Ornamental Mulch Supply With Installation

Please find the attached documents for mandatory acceptance and response. All questions related to the bid must be submitted through public purchase and the deadline for submitting questions is March 20th by 12:00 PM. After this date and time, no questions will be answered. Once the bid is awarded, the purchase order will serve as the contract for services rendered. This purchase order is subject to CCS Purchase Order/General Terms & Conditions, which are incorporated herein by reference and posted for review in the attached file, at http://www.ccsoh.us/Vendors, or by calling +1 (555) 000-0000. After the bid is awarded, the District reserves the right to monitor the contractor's performance. Columbus City Schools has established an Outreach Program to increase the participation of businesses designated as Local Economically Disadvantaged Enterprises (LEDE). The Board of Education (BOE) has set a goal of 20% participation by businesses designated as LEDE. Vendors are strongly encouraged to make a good faith effort to support the BOE in achieving the District's LEDE participation goals. Additional information can be obtained by reviewing the BOE Community Inclusion Policy 6400 or by contacting the Outreach Coordinator at contact@example.gov . INVITATION TO BID (ITB) FOR ORNAMENTAL MULCH SUPPLY WITH INSTALLATION ITB #1048 INVITATION TO BID PURPOSE The Buildings & Grounds Landscape Division of Columbus City Schools (CCS/the District) is seeking quotations for ornamental mulch supply with installation services for existing ornamental hardwood mulched areas, including ornamental beds, exterior planters, parking lot islands, bio-swales, tree circles, and excluding interior courtyards, interior athletic stadiums, raised container or bedded vegetables, existing decorative stone beds, and playground and exercise mulched equipment, for listed buildings owned by the Columbus Board of Education. Service pricing shall not include pruning or bed preparation. MINIMUM VENDOR REQUIREMENTS: The awarded vendor must meet the following minimum requirements: a) Vendor shall provide all necessary personnel, labor, equipment, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items as well as non-personnel services necessary to perform the services outlined in this ITB. b) Areas outlined in this ITB shall be mulched an additional 1.5 inches to the existing mulch bed depth, using only all-natural double-shredded ornamental mulch. Mulch shall be equivalent to Kurtz Bros. Custom Hardwood Mulch (Reference: 120) or Ohio Mulch #410 Premium Shredded Hardwood Mulch. Mulch shall be free of trash and thorns. c) Vendor shall perform necessary services, as set forth herein, for the facilities identified in the attached Ornamental mulch with installation Quotation Form Facility and Price Listing, in a manner that will maintain safe conditions and not obstruct parking lot areas, including fire lanes, dumpsters, main drives, and parking lot entrances and exits. d) Vendor shall supply and install mulch in a manner that does not harm parking lots, building structures, signage, turf areas, plants, paths, and sidewalks. e) Vendor shall clean up and restore any damaged, stained, or marked-up areas to their original condition. f) Vendor shall establish and implement methods to ensure all keys/combinations/badges issued to the vendor by Buildings & Grounds are not lost or misplaced and are not used by unauthorized personnel. The vendor shall immediately report to Buildings & Grounds any occurrences of lost keys/combinations/badges/etc. In the event keys are lost, the vendor explicitly understands that, upon written direction from Buildings & Grounds, it will re-key or replace the affected lock or locks at the vendor’s sole expense. CCS shall, however, at its option, replace the affected lock or locks or perform re-keying and deduct the cost of such from the monthly invoice payment(s). g) Vendor shall, upon bid submission, provide a current certificate of insurance pursuant to Columbus City Schools Purchase Order, Contract, & Solicitation General Terms & Conditions. h) Vendor shall, upon bid submission, provide proof of current Workers’ Compensation Insurance pursuant to Columbus City Schools Purchase Order, Contract, & Solicitation General Terms & Conditions. i) Vendor shall start no earlier than July 1st, 2025, and be completed with all awarded sites before August 19th, 2025. PRICING: There are 6 regions. They are labeled Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Region 5, and Region 6. Pricing shall not include pruning or bed preparation. Vendor must visit and examine all exterior grounds areas at each site within the quoted region(s) to determine the cost to mulch existing ornamental areas as put forth in this ITB. Vendor can submit pricing for 1 and or multiple regions, but every site within a region must be included in sum regional pricing to be considered. See the attached “Ornamental mulch with installation Quotation Facility and Price Listing Form” document for the site addresses. Vendor shall enter total pricing by region into Public Purchase. Vendor shall enter each site costs within the region and sum regional pricing in the “Ornamental mulch with installation Quotation Facility and Price Listing Form” and upload it into Public Purchase to be submitted with the vendor’s ITB response. Vendor’s submitted pricing shall be net of all costs associated with the performance of contracted services. Before submission, vendors shall verify all pricing being submitted in the Snow Plowing Quotation Form Facility and Price Listing; no oral, electronic, or telephonic modification(s) to pricing will be considered. Vendors shall be paid per completion per site within the awarded region. All listed sites within an awarded Region must be completed. The District expects no other and shall not pay any other ancillary charges beyond the total price per awarded region. This ITB shall be awarded to the lowest priced responsive and responsible bidder for each region. EQUIPMENT, SERVICE, AND SUPPLIES REQUIREMENTS: a) Vendor must self-perform a minimum of 50% of the installation work awarded. No more than 50% of installation