New Elementary School Furniture

Lowndes County Schools is procuring comprehensive furniture and furnishings for the new Lake Park Elementary School in Lake Park, Georgia through a Request for Proposal (RFP 22-002.1) released on November 12, 2025. The procurement encompasses the complete design, delivery, and installation of furnishings for multiple classroom types (kindergarten through fifth grade), specialty spaces (STEM, art, music, computer lab, speech therapy), administrative offices, cafeteria, clinic, and media center. Specific deliverables include classroom tables with adjustable heights, student desks with hard plastic tops and book storage, area rugs measuring 13' x 10'6" for all K-5 classrooms, stackable student chairs for music rooms, four-drawer vertical filing cabinets, and administrative office furniture in darker finishes with wood accents and full upholstered seating. All furniture must arrive fully assembled and ready for installation, with vendors responsible for delivery, unloading, assembly, placement, and removal of waste materials during normal school hours or by arrangement for after-hours access at no additional charge. The evaluation criteria allocate 30 points for vendor qualifications and experience, 30 points for design and selection services including warranty offerings, and 40 points for cost proposal, with optional oral presentations worth up to 15 additional points. A mandatory pre-proposal conference is scheduled for December 1, 2025, at 9:00 AM, written questions must be submitted by November 24, 2025, at 4:00 PM, and proposals are due December 10, 2025, by 2:00 PM local time. Vendor presentations, if required, will occur during the week of December 15, 2025, with delivery and installation scheduled for April 2026.

The procurement documents do not specify any set-asides or restrictions limiting responses to disadvantaged enterprises or specific organization types. The previous competitive evaluation process identified seven vendors submitting proposals—Lakeshore Learning, Lee Office, Office Design Concepts, Ernie Morris, School Specialty, Nu-Idea, and Georgia Institutional Furnishings—with Nu-Idea selected as the awarded contractor, though the current RFP represents a new solicitation opportunity. The contract value for the awarded FF&E contract is $645,381.41, with all unit pricing required to be FOB Destination including delivery and installation. Vendors must provide certificates of insurance within five business days of award, including comprehensive general liability coverage of $1,000,000 per person and aggregate, automobile liability of $1,000,000, workers' compensation of $500,000 per person, and umbrella coverage of $5,000,000 per occurrence. The contract performance period commences the day following board approval for twelve calendar months, with Lowndes County Schools retaining the option to renew for four additional one-year terms based on funding availability, contractor performance, and mutual agreement, provided that all contract pricing remains fixed with price escalation requests limited to 5% and requiring full documentation of necessity.