OEM Water

The City of Philadelphia's Office of Emergency Management is requesting proposals for emergency bottled potable water supply under a multi-vendor contract vehicle with proposals due June 15, 2026. The contract will establish up to five qualified vendors operating across four capacity-based tiers, with no mandatory set-asides or preference programs stated.

Vendors may qualify for one, multiple, or all operational tiers based on demonstrated capacity and logistics infrastructure. Tier 1 requires 50-pallet delivery within 12 hours of notification; Tier 2 requires 100 pallets within 24 hours with sustained daily capacity of 100–300 pallets; Tier 3 requires up to 1,000 pallets within 48 hours with sustained daily capacity of 1,000–2,000 pallets; and Tier 4 requires catastrophic-scale operations sustaining up to 9,600 pallets per day with trailer staging capability. The primary product specification is 16.9 oz bottles; 1L and 1.5L sizes are optional. All bottled water must comply with FDA, EPA, and state drinking water standards. Shipments are palletized, shrink-wrapped, and delivered FOB destination to warehouses, Points of Distribution, staging areas, or designated facilities as directed by the City's logistics point of contact.

The contract is structured as a standby emergency agreement with no required pre-purchase inventory unless separately authorized. Vendors must maintain constant operational readiness, provide current production and delivery capacity upon request, identify primary and alternate supply sources, and participate in periodic readiness verification activities. Proposal submissions must include detailed operational documentation: daily and maximum surge production capacity measured in bottles per day, maximum daily truckload availability, and distribution network structure with geographic coverage.

The Office of Emergency Management will request additional information pending each vendor's response and may request a meeting to discuss specific information.