Bottled Drinking Water

The California Department of General Services Procurement Division (DGS-PD) is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit market data for the development of a statewide bottled drinking water contract. The procurement seeks purified drinking water in commercially acceptable, one-time-use recyclable plastic containers meeting specific technical specifications, including water purified through distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis, or equivalent means with total dissolved solids between 100 to 500 parts per million, total trihalomethanes not exceeding 10 parts per billion, and lead not exceeding 5 parts per billion. Suppliers must hold a current Bottled Water Plant License issued by the California Department of Public Health and comply with federal regulations (21 CFR 110 and 21 CFR 165.110) and California Health and Safety Code Article 12, with all products subject to acceptance testing and inspection at delivery. The RFI response deadline is March 23, 2026, at 5:00 PM PST, with submissions directed to Traci Fortier at Traci.Fortier@dgs.ca.gov, and the subsequent Invitation for Bid (IFB) is anticipated for release in August 2026. The resulting contract will feature an initial three-year term with two optional one-year extensions for a maximum five-year duration, with an estimated annual contract value of $2,196,159.53, and will be awarded on a regional basis across six defined geographic delivery regions throughout California. Participation in the RFI is optional and not required for suppliers to bid on the subsequent solicitation, with all response costs borne solely by interested suppliers.

The contract will be non-mandatory for state agencies but available for use by local governmental agencies. No incumbent vendors, current contractors, or existing set-asides are specified in the RFI documentation provided. The solicitation does not identify any disadvantaged enterprise set-asides or small business preferences at the RFI stage, though such provisions may be incorporated into the subsequent IFB. The estimated annual contract value of $2,196,159.53 represents the total projected spending across all regions, though specific regional allocations or pricing ranges are not detailed in the available documentation. Suppliers should note that if any procured products fail inspection or testing upon delivery, the supplier bears the cost of the laboratory analysis associated with that failure.