Request for bid for Uniforms

FB 23117 INVITATION FOR BID ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Pursuant to Section 143-129 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, sealed proposals endorsed Uniforms for Forsyth County General Services & Recreation Department will be received by the City/County Purchasing Department in Suite 324, City Hall Building, 101 North Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC until 10:00 a.m., December 12, 2022 at which time they will be publicly opened and read. Instructions for submitting bids and complete specifications may be obtained during regular office hours, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the same location, or by contacting TaWanna Gates via email tawannag@cityofws.org or phone 336-747-6938. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals UNIFORMS Forsyth County General Services & Recreation Bids Will Be Opened 10:00 a.m., December 12, 2022 CITY HALL BUILDING Ste. 324 - 101 NORTH MAIN STREET WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA

mailto:tawannag@cityofws.org FB 23117 NOTICE TO BIDDERS UNIFORMS It is the policy of the City of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County that an employee, officer, or agent of the City/County may not participate in any manner in the bidding, awarding, or administering of contracts in which they, or a member of their immediate family, their business partner, or any organization in which they serve as an officer, director, trustee, or employee, have a financial interest. The successful bidder must comply with all provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and all rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. By submitting a proposal, the successful bidder agrees to indemnify the City/County from and against all claims, suits, damages, costs, losses, and expenses in any manner arising out of, or connected with, the failure of the Company, its subcontractors, agents, successors, assigns, officers, or employees to comply with the provisions of the ADA or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. All bids must be firm and not subject to increase, unless specified within the provisions of this bid and mutually agreed upon by the City/County and the bidder. No special inducements will be considered that are not a part of the original bidding document. City/County Rights and Options The City/County, at its sole discretion, reserves the following rights: • To supplement, amend, substitute or otherwise modify this bid at any time • To cancel this bid with or without the substitution of another bid • To take any action affecting this bid, this bid process, or the Services subject to this bid that would be in the best interests of the City/County • To issue additional requests for information • To require one or more Service Providers to supplement, clarify or provide additional information in order for the City/County to evaluate the Responses submitted • To negotiate an agreement with the Service Provider based on the information provided in the response to this IFB Public Records Any material submitted in response to this bid will become a “public record” once the bidder’s document(s) is opened and the bidder is determined to be a participant in the solicitation process and shall be subject to public disclosure consistent with Chapter 132, North Carolina Statutes. Bidders must claim any applicable exemptions to disclosure provided by law in their response to this bid. Bidders must identify materials to be protected and must state the reasons why such exclusion from public disclosure is necessary and legal. The City reserves the right to make all final determination(s) of the applicability of North Carolina General Statutes § 132-1.2, Confidential Information. Familiarity with Laws and Ordinances The submission of a bid on the services requested herein shall be considered as a representation that the bidder is familiar with all federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations which affect those engaged or employed in the provision of such services, or equipment used in the provision of such services, or which in any way affects the conduct of the provision of such services; and no plea of misunderstanding will be considered on account of ignorance thereof. If the bidder discovers any provisions in the bid documents that are contrary to or inconsistent with any law, ordinance, or regulation, it shall be reported to the City/County in writing without delay. FB 23117 Ethics Policy / Code of Conduct The City of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County has established guidelines for ethical standards of conduct for City/County representatives and to provide guidance in determining what conduct is appropriate in particular cases. City/County representatives should maintain high standards of personal integrity, truthfulness, honesty, and fairness in carrying out public duties; avoid any improprieties in their roles as public servants including the appearance of impropriety; and never use their position or power for improper personal gain. In establishing an ethics policy, the City of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County desires to protect the public against decisions that are affected by undue influence, conflicts of interest, or any other violation of these policies as well as promote and strengthen the confidence of the public in their governing body. For a complete review of the policy click: http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/Purchasing/Articles/Bids Iran Divestment Act: Provider hereby certifies that it is not