Environmental Monitoring Assessment & Consulting Services

Tampa Bay Water, a regional water supply authority serving Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties and the cities of Tampa, New Port Richey, and St. Petersburg in Florida, is issuing a Request for Proposals to procure environmental monitoring assessment and consulting services for six wellfields: Cross Bar Ranch, Cypress Bridge, Cypress Creek, J.B. Starkey/North Pasco, Morris Bridge, and Northwest Hillsborough. The services encompass ecological monitoring of wetland vegetation and hydrological conditions, data analysis, and preparation of permit-required annual reports in compliance with the Consolidated Water Use Permit issued by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Qualified respondents must demonstrate project team availability, project management experience, similar work experience, statistical expertise, regional ecological and hydrologic knowledge, GIS and remote sensing capabilities, and expert witness experience. Proposals will be evaluated on a 125-point scoring system that weighs project team availability (10 points), project management experience (15 points), similar work experience (25 points), statistical expertise (10 points), regional ecological knowledge (10 points), regional hydrologic knowledge (10 points), GIS and remote sensing expertise (10 points), recommended project approach (20 points), expert witness experience (5 points), volume of work previously awarded to Tampa Bay Water (5 points), and minority business enterprise certification status (5 points). A pre-proposal conference is scheduled for March 24, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. EST at Tampa Bay Water's office in Clearwater, Florida, with proposals due electronically through Bonfire or physically to the Records Department by 10:00 a.m. EST on April 29, 2026. The contract term runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2030, with tentative contract award scheduled for August 17, 2026.

Tampa Bay Water intends to award up to six contracts with a maximum of two contracts to any single proposer, though specific award values or budget ranges are not disclosed in the RFP documentation. All respondents must carry comprehensive general liability insurance with minimum limits of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, professional liability insurance with $1,000,000 limits, workers' compensation coverage, and vehicle liability of $500,000. Compensation will be negotiated and detailed in the final contract, with payment calculated using one of three methods: raw labor rate with multiplier, hourly rate all-inclusive, or fixed fee. Respondents must comply with Florida Statutes regarding E-Verify employment verification, non-discrimination, public records requirements, and prohibitions on doing business with entities on convicted vendor, discriminatory vendor, or scrutinized companies lists. The RFP does not specify explicit set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises, though minority business enterprise certification status is evaluated as a scoring criterion worth 5 points. Respondents must accept the sample contract terms as presented or provide written comments for Tampa Bay Water's consideration, with the authority reserving the right to reject modification requests.