PINCO_2024_WTE_Operator_RFP-RFQ_Template_DRAFT-08202024.docx

134-0171-P (LN) Page 21 of 29

SECTION E – SCOPE OF WORK

Comment by Sacco, Paul S: Purchasing and Risk have been separated into two divisions. We'll need to change this to Purchasing throughout the document. Comment by Howie, Bruce: This is the County’s GIF so we’ll need an updated one.

SOLICITATION

24-XXX-RFQ

Waste to Energy Facility Operator (RFQ)

Pinellas County Pinellas County Courthouse Annex Bldg., Sixth Floor Clearwater, FL 33765

THE MISSION OF PINELLAS COUNTY

"Pinellas County Government is committed to progressive public policy, superior public service, courteous public contact, judicious exercise of authority and sound management of public resources to meet the needs and concerns of our citizens today and tomorrow."

ISSUE/RELEASE DATE: xxx QUESTION SUBMISSION DEADLINE: xxx PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: xxx

RESPONSES MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY VIA OPENGOV TO:

https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/pinellasfl Solicitation #24-xxxx-RFQ Title: Waste to Energy Facility Operator (RFQ)

Pinellas County

SOLICITATION

Waste to Energy Facility Operator (RFQ) Table of Contents

Attachments:

A - Attachment A - xxx B - Attachment B - xxx C - Attachment C - xxx

· Qualifications Forms

· Term Sheet/Proposed Contract Terms (reference current agreement and key terms)

· Transition Plan (RFP-phase)

· SharePoint Documents List

Notice SOLICITATION Comment by Embree, William: The nomenclature is confusing. Suggest leave Section E by itself without a number reference. Comment by Miller, Joshua: Need Purchasing to provide input.

SUBMITTALS ARE OPENED PUBLICLY AND ARE ACCEPTED VIA OPENGOV

RFQ

24-xxxx-RFQ Waste to Energy Facility Operator (RFQ)

ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN OPENGOV WITHIN THE QUESTION & ANSWER SECTION.

SOLICITATION MEETINGS: Site Visit: Non-Mandatory; Pre-Conference: None SUBMITTALS MAY NOT BE WITHDRAWN FOR 120 DAYS AFTER OPENING DATE. Comment by Miller, Joshua: [CDM - Dan Strobridge]: Necessary at this point?? If they don’t want to participate after being shortlisted we don’t want them in the room. Comment by Miller, Joshua: [HDR - Bruce Howie] I agree with Dan’s comment that it may not be necessary but this is County boilerplate as they need to make the call.

We can either delineate what is a Phase 1 versus a Phase 2, or preferably just pull details that don’t apply to the RFQ phase. We need County to weigh-in whether we can delete.

The Purchasing Division for the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners has transitioned to OpenGov Procurement for Contractor/Vendor registration, and for posting, submitting and receiving bids, quotes and proposals for active solicitations. Contractors/Vendors must register with OpenGov Procurement (https://procurement.opengov.com/signup) to participate in active County solicitations.

Should you need technical assistance with OpenGov, the following options are available:

Phone: (855) 680-4747, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday - Friday Email:procurement-support@opengov.com Chat is available in the OpenGov application Web:https://help.procurement.opengov.com

Please Note:

From time to time, addenda may be issued to this solicitation. Any such addenda will be posted to https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/pinellasfl. Receipt of addenda confirmation is required in OpenGov.

AUTHORIZED BY:

Merry Celeste, CPPB Comment by Howie, Bruce: Is this the correct person now?

Division Director of Purchasing Introduction Summary Pinellas County, Florida (“County”) is embarking on a two-step Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP) process. This RFQ (Phase 1) is requesting Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) from qualified companies (“Respondents”) to enter into a long-term contract for the operation and maintenance of its Waste-To-Energy Facility (WTE Facility) located at 3001 110th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716.

Respondents who are deemed, in the sole judgment of the County, to be qualified Respondents will be invited to respond to an RFP (Phase 2) that will be issued by the County. The qualified Respondents who submit proposals in response to the RFP will be evaluated in accordance with the procedures and criteria set forth in this RFQ.

The County intends to select and enter into a service agreement (Service Agreement) with the Proposer whose Proposal is determined, in the sole judgment of the County, to be in the best interest of the County. To be eligible to enter into the Service Agreement with the County, such Proposer must continue to meet all of the Minimum Qualifications Criteria contained in Section 6.3 of this RFQ from the date the Statement of Qualifications is submitted until the day the Service Agreement is signed by the County. Comment by Embree, William: Shouldn't they continue to meet the minimum qualifications throughout the term of the agreement? Comment by Sacco, Paul S: No, this speaks to procurement process only, not the service agreement.

