Countywide Flood Forecasting System

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners is requesting sealed proposals for an automated compound flood forecasting, impact analysis, and mapping system for Hillsborough County watersheds, with proposals due September 11, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time and an estimated contract value of $850,000 over four years. Addendum No. 1 (issued August 25, 2026) and Addendum No. 2 (issued August 28, 2026) removed the original requirement for a Florida licensed professional engineer as project manager and revised insurance requirements; proposers who have already submitted must resubmit and acknowledge both addenda. A Cone of Silence is in effect, prohibiting contact with county employees or board members except through the Director of Procurement or assigned counsel, with violation resulting in disqualification.

The system must integrate current and forecasted rainfall, tides, storm surge, and other data sources into dynamic forecasting models to determine flood inundation extents and infrastructure risk. The County prefers open-source numeric modeling solutions but will evaluate proprietary solutions with source code escrow and comprehensive documentation. The system must be cloud-based with secure web-based access supporting multiple browsers and device types, maintaining the detail and resolution of existing EPA SWMM5 models. Implementation must be completed within 12 months of purchase order issuance, with the County awarding higher scores for shorter schedules. Daily operational support, maintenance, performance monitoring, and user training prior to system go-live are required.

Proposals are evaluated on 100 points: quality of proposed system and ability to achieve County objectives (40 points), proposer's understanding of scope, objectives, technical approach, and work plan (25 points), total net proposal price (25 points), and proposer's organization and staff qualifications and experience (10 points). Six proposals have been received as of September 30, 2026.

Contractors must meet extensive cybersecurity requirements aligned with NIST SP 800-53 v5 Moderate Baseline, including multi-factor authentication, TLS 1.2+ encryption in transit, AES-256 at rest, SOC 2 Type II compliance for cloud services, annual penetration testing with critical patches within 15 days, and breach notification within 24 hours. All AI processing must occur within the United States for restricted or confidential data, and county data cannot be used for model training without prior written approval. Contractors utilizing AI must complete the County's AI Vendor Security Questionnaire addressing data integrity, bias testing, model versioning, adversarial poisoning detection, and 24/7 security monitoring. Insurance requirements include commercial general liability ($1–5 million per occurrence), professional liability (up to $5 million per claim), cyber liability ($1 million minimum), and workers' compensation. Contractors must name Hillsborough County as additional insured and obtain certificates of insurance before commencing work. A Drug-Free Workplace Certification under Florida Statute 287.087 is required. Cost proposals must include implementation, testing, training, support services, and system subscriptions for years one through three with detailed milestone cost breakdowns.