Request for Qualifications with Cost Proposals

RFQ/P #44-033

For the provision of

Exploring New Technologies for Leachate Treatment at the Candler Road Landfill

Hall County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners (Herein “County”) is soliciting bid responses from qualified companies specializing in Leachate Treatment Technology (Herein “Services’) according to the Scope of Work as specified herein.

Schedule of Events:

Bid Post Date: March 21, 2024

Bidders Questions Due Date: April 4, 2024

Answers to Questions Due Date: April 11, 2024

Bid Due Date: April 18, 2024, 2:00 PM EST

Bidding Process: The County is now accepting sealed bid proposals from qualified companies specializing in their technology, services, and leachate treatment equipment (herein ‘Services’). The County will accept Bids in the Purchasing Division located on the fourth (4th) floor of the Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 30504, until April 18, 2024, 2:00pm EST, or equally digitally by the same time and date. All bid packets must be time and date stamped by the Hall County receptionist on the 4th floor to be considered.

Public Reading: Bid openings are open to the public and bidders. Bidders are not required to attend but may do so. The Issuing Officer named herein will open and publicly read all proposer’s company names on the date, time and address above. Cost will not be read at this time but published after the County has evaluated the qualifications of each bidder.

Addendums: If needed and in the best interest of the County, Purchasing may make any extension of the bidding period by a formal written addendum and publically posted on the County website. All addendum must be signed by the bidder and returned with the bid packet.

Proposal Documents: Bidders may obtain all submittal documents at no cost via the County’s Website located under Related Documents at https://www.hallcounty.org/Bids.aspx,then click the Exploring New Technologies for Leachate Treatment at the Candler Road Landfill link and download the bid packet containing all required documents.

1. General Qualifications:

Bidders must be in the regular business of providing the Services as their principal core line of work.

The contractor shall be responsible for all work performed in support of this contract including all sub-contractors. All Sub-Bidders must disclose proposed Sub-Contractors in their bid response. Contractors must be pre-approved in writing by the County.

2. The County may refuse to pay for any work done outside of the Scope of Work or before the issuance of a Notice to Proceed.

3. Bidders shall provide copies of the following Licensing with their bid response:

A. Valid Business License

B. Required licenses and certifications

C. Letter of Bondability that your firm can acquire Performance and Payment bonds equal to 100% each of the contract value. Awarded Contractors must produce the Bonds prior to any work commencing.

Request for Clarification: The County reserves the right to request clarification of information submitted and to request additional information of one or more applicants. The County considers a bid response as an irrevocable offer, good for a period of one-hundred and twenty (120) days from submission.

Legally Binding Agreement: The County and the selected Service Provider shall enter into a formal agreement; substantially in the form of the attached EXHIBIT – B CONTRACT FOR SERVICE by counter signing the contract with an execution date. Contracts are only valid if they are countersigned. Bidders should sign the Contract and submit it with their bid response. All questions regarding the Scope of Work should be included in the response to the Proposal. If there are no written objections then the County will take this as an affirmative acceptance of the Scope of Work as it is presented.

The County reserves the right to reject all proposals, in full or partial, and to negotiate fees, conditions, or other terms with the respondent submitting the overall best scored proposal.

Technical Qualifications Proposal Response: Bidders must answer all Mandatory Scored Questions contained herein. The County’s Evaluation Committee will weigh bidder’s answers with score point values. The total maximum points are set at 1,000. The County uses an 80/20 split for scoring points, with 80% (800) points available for the Technical Qualifications, and two-hundred (200) points available for the Cost Proposal. The bidder with the highest total point scores closest to 1,000 will be the apparent contract award winner.

Proposers are required to answer all the Mandatory Scored questions. The proposer’s response should limit answers directly to the questions asked.

Bidders may expand their answers to the questions onto separate pages if needed, with the question repeated at the top of each page, in addition to the space provided next to each Mandatory Scored Question Worksheet. Please do not submit bound bid responses. Provide one-side documents only. Do not include superfluous marketing materials.

All quantitative material should include complete assumptions and be supported by detailed schedules evidencing all calculations and results.

Responses to the questions should be clear and concise. Where appropriate, Bidder’s should show statistical information in a tabular chart format, and textual information in bullet form. If possible, summarize key information or points for each question at the beginning of answers.

Evaluation and Selection: The County will evaluate all submittals in accordance with the Official Code of Hall County, Georgia 3.10, and as further detailed herein. The County will evaluate proposals using a two-step process. The first is the ‘Technical Qualifications Proposal’ that outlines the bidding firm’s qualifications and experience and its approach to The Evaluation Committee will evaluate cost for such services to determine the best value in the interest of the County. The apparent award winner and may be asked to enter negotiations with the County.