Background The County owns the WTE Facility which is managed by the Pinellas Department of Solid Waste (DSW). The WTE Facility has a nameplate capacity of 3,150 tons per day (tpd) of municipal solid waste and the recovered energy generates 75 - megawatts (MW) of electrical power. The WTE Facility is comprised of three 1,050 tpd water wall, mass-burn combustors, and two GE turbine generators, one with a nominal rating of 50 MW and the other with a nominal rating of 25 MW. The first two combustors supply steam to the 50 MW turbine generator which became operational in May 1983. The third combustor and the 25 MW turbine generator became operational in October 1986. Each combustor includes a Martin GmbH reciprocating type combustion grate system and a Riley Stoker boiler.

Commencing in 1983, the WTE Facility has been operated and maintained on behalf of the County by third party private operators, including Wheelabrator Pinellas, Inc. (WPI) from 1983 up until 2007, Veolia ES Pinellas Inc. (Veolia) up until 2012, and GCS Pinellas up until December 2014. The operation and maintenance of the WTE Facility is currently performed by Reworld Waste LLC (formerly Covanta Projects, LLC) under the existing Service Agreement, which is set to expire at midnight on December 31, 2024. The County and Reworld Waste are currently negotiating an extension of the existing Service Agreement to allow for the safe and efficient operation and maintenance of the WTE Facility until a new Service Agreement is signed by the County with the successful Respondent to this procurement.

The generated electrical power is currently used to run the WTE Facility, with the excess being sold to Duke Energy (Duke) pursuant to a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between the County and Duke that provides for the payment of both an electrical energy component and an avoided capacity component. The current PPA ends on December 31, 2024. The County is in the process of securing an agreement with a third-party energy asset manager to move energy sales on the grid. As these sales will be market dependent, it is anticipated that the WTE Facility operator, the County and the energy asset manager will coordinate to maximize sales potential including, and not limited to, alteration of major and minor outage schedules and ongoing communication regarding facility status, generation potential and unscheduled outages.

Contact Information Jim Just Lead Procurement Analyst 400 S. Ft. Harrison Ave 6th FL Clearwater, FL 33756 Email: jjust@pinellas.gov Phone: (727) 464-3205 Department:

Solid Waste Department Timeline

3001 110th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716.

**Please contact xxxxxxxxxxxxxx to confirm your attendance.

Instructions & General Conditions for Submittals

DEFINITIONS

A. Agreement means the final written Service Agreement between the County and the successful Contractor under this solicitation, regardless of the title of that final document, and may be used interchangeably with “Contract” or “Service Agreement.”

B. Contractor means the entity submitting a response to this solicitation and may be used interchangeably with the terms “bidder”, “respondent”, “contractor”, “vendor”, “submitter”, or “proposer”.

C. County means Pinellas County, a subdivision of the State of Florida and may be used interchangeably with “Pinellas County”.

D. Submittal means a Respondent’s submissions in response to this solicitation and may be used interchangeably with the terms “statement of qualifications”, “submission”, “bid”, “quote” or “proposal,” as applicable to the specific solicitation. For example, these terms should be interpreted to mean “bid” if this is an ITB, “quote” if this is an ITQ, and “proposal” if this is an RFP.

INSTRUCTIONS & PROCEDURES Comment by Miller, Joshua: [CDM - Dan. S.] Can we modify this to be more clear at this point we are only asking for SOQs??

A. PREPARATION OF PHASE 1 – RFQ SUBMITTALS - Submittal will be prepared in accordance with the following:

1. Submittals must be uploaded on forms furnished, utilizing the OpenGov procurement website. Failure to comply could result in the submission being rejected.

2. Alternate submittals will not be considered unless authorized by the solicitation.

3. Proposed delivery time must be shown and any date calculations must include weekends and holidays.

4. Contractor is advised that exceptions to the proposed terms and conditions contained or referenced in this solicitation must be stated with specificity in its response to the solicitation. It is anticipated that the Contractors pre-qualified in the Phase 1 – RFQ process will have an opportunity to discuss the referenced Service Agreement terms and conditions and any concerns or exceptions prior to their submission for the Phase 2 – RFP.

5. Contractors will thoroughly examine the drawings, specifications, schedule, instructions and/or all other solicitation documents.

