Natural Areas Vegetation Management (REBID)

The City of Gainesville's Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs (PRCA) is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Natural Areas Vegetation Management Services across approximately 3,200 acres of conservation lands within the city's park system. The procurement seeks a qualified contractor to perform terrestrial invasive plant removal and native woody vegetation management through herbicide application using foliar, hack and squirt, basal bark, and cut stem treatments, along with light manual or mechanical brush clearing. Deliverables include the removal of invasive exotic plant species, treatment of upland native woody plant species for longleaf pine system restoration, and follow-up and long-term maintenance activities to achieve a minimum 90 percent control rate of target species. Qualified proposers must demonstrate a minimum of seven years' experience in uplands natural areas management with at least three reference projects covering large-scale habitat restoration, and the Contract Project Manager must possess either a degree in Natural Resource Sciences, Ecology, Biology, or related field plus five years of Florida ecosystem experience, or ten years' experience without a degree, along with a current Florida pesticide applicator license. Crew supervisors must hold a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services pesticide applicator license with Natural Areas Weed Management certification and may supervise up to eight field employees. The mandatory pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for February 23, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at Hogtown Creek Headwaters Nature Center, with questions due by March 2, 2026, and proposals due by March 9, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. The projected award date is April 6, 2026, with a contract start date of April 27, 2026.

The contract term runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026, with four possible 12-month extensions, and pricing is structured on a time and materials basis with hourly rates for labor categories, equipment rentals, and herbicide products. The City reserves the right to award to both a Primary and an Alternate Contractor, and no subcontracting is permitted under this contract. Work orders will be issued by the City project manager and may be structured as either estimate-based or not-to-exceed work orders, with the contractor responsible for free follow-up treatments if control standards are not met. Living wage requirements apply to this procurement. The estimated not-to-exceed budget for fiscal year 2026 is $85,000, with the City reserving the right to adjust pricing annually by up to 3 percent based on the Consumer Price Index. No set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises or restrictions on organizational type have been identified in the available procurement documentation.