on the North Carolina State Treasurer’s list of persons engaging in business activities in Iran, prepared pursuant to NCGS §147-86.58, nor will Provider utilize on this agreement any subcontractor on such list. Divestment from Companies that Boycott Israel Contractor hereby certifies that it is not on the North Carolina State Treasurer’s list of companies engaged in a boycott of Israel in violation of NCGS 147-86.80 et. seq. and that it will not utilize on this agreement any subcontractor on said list.” Public Health & Safety To protect public health, including the health of city & county employees, and to slow the rate of transmission of COVID-19, all vendors, contractors and service providers, including their employees, officers, agents and subcontractors, conducting business with the City of Winston-Salem (collectively hereinafter “City Contractors”) must align their operations, employment and safety practices with the guidance and recommendations of the CDC and OSHA relating to COVID-19 and the executive orders issued by Governor Roy Cooper, until further notice. All City Contractors must implement, adhere to, and enforce measures that require, amongst other things, frequent hand washing, the use of hand sanitizer, social distancing and the wearing of contractor-provided PPE including, but not limited to, face masks and gloves, recommended by the CDC, OSHA, the State of North Carolina or the City of Winston-Salem, by all of their employees and subcontractors accessing city owned or leased property. Until further notice, all City Contractors must refrain from accessing city owned or leased property without the aforementioned PPE and must refrain from accessing city owned or leased property if exhibiting any symptoms associated with COVID-19. Failure to adhere to the requirements set forth herein may result in the removal of a City Contractor from city owned or leased property and the City’s exercise of the appropriate contract suspension or termination provisions. http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/Purchasing/Articles/Bids FB 23117 INSTRUCTIONS FOR BIDDERS UNIFORMS Bidders MUST have their bid delivered by the specified time and date. This bid sets forth the minimum requirements that all submissions shall meet. Failure to submit proposals in accordance with this request may render the proposal unacceptable. Costs incurred by any bidder in the preparation of his/her response to the bid are the responsibility of the bidder and will not be reimbursed by the City of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County. Bidders shall not include any such expenses as part of their proposals. PREPARATION OF BID It is certified that this bid is made in good faith and without collusion with any person submitting a bid for this service or with any officer or employee of the City of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County. The undersigned further agrees that in connection with the performance of specified services, not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, sex, age, handicap, political affiliation, or national origin. Bids MUST be on the standard forms as furnished in this bidding document by the City/County Purchasing Department. Two bids shall be submitted (please mark the original copy) on the bid proposal form. Forms are to be produced from this file. Hand-written forms will not be accepted. Copies shall be properly signed and witnessed. Bids shall be submitted on or before the time set forth for the opening of bids, addressed and labeled as set forth in the instructions for bidders. Late bids will not be considered. Emailed and faxed bids are not acceptable. INTERPRETATION OF DOCUMENTS Should any bidder find any discrepancies in, or omission from, the specifications or other contract documents, or should the bidder be in doubt as to their meaning, he shall at once notify TaWanna A. Gates at (336) 747-6938 tawannag@cityofws.org and obtain an interpretation or clarification prior to submitting his bid. Any request for interpretation or clarification given in accordance with this provision shall be in writing per email to tawannag@cityofws.org and lucaslr@forsyth.cc ADDENDA The bidder may, during the bidding period be advised by addenda of additions, deletions or alterations in any of the documents forming a part of this bid. All such changes shall be included in the work covered by the bid and shall become a part of the contract. The bidder shall acknowledge receipt of each addendum. SUBMIT BIDS TO THE FOLLOWING LOCATION: US Postal Service address: or Hand-delivery or FedEx address: City/County Purchasing Department City/County Purchasing Department Post Office Box 2511 101 N. Main Street, 324 City Hall Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102 Winston-Salem, N. C. 27101 mailto:tawannag@cityofws.org mailto:tawannag@cityofws.org mailto:lucaslr@forsyth.cc FB 23117 REQUEST FOR BID Uniforms Trade Secrets/Confidentiality Bidders must claim any material which qualifies as "trade secret" information under N.C.G.S. 66- 152(3) in their response to this RFB and must state the reasons why such exclusion from public disclosure is necessary and legal. To properly designate material as trade secret under these circumstances, each Bidder must take the following precautions: (a) any trade secrets submitted by a Bidder should be submitted in a separate, sealed envelope marked "Trade Secret - Confidential and Proprietary Information - Do Not Disclose Except for the Purpose of Evaluating this Proposal," and (b) the same trade secret/confidentiality designation should be stamped on each page of the trade secret materials