6. Prior to the submission of responses to the Phase 2 – RFP, Contractors will have the opportunity to make investigations necessary to thoroughly inform themselves regarding plant and facilities for delivery of material and equipment as required by the solicitation. In addition, a data sharing site will be open to pre-qualified Contractors to provide historic operations and maintenance data and records. Plea of ignorance by the Contractor of conditions that exist or that may hereafter exist as a result of failure or omission on the part of the Contractor to make the necessary examinations and investigations, or failure to fulfill in every detail the requirements of the solicitation documents, will not be accepted as a basis for varying the requirements of the County or the compensation to the Contractor. Comment by Miller, Joshua: Do not want to impede current operations. Contractors will need to perform necessary site visits, likely after RFQ or during RFP, to review the site and available documentation. Comment by Embree, William: I am assuming we will set up an external site for facility information including drawings, Performance records, maintenance records, etc. Comment by Howie, Bruce: See edits made to version addressing CDM comments. I think we covered this. Comment by Gesell, Gregory H.: I deleted “any” as it could imply they will be able to investigate at any time. There are other ways to address.

7. Contractors are advised that all County solicitations are subject to all legal requirements provided for in the Purchasing Ordinance and/or State and Federal Statutes.

B. SUBMITTAL METHOD & FORMAT

1. Submittals must be uploaded utilizing the OpenGov procurement website (https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/pinellasfl). Failure to comply could result in the submittal being rejected.

2. Submittals must be uploaded in the Vendor Questionnaire section of this solicitation. Submittals sent via email will not be considered.

3. The preferred format for submittal is PDF conversion from your source files (to minimize file size and maximize quality and accessibility) rather than scanning. Instructions for Providing Files in PDF Format to Pinellas County Government:

a. How do I convert my files to PDF format?

b. Answer- If you have a program such as Adobe Acrobat, creating a PDF of any file is a simple print function. Rather than printing to a traditional printer, the file converts to a PDF format copy of your original. Any program (such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) can be converted this way by simply selecting the print command and choosing PDF as the printer. Comment by Embree, William: Each question/answer should be the same reference item. Maybe indicate "Answer" in italics. Comment by Howie, Bruce: Noted.

c. Should I scan everything and save as PDF?

d. Answer- Not unless you are scanning with OCR (optical character recognition). Scanning will create unnecessarily large files because a scan is just a picture of a page rather than actual page text. Furthermore, the result of scanning is that your pages will not look nearly as “clean” or professional as simply using the print to PDF method from the program from which the file originates. Additionally, since scan pages are pictures of text, not really text, they may not be considered accessible* under Federal ADA guidelines (*unless the scans are OCR.) Comment by Embree, William: See above comment Comment by Howie, Bruce: Noted.

C. SUBMITTALS FROM RELATED PARTIES OR MULTIPLE SUBMITTALS RECEIVED FROM ONE CONTRACTOR

1. Where two (2) or more related parties each upload a submittal, or multiple submittals are received from one (1) Contractor, for any solicitation, such submittals will be judged non-responsive. Related parties mean Contractors or the principles thereof, which have a direct or indirect ownership interest in another Contractor for the same solicitation or in which a parent company or the principles thereof of one (1) Contractor have a direct or indirect ownership interest in another Contractor for the same solicitation.

D. INTEGRITY OF SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS

1. Contractors will use the original solicitation form(s) provided by the Purchasing Division and enter information only in the spaces where a response is requested. Contractors may use an attachment as an addendum to the solicitation form(s) if sufficient space is not available on the original form for the Contractor to enter a complete response. Any modifications or alterations to the original solicitation documents by the Contractor, whether intentional or otherwise, will constitute grounds for rejection of a solicitation. Any such modifications or alterations a Contractor wishes to propose must be clearly stated in the Contractor’s submittal response and presented in the form of an addendum to the original solicitation documents. Comment by Embree, William: Should this be clarified with insertion of "Pinellas County" or defined above? Comment by Miller, Joshua: Need Purchasing to advise.

E. LATE SUBMISSION OR MODIFICATIONS

1. Submittals and modifications received after the time set for the submission will not be considered. This upholds the integrity of the process.

2. Modifications in writing received prior to the time set for the submittal will be accepted.

F. WITHDRAWAL OF SUBMITTAL

1. The submittal may be withdrawn prior to the solicitation opening date, however, a submittal may not be withdrawn for a period of time as specified in this solicitation document.

