RFP - Mortuary Services for the Harris County Housing and Community Development Department

Harris County Housing and Community Development Department is soliciting proposals for comprehensive mortuary services to serve Harris County, the third-largest county in the United States with an estimated population of 5,000,000. The contract, which will commence January 1, 2027, and continue for one year with four optional one-year renewals, requires vendors to furnish all necessary labor, materials, and equipment to provide approximately 1,300 cremations and/or burials of infants, children, and adults annually under the Bereavement Services Program, which administers indigent burial assistance as required by Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 694. Vendors must provide five service options on an all-inclusive, unit-price basis: direct cremation without funeral service, direct cremation with funeral service, traditional cremation with funeral service and viewing, traditional burial with funeral service and viewing, and traditional burial with funeral service without viewing. All services must be performed within Harris County and include decedent transportation, embalming, preparation, shelter of remains, funeral services conducted with dignity and solemnity, coordination with Harris County Cemetery and Houston National Cemetery, proper filing of required documentation, and the ability to accommodate up to 250 decedent referrals. Qualified vendors must be licensed by the Texas Funeral Service Commission with a minimum of three licensed funeral directors on call at all times, including a full-time Funeral Director in Charge onsite at least five days weekly, must maintain three removal vehicles and three removal teams on standby, and must provide adequate walk-in cold storage and a chapel or viewing room. Proposals are due April 20, 2026, with a pre-proposal conference scheduled for March 31, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. CST via Microsoft Teams. The evaluation committee will assess proposals based on qualifications and experience (25%), capacity and resources (25%), organization and project methodology (20%), pricing (15%), and presentation/interview and facility site visit performance (15%), and vendors must provide minimum six references from similar projects completed within the past ten years and proof of Texas Funeral Service Commission licensure.

Harris County does not identify specific set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises, though the Subcontractor Listing Form requires disclosure of proposed subcontractors holding Certified HUB/MWBE or Certified Section 3 designations. All bidders must complete mandatory forms certifying tax residency status under Texas Government Code 2252.001 et seq., with resident bidders whose principal place of business is in Texas potentially receiving preferential consideration. The RFP requires compliance with Harris County's minimum wage policy establishing a mandatory minimum wage of $21.65 per hour (adjusted annually based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator) for all workers directly assigned to the contract, applicable to contracts valued over $100,000. Contractors must maintain Workers' Compensation Insurance with Employers' Liability limits of $1,000,000 per accident and per employee, Commercial General Liability with $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 general aggregate, Automobile Liability with combined single limits of $1,000,000 per accident, Umbrella/Excess Liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence/aggregate, and Professional/Errors & Omissions Liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence/aggregate, with Harris County named as an Additional Insured on a primary/non-contributory basis. No specific award value or budget range is provided in the RFP documentation, and pricing will be determined through the competitive proposal process on a unit-price basis for each of the five service options specified.