contained in the envelope. Do not attempt to designate your entire bid as a trade secret, and do not attempt to designate pricing information as a trade secret. Doing so may result in your bid being disqualified. In submitting a bid, each Bidder agrees that the City/County may reveal any trade secret materials contained in such response to all City/County staff and City/County officials involved in the selection This entire set of documents constitutes the RFB. The Bidder must return the RFB with all information necessary to properly analyze the Bidder’s response in full, in the same numerical order in which it was issued. Bidder’s notes, exceptions, and comments may be rendered on an attachment, provided the same format of this RFB text is followed. Bids must be received by 10:00 a.m., December 8, 2022. Late proposals will not be considered. The County will not be obligated for the expenses of any provider arising out of preparation and/or submittal of responses to this RFB. Any and all bids to this RFB are to be prepared at the cost and expense of the respondents, with the express understanding that there may be no claims whatsoever for the reimbursement of any costs, damages, or expenses relating to this procurement from the County or any other party for any reason (including the cancellation of this RFB). Bids must be made in the official name of the individual, firm, or corporation under which the business is conducted (showing official business address) and must be signed in ink by a person duly authorized to legally bind the business entity submitting the proposal. All bids should be complete and carefully worded and must convey all of the information requested by the County. If errors or exceptions are found in the bid, or if the bid fails to conform to the requirements of the RFB, the County will be the sole judge as to whether that variance is significant enough to reject the bid. FB 23117 Bids should be prepared simply and economically. All data, materials, and documentation shall be available in a clear, concise form. The County reserves the right to reproduce bids for internal use in the evaluation process. Bidders are expressly forbidden from contacting any other County employee or Forsyth County elected official regarding this Request for Bids. Any such outside contact may result in disqualification from the request for bid process. Bidders Questions and Inquiries Questions and Inquiries relative to this RFB must be submitted in writing only by 12:00 Noon, December 5, 2022, to TaWanna A. Gates - tawannag@cityofws.org. Written responses to inquiries received by this date, will be made available to all recipients of this RFB. Any oral responses made by any representative of the County may not be relied upon. Any supplements or amendments to this RFB will be in writing and furnished to potential bidders. General Conditions: 1. All pages of the bid must be completed and returned on time, in their entirety to constitute a complete bid. 2. In order for a bid to be considered complete, vendors must be able to supply all items in the bid package. 3. Pricing is to be firm through December 31, 2023. After the initial contract period, the Vendor and the County may negotiate two one-year renewals (December 2025) of the contract provided that both parties are in agreement and funds are available for that purpose. However, in no event will each item's price increase by more than 3% each year. 4. Default and Termination: Vendor may be found in default of contract if services are not performed to the degree of quality and frequency so stated herein. The County may then terminate the contract and award to the next lowest bidder. 5. Taxes: a. Federal: Forsyth County is exempt from Federal Excise Taxes. The County will issue Federal Excise Exemption Certificates or Bureau of Internal Revenue Tax Exception Number only upon request of the contractor. Issuance of the certificate does not mean that the contractor is entitled to a tax refund. All requests for refunds are to be handled by the contractor. The County will not guarantee any Federal Tax refunds to the contractor. b. State: Applicable North Carolina Sales and Use Taxes are NOT to be shown on bids but are to be added to invoices as a separate item. 6. Forsyth County reserves the right to hold bids open for a period of sixty (60) days after bid opening before making awards. 7. No special inducements will be considered that are not a part of the original bidding document. FB 23117 8. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. Chapter 55 Article 15 entitled Foreign Corporations, the successful bidder must have on file with the Secretary of State of the State of North Carolina a Certificate of Authority to transact business in this state. Basis of Award: • The award will be made to the lowest responsive bidder, based on the estimated total annual cost, which will be calculated using the expected ordering quantities listed in Attachment A, taking into account the bidder’s ability to meet the requirements of this RFB. Detailed Specifications: ● Background: The County is seeking to purchase uniforms for the two departments directly from a provider. Uniforms consist of a variety of clothing including shirts with different levels of embroidery, pants, hats, jackets, fire resistant items, etc. The successful bidder will submit one bid package but will operate under two separate agreements during the term of the contract. One agreement will be with the General Services Department and the other agreement will be with Parks and Recreation. ● Clothing Specifications: The County desires to order the items listed on Attachment A. Each