G. WRITTEN REQUESTS FOR INTERPRETATIONS/CLARIFICATIONS

1. The County may reject a submittal if:

a. The Contractor incorrectly states or conceals any material fact in the solicitation.

b. The solicitation does not strictly conform to the law or requirements of solicitation including insurance requirements.

c. The respective constitutional officer, County Administrator, on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners or within their delegated financial approval authority, or Director of Purchasing, within their delegated financial approval authority, has the authority when the public interest will be served thereby to reject all submittals or parts of submittals at any stage of the procurement process through the award of an agreement.

d. The County reserves the right to waive minor informalities or irregularities in any submittal.

I. PUBLIC REVIEW AT OPENING

1. Pursuant to Florida Statute, Section 119.071(1)(b)2, all submittals will be subject to review as public records after 30-days from opening, or earlier if an intended decision is reached before the thirty-day period expires. Unless a specific exemption exists, all documents submitted will be released pursuant to a valid public records request. All trade secrets claims must be dispositively determined by a court of law prior to trade secret protection being granted.

J. TABULATION INQUIRIES

1. Inquiries relating to the results of this solicitation, prior to the official award by the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners may be made by visiting OpenGov or calling the Purchasing Division after 30 days to comply with Florida Statute, Section 119.071(1)(b)2.

JOINT VENTURES

Contractors intending to submit as a joint venture are required to have filed proper documents with the Florida Department of State, the Division of Professions, Construction Industry Licensing Board and any other state or local licensing Agency prior to submitting (see Section 489.119 Florida Statutes). Joint ventures must provide an affidavit attesting to the formulation of a joint venture and provide either proof of incorporation as a joint venture or a copy of the formal joint venture agreement between all joint venture parties, indicating their respective roles, responsibilities and levels of participation for the project.

EVALUATION CRITERIA – RFQ (PHASE 1)

Evaluation criteria listed in Section 6.3 or 7, will be used by the County to evaluate and score responsive and qualified proposals. Proposers shall include sufficient information to allow the County to thoroughly evaluate and score their proposals. Refer to the attached forms. Each proposal submitted shall be evaluated and ranked by an evaluation committee.

Criteria to be utilized for the Phase 1 evaluation of qualifications will be the following:

RIGHTS OF PINELLAS COUNTY IN REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL PROCESS

In addition to all other rights of the County under Florida law, the County specifically reserves the following:

A. the right to rank firms and negotiate with the most qualified firm or firms.

B. the right to select the proposal that it believes will serve the best interest of Pinellas County.

C. the right to reject any or all responses, or parts thereof, to disqualify any and all responses, and/or determine any response to be non-responsive.

D. the right to cancel the entire Request for Qualifications (Phase 1).

E. the right to remedy or waive technical or immaterial errors in the Request for Qualifications or in the proposals submitted.

F. the right to request any necessary clarifications or data without changing the terms of the solicitation.

PROTEST PROCEDURE Comment by Miller, Joshua: [HDR- Bruce Howie] Don’t think this is relevant for the RFQ phase.

Protest procedures are governed by Pinellas County Code Section 2-162, which states:

Right to Protest. "A vendor who is aggrieved by the contents of the bid or proposal package, or a vendor who is aggrieved in connection with the recommended award on a bid or proposal solicitation, may file a written protest to the Purchasing Director, as provided herein. This right to protest is strictly limited to those procurements of goods and/or services solicited through invitations to bid or requests for proposals, including solicitations pursuant to F.S. § 287.055, the "Consultants' Competitive Negotiation Act." No other actions or recommendations in connection with a solicitation can be protested, including: (i) requests for quotations, negotiations, qualifications or letters of interest; (ii) rejection of some, all or parts of bids or proposals; (iii) disqualification of respondents or proposers as non-responsive or non-responsible; or (iv) recommended awards less than the mandatory bid or proposal amount. Protests failing to comply with the provisions of this section will not be reviewed." Comment by Embree, William: Not sure director is defined. Should it be? Comment by Sacco, Paul S: Purchasing Director "Posting. The Purchasing Division will post the recommended award on or through the departmental website."

Requirements to protest.

"If the protest relates to the content of the bid or proposal package, a formal written protest must be filed no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on the fifth full business day after issuance of the bid or proposal package." Comment by Embree, William: Does this mean submittal of the proposal? Comment by Embree, William: Comment by Gregory Gesell: Once the RFQ is available.

"If the protest relates to the recommended award of a bid or proposal, a formal written protest must be filed no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on the fifth full business day after posting of the award recommendation."

"The formal written protest shall identify the protesting party and the solicitation involved; include a statement of the grounds on which the protest is based; refer to the statutes, laws, ordinances or other legal authorities which the protesting party deems applicable to such grounds; and specifically request the relief to which the protesting party deems itself entitled by application of such authorities to such grounds."

