Provision of Production Inserter and Lease Financing

The Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration (DPA) issued Request for Proposals AADA 2018-0295 seeking a qualified vendor to provide a production mail inserting system and capital lease financing for the Department's Integrated Document Solutions (IDS) Program serving Denver County and Denver City. The solicitation seeks a high-capacity, automatic inserting, postage metering, and folding system with a minimum cycle speed of 9,000 cycles per hour capable of processing approximately one million envelopes monthly, designed to handle various envelope types including #10 executive and 9-inch by 12-inch booklet envelopes with up to 30 sheets of 24/60 pound paper. The equipment must be either new or remanufactured as new, with contractor start-up anticipated for July 31, 2018, and estimated equipment acceptance by October 31, 2018, followed by an initial three-year lease term with optional annual maintenance agreement extensions for up to seven additional years. Proposals must include completed pricing sheets detailing fixed-rate capital lease financing for 36 monthly payments with constant principal and interest components, comprehensive technical specifications, operator training materials in electronic format, annual maintenance agreement costs based on 12 to 14 million completed envelopes annually, software licensing costs, three current customer references receiving full-service maintenance, fair market value documentation, residual value estimates, and economic life documentation. The proposal submission deadline was extended to July 26, 2018 at 3:00 P.M. MST/MDT per Addendum 1, with vendor selection and award notification estimated for August 8, 2018. Evaluation criteria include mandatory technical requirements, system integration capabilities, lease and maintenance agreement terms, training provisions, maintenance pricing, and overall value; all proposals must remain firm offers for 180 days following submission.

The RFP documents do not identify set-aside designations or restrictions limiting responses to specific organization types or disadvantaged enterprises. The current infrastructure includes two existing Pitney Bowes Flowmaster inserters within an Automated Document Factory environment; the proposed inserter must integrate seamlessly with this existing equipment and support the Mail Run Data Files (MRDF) Standard Format Version 3, Pitney Bowes Infinity Postage Meters, and software platforms including Solimar SPDE, RSA QDirect, and BCC postal software. The incumbent vendor information is not disclosed in the RFP documents. Performance standards require a two-hour initial contractor contact response and four-hour on-site technician response for repair requests, with monthly maintenance service available six days per week from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., expandable to 24/7 coverage during peak production with two weeks' advance notice. Awarded contractors must register with the Colorado Secretary of State, provide proof of business registration, a Certificate of Insurance, W-9 form, and Electronic Fund Transfer authorization within five business days of contract award. The specific budget or award value is not stated in the RFP documents; however, financial proposals must include total lease costs, lessor fees, document fees, annual maintenance costs for processing volumes of 12 to 14 million envelopes, annual software license costs, and a cash value for sale price reflecting fair market value based on at least two similar inserters leased within the past two years.