For purposes of this solicitation and subsequent contract, the following definitions shall apply:
City: The City of Tucson, Arizona

Contract: The legal agreement(s) executed between City and the Successful Offeror(s). The Contract will be deemed to include all the conditions and requirements set forth in this RFP and any Amendments to the RFP, all the Special Terms and Conditions and Standard Terms and Conditions, and all the terms of the Proposal submitted by Offeror as finally negotiated and accepted by the City.

Contractor/Consultant: A Successful Offeror that enters into a Contract with the City.

Contract Representative: The City employee or employees who have been designated to act as the City contact for this solicitation process and who are responsible for monitoring and overseeing the Contractor's performance under the Contract.

Business Services Director: The contracting authority for the City, authorized to sign contracts and amendments thereto on behalf of the City.

May: Indicates something that is not mandatory but permissible.

Offer: Any proposal, statement of qualifications, bid, or other submission provided by an Offeror in response to this Solicitation.

Offeror: Each individual or entity that submits a submittal in response to this solicitation.

Will: The indicated party is promising to take the action or abide by the condition.

Must: The action or condition is required.

Should: Indicates something that is recommended but not mandatory. If the Offeror fails to provide recommended information, the City may, at its sole option, ask the Offeror to provide the information or evaluate the proposal without the information.

A Pre-Submittal Meeting will be held at the date and time stated on the cover page of this solicitation, if such a date and time is provided. Attendance at this meeting is not mandatory, but written minutes and/or notes regarding the meeting will NOT be provided, so attendance is encouraged. The purpose of this meeting will be to clarify the contents of this solicitation in order to prevent any misunderstanding of the City's position.

Any questions about this solicitation or the proposed Contract must be presented at the Pre-Submittal Meeting, if there is one (see above), or submitted in writing, via email, or through the online bidding system, to the Contract Officer by the Question Submission Deadline. The email must refer to the solicitation number and the paragraph number of the provision that the question concerns. The Contract Officer may respond by email or may, if they deem it appropriate, address the question in a solicitation Amendment. Offeror may not rely on oral interpretations or clarifications about the solicitation; only questions answered in an email by the Contract Officer or posted as a formal solicitation Amendment will be binding.

Solicitation Addenda will be posted on the City’s link to the online bidding website. Offeror is responsible for checking the webpage regularly for new solicitation addenda and must acknowledge each addendum to this solicitation in its submittal. Please note that vendors who have registered with the Business Services Department at http://www.tucsonprocurement.com/ OpenGov:Procurement website and follow the City of Tucson will receive email notifications of solicitation addenda.

Before submitting a response to this solicitation, Offeror must familiarize itself with the Scope of Work, laws, regulations, physical conditions, and other factors affecting the obligations – including the expense and difficulty of fulfilling those obligations – that Offeror will have under the Contract if awarded to Offeror. No adjustment to the financial or other terms of the Contract will be justified by Offeror’s failure to fully understand or appreciate the Contract requirements or other factors affecting Contract performance.

1. Form and Organization. Offeror’s Submittal must be on the forms provided in this solicitation (as applicable). Supporting documentation must be arranged in a manner that follows and clearly refers to corresponding sections of the solicitation. Offeror may copy the submittal forms in order to complete them electronically but may not alter or rearrange them or change any paragraph designations.
2. Confidential Information. Any information in its submittal that Offeror wishes to be treated as confidential must be clearly marked “CONFIDENTIAL.”
3. Proposal Contents. Offeror’s submittal must contain a response to all sections of the solicitation and forms must be completed and any requested supporting documentation attached.
4. Signatures. Offeror must include in their submittal signed copies of the Offer and Acceptance page. Any cover letter accompanying the proposal documents must be signed. Offeror must initial each erasure, interlineation or other modification in the submittal. The person signing and initialing on behalf of Offeror must be a person authorized to legally bind Offeror.
5. Prices. Where a unit price is provided it will govern over any erroneous extension of the price.
6. Time Periods. Periods of time, stated as a number of days, will be calendar days unless specifically stated otherwise.
7. Accuracy. Mistakes in preparation of its submittal confers on Offeror no right to modify or withdraw its submittal after the Submittal Deadline.
8. Cost of Preparation. The City will not reimburse Offeror for the cost of developing, presenting, submitting or providing any response to this solicitation.
9. Subcontractors. Offeror must, in their submittal, list any subcontractors that it will utilize in the performance of the Contract if they are awarded the Contract and must describe their qualifications in detail.
10. Incomplete Information. Failure to include all requested information may have a negative impact on the evaluation of Offeror’s submittal.

Payment discount periods shall be computed from the date of receipt of the material/service or correct invoice, whichever is later, to the date City’s payment warrant is mailed. Unless freight and other charges are itemized, any discount provided shall be taken on full amount of invoice. Payment discounts of twenty-one calendar days or more shall be deducted from the proposed price in determining the price points. However, the City shall be entitled to take advantage of any payment discount offered by a vendor provided payment is made within the discount period. The payment discount shall apply to all purchases and to all payment methods.

The City is exempt from federal excise tax, including the federal transportation tax. The City is not tax exempt from sales tax, etc.

A proposal should be submitted on the forms and in the format specified in the RFP. Any information that the offeror requested to held as confidential information shall be clearly marked as such. The material should be in sequence and related to the RFP. The sections of the submittal should be organized, clearly identifiable, and should include a minimum of the following sections: the completed Offer and Acceptance Form, all signed Amendments, a copy of this RFP document, and the Offeror’s response to the Evaluation Criteria including the completed Price Page. Failure to include the requested information may have a negative impact on the evaluation of the offeror's proposal.