"A formal written protest is considered filed with the County when the Purchasing Division receives it. Accordingly, a protest is not timely filed unless it is received within the time specified above by the Purchasing Division. Failure to file a formal written protest within the time period specified shall constitute a waiver of the right to protest and result in relinquishment of all rights to protest by the respondent or proposer." Comment by Embree, William: See D.1. above for reference to Purchasing Department. Should be consistent. Comment by Miller, Joshua: Edited "Sole remedy. These procedures shall be the sole remedy for challenging the content of the bid or proposal package or the recommended award."

"Lobbying. Protestors and anyone acting on their behalf, are prohibited from attempts to influence, persuade, or promote a bid or proposal protest through any other channels or means, and contacting any county official, employee, advisory board member, or representative to discuss any matter relating in any way to the solicitation being protested, other than the Purchasing Division's or county attorney's office to address situations such as clarification and/or pose questions related to the procurement process. The prohibitions provided for herein shall begin with the filing of the protest and end upon the final disposition of the protest; provided, however, at all times protestors shall be subject to the procurement lobbying prohibitions in section 2-189 of this Code. Failure to adhere to the prohibitions herein shall result in the rejection of the protest without further consideration." Comment by Embree, William: See above comment Comment by Miller, Joshua: Edited "Time limits. The time limits in which protests must be filed as specified herein may be altered by specific provisions in the bid or proposal."

"Authority to resolve. The director shall resolve the protest in accordance with the documentation and applicable legal authorities and shall issue a written decision to the protestor no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on the tenth full business day after the filing thereof."

"Review of Purchasing Director's decision." Comment by Embree, William: Not sure this is defined. It is assumed it is the Director of Purchasing. Comment by Sacco, Paul S: Yes "The protesting party may request a review of the director's decision to the county administrator by delivering written request for review of the decision to the director by 5:00 p.m. EST on the fifth full business day after the date of the written decision. The written notice shall include any materials, statements, and arguments which the respondent or proposer deems relevant to the issues raised in the request to review the decision of the director."

"The county administrator shall issue a decision in writing stating the reason for the action with a copy furnished to the protesting party no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on the seventh full business day after receipt of the request for review. The decision shall be final and conclusive as to the county unless a party commences action in a court of competent jurisdiction."

"Stay of procurement during protests. There shall be no stay of procurement during protests."

(Ord. No. 94-51, § 5, 6-7-94; Ord. No. 04-87, § 1, 12-7-04; Ord. No. 14-11, § 2, 2-11-14; Ord. No. 18-34, 10-23-18)

ADA REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC NOTICES

Persons with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation to participate in this proceeding/event, should call 727-464-4062 (voiced) fax 727-464-4157, not later than seven days prior to the proceeding.

COLLUSION

The Contractor, by affixing a signature to their response, certifies that its submittal is made without previous understanding, agreement, or connection with any person, firm or corporation making a submittal for the same item(s) and is in all respects fair, without outside control, collusion, fraud, or otherwise illegal action.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

A. The Contractor, by affixing a signature to their response, represents that it presently has no interest and will acquire no interest, either direct or indirect, which would conflict in any manner with the performance or services required hereunder. The Contractor further represents that, if it is awarded a contract under this solicitation, no person having any such interest will be employed during the contract term and any extensions. In addition, the Contractor will not offer gifts or gratuities to County employees as they are not permitted to accept gifts or gratuities. By signing this document, the Contractor acknowledges that no gifts or gratuities have been offered to County employees or anyone else involved in this competitive solicitation process.

B. The Contractor will promptly notify the County’s representative, in writing, by certified mail, of all potential conflicts of interest for any prospective business association, interest, or other circumstance, which may influence or appear to influence the Contractor’s judgment or quality of services being provided hereunder. Such written notification will identify the prospective business association, interest or circumstance, the nature of work that the Contractor may undertake and request an opinion of the County as to whether the association, interest or circumstance would, in the opinion of the County, constitute a conflict of interest if entered into by the Contractor. The County agrees to notify the Contractor of its opinion, by certified mail, within thirty days of receipt of notification by the Contractor.

C. It is essential to government procurement that the process be open, equitable and ethical. To this end, if potential unethical practices including but not limited to collusion, receipt or solicitation of gifts and conflicts of interest (direct/indirect) etc. are observed or perceived, please report such activity to:

1. Pinellas County Clerk of Circuit Court – Division of Inspector General

2. Phone – (727) 45FRAUD (453-7283)

3. Fax – 727-464-8386

CONTRACT STANDARD TERMS & CONDITIONS

The awarded contract resulting from this solicitation will be subject to the County’s Standard Terms and Conditions effective as of the date of the contract award, available at https://pinellas.gov/county-standard-terms-conditions/, and any Special Conditions outlined in this solicitation.

