Greene County Board of Commissioners (“the County”) is soliciting sealed proposals from qualified vendors to provide multifunction photocopier equipment and maintenance services. It is the intent of the County to solicit proposals which will terminate our current lease and replace equipment throughout the County. The following sections specify the technical and functional requirements and provide vendors with the information necessary to complete a proposal.

The Greene County Board of Commissioners is a local government entity in Greene County, Georgia. County offices are centrally located in Greensboro, Georgia. The County operates with the vision that the Board of Commissioners is pledged to provide its citizens responsible government with the highest standard of ethics and professional conduct that is mindful of the needs of all citizens to live in a safe and prosperous environment. The County’s mission is to maintain rigorous financial discipline and efficiency while providing those essential and fundamental public safety services, necessary and appropriate governmental services, and pursuing economic growth that is meaningful for the future of Greene County and all of its residents.

The County currently leases 14 copiers under a single lease for various departments at multiple locations and has 3 copiers included in separate leases. The single lease ends in April 2023, while the others have expired and are currently on a month-to-month basis. The County wishes to replace all of these copiers with new systems as outlined in PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS. The County also wishes to explore adding copiers to some newer departments that have recently started. The County wishes to sign a new 48-month beginning around June 1, 2023 to allow enough time to secure machines. The County will only consider proposals that have maintenance listed under a contract separate from the equipment lease, including separate invoicing. The County must approve any changes in the maintenance contract, including transfers or assignments, in advance. Failure to obtain pre-approval from the County will be grounds for the County to cancel said contract.

RFP Issuance Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Request for Information Deadline Wednesday, March 8, 2023

RFP Deadline Wednesday, March 22, 2023 @ 12:00 pm

Tentative Award Date Friday, March 31, 2023

One (1) original and one (1) copy of the proposal must be completed, signed and received by March 22, 2023 at 12:00 pm. Bids must be submitted in a sealed envelope with the following statement “RFP Multifunction Copier Systems” marked in the lower left-hand corner. The bidder’s business name must be clearly visible on the outside of the envelopes. The County is not responsible for the early opening of bids if the envelopes are not properly marked. Bids must be sent to:

Greene County Board of Commissioners

Attention: Finance Department

1034 Silver Drive, Suite 201

Greensboro, GA 30642

Please note that mail delivered through the United States Postal Service (USPS) and express mail/parcels delivered through FedEx and UPS are typically received prior to 3:00 p.m. on any given day. However, please allow ample time for delivery as this time cannot be guaranteed. Hand delivered copies may be delivered to the above physical address only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday, excluding holidays observed by the County.

All vendors are required to comply with the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. Vendors submitting a bid package in response to this RFP must provide the Contractor Affidavit and Agreement included in Exhibit A . Failure to provide the completed and notarized affidavit with the contractor’s proposal shall result in immediate disqualification as required by the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. This affidavit should be included as the first page (top page) of any response received.

Vendors are instructed to contact Amanda Smith, Finance Manager, at (706) 453-7716 or asmith@greenecountyga.gov For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address. to clarify any part of the RFP requirements. All questions that arise prior to the DEADLINE FOR QUESTIONS due date shall be directed to the contact person in writing via fax or e-mail. The County will issue a response to any questions via e-mail to all parties and will place a copy on the county website. The County will also post any addenda on the county website, www.greenecountyga.gov .

Submittals received after the due date and time will not be considered. Modifications received after the due date will not be considered. Greene County assumes no responsibility for the premature opening of a bid not properly addressed and identified, and/or delivered to the improper designation.

Greene County reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and reserves the right to waive any irregularities or informalities in any submittal or in the submittal procedure, when to do so would be an advantage to Greene County. The County reserves the right to cancel this RFP at any time.

Each proposal shall be valid and may not be withdrawn for a period of sixty (60) days after the scheduled closing time for the receipt of bids.

Proposals will be opened and read aloud publicly at the physical address stated. A list of names responding to this RFP may be requested from Amanda Smith, Finance Manager, after the due date and time stated herein.

All materials submitted in connection with this RFP will be public documents and subject to the Open Records Act and all other laws of the State of Georgia, the United States of America, and the open records policies of the County. All such materials shall remain the property of the County and will not be returned to the respondent.

All expenses involved with the preparation and submission of the RFP to the County or any work performed in connection therewith is the responsibility of the vendor.

