SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Authorize the award of landscaping service agreements to Central Florida Landscaping, Entzion Property Management, Duval Landscape, Earth Designs, and Botanical Dimensions (Bid 29-16), in a total annual amount of $375,000 for the period of November 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017, with two annual extensions at the City’s discretion and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same. (consent)
Body
SUMMARY:
On June 15, 2016, Invitation to Bid (ITB) 29-16 for Landscaping Services was issued. The Scope of Services is comprised of six zones covering 576 properties throughout the City. Each property is an area or piece of property such as a right-of-way, median, city facility or park within the city.
Vendors were asked to provide landscape maintenance services to the various properties which included one or all of the following services: turf maintenance, palm and tree maintenance, shrub and groundcover maintenance, weed control, mulch maintenance, and litter removal.
Eleven vendors attended a mandatory pre-bid meeting held on June 23, 2016. Purchasing issued four addenda during the solicitation period to address questions ranging from current award details to clarifying the technical specifications of the requested services. Of the eleven vendors seven submitted a bid.
Council authorization is requested for an annual award of $375,000 which includes unassigned funds for additional properties as they are added to a zone, supplemental work that may be requested, annual CPI contract increases, and other contractual management requirements.
The award recommendation is as follows:
Zone 1 - Beach, recommend award to Central Florida Landscaping, $40,722
Zone 2 - Countryside, recommend award to Entzion Property Management, $55,286
Zone 3 - Downtown, recommend award to Duval Landscape, $37,116
Zone 4 - East, recommend award to Earth Designs, $60,320
Zone 5 - Northwest, recommend award to Entzion Property Management, $95,308
Zone 6 - Southwest, recommend award to Botanical Dimensions, $54,351
The award methodology is summarized as follows:
• In accordance with ITB Instructions - Evaluation, i.23 CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION AND AWARD, Purchasing recommends that the excessively low bid of $47,010 from Duval Landscape for Zone 5 be rejected. The bid has been determined unreasonable and non-responsible in respects to the City’s history with work to be performed in that zone and historical costs associated with same. The Incumbent’s bid (Entzion) is representative of the historical cost for the Northwest Zone and is the apparent low bid for award.
• Zone 3 Downtown low bid is one of two low bids from a new company to the City - Duval Landscape. The recommendation to award only one of the two zones to Duval Landscape is in-part due to a concern regarding their capacity to take on both of these areas. Zone 3 is the smaller of the two zones which Duval is low bid on, and will provide Parks the ability to closely monitor Duval’s performance and address any concerns promptly and proactively.
• Zone 6 - Southwest award to the 2nd low bid to Botanical Dimensions (per prior bullet point only one zone award to be made to Duval Landscaping). In addition Botanical Dimensions is the current incumbent and knows full well what the job entails in regard to this zone.
Due to the award methodology used above; one vendor (Hemlock Lawn Maintenance) has indicated their disapproval of how the bids were awarded in Zone 3, as they believe that the low bidder (Duval Landscape) should be disqualified from all of their apparent low bids. By doing so this vendor would be second low bidder in zone 3 and be awarded the contract. They have declined to file an official protest but have stated their intent to bring this to the Council's attention.
The initial award period is 11 months to stay on the fiscal year calendar. Incumbent landscapers are providing continued services for the month of October 2016 to maintain this schedule. Subsequent terms for years two and three will be full 12-month fiscal year periods.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
Funding for the service agreements will come from cost code 010-01867-530300-572-000-0000, Landscape Contracts Team Operating Budget.
USE OF RESERVE FUNDS: N/A