The successful Contractor must be prepared for the County to accept its response as submitted, subject to the Standard and Special Terms & Conditions. The successful Contractor’s response will be incorporated into the final contract as the Scope of Work. The County may reject any exception to the Standard or Special Terms & Conditions proposed by the Contractor, and will not be bound by any additional or modified terms and conditions included in the successful Contractor’s response that are in conflict with the Standard or Special Terms and Conditions, or are not acceptable to, or have been declared to be non-negotiable by the County, as determined in its sole discretion.

If the successful Contractor fails to sign all documents necessary to successfully execute the final contract within a reasonable time following the award, or (if applicable) negotiations do not result in an acceptable agreement, the County may reject the response or revoke the award and may begin negotiations with another Contractor. Final contract terms must be approved or signed by the appropriately authorized County official(s).

All Contractors performing construction and related work in Pinellas County during Phase 2 must comply with our regulatory legislation, Chapter 75-489, Laws of Florida, as amended. Failure to have a competency license in a regulated trade will be cause for rejection of any submittal and/or award.

CORPORATE REGISTRATION Comment by Embree, William: Proof of registration Comment by Sacco, Paul S: Not needed until a reward is imminent. Comment by Howie, Bruce: Do we identify this as “Phase 2 ONLY” or just delete all together?

An award under Phase 2 may not be issued without proof that your firm is registered with the Florida Division of Corporations, as per Florida Statute §607.1501 www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/607.1501.

A foreign corporation (foreign to the State of Florida) may not transact business in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority from the Department of State. Please visit dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/ for this information on how to become registered.

DESCRIPTION OF GOODS/SERVICES/SUPPLIES

A. Any manufacturer's names, trade names, brand name, or catalog numbers used in specifications are for the purpose of describing and establishing general quality levels. Such references are not intended to be restrictive. Submittals will be considered for all brands which meet the quality of the specifications listed for any items.

B. Contractors are required to state exactly what they intend to furnish otherwise they will be required to furnish the items as specified.

C. Contractor submission must include all data necessary to evaluate and determine the quality of the item(s) they intend to furnish.

D. ALTERNATES: Alternates will not be considered unless authorized by the solicitation. Such alternates may or may not be accepted by the County. If approved, it is at the County’s discretion to accept said alternate(s) in any sequence or combination therein. If the Contractor is proposing an alternate that is not provided in the solicitation, alternate(s) must be submitted within the OpenGov Q & A section prior to the question deadline and receive approval prior to the solicitation opening date in order to be considered for award.

E. OR EQUAL DETERMINATION: Where submitting other than specified, the determination of equivalency will be at the sole discretion of Pinellas County and its specialized personnel.

E-VERIFY

The Contractor and their subcontractor(s) must register with and use the E-Verify system in accordance with Florida Statute 448.095. A Contractor and subcontractor may not enter into a contract with the County unless each party registers with and uses the E-Verify system.

If a Contractor enters a contract with a subcontractor, the subcontractor must provide the Contractor with an affidavit stating that the Subcontractor does not employ, contract with, or subcontract with unauthorized aliens. The Contractor must maintain a copy of the affidavit for the duration of the contract.

If the County, Contractor, or Subcontractor has a good faith belief that a person or entity with which it is contracting has knowingly violated Florida Statute 448.09(1) they must immediately terminate the contract with the person or entity.

If the County has a good faith belief that a Subcontractor knowingly violated this provision, but the Contractor otherwise complied with this provision, the County will notify the Contractor and order that the Contractor immediately terminate the contract with the Subcontractor.

A contract terminated under the provisions of this section is not a breach of contract and may not be considered such. Any contract termination under the provisions of this section may be challenged to Section 448.095(2)(d), Florida Statute. Contractor acknowledges upon termination of this agreement by the County for violation of this section by Contractor, Contractor may not be awarded a public contract for at least one (1) year. Contractor acknowledges that Contractor is liable for any additional costs incurred by the County as a result of termination of any contract for a violation of this section.

Contractor or Subcontractor will insert in any subcontracts the clauses set forth in this section, requiring the subcontracts to include these clauses in any lower tier subcontracts. Contractor will be responsible for compliance by any Subcontractor or Lower Tier Subcontractor with the clause set for in this section.