During the evaluation process, the County reserve the right, when it may serve the County’s best interest, to request information for clarification from proposers and to allow corrections to errors or omissions.

Validation: Bidders must sign and notarize their submittals. Digital signatures are acceptable. Hall County requires that bidders provide a cover letter with a signature by an officer of the firm with the submittal to ensure its originality. Please submit one (1) hard paper proposal marked “Original” with signature, along with three (3) copies, and additionally provide the proposals (technical and separately cost) in a digital format on a USB drive.

The County reserves the right to retain all proposals submitted and use any idea(s) in a proposal regardless of contract award or not. The County shall have the right to waive any informality or irregularity of immaterial deviation in any bid received.

Bidders must complete and return all forms and documents entitled ‘Mandatory’ with the bid or the proposal. Failure to do so may deem the proposal non-responsive and the County may not evaluate it for award.

Award Process: The County reserves the option to reject any or all bids, in whole-or-in-part, or to select any bidder to complete the described Service. The County will not make an award of contract solely based on lowest bid, but also on approach, references, qualifications and other subjective criteria as the County may deem necessary and determine at its sole discretion.

Questions: Bidder’s must present all questions in writing and directed solely to the issuing officer at cwright@hallcounty.org For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address. .

Non-Collusion: Bidders must have no contact of any nature with any other bidders, County staff members, its elected officials, nor Commissioners, during the evaluation process. The County may deem such as collusion, and thus render the submission in violation of the Official Code of Hall County and thus the County may render the proposal as non-responsive and not evaluate the proposal for an award.

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Statement of Need

3.0 General Business Requirements

4.0 Scope of Services

5.0 Submission of Proposals

6.0 RFQ/P Response Preparation

7.0 Selection Process

8.0 Exhibits and Attachments

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Hall County, Georgia, desires Leachate Treatment Services and is soliciting submissions for this Request for Qualifications with Cost Proposal (herein ‘RFQ/P’) for the service. Hall County also requests that firms provide a Yearly Preventative maintenance proposal for the Leachate Treatment System.

Background and description:

The Hall County Candler Road Landfill opened in 1997. At total build-out, the site shall have nine (9) cells totaling 94.2 acres of capacity for solid waste. Out of this total, Candler Road currently has six (6) cells totaling 52.30 acres that are constructed and operational with the seventh (7th) cell soon to be constructed in the next six (6) months. The site accepts approximately 320 tons of solid waste per operational day.

The reverse osmosis leachate treatment system currently in place has been operational since 2013.

All six (6) cells have their own dedicated side slope riser pump. All of these pumps connect into one common force main that sends raw leachate into one of two 154,000-gallon raw leachate storage tanks. Also pumped into these two (2) tanks is a minor amount of wastewater from the vehicle wash bay, facility restrooms, and the wash water from the tipping floor. The raw leachate is aerated in the first 154,000-gallon tank and then allowed to settle in the second 154,000-gallon tank. From the second 154,000-gallon tank, raw leachate is pumped into a small cone bottom tank with the manual basket screen. The reverse osmosis treatment facility is fed by this small cone bottom tank. After treatment, the reverse osmosis treatment facility sends permeate into a 44,000-gallon tank to be used for dust control on other on-site purposes. The concentrate is pumped into a 22,000-gallon tank for later injection into the landfill cells.

2.0. STATEMENT OF NEED

The County seeks to award one (1) company for all the services. The County expects the awarded company to be prompt, attentive, and able to perform the work in a timely and scheduled manner and with personnel, including sub-contractors, to be professional in approach and uniform in production.

3.0 GENERAL BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

3.1 Insurance Requirements. If awarded, The Contractor must maintain insurance policies at the Contractor's own expense and must furnish the County with a Certificate of Insurance (COI) providing evidence of coverage at least in the amounts indicated in EXHIBIT B – CONTRACT FOR SERVICES. The insurance certificate must list County as the certificate holder and as an additional insured under the commercial general, automobile and umbrella liability policies as follows: “Hall County, Georgia, its Board of Commissioners, officers, employees, servants and agents, 2875 Browns Bridge Rd, Gainesville, GA 30504”.

4.0 SCOPE OF WORK

4.1 Contractors shall provide all supervision, labor, equipment, and materials necessary to perform the Services. This proposal shall also present the removal of the existing reverse osmosis system, to be left on a site determined by the County for the County’s salvage value or the option of buying the County’s current system. The proposal shall specify any details on the bidder’s desire to re-use components of the existing system, such as screens, steps, porches, tanks, or containers. Additionally, the proposal should specify any equipment or labor that shall need to be provided by the County to make the system fully operational. The proposal should provide to the County as part of the RFQ/P a detailed proposal to provide maintenance at the leachate treatment facility.

