REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR AUTOMATED MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM FOR THE CHAPEL HILL PUBLIC LIBRARY TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA DATE: APRIL 8, 2015 BID: Q15-109 TO: All PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS FROM: PURCHASING AND CONTRACTS MANAGER SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR AUTOMATED MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM FOR THE CHAPEL HILL PUBLIC LIBRARY DATE AND TIME BIDS ARE DUE: May 11 th, 2015 by 3:00 P.M. LOCATION: TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL PURCHASING OFFICE 405 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BLVD. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. 27514 The Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina requests proposals for the design, fabrication, and installation of an Automated Materials Handling System at the Town of Chapel Hill Public Library. Please note; there will be a Mandatory Pre-bid Meeting held on Monday, April 27 th, 2015 in Room C, at 1:00 P.M. at the Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive, Chapel Hill, NC. All potential bidders are hereby notified that attendance at the Pre-bid Meeting is required for bids to be considered by the Town of Chapel Hill; failure to attend will disqualify submissions. Any additional questions that arise after the mandatory pre-bid conference must be received in writing to David Green, Library Systems Manager, Chapel Hill Public Library at dgreen@townofchapelhill.org by 3:00 P.M. on Thursday, April 30 th, 2015. Responses to all questions received will be published in the form of an addendum on the Town s website at www.townofchapelhill.org by May 4 th, 2015 April 2015 Page 1
Sealed proposals are due to the Purchasing & Contracts Manager, Town of Chapel Hill, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 by Monday May 11 th, 2015 at 3:00 P.M. All bids received after 3:00 P.M. on May 11 th, 2015 will not be considered. Any proposal may be withdrawn up until the due date and time set for bids. Any proposal not so withdrawn shall constitute an irrevocable offer to provide the services set forth in the Contract for AMH until one or more of the proposals have been duly accepted. The bidder s attention is directed to the fact that the information submitted on the proposal will ultimately be considered as an integral part of the Contract executed with the successful bidder. All proposals shall be in sealed envelopes and marked on the exterior, "Automated Materials Handling System for the Chapel Hill Public Library and addressed to: Purchasing and Contracts Manager Town of Chapel Hill 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Note: If not mailed, proposals must be delivered to the Town s Purchasing Office at 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 and received by 3:00 P.M. on May 11 th, 2015. All proposals received will be examined promptly after opening and an award will be made at the earliest possible date thereafter. NOTE -THE BID OPENING PROCESS WILL NOT BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. The Town will select the proposal(s) that best meets its needs. The Town specifically reserve the right to reject any and all proposals, to accept any or all parts of a proposal, to increase or decrease the quantity for required services to meet additional or reduced requirements or to re-solicit bids on the required services, or to reject any and all proposals and formally advertise for proposals on the required services or portions thereof. The successful bidder shall procure and maintain during the life of the contract the following insurance coverage s: Worker s Compensation: Coverage to apply for all employees for statutory limits in compliance with the applicable state and federal laws. The policy must include employer s liability with a limit of $100,000 for each accident, $100,000 bodily injury by disease each employee and $500,000 bodily injury by disease policy limit. Comprehensive General Liability: Shall have minimum limits of $1,000,000 per occurrence combined single limit for bodily injury liability and property damage liability. This shall include premises and/or operations, independent contractors, products and/or completed operations, broad form property damage and explosion, collapse and underground damage coverage, sudden and accidental pollution losses, and a contractual liability endorsement. Business Auto Policy: Shall have minimum limits of $1,000,000 per occurrence combined single limit for bodily injury liability and property damage liability. This shall include: owned vehicles, hired and non-owned vehicles and employee non-ownership. April 2015 Page 2
Special Requirements: The Town of Chapel Hill is to be named as an additional insured on the Comprehensive General Liability policy. Current, valid insurance policies meeting the above requirements shall be maintained for the duration of the project. Renewal certificates shall be sent to the Town of Chapel Hill thirty (30) days prior to any expiration date. There shall also be a 30 day notification to the Town in the event of cancellation or modification of any stipulated insurance coverage. Certificates of Insurance on an Accord 25 (8/84) or similar form meeting the required insurance provisions shall be forwarded to the Town of Chapel Hill. Wording on the Certificate of Insurance which states that no liability shall be imposed upon the company for failure to provide such notice is not acceptable. Original policies or certified copies of policies may be required by the Town at any time. Hold Harmless: The Contractor agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Town of Chapel Hill, It s employees and It s agents from all loss, liability, claims or expense (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising from bodily injury, including death or property damage to any person or persons caused in whole or in part by the negligence or willful misconduct of the Contractor except to the extent same are caused by the negligence or misconduct of the Town. Business License: The Contractor shall have a valid Business License with the Town of Chapel Hill before beginning work as required by Ordinance. April 2015 Page 3