EXCEPTIONS

Contractor is advised that if it wishes to take exception to any of the terms contained or referenced in this solicitation it must explicitly identify the term and the exception in its response to the solicitation. Contractor’s stated exception to a non-negotiable term may disqualify it from consideration for award.

INDEMNIFICATION

By submitting a response to this solicitation, Contractor understands and agrees that if awarded the indemnification provisions in the https://pinellas.gov/county-standard-terms-conditions/ apply, subject to Pinellas County Resolution 2006-70 (“Indemnification”).

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR STATUS AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT OF 1986 Contractor acknowledges that it is functioning as an independent Contractor in performing under the terms of this agreement, and it is not acting as an employee of Pinellas County. The Contractor acknowledges that it is responsible for complying with the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, located at 8 U.S.C. Section 1324, et seq., and regulations relating thereto. Failure to comply with the above provisions of the agreement will be considered a material breach and grounds for immediate termination of the agreement.

INSURANCE

The Contractor must provide a certificate of insurance and endorsement in accordance with the insurance requirements listed in the insurance section below. Failure to provide the required insurance within a ten (10) day period following the determination or recommendation of award may result in the County to vacate the original determination or recommendation and proceed with recommendation to another Contractor.

LOBBYING

All Contractors agree to adhere to Pinellas County Code Section 2-189, which states:

Lobbying shall be prohibited on all county competitive selection processes and purchasing contract awards pursuant to this division, including, but not limited to, requests for proposals, requests for quotations, requests for qualifications, bids or the award of purchasing contracts of any type. The purpose of this prohibition is to protect the integrity of the procurement process by shielding it from undue influences prior to the contract award, or the competitive selection process is otherwise concluded. However, nothing herein shall prohibit a prospective respondent/proposer/protestor from contacting the Purchasing Division or the County Attorney’s Office to address situations such as clarification and/or pose questions related to the procurement process.

Lobbying of evaluation committee members, county government employees, elected/appointed officials, or advisory board members regarding requests for proposals, requests for quotations, requests for qualifications, bids, or purchasing contracts, by the respondent, any member of the respondent’s staff, any agent or representative of the respondent, or any person employed by any legal entity affiliated with or representing a respondent, is strictly prohibited from the date of the advertisement, or on a date otherwise established by the Board, until either an award is final, or the competitive selection process is otherwise concluded. Any lobbying activities in violation of this section by or on behalf of a respondent/proposer shall result in the disqualification or rejection of the proposal, quotation, statement of qualification, bid or contract.

For purposes of this provision, “lobbying” shall mean influencing or attempting to influence action or non-action, and/or attempting to obtain the goodwill of persons specified herein relating to the selection, ranking, or contract award in connection with any request for proposal, request for quotation, request for qualification, bid or purchasing contract through direct or indirect oral or written communication. The final award of a purchasing contract shall be the effective date of the purchasing contract.

Any evaluation committee member, county government employee, elected/appointed official, or advisory board member who has been lobbied shall immediately report the lobbying activity to the director.

(Ord. No. 02-35, 5-7-02; Ord. No. 04-64, § 12, 9-21-04; Ord. No. 04-87, § 1, 12-7-04; Ord. No. 10-09, § 6, 2-16-10; Ord. No. 11-23, § 2, 7-26-11; Ord. No. 14-11, § 5, 2-11-14; Ord. No. 18-34, 10-23-18).

LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS

The laws of the State of Florida apply to any purchase made under this solicitation. Contractors must comply with all local, state, and federal directives, orders and laws as applicable to this solicitation and subsequent agreement(s) including but not limited to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as applicable to this agreement.

RESPONSIBLE VENDOR DETERMINATION

Vendor is hereby notified that Section 287.05701, Florida Statutes, requires that the County may not request documentation of or consider a vendor’s social, political, or ideological interests when determining if the vendor is a responsible vendor.

NON-EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT

Award of this agreement will impose no obligation on the County to utilize the Contractor for all work of this type, which may develop during the agreement period. This is not an exclusive agreement. The County specifically reserves the right to concurrently contract with other companies for similar work if it deems such action to be in the County’s best interest. In the case of multiple-term agreements, this provision will apply separately to each term.

PROCUREMENT POLICY FOR RECYCLED MATERIALS

A. Pinellas County wishes to encourage its Contractors to use recycled products in fulfilling contractual obligations to the County and that such a policy will serve as a model for other public entities and private sector companies. Comment by Embree, William: Should be included in response to RFQ. Although most products for operations are not mfr from recycled materials, there are processes within the plant operations that does recycle materials. Not sure if this needs to be pointed out or let the proposer determine whether to include in their submittal. Comment by Howie, Bruce: It’s not binding - it’s only “encouraging” he use so I don’t see the harm in stating this here if it’s a County policy Comment by Howard, Keith: If the County has a preferred recycled materials guidance or program, reference can be made to this and encouraged that the vendor meet the County's standards.

