R25-009 Grass Mowing Services

Radford University is seeking comprehensive grass mowing services through Request for Proposal (RFP) #R25-009 for multiple campus locations in Virginia. The solicitation requires weekly grass mowing during the growing season (approximately April through September), with specific services including edging of walks and curbs, maintaining a 3-inch grass height, cleaning paved surfaces, and performing weed control in parking lots, sidewalks, and gravel areas. The contract encompasses mowing for main campus grounds, retention ponds, riverbanks, auxiliary housing properties, and the SELU Farm and Ropes Course, with estimated annual mowing frequencies ranging from 2-30 times per location. A pre-proposal conference was held on February 20, 2025, at 10:00 AM EST, with proposals due by February 28, 2025, at 3:00 PM EST. The evaluation criteria will focus on qualifications/experience (25%), quality of services (25%), methodology (20%), cost (20%), and Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned (SWaM) business participation (10%).

The contract will have an initial one-year term with four potential one-year renewal options, allowing for potential long-term engagement. While no specific set-aside designations are explicitly mentioned beyond the 10% SWaM participation requirement, the solicitation indicates the possibility of awarding to multiple vendors. The university's average annual spend for these services over the past five years has been approximately $100,000, suggesting a moderate-sized contract opportunity. The RFP includes cooperative purchasing provisions, enabling other Virginia higher education institutions to potentially utilize the contract. Bidders must provide labor rates for crew supervisors (estimated 80 hours) and laborers (estimated 240 hours), demonstrating the need for detailed staffing and pricing information. A detailed campus turf area map is included, which categorizes maintenance zones including regular contract mowing, trimming areas, wetlands maintenance, and railroad track maintenance, indicating complex and varied service requirements across the university's grounds.