Underground Utility Locating Service

The City of Austin, operating through Austin Energy, is conducting a competitive sealed Request for Proposals (RFP 1100 LLM3005) for underground utility locating and marking services throughout Austin Energy's public utility servicing areas across Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop counties. The solicitation was posted on March 2, 2026, with a proposal due date of March 31, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. CST, with offer opening scheduled for 3:00 p.m. CST that same day. A non-mandatory pre-offer conference is scheduled for March 12, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. CST via Microsoft Teams, and written questions must be submitted by March 16, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. CST via email. The contractor must provide qualified personnel, labor, vehicles, tools, safety devices, equipment, supervision, and materials to safely and effectively locate and mark underground utilities in response to excavation notices directed to Austin Energy through the Texas 811 Notification Center, with services available 365 days per year, 24 hours per day, and 7 days per week. The estimated annual workload consists of 75,000 to 100,000 service tickets, with historical monthly volumes of 6,000 to 8,500 tickets, including normal locate requests requiring 48-hour response times during business hours (7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday) and emergency locates requiring 2-hour response times at all times. The initial contract term is 24 months from execution, with options for the City to extend for up to three additional 12-month periods, and contractors must complete a 60-day ramp-up period following contract execution. Contractors must achieve a 95 percent on-time performance rate, comply with OSHA and ANSI standards, APWA Uniform Color Codes, Texas Utilities Code Chapter 251, and Common Ground Alliance Best Practices, interface with Austin Energy's KorTerra ticket management system, and provide digital photographs meeting minimum 200 DPI resolution standards. The evaluation criteria assigns up to 100 points across Program (20 points), Staffing Plan (20 points), Offeror Experience & Personnel (25 points), Price (15 points), Local Business Preference (up to 10 points), and Small Business Preference (up to 10 points), with offerors required to demonstrate minimum three consecutive years of underground locating experience within the past five years and provide at least three client references.

The solicitation does not designate set-asides specifically for disadvantaged enterprises; however, local and small business preferences are available offering up to 10 points each for proposals valued between $50,000 and $499,999, and up to 6 points each for proposals between $500,000 and $50 million. Contractors must comply with the City's living wage requirement of $22.05 per hour for all directly assigned employees and subcontractors, and the City's Austin Small Minority Business Resources office determined that no mandatory Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) subcontracting goals apply due to insufficient subcontracting opportunities and limited certified M/WBE firm availability, though contractors utilizing subcontractors must remain compliant with M/WBE program requirements. No incumbent vendor or current contractor information is identified in the solicitation documents. Contractors must integrate with Austin Energy's KorTerra Utility Industry Application ticket management system and comply with comprehensive data security and network access requirements, including implementation of the Anywhere Outside Connect (AOC) platform for remote access with SSH encryption, data handling controls requiring encryption of all City Data, and background checks for all personnel with data access. Contractors are also required to carry insurance coverage including workers' compensation with $1,000,000 limits, commercial general liability with $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, business automobile liability with $1,000,000 combined single limit, and $5,000,000 umbrella coverage. The specific contract value or budget range is not disclosed in the solicitation documents, with pricing to be submitted on a per-ticket basis for normal business hours locates and emergency after-hours locates at higher rates, and all pricing must remain firm for the initial 12 months with adjustments possible on subsequent anniversary dates subject to verifiable cost trends.