B. When awarding a purchase or recommending a purchase for products, materials, or services, the Director of Purchasing may allow a preference to a responsive Contractor who certifies that their product or material contains the greatest percentage of postconsumer material. If solicitation includes paper products, Contractor must certify that their materials and/or products contain at least the content recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines.

C. On all quotes, or as required by law, the Director of Purchasing require Contractors to specify which products have recycled materials, what percentage or amount is postconsumer material, and to provide certification of the percentages of recycled materials used in the manufacture of goods and commodities procured by the County.

D. Price preference is not the preferred practice the County wishes to employ in meeting the goals of this resolution. If a price preference is deemed to serve the best interest of the County and further supports the purchase of recycled materials, the Director of Purchasing will make a recommendation that a price preference be allowed up to an amount not to exceed 10% above the lowest complying submittal received.

Definitions for Recycled Materials:

Recovered Materials: Materials that have recycling potential, can be recycled, and have been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream for sale, use or reuse, by separation, collection, or processing.

Recycled Materials: Materials that contain recovered materials. This term may include internally generated scrap that is commonly used in industrial, or manufacturing processes, waste or scrap purchased from another manufacturer and used in the same or a closely related product.

Postconsumer Materials: Materials which have been used by a business or a consumer and have served their intended end use, and have been separated or diverted from the solid waste stream for the purpose of recycling, such as newspaper, aluminum, glass containers, plastic containers, office paper, corrugated boxes, pallets or other items which can be used in the remanufacturing process.

PROVISION FOR OTHER AGENCIES

Unless otherwise stipulated, the Contractor(s) agree to make available to all “Eligible Users” the prices submitted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract resulting from this solicitation. Eligible Users means all State of Florida government agencies, the legislative and judicial branches, and political subdivisions (counties, local district school boards, community colleges, municipalities, or other public agencies or authorities), which may desire to purchase under the terms and conditions of the resulting contract.

PUBLIC EMERGENCIES

It is hereby made a part of this solicitation that before, during, and after a public emergency, disaster, hurricane, tornado, flood, or other acts of God that Pinellas County will require a first priority for goods and services. It is vital and imperative that the majority of citizens are protected from any emergency situation that threatens public health and safety, as determined by the County. Contractor agrees to rent/sell/lease all goods and services to the County or governmental entities on a first priority basis. The County expects to pay a fair and reasonable price for all products and services rendered or contracted in the event of a disaster, emergency, hurricane, tornado or other acts of God.

PUBLIC ENTITY CRIMES STATEMENT

Contractor is directed to the Florida Public Entity Crime Act, Fla. Stat. 287.133, and Fla. Stat. 287.135 regarding Scrutinized Companies, and Contractor agrees that its submittal and, if awarded, its performance of the agreement will comply with all applicable laws including those referenced herein. Contractor represents and certifies that Contractor is and will at all times remain eligible to submit for and perform the services subject to the requirements of these, and other applicable, laws. Contractor agrees that any agreement awarded to Contractor will be subject to termination by the County if Contractor fails to comply or to maintain such compliance.

PUBLIC RECORDS/TRADE SECRETS

Pinellas County Government is subject to the Florida Public Records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes), and all documents, materials, and data submitted to any solicitation as part of the response are governed by the disclosure, exemption and confidentiality provisions relating to public records in Florida Statutes. Except for materials that are “trade secrets” or “confidential” as defined by applicable Florida law, ownership of all documents, materials, and data submitted in response to the solicitation will belong exclusively to the County.

To the extent that Contractor desires to maintain the confidentiality of materials that constitute trade secrets pursuant to Florida law, trade secret material submitted must be identified by some distinct method that the materials that constitute a trade secret, and Contractor will provide an additional copy of the Contractor’s submittal that redacts all designated trade secrets. By submitting materials that are designated as trade secrets and signature of the Contractor signature page, Contractor acknowledges and agrees:

A. That after notice from the County that a public records request has been made for the materials designated as a trade secret, the Contractor will be solely responsible for defending its determination that submitted material is a trade secret that is not subject to disclosure at its sole cost, which action will be taken immediately, but no later than ten (10) calendar days from the date of notification or Contractor will be deemed to have waived the trade secret designation of the materials;

B. That to the extent that the Contractor…