City of Lenoir LCRI service line development project.

The City of Lenoir, North Carolina is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to procure vendor services for service line material field inspections supporting the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) service line inventory development project. The procurement encompasses meter box inspections and excavations to identify and catalog approximately 2,300 service lines of unknown material across the City's water service area. The project is structured in two phases: strategic inspections using up to three sample groups of approximately 400 sites each for predictive modeling, followed by additional inspections in Disadvantaged Areas and locations where the predictive model was applied. Deliverables include completion of approximately 1,600 meter box inspections and approximately 700 excavations utilizing detailed standard operating procedures for material identification through visual inspection, scratch tests, magnet tests, and lead swab tests. Vendors must comply with current plumbing codes, complete all repairs within the same shift with no service disruption exceeding three hours, and participate in bi-weekly progress meetings throughout the project duration. All field inspections must be completed by November 30, 2026, in accordance with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality's Lead Service Line Replacement Funding program. Proposals are due by 2:00 PM on Thursday, April 9, 2026, and will be opened publicly at the City of Lenoir's Public Utility Director's office located at 510B Greer Circle SW, Lenoir, NC 28645. Evaluation criteria include pricing (50 points), prior experience with service line inventory projects and area municipalities (25 points), and project scheduling with preference for earliest start and completion dates (25 points). Vendors must submit three hard copies and one electronic PDF copy of proposals limited to fifteen pages, including a cover letter, project understanding with organizational chart, three to five examples of similar inventory projects, and a draft schedule.

The RFP does not specify set-aside designations, disadvantaged enterprise restrictions, or incumbent vendor preferences; however, vendors must demonstrate prior experience with service line inventory projects and familiarity with area municipalities as part of the evaluation criteria. No specific technology integration requirements or existing infrastructure mandates are specified in the procurement documents. The contract is structured on a per-site basis without a guaranteed minimum number of inspections, allowing flexibility in project scope and vendor compensation. Pricing must include unit costs for meter box inspections (single-side and dual-side configurations), hand excavations (single-side and dual-side), and mechanical excavations (single-side and dual-side), along with associated costs for new sod and soil and pavement cuts and repair per square foot. While a specific total contract value or budget range is not disclosed in the available documentation, the anticipated scope of approximately 2,300 total inspections and the per-site payment structure suggest a substantial contract opportunity that will ultimately depend on the number of sites actually inspected and the vendor's submitted unit pricing.