Grounds Maintenance at Evergreen Cemetery

The City of Gainesville, Florida is soliciting bids for grounds maintenance services at Evergreen Cemetery, a 56-acre facility located at 401 SE 21st Avenue in Gainesville. The procurement requires contractors to furnish supervision, labor, equipment, and materials to provide year-round landscape maintenance including debris removal, mowing, edging, raking, pruning, fertilizing, and blowing. Key deliverables include weekly mowing from May through September and bi-weekly to monthly mowing during other seasons, mechanical edging every two weeks from March through October, twice-annual shrub pruning, April raking of grounds prior to fertilization, application of 10-10-10 slow-release fertilizer at 400 pounds per acre in compliance with Alachua County Code Chapter 78, and weekly debris removal. Minimum qualifications require bidders to possess at least five years of experience in landscape maintenance with supervisory personnel holding five years of supervisory experience, provide at least three verifiable references from similar projects completed within the past two years, and own adequate commercial-grade equipment meeting specified age requirements (less than 10 years for mowing equipment, less than 5 years for handheld equipment, and less than 15 years for vehicles). The contract term runs from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2028, with possible extension for up to three additional 12-month periods. Evaluation criteria include price, technical expertise and past performance, and resource availability. Critical deadlines include a mandatory pre-proposal meeting on April 20, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. at the cemetery site, a question submission deadline of April 27, 2026 at 3:00 p.m., and a bid response deadline of May 7, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. Bidders must submit completed bid forms along with Technical Expertise and Experience Forms, Resources Forms detailing equipment inventories, and Reference Forms documenting prior comparable work.

The solicitation includes local preference provisions that may be awarded to vendors possessing a valid City of Gainesville business tax receipt issued at least six months prior to bid opening and maintaining a physical business address within city limits. A drug-free workplace certification is available as a tiebreaker criterion. The contract is subject to compliance with Florida's E-Verify employment verification requirements, living wage requirements applicable through September 30, 2026, and the Consolidated State Law Affidavit requirements addressing non-placement on vendor scrutiny lists, non-involvement with Israel-boycotting companies or sanctioned-country operations, non-involvement with human trafficking, and non-ownership by foreign governments of concern. The contractor must maintain workers' compensation insurance, professional liability insurance as determined by the City, public liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence, and automobile liability insurance of $500,000 per occurrence. Contractors are classified as independent contractors and must comply with all applicable Florida statutes. No specific budget range or award value is disclosed in the solicitation documents, and no incumbent contractor information is identified. Payment will be made electronically via electronic funds transfer within forty-five days of receipt of a complete and correct invoice, and either party may terminate the contract without cause upon thirty days' written notice, with the City retaining the right to terminate immediately for loss of funding.