Please provide detailed information on past projects of a similar nature. Describe similarities between the previous project and Hall County’s proposed Project. Identify key players involved in the past project that will be participating in the design and construction of the Project. Provide a reference name and current contact number for each project listed.

Technical Specifications:

- The system must be able to treat, remove, or destroy PFAS.

- The system must have remote operation/monitoring capabilities.

- The system shall be of an approved design, fabricated by a manufacturer regularly engaged in the production of water and wastewater treatment equipment. The manufacturer must have successful, similar leachate treatment operations, preferably in the State of Georgia.

- All equipment materials shall be supplied per the specifications as intended for a complete and operational system.

4.2 The contractor shall be responsible for all work performed in support of this contract. Sub-contractors shall perform no work unless pre-approved in writing by the County. Contractors must disclose any intended sub-contractors within the bid at the time of bid submissions. If the bidder intends to use a sub-contractor(s) to fulfill one entire segment of this contract, then the bidder should submit to the County professional references for the sub-contractor on jobs similar in size and scope. Once the County has awarded the contract, the contractor cannot change sub-contractors without seeking written pre-approval from the County. The County reserves the right to check all references and conduct background checks on any changes to sub-contractors or workers performing work under this contract. The contractor shall be wholly responsible for the quality of their sub-contractor’s work. The contractor shall disclose the percentage (%) of the work to be completed by each sub-contractor.

4.3 If awarded, the Contractor must maintain insurance policies at the Contractor's own expense and must furnish the County with a Certificate of Insurance (COI) providing evidence of coverage at least in the amounts indicated in EXHIBIT B –CONTRACT FOR SERVICES. The insurance certificate must list County as the certificate holder and as an additional insured under the commercial general, automobile and umbrella liability policies as follows: “Hall County, Georgia, its Board of Commissioners, officers, employees, servants and agents, 2875 Browns Bridge Rd, Gainesville, GA 30504”.

4.4 County Consultants. If the County selects a consulting firm, owner’s representative, or other then Contractors MUST follow all specification sections prepared by the County’s consultant who may act under the County’s Project Manager as an ongoing consultant and MUST be allowed to inspect all work.

5.0 SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

5.1 The County request that Bidders submit proposals addressing all items listed below. Failure to include any of these mandatory documents may result in disqualification. All responses must be in writing. Bidders should submit one (1) copy of marked “Original” and three (3) marked “Copy” and all documents loaded onto one (1) USB flash drive in MS Word, Excel and PDF formats depending on the document with the technical response and cost proposal separated into two different file folders on the USB flash Drive.

5.2 Bidder’s must submit their sealed bid response packages clearly marked with RFQ/P #44-033 Exploring New Technologies for Leachate Treatment at the Candler Road Landfill.

If awarded, The Contractor must maintain insurance policies at the Contractor's own expense and must furnish the County with a Certificate of Insurance (COI) providing evidence of coverage at least in the amounts indicated in EXHIBIT B –CONTRACT FOR SERVICES. The insurance certificate must list County as the certificate holder and as an additional insured under the commercial general, automobile and umbrella liability policies as follows: “Hall County, Georgia, its Board of Commissioners, officers, employees, servants and agents, 2875 Browns Bridge Rd, Gainesville, GA 30504”.

5.3 Follow these instructions carefully. Include in your bid response package two (2) separate, sealed envelopes. Mark one envelope with Technical Qualifications Response, and enclose these completed Exhibits:

Exhibit A - Mandatory Bid Response Sheet (Signed)

Exhibit B – Contract for Services (Signed)

Exhibit D – Mandatory Completed W-9 Form (Signed)

Exhibit E - Mandatory E-Verify Affidavit (Signed)

Exhibit F – Mandatory Ethics Affidavit (Signed)

Exhibit G – Mandatory Scored Questions

Copy of Business License

Letter of Bondability

Certificate of Insurance

Copy of Professional Licenses or Certifications

In a separate sealed envelope from above, enclose a completed Exhibit C - Mandatory Proposal Cost Worksheet and clearly mark Cost Proposal Worksheet on the envelope.

Do not enclose the Cost Proposal Worksheet in the Technical Response envelope. This may render your proposal as non-responsive and thus not evaluated for award.

5.4 The County will make all proposals submitted publicly available by a written Open Records Request.

Bidders may submit to the following address by the deadline date and time. All deliveries must be date and timed stamped. The County is not responsible for late bids due to mailing delays.