I. Scope Chapel Hill Public Library seeks an innovative and accomplished firm to design, fabricate, ship, install, maintain, and warranty its RFID enabled materials handling system for our recently renovated library. Design firms may exercise discretion in their proposal, but the final product must include specific attributes. Please note that responses will become part of any contract for products and services. Please include any narrative responses, marketing materials, photos, diagrams or other evidence of the ability of your firm to comply with our demand. Please arrange and label your response so that your supporting documentation directly addresses the items by scope of service number. 1. Your firm s AMH must integrate fully into our current Integrated Library System (Innovative Interfaces Millennium) and the library s proposed future Integrated Library System (Innovative Interfaces Sierra). All of the features and functions you offer must operate to the stated specification with both Millennium and Sierra. They must also be operational for any ILS product adhering to the SIP2 protocol. 2. Your product must accept multiple items simultaneously and not return items to the customer for their lack of compliance or technique e.g. right side up, upside down, in multiples, or with some given pacing notion. In other words, we want the customer experience to be akin to an old-fashioned book drop. They drop their items quickly and move on. 3. Your system must have a design element that separates multiple items to singles for processing. 4. Your firm s design must make efficient use of the circulation work room space. Your firm may submit any approach that you believe is best at accomplishing the goal. 5. Your firm s design must demonstrate the ability to handle a high volume of materials with a minimum of miss-sorts or miss-reads. For the design you are submitting, please list a metrical error rate that you are able to achieve and sustain. Errors are defined as items which are either miss-sorted or make it through the system to the exceptions bin without being checked-in or handled properly. 6. Chapel Hill Public Library circulates ~1.3 million items annually. Recommend a design best suited to manage this volume of materials, providing at minimum nine distinct sorting bins. Your system must be expandable. 7. Your design must accept materials from two book drops that enter the circulation work room, and accommodate the induction of materials from other sources. See building floor plans, appendix 1. 8. The system must sort items on hold to a given bin. Your design must address how holds slips will be printed. Fields printed on hold slip must be customizable and changeable. The system must use any available point of sale receipt printer. 9. Your system must have both a visual and auditory method to alert staff when there is a condition requiring their attention. 10. The system must have an exception bin a fallback position for items that didn t scan or could not be sorted properly. April 2015 Page 4
11. Please inform our library about system warranty, service level agreements, cost, and options in regard to ongoing maintenance contracts for the system. Service agreements and annual maintenance costs will be a key factor in a successful bid. 12. Your product must take appropriate and necessary steps for sound mitigation and work place safety, including an emergency shut-off mechanism. Please describe your strategies and include information about decibel levels. 13. Describe your product s ability to provide reports both use reports and error trapping. 14. Your firm must specify how many items per hour it can process. 15. Your proposal must address how your system handles transactions when offline. II. Proposal Requirements 1. Proposals must include a concept drawing or other rendering which is an accurate portrayal of the product you will provide. 2. Proposals must include a staff training plan and options. 3. Proposals must include a full budget for the product including design, fabrication, shipping, installation, training, support, and ongoing maintenance. Please review our scoring criteria to discover our values. Our library seeks a high quality, effective materials handling system that will exceed staff and customer expectations. 4. Proposals must include a statement of any responsibility, preparation steps, or project management expectations that your firm has of the library anything we must do or accomplish so that your product can be installed with success. 5. Proposals must include a project timeline. 6. Proposals must address installation requirements and resulting impact on daily operations of the library. 7. Proposals must include three samples of your work that most closely matches our requirements, and contact information. 8. Your proposal must include 4 printed copies and 1 digital copy of everything in your package. 9. Your proposal must include a cover letter with your firm s full legal name and complete contact information. III. Selection Criteria and Methodology The Library s Management Team will perform a review of all submissions and discard any submission which is nonresponsive the submission does not meet the minimum requirements of this Request. April 2015 Page 5
