Reptile & avian food, purchase of, term contract (RE-QUOTE)

Palm Beach County's Board of County Commissioners' Purchasing Department issued a Request for Quotation (RFQ) on March 15, 2021, for the purchase of reptile and avian food on a term contract basis, with quotations due by April 6, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. Palm Beach County local time. The procurement seeks premium quality frozen feeder animals and live feeder insects to supply three County facilities: Daggerwing Nature Center in Boca Raton, Green Cay Nature Center in Boynton Beach, and Okeeheelee Nature Center in West Palm Beach. The thirteen line items include various sizes of feeder mice (pinkies, fuzzies, small, medium, large, and X-breeders), feeder rats (small and medium), feeder chicks, feeder crickets in two age groups, standard mealworms, and superworms, with estimated annual quantities ranging from six to sixty packs or bags per item. Quoters must submit single, fixed unit prices with all shipping, delivery, and transportation costs included and F.O.B. destination as the delivery point, with delivery required within forty-eight hours of order receipt unless otherwise approved. The County will order on an as-needed basis with a minimum order threshold of $100 per order, and prices must remain firm for ninety days from opening and for the initial and any renewal terms. The successful quoter will be awarded an all-or-none contract on the basis of lowest responsive and responsible quotation, with an initial twelve-month term and the option to renew for four additional twelve-month periods, subject to mutual written agreement and appropriation of funds by the Board of County Commissioners.

Palm Beach County offers a 5% local preference to quoters with a permanent place of business in the County and an additional 5% Glades local preference for qualifying businesses in the Glades area. Small, minority, and women-owned business enterprise (S/M/WBE) set-aside provisions apply, allowing certified small businesses within 10% of the lowest bid to receive award consideration, with vendors required to complete Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 forms documenting proposed subcontractor participation. All quoters must be registered in the County's Vendor Self Service system, maintain current local business tax receipts and applicable licenses, and comply with E-Verify employment verification requirements, the County's commercial non-discrimination policy, and drug-free workplace certification provisions. Responses may be submitted via fax or email, and no specific budget value or incumbent vendor information was disclosed in the procurement documents. The contract structure allows the County flexibility through its as-needed ordering approach while establishing long-term pricing stability through the term contract mechanism.