5.4.1 Hand Delivery/FedEx/UPS/USPS/Courier:

Hall County Government Center

Cheryl Wright, Issuing Officer

Purchasing Division - 4th Floor,

2875 Browns Bridge Road

Gainesville, Georgia 30504

6.0. RFQ/P RESPONSE PREPARATION

6.1 The Contractor bears all responsibility for all expenses incurred in responding to this RFQ/P such expenses to be borne exclusively by the proposer.

6.2 Cover Letter: Prepare and submit a cover letter for transmittal addressing General Qualifications. Provide the following information: Name of Proposer, Name and title of the persons who will manage the engagement, mailing address, physical address, telephone numbers, and email address of Proposer

6.3 Describe the organization of your firm, the location of offices, and your resources that are available to accomplish the work for the County.

6.4 Of the services listed in the Scope of Services, indicate which ones, if any, your firm would be unable to provide. If there is another service that your firm could provide instead, please elaborate.

6.5 The County will not accept Joint Proposals unless otherwise noted herein. An awarded Contractor may utilize subcontractors, as needed and pre-approved by the County. Bidders must submit all intended Sub-Contracts with their proposal. If plans to subcontract portions of the required services are included, please provide detail on such plans

7.0 SELECTION PROCESS

7.1 The evaluation process will include a pre-selected Evaluation Committee comprised of Hall County stakeholders and subject matter experts. The Committee will evaluate the technical qualifications. The highest scoring bidders may be asked for an interview, further negotiations, demonstrations, or a Best and Final Offer.

7.2 Each proposal should contain the Mandatory Cost Proposal Worksheet (in a separate envelope) as provided with the RFQ/P document.

7.3 The Evaluation Committee will review each proposal with regard to demonstrated breadth of service, experience, financial stability, personnel, rates, references, lead times and other related criteria.

7.4 The successful respondent will be required to submit acceptable evidence of compliance with professional liability insurance coverage requirements as outlined in the Contract document.

7.5 Respondents are encouraged to submit clear and concise responses and excessive length or extraneous information is discouraged. In an effort to ensure our ability to evaluate and choose a successful Contractor, respondents are encouraged to organize their proposal as follows:

Section 1 – Cover Letter and Executive Summary

Section 2 – Answer all Mandatory Scored Questions

Section 3 – Cost Proposals Submitted in a separate sealed envelope

7.6 Bidder’s must locate and complete all Exhibits to this RFQ/P and submit with the bid. Bidders failing to do so may result in the bid to be

Non-responsive and thus not evaluated.

7.7 If unable to reach an agreement with the highest scoring Contractor, the County retains the right to negotiate with the next highest scoring company and so on until reaching a satisfactory agreement or the County may terminate the process.

7.8 The County structured the evaluation process to secure highly competitive bidders who would be most effective in delivering the Services. The primary objective of the evaluation process is to select a firm that:

7.8.1 Clearly demonstrates a thorough understanding of the contract responsibilities; and,

7.8.2 That presents a compelling work plan that yields the desired contract services and deliverables; and,

7.8.3 Shows adequate resources to handle the project

7.8.4 Presents a focused effort to allocate those resources to the project

7.8.5 Demonstrates exceptional value for the cost of services proposed.

7.9 Steps to Award

The Evaluation Committee will recommend award of the contract to the highest scoring company(s). The County will follow with a Notice-of-Intent-to-Award, Notice-of-Award, and finally by a Notice-to-Proceed.

Step 1: The Evaluation Committee will evaluate the bidder’s responses according to the criteria as described herein, and score and rank the proposals. The County reserves the right to request clarification of information provided and to request additional information required to assist in the evaluation process.

Step 2: Purchasing will then open the Cost Proposals and score the responses. Purchasing will combine these results with the results of scoring. After this scoring, Purchasing will rank the highest scoring proposers on Bid Tabulation Summary.

Step 3: The Evaluation Committee may schedule interviews with the bidders. All costs associated with the interview (if required) will be at the expense of the proposing Bidder.

Step 4: Based upon the results of the proposals, references, and the interviews, the Purchasing Division along with the Evaluation Committee may negotiate with the Contractor(s) ranked highest in an attempt to reach agreement. If negotiations with the highest ranked firm are unsuccessful, the County may negotiate with the second ranked Contractor, and so on until reaching a satisfactory agreement.

8.0 Exhibits and Attachments

Exhibit A - Mandatory Bid Response Sheet

Exhibit B - Contract for Services

Exhibit C – Mandatory Cost Proposal Worksheet

Exhibit D – Mandatory W-9 Form

Exhibit E - Mandatory E-Verify Affidavit

Exhibit F – Mandatory Ethics Affidavit

Exhibit G – Mandatory Scored Questions