GROUNDS MAINTENANCE

The State of South Carolina Department of Administration, specifically through the Division of Facilities Management and Property Services, is seeking qualified vendors for comprehensive grounds maintenance services across multiple state-owned facilities in Columbia and West Columbia. The solicitation, numbered 5400024469, covers 21 buildings and requires extensive maintenance including weekly mowing (March-October, twice monthly November-February), edging and trimming, fertilization, landscape bed annual replacements, mulching, weeding, and debris removal. Contractors must provide services between 7:00 AM and 7:00 AM Monday through Friday, with optional additional services such as insecticide and fungicide treatments and pre/post-emergent weed control. Key procurement dates include a pre-bid conference on December 29, 2022, at 10:00 AM via Microsoft Teams, vendor questions due by January 3, 2023, at 5:00 PM, and sealed bids due on January 23, 2023, at 11:00 AM. Vendors must possess at least five years of experience in similar projects, maintain commercial general liability insurance with $1,000,000 per occurrence, and submit pricing on a unit-price basis for each service line item.

Vendor qualifications include holding a local business license and providing three references for comparable work, with preferences given to in-state vendors and resident contractors as defined by South Carolina Code Section 11-35-1524. Vendors must register with the State of South Carolina to obtain a vendor number before submitting an offer, with all bids to be submitted online through www.procurement.sc.gov. The initial contract term is one year with four potential one-year renewals, creating a maximum contract period of five years from the estimated start date of February 6, 2023, to February 5, 2028. While specific budget ranges are not explicitly stated, the total annual cost across all facilities is estimated at $1,848.00, calculated over the five-year contract term. The State reserves the right to add or remove locations and may request price adjustments for renewal terms, though prices cannot be increased during the initial contract year. No incumbent vendors were specifically identified in the solicitation documents.