Sea Turtle Nesting Monitoring

INTRODUCTION: The Town of Palm Beach, Florida ("the Town"), is hereby requesting proposals from qualified firms to conduct daily monitoring of marine turtle nests from March 1st to October 31st as required by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The Scope of work includes daily monitoring and documentation of all nesting activity including identification and categorization of false crawls and reporting of nesting success and hatching success. Reporting includes all requirements specified by the FDEP Beach Management Agreement, as well as authorizations from US Fish & Wildlife Service and Army Corp of Engineers. Monitoring to conform to the protocol established by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Marine Turtle Conservation Handbook. This contract includes: a. Monitoring/reporting of sea turtle nesting activity throughout the Town of Palm Beach b. Monitoring/reporting of lighting sources visible from the beach berm elevation c. Monitoring/reporting of escarpment formations d. Monitoring/reporting of nesting seabird and shorebirds within project boundaries e. Nest marking for the purpose of nest avoidance by beach cleaning equipment f. Management of marine turtle survey zones and data management and compilation for the entire BMA area g. Report submittals FWC required nourishment spreadsheets, FWC SNBS Spreadsheets and FWC NPA spreadsheets SUBMISSION: The Town only accepts online submittal of proposals through Bonfire, the eProcurement platform linked to the Town website, promoting a greener footprint. No proposer may withdraw their proposals for a period of one hundred and twenty (120) days from the date set for the opening thereof. NON-MANDATORY PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE A NON-MANDATORY Pre-Proposal Conference will be held virtually via the Microsoft Teams meeting platform. Date/Time are specified in the "Events" section. To join the meeting please see the instructions included under "Files" or copy/paste the URL in the "Events" section into your browser. Attendance is strongly encouraged as this will be the only forum to seek clarification directly from Project Manager and Town staff. AWARD: Award shall be made to the Proposer which offers the best value to the Town. The Town reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive non-material irregularities or technicalities and to re-advertise for all or any part of this solicitation as deemed in its best interest. The Town shall be the sole judge of its best interest. TERM: The duration of the contract based on this request for proposals shall be for a period of one (1) year with four (4) optional one-year periods, based on satisfactory performance, budget authorization and mutual agreement, for a maximum contract duration of five (5) years. RESPONSIBLE VENDOR DETERMINATION: Respondent is hereby notified that Section 287.05701, Florida Statutes, requires that the Town of Palm Beach may not request documentation of or consider a vendor's social, political, or ideological interest when determining if the vendor is a responsible vendor. QUESTIONS: Questions related to this solicitation should be submitted through Bonfire using the Messages/Vendor Discussion feature. CONTACT: For help with creating an account or submitting a bid, please contact Bonfire Help Desk: Phone: 1 (800) 354-8010 Email: support.bonfire@eunasolutions.com For all other questions, please contact the designated Procurement representative: Ryan Canterbury, Senior Procurement and Contract Agent Phone: (561) 227-7002 Email: rcanterbury@townofpalmbeach.com Due to the Cone of Silence, all communications regarding this solicitation shall be handled solely by Town Procurement Representatives.