The Library s Management Team will score responses with consultation from other Town of Chapel Hill Staff. The Library and the Town will enter into negotiations with the top candidate to achieve a contract. Score Card Criteria 50 Points: Project Design Ability to achieve an effective product. 25 Points: Firm experience and demonstrated ability to succeed on this project. 25 Points: Project Cost or Budget IV. Additional Information and Timeline Evaluations will be based upon responsiveness to this Request the vendor s proposal, experience, capabilities, service reputation, references, and other factors deemed relevant. OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS The vendor agrees to the following: To examine the RFP and conditions thoroughly. The failure of omission of any vendor to examine any form, instrument or document shall in no way relieve any vendor from any obligation in respect to their proposal. To comply with all federal, state, and city laws, ordinances, and rules. The Library expressly reserves the following rights: 1. To waive or reject any and/or all irregularities in the proposals submitted. 2. To waive or reject any and/or all proposals or portions thereof. 3. To base awards with due regard to quality of services, experience, compliance with specifications and other such factors as may be necessary due to circumstance. 4. To make an award to a vendor whose proposal is in the Library s best interest. 5. To negotiate different terms and conditions with any vendor the Library chooses. 6. To utilize concepts submitted to the Library, via proposal, without compensation. QUALIFICATIONS OF VENDOR The Library may make such investigations as deemed necessary to determine the ability of the vendor to perform the work, and the vendor shall furnish all information and data for this purpose as the Library may request. The Library reserves the right to reject any proposal if the evidence submitted by, or investigation of, such vendor fails to satisfy the Library that such Vendor is properly qualified to carry out the obligations of the contract and to complete the work contemplated therein. Conditional proposals will not be accepted. April 2015 Page 6
TIMELINE 04/08/2015: RFP Released 04/27/2015: Mandatory pre-bid meeting 04/30/2015: Questions from vendors due 05/04/2015: Addendum to RFP posted to Town website 05/11/2015: Proposals due 05/25/2015: Proposal review complete April 2015 Page 7
ITEM A BID PROPOSAL FORM AND NON-COLLUSIVE AFFIDAVIT FOR THE TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL The undersigned as Bidder, hereby declares that the only person(s) interested in this proposal as principals (s) are named herein and that no other person than herein mentioned has interest in this proposal or in the contract to be entered into; that this proposal is made without connection with any other persons, company or parties making a bid or proposal and that it is in all respects fair and in good faith without collusion or fraud. 1. The Bidder further declares that he has examined the site of the work and informed himself fully in regard to all conditions pertaining to the place where the work is to be done; that he has examined the specifications of the work and has read all special provisions furnished prior to the openings of the bids, that he has satisfied himself relative to the work to be performed. 2. The Bidder further declares that he has received and examined the Automated Materials Handling System Instructions, Bid Letting Documents and General Specifications, and will abide by these requirements in performing the work. 3. The Bidder proposes and agrees, if this proposal is accepted, to contract with the Town of Chapel Hill, to furnish all necessary materials, equipment, and machinery, means of transportation, and labor necessary to complete the design, fabrication, and installation of an Automated Materials Handling System in full and to complete in accordance with the general specifications, and contract documents, to the full and entire satisfaction of the Town of Chapel Hill with a definite understanding that no money will be allowed for extra work except as set forth in the Contract documents. In return for the services accomplished pursuant to the Contract, the Bidder will receive the sum of:------bid Proposal form to be completed on next page>>>> April 2015 Page 8
Library Automated Materials Handling System BID PROPOSAL FORM TOTAL BID FOR DESIGN, FABRICATION & INSTALLATION OF LIBRARY AUTOMATED MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM TOTAL ANNUAL COST OF MAINTENANCE SERVICE AGREEMENT Dollars ($ ) Dollars ($ ) Date that first annual service payment will be due 4. The Bidder further proposes and agrees hereby that the work may commence as the beginning time. 5. The undersigned Bidder hereby agrees that the Town of Chapel Hill reserves the right to reject any and all bids when such rejection is in the best interest to the Town of Chapel Hill Bidder taking into consideration the past performance of the Bidder, the ability to perform to work specified, the starting date and completion time, and all other pertinent facts. Respectfully submitted the day of, 2015. Name of Firm: By: Email: Phone: April 2015 Page 9