Radio tower maintenance, repairs and installations

Palm Beach County's Board of County Commissioners issued Invitation for Bid #17-034/KM on February 13, 2017, for radio tower maintenance, repairs, and installations services, with bids due by March 9, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. Palm Beach County time. The procurement seeks a qualified contractor to provide comprehensive tower services on an as-needed basis for various existing County radio towers and RF sites, including antenna installation and replacement, cable and component replacement, tower inspections, repairs, removals, grounding repairs, painting, guy-wire tensioning, re-lamping, and shelter maintenance. The County has established strict response time requirements: conventional and microwave antenna system analysis within two calendar days for emergencies, antenna system repairs within four calendar days for non-emergency work, tower-top pre-amplifier replacement within two business days, clearance lamp replacement within two calendar days, and general tower inspection, repair, and maintenance work within four business days. Compensation is structured on an hourly rate basis with weighted factors: standard rates (0.80 weight) apply to work between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday excluding County holidays, emergency rates (0.20 weight) apply to work requiring startup within two business days, overtime rates of 1.5 times the standard rate apply to work between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. and weekends, and holiday rates of 2 times the standard rate apply to holiday work, with all rates including labor, equipment, tools, travel, fuel, mileage, mobilization, demobilization, and insurance. Qualified bidders must hold licensure as a Florida Certified General Contractor, Florida Tower Specialty Contractor, or Palm Beach County Registered General Contractor and must demonstrate successful completion of at least five antenna projects on communication towers, analysis experience with ten conventional and microwave antenna systems, and guy-wire tensioning experience on towers up to 400 feet in height. Required insurance includes commercial general liability of $500,000 per occurrence, business auto liability of $500,000 combined single limit, workers' compensation coverage, and professional liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence.

The contract includes a 15 percent Small Business Enterprise (SBE) participation goal, and pricing preferences are available for local and Glades businesses meeting residency requirements. The contract term is twelve months with options to renew for four additional twelve-month periods, subject to mutual written agreement and appropriation of funds. The anticipated contract value is $175,000 over the twelve-month initial term. No incumbent vendors or current contractors are identified in the procurement documents, and no existing infrastructure or technology integration requirements are specified beyond the maintenance and operation of existing County radio towers and RF sites.