work can be subcontracted out. LOCATIONS and TIMES: a) Vendor shall start no earlier than July 1st, 2025, and be completed with all awarded sites before August 19th, 2025. VENDOR SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Vendors must upload the following information/completed attachments into Public Purchase, pursuant to specifications in this ITB: a) Vendor’s contact information; b) Vendor’s completed Ornamental mulch with installation Quotation Facility and Price Listing Form; c) Vendor’s current Certificate of Insurance; d) Vendor’s current proof of current Workers’ Compensation Insurance; MISCELLANEOUS REQUIREMENTS Addenda Vendors are responsible for checking the school district’s Public Purchase website for any addenda to ensure that their submissions incorporate all available information. Invoicing: Vendor’s invoicing to CCS shall be in accordance with the Columbus City Schools Purchase Order, Contract, & Solicitation General Terms & Conditions agreed upon, by all CCS vendors, during the vendor registration process. Vendors shall be paid per completion per site within the awarded region. Points of Contact The vendor must provide a single point of contact: a business, mobile, and home phone number and email address where he/she shall be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays. If CCS leaves an email or telephone message, the vendor is expected to respond to CCS, at the phone number left on the message, no later than 96 hours after the message was delivered. If a vendor does not respond within the set time frame, the vendor explicitly understands that his/her awarded regions(s) may be serviced by another vendor and may be subject to Liquidated Damages (as set forth in this ITB). The vendor further explicitly understands that there shall be no recourse for its recovery of lost fees for non-response to CCS as set forth in this Points of Contact section. Safety CCS’ Buildings & Grounds takes the safety of our community and our vendors very seriously. As a result, we require our vendors to strictly follow all OSHA standards. Buildings & Grounds will randomly, and without vendor notice, visit each worksite on several occasions while services are being performed. Vendor staff individuals will stop services immediately if CCS observes and identifies a safety violation and any cost(s) associated with a safety-related services stoppage shall be the responsibility of the vendor. The vendor shall have available, whenever on the site, a copy of the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for each chemical the vendor brings on-site, including fuel and hydraulic fluid. The vendor shall have an appropriate hazardous spill response kit on-site at all times while services are being performed. The spill kit shall be capable of handling any small fuel or hydraulic spill that is reasonably expected to occur during the performance of this ITB’s services. The vendor shall report any spill immediately to Buildings & Grounds. In the event of a spill, the vendor shall make every effort to prevent hazardous materials from entering bodies of water or storm-water systems before or as a part of response activities. Areas Damaged by the Vendor Repair or replacement of CCS-owned areas or property damaged as a result of vendor services, equipment, and or carelessness shall be the responsibility of the vendor and covered at the vendor's expense. The vendor explicitly understands that it may be required to utilize CCS-specific vendors to perform the replacement(s) or repair(s). All replacement(s) or repair(s) require the documented approval of Buildings & Grounds before the replacement(s) or repair(s) is started/completed. VENDOR PERFORMANCE STANDARDS: Performance of work review meetings shall be scheduled at mutually agreeable dates and times between CCS and the vendor. Such review meetings shall entail CCS reviewing the vendor's performance against the requirements outlined in this ITB. Vendor deficiency notifications shall be reported and documented to the vendor via email. Vendor will be required to correct such deficiencies promptly within the timeframe noted in the deficiency notification. Vendor’s failure to correct documented deficiencies promptly, repeated deficiencies by the vendor, or an excessive number of deficiencies by a vendor may result in the vendor’s services being terminated at the sole discretion of CCS. Vendor deficiencies may also be reported by CCS to the vendor via work review meetings. The reviews required by this section do not preclude Buildings & Grounds from performing reviews at more frequent intervals or for asking for correction of deficiencies at any time. LIQUIDATED DAMAGES: CCS will determine, at its sole discretion, if there has been a vendor performance deficiency for purposes of assessing liquidated damages. CCS will notify vendor(s), in writing, of any performance deficiencies that require curing. The vendor shall pay liquidated damages of $300 per documented and uncured performance deficiency per address location and CCS reserves the right to deduct assessed liquidated damages from invoices. Vendor performance deficiencies related to this ITB and relative to CCS’ application of liquidated damages shall be but are not limited to: • Vendor’s non-response to CCS’ call for service within stated response timeframe(s) deeming vendor non-fulfilling, which will cause CCS to incur additional expense(s). Vendor explicitly understands, upon its response submission to this ITB, that his/her awarded route(s) shall be serviced by another vendor(s) and shall be subject to liquidated damages of $300.00 per occurrence per address location plus the documented cost of services completed by another vendor; • Vendor’s non-cure of any deficiency; • Vendor’s non-cooperation with any monitoring of service’s performance. SPECIFIC TERMS & CONDITIONS Contract Term The District’s intended term for expected vendor completion of services is July 1st through August 19th, 2025. All contracts are subject to annual appropriation by the Columbus City Schools Board of Education. Contract Administration The contract will be administered by Columbus City Schools’ Buildings & Grounds Landscape Division.