discount offered may form a part of the award and may be taken by the County if payment is made within the discount period specified by the Bidder. Any prompt payment discount offered may be noted in the Bid submitted in County’s E-sourcing system.

17. FOB POINT:

Unless otherwise specified in the ITB, FOB Point shall be Destination (freight prepaid and allowed).

18. BRAND NAME OR APPROVED EQUAL:

Brand names and model numbers may be specified in the ITB for reference and descriptive purposes. Unless otherwise indicated, bids for equal items will be considered, provided the Bidder completes its validation of the specifications on the form provided and provides a detailed description of the specifications of the product being offered, feature by feature. Bidder shall not solely provide the County with literature such as marketing materials to meet this requirement of validating specifications.

Determination of whether an item is equal to the items listed and/or meets the County’s specifications is at the sole discretion of the County and its decision shall be final.

19. INTENT OF AWARD:

If an award is made, the County reserves the right to make an award to one or more Bidders.

20. LOCAL PREFERENCE (IF APPLICABLE):

In accordance with section 5.6.5.2 of Chapter 5 of the Board of Supervisors’ Policy Manual, in the formal solicitation of goods or services, the County shall give Local Businesses the preference described below.

“Local Business” means a lawful business with a physical address and meaningful “production capability” located within the boundary of the County of Santa Clara.

The term “production capability” means sales, marketing, manufacturing, servicing, provision of services, or research and development capability that substantially and directly enhances the firm’s or bidder’s ability to perform the proposed contract. Post Office box numbers, residential addresses, a local sales office without any support and/or a local subcontractor hired by the contractor may not be used as the sole basis for establishing status as a “Local Business.” Comment by Hou, Judy: The BOS Ch.5 Policy revised 5/24/22 (Posted in PRC Sharepoint) has this sentence “Agencies/Departments should work with County Counsel to determine whether the business has meaningful production capability within the County.” which is not included in this paragraph (dated 2021) - Please check with OCCM if need to update the Local Preference language paragraph or not. Comment by Hou, Judy: BOSPolicyCHAP5.fm

In the procurement of goods or services using an Invitation to Bid or another solicitation method in which price is the determining factor for award of the contract, five percent (5%) shall be subtracted from a bid submitted by a responsive and responsible Local Business in determining the lowest responsive responsible bidder. If application of the 5% results in a Local Business bid being lower than the non-local business bid, the contract award shall be made to the Local Business at the Local Business’ original bid price. If after applying the 5% discount, two or more competing vendors have bid the same price, local businesses shall be given preference.

This Local Business preference shall not apply to the following:

20.1 Public works contracts;

20.2 Where such a preference is precluded by local, state or federal law or regulation;

20.3 Contracts funded in whole or in part by a donation or gift to the County where the special conditions attached to the donation or gift prohibits or conflicts with this preference policy. The donation or gift must be approved or accepted by the Board in accordance with County policy; or

20.4 Contracts exempt from solicitation requirements under an emergency condition in accordance with Board policy, state law and/or the County of Santa Clara Ordinance Code.

In order to be considered for Local Preference, Bidder must complete and submit the Declaration of Local Business, which is located in the Appendices section of the ITB.

21. TIE BIDS:

A tie bid exists when two or more responsive and responsible Bidders submit bids with identical prices. The contract shall be awarded based the flip of a coin in the presence of at least one witness or all bids may be rejected and a new ITB issued.

If Local Preference is applicable and a tie bid exists after applying the 5% Local Business Preference, the contract shall be awarded to the Local Business.

22. WAGE THEFT PREVENTION POLICY (IF APPLICABLE):

It is the policy of the County that all parties contracting with the County must comply with all applicable federal, state, and local wage and hour laws, including, but not limited to, the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the California Labor Code, and any Minimum Wage Ordinance enacted by the County or any city within the County of Santa Clara. A potential contractor that has submitted a formal or informal bid to provide goods and/or services to the County may be disqualified if the potential contractor has been found, by a court or by final administrative action of an investigatory government agency, to have violated applicable wage and hour laws in the five years prior to the submission of a bid to provide goods and/or services. A current contractor found by a court or by final administrative action of an investigatory government agency to have violated applicable wage and hour laws, in the five years prior to or during the term of the contract with the County, may be in material breach of its contract with the County if the violation is not fully disclosed and/or satisfied per County guidelines and contract requirements. Such breach may serve as a basis for contract termination and/or any other remedies available under law, including a stipulated remediation plan.

23. POINT OF CONTACT

The Procurement Officer who shall act as the Point of Contact for this ITB is identified under the Point of Contact section of the ITB. If necessary, Bidders can send an email to the Procurement Officer. Bidders should not contact other County employees, County departments or agencies regarding this ITB. For technical questions, Bidders are required to call County’s E-sourcing system.

24. USE OF THE ITB FORMS:

The ITB is being made available by electronic means. As part of the ITB, Bidder shall download, complete and upload certain documents and/or other requested forms. Bidder acknowledges and accepts full responsibility to ensure that no changes are made to these documents except for the sections they are required to complete. In the event of a conflict between the version of the forms submitted by the Bidder and the version maintained by the Procurement Department, the version maintained by the Procurement Department will govern.

25. PRE-BID CONFERENCE

The County may schedule an optional or mandatory pre-bid conference for this ITB. The date, time, and location of the pre-bid conference will be indicated in the ITB.

Optional Pre-Bid Conference Attendance at an optional pre-bid conference is strongly recommended but is not required. For those unable to attend in person, a teleconference line will be available. The County does not guarantee an error free connection so a Bidder’s choice to attend using a teleconference line is at Bidder’s risk. See the ITB for the teleconference information.

Mandatory Pre-Bid Conference If a mandatory pre-bid conference is required, Bidders must attend in order for their bid to be considered. A bid will be deemed non-responsive if a Bidder fails to attend a mandatory pre-bid conference and the County shall reject the bid response.

26. ACCESS OF RESULTING CONTRACT

The County highly encourages and permits the use of any resultant contract by other political subdivisions, municipalities, tax supported agencies and non-profit entities in the United States. Such participating agencies shall make purchases in their own name, make payments directly to the Contractor and shall be liable directly to Contractor holding the County harmless.

27. PROTEST PROCESS

The County’s Protest Process is located on the Procurement Department’s website and is linked here.

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