Furnish & Install (3) Mercury Outboard Engines - Fire Boat

The Town of Stratford, Connecticut, on behalf of its Fire Department, is soliciting sealed bids under Bid 2027-14 to remove three Verado 300HP outboard engines and furnish and install three Mercury 300HP SeaPro engines on its M233 Fire Boat, with bids due November 10, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eligibility is restricted to certified Mercury Marine Dealers, which functions as a single-manufacturer filter. Electronic submission is prohibited, so bids must be delivered to the Town of Stratford Purchasing Department, 2725 Main Street, Room 104, Stratford, Connecticut 06615.

The vessel is a 2014 SAFE Boats 33 Full Cabin. Bidders must have a minimum of five years' marine industry experience, certified service personnel, adequate replacement parts inventory, and a full-time service department within 30 minutes of Stratford. The service department must offer 24-hour, 365-day emergency breakdown service with a one-hour minimum call-out response time. Scope includes engine removal and rigging, installation of Mercury Premier DTS triple-engine binnacle controls, Gen C power steering components, a VesselView 703 display, three Revolution 4 propellers, pre-delivery inspection, engine registration, and launch and sea trials. The contractor must provide a three-year warranty on equipment, parts, and labor and serve as the single point of contact for warranty, maintenance, and repair. Bidders must submit three municipal references for similar projects completed within the past three years.

The project is funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Year 2026 Port Security Grant Program (Award Number EMW-2026-PU-05401) with a total award of $98,312.00, including $32,769.73 in non-federal funds. Pricing must be a single all-inclusive figure on an F.O.B. Destination basis, with separate line items for labor, engines, and materials and parts. Bidders must also quote regular-hours and emergency after-hours labor rates by classification, and may offer an optional trade-in value for the removed engines. Prices remain firm for 90 days, and the Town will withhold five percent of the total bid amount for 90 days after final payment.

Written questions are due by 12:00 p.m. on November 2, 2026, with responses posted as addenda by November 5, 2026. Vessel inspection is by appointment only through Purchasing Agent Phillip Ryan at pryan@townofstratford.com. The Town will award based on compliance, experience, geographic location, response time, and cost, without stated weighting.