The County is tax exempt. No sales tax will be charged on any products or services. The County cannot exempt any other person/vendor from the applicable sales taxes that may be required of them in relation to this project. Selected vendor will be provided with the County’s Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption form upon request.

The selected vendor will be required to provide proof of liability and worker’s compensation insurance before work can begin on any County project. Worker’s compensation insurance should be as required by the State of Georgia. General Liability should cover $1,000,000 per incident.

All proposals received will be evaluated based on the following three criteria:

1. Cost
2. Meeting the needs of the County
3. Maintenance proposal

Following review of all qualified proposals and selection of a suitable vendor, a recommendation will be made to the County Manager by the contact person. Following approval, the County will complete contract negotiations. The County reserves the right to accept the proposal that is determined to be in the best interest of the County. The County reserves the right to reject any and all proposals.

The winning vendor will be contacted via e-mail or telephone by the contact person and arrangements will be made for signing the contractual agreement. A notice of Intent to Award shall be posted on the county website.

The County currently leases machines as listed below:

The County’s current lease is a FMV lease that will expire in April 2023. We will be operating on a month-to-month contract until a new lease is entered and new copiers are received. The County needs to ensure a smooth transition to the new lease to prevent any issues with down-time at an office.

Public Safety Administration is currently utilizing desktop printers that also scan, copy and fax. The actual usage of these machines is currently unknown. Please quote the same model as the EMS copier located at 1180 C. Weldon Smith Drive as this will most closely resemble actual usage. The Public Safety Administration Offices are a new department, so historical usage data is not currently available.

See Exhibit B for Cost Proposal Sample.

Based on machine counter information, each department has averaged the following usage each month:

*Detail data for other machines is unknown.

The County desires utilizing similar models at various departments, as doing so allows us to keep a very basic stock of toner onsite that will work for all machines. Our current inventory utilizes the same toner cartridges for all Sharp models, which has been helpful when machines run out of toner. Please quote models of various sizes that utilize the same supplies, if possible. If not, please group each office based on the usages listed above and quote similar models to each group. Each office will be looking for a new copier that is similar in size, speed, and functionality to the model that they currently utilize.

• Black & white copies
• Color copies
• Fax
• Scan to folders on County network
• Duplex
• 500-page drawer(s)
• Letter, Legal and Ledger sizes
• Envelopes, labels, and letterhead from bypass tray
• Enlarge/reduce documents
• Staple
• Collate
• Skip blank page (copying and scanning)
• Network
• Automatic meter/maintenance readings

• Scan multiple documents at once with page separator.
• Scan in color regardless of whether the machine copies in color.
• Ability to print front and back of government issued IDs on same page.
• Ability to pause/interrupt large jobs to push other jobs through.
• Skip back shadow in scans.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for scans.
• User passwords to release print jobs and account for usage by departments/individuals.

Any additional costs associated with these features should be noted in the proposal. Please include any other options (and associated costs) not noted above that you feel will be beneficial to the County with a brief description of each option.

County offices require reliable and functional copier machines in order to perform day-to-day duties efficiently and effectively. The County is aware that each copier machine is in fact a machine composed of numerous parts that may occasionally break. In order to ensure minimal downtime and to gain an understanding of each service provider’s process, the County is requesting responses to the certain questions regarding levels of service see Exhibit C .

The County will consider 36-month and 48-month fair-market-value (FMV) lease agreements that include delivery, setup and removal of the unit at the end of the lease. Delivery and installation of all copiers is to be made within 30 days after the receipt of an executed contract unless a longer period is authorized in writing. All machines should also be delivered at the same time at no expense to the County. All hard drives in the machines also need to be wiped clean at no expense to the County prior to returning to the leasing company. An operator’s manual is to be delivered with each new machine.

Training for each department or county-wide for employees is not necessary. During (or shortly after) delivery, someone should be available to touch base with each department to show the basic functions of the machine to the end-users. Any specific request or need can be addressed with the individual departments at that time and would include ensuring that any special settings are setup properly.

To ensure that leases are recorded in accordance with GASB 87, all bids must include the lease financing interest rate and any buyout or purchase options. Any additional information required will be the responsibility of the winning bidder.

All vendors are required to comply with the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. Vendors submitting a bid package in response to this RFP must provide the Contractor Affidavit and Agreement included in Exhibit B. Failure to provide the completed and notarized affidavit with the contractor’s proposal shall result in immediate disqualification as required by the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. This affidavit should be included as the first page (top page) of any response received.