bidder must be able to provide the items listed in Attachment A or a comparable product. Each item shall be new, unused, current models and not previously sold to another customer or otherwise deficient, defective or ill fitting. ● Quantity: See Attachment A for a breakdown of employee counts and how many articles of clothing are issued to each position. There are approximately 225 employees between the two departments not including new hires and replacement items. Orders will be placed in bulk quantities as much as possible. ● Logo & Embroidery: The County logo is included as Attachment B. Some shirts, depending on an employee’s position, may require more or less embroidery and not all positions receive a County seal on their shirt. Three examples are below: ○ General Services worker: embroidery includes: Name, Division, Department FB 23117 ○ General Services Supervisor: embroidery includes: County seal, Division, Department ○ Manager: embroidery includes: just County seal, see Attachment B ○ Parks and Recreation logo: The Provider will submit one price for shirts that includes the shirt and all applicable embroidery including the County seal. There will be no additional prices for embroidery, setup or logos; however, the County agrees to not change its styles once established with the successful Provider. ● Catalogs & Ordering: The Provider is required to provide a catalog and individualized ordering system for the County's use. An online portal exclusive to the County that provides access to pre-approved styles is preferred. The Provider shall describe their ordering process in the response to this RFB. ● Samples: The County may request samples of a product or products to assess quality, size, etc. A sample of the embroidery may also be required. This may be required for each garment color at no cost to the County. ● Returns & Warranty: The Provider shall provide information on a return and refund policy which shall include embroidered and non-embroidered items. At a minimum, if an article of clothing is delivered damaged or is a different item/size/color/etc. than that requested by the County and the County notifies the Providers within thirty days after delivery is FB 23117 received and accepted then corrections, repairs or replacement shall be performed by the Provider at no cost to the County to include shipping fees. ● Billing: Provider shall bill the County no more than monthly for services provided and the invoice shall be delineated by order name/number/etc. Only items that have been provided to and received by the County shall be a part of the Provider’s invoice. The County shall pay all invoices within 30 days. ● Packaging: The Provider shall label each package by the employee’s name and workplace; this information shall be provided by the County during the ordering process. ● Delivery: All pricing shall be an FOB destination basis and shall include all applicable costs. All items must be delivered within six weeks of the order date unless otherwise approved by the County. Bid Submission: Each Provider shall submit the below information for review by the County’s evaluation committee: 1. Brief statement of qualifications to include a description of the Provider’s approach to the uniform process, business history, contract contacts, etc. Please submit three references of similarly sized accounts. 2. Apparel Information and Cost: submit a catalog and price list of apparel that meets the County’s needs as described in Attachment A. Please provide per unit pricing and DO NOT include tax in this amount. Please ensure each item, at a minimum, includes an item number, picture, available colors if any and cost (all shirt pricing should include embroidery cost). 3. Information regarding the Provider’s ordering process, return and refund policy 4. Any other information the Provider feels is needed to fully respond to the terms and conditions of this RFP. Award of Contract • See “Basis of Award” FB 23117 PROPOSAL AUTHORIZATION AND SIGNATURE The signature page must be completed and submitted with the bid: Bids are to be signed by an officer of the company authorized to bind the submitter to its provisions. Failure to manually sign the appropriate proposal form will disqualify the proposer and the proposal will not be considered. ___________________________ ________________________________________ Firm Name Authorized Signature (Notarized) ___________________________ ________________________________________ Date Street Address (P.O. Box) __________________________ ________________________________________ Federal Identification No. City, State and Zip Code ________________________ ________________________________________ Telephone Number Email Address FB 23117 On this ____day of ____________, 20____ before me _____________________________ (name) to me personally known, being duly sworn, did execute the foregoing proposal, and did so state that he/she was properly authorized by _____________________________________ (Company name) to execute the proposal and did so on his/her free act and deed. SEAL Notary Public_______________________ My commission expires ____________ The County reserves the right to hold bids open for a period of ninety days (90) days after due date The Bidder certifies that the proposal is made in good faith and without collusion with any person submitting a proposal in response to this IFB or with any officer or employee of Forsyth County. The undersigned further agrees, in connection with the performance of this agreement, not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, gender, age, handicap, political affiliation or national origin. FB 23117