By submitting a submittal in response to this solicitation, Offeror is offering to enter into the Contract with the City. If Offeror wishes to modify any Contract terms and conditions, Offeror must, in its submittal, clearly identify the changes it is requesting. No requested modification will be deemed accepted by the City unless and until the City’s Business Services Director or their designee expressly accepts it in writing.

Any documents submitted by Offeror in response to this solicitation will become the property of the City. Except as set forth below with respect to Confidential Information, the Submittal will be deemed to be a public record available for review by the public after the award notification.

The City is obligated to abide by the Arizona Public Records Law, A.R.S. §§ 39-101 through 39-161. If Offeror believes that any portion of its proposal, offer, specification, protest or correspondence contains information that is confidential and subject to being withheld from disclosure in the event that the City receives a public records request to which the record is responsive, Offeror must, when the record is submitted, provide the Contract Officer written notification of that fact. The records or portions of records that Offeror wishes to be treated as confidential must also be clearly marked “CONFIDENTIAL” on their face. Pricing will not be treated as confidential.

If the City, after award notification, receives a public-records request to which a Contractor record marked “CONFIDENTIAL” is responsive, City will notify Offeror in writing. Unless Offeror, within 10 days after the date of that notice, obtains and provides to City an order from a court of competent jurisdiction prohibiting the City from releasing the records, the City may release the records without any liability to Offeror.

By submitting a response, Offeror warrants that:

1. Preparation and submission of the submittal did not involve collusion or other anti-competitive practices.
2. Offeror has not given, offered to give, nor intends to give at any time hereafter, any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount, trip, favor, meal or service to a public servant in connection with this solicitation.
3. No person has been employed or retained to solicit or secure a Contract under this solicitation upon a promise of a commission, percentage, brokerage, or contingent fee.
4. No member of the City of Tucson Mayor and Council or any employee of the City involved in this solicitation process has any financial interest in Offeror’s firm.

The City may disqualify Offeror from further participation in the solicitation process if the City determines that Offeror has an actual or apparent conflict of interest or has engaged in any collusion or anti-competitive practices.

In order to be considered, Offeror must, no later than the Submittal Deadline, submit its response electronically through the City’s online bidding system. Submittal instructions and online bidding system can be found at the following link: https://www.tucsonprocurement.com/

NOTE: THE ENTIRE PROPOSAL MUST BE IN "“SUBMITTED"” STATUS IN THE CITY’S ONLINE BIDDING SYSTEM IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED. RESPONSES THAT HAVE BEEN CREATED IN THE SYSTEM, BUT THAT ARE NOT IN "“SUBMITTED"” STATUS BY THE PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL DEADLINE WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

SAMPLE CONTAINERS - Interested Offerors shall also submit a sample container for each size container, 95 gallon, 65 gallon or 48 gallon, being proposed in their RFP submittal.

• Sample containers shall be submitted and are due on the same date and time as the RFP.
• Sample Containers shall be delivered to the following physical address:
  • Thomas O. Price Service Center
  • 4004 South Park Avenue
  • Building 2 - Door "N"
  • Tucson AZ 85714

In order to allow for an adequate evaluation, the City requires an offer in response to this solicitation to be valid and irrevocable for ninety (90) days after the proposal due date and time.

By submitting a response to this solicitation, Offeror is offering to enter into the Contract with the City. Offeror may withdraw a submitted response at any time prior to the Submittal Deadline. Submittals can be withdrawn by clicking "unsubmit proposal" in the online bidding system.

The City may, at its discretion, conduct discussions with Offeror for the purpose of eliminating minor irregularities, informalities, or apparent clerical mistakes in Offeror’s submittal in order to clarify the offer and assure full understanding of, and responsiveness to, solicitation requirements.

If applicable, in evaluating price proposals, the City shall include the amount of applicable business privilege tax, except that the amount of the City of Tucson business privilege tax shall not be included in the evaluation.

Exclusive or concurrent negotiations may be conducted with responsible offeror(s) for the purpose of altering or otherwise changing the conditions, terms and price of the proposed contract unless prohibited. Offerors shall be accorded fair and equal treatment in conducting negotiations and there shall be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors. Exclusive or concurrent negotiations shall not constitute a contract award nor shall it confer any property rights to the successful offeror. In the event the City deems that negotiations are not progressing, the City may formally terminate these negotiations and may enter into subsequent concurrent or exclusive negotiations with the next most qualified firm(s).

In order to be eligible for award of a Contract, Offeror must:

1. Register with the City’s Business Services Department. Registration can be completed at http://www.tucsonprocurement.com/ by clicking on Vendor Services. Please note that email notifications of newly published solicitations and amendments will be provided to those vendors that select email as their preferred delivery method in their vendor record.
2. Obtain a City of Tucson Business License or a written determination from the City'’s Business License Section that a license is not required. Application for a City Business License can be completed at http://www.tucsonaz.gov/etax. For questions contact the City'’s Business License Section at (520) 791-4566 or email at [email protected]

The apparent successful offeror shall sign and file with the City, within five (5) days after Notice of Intent to Award, all documents necessary to the successful execution of the Contract.

Notwithstanding any other provision of the Request for Proposal, the City reserves the right to:

1. waive any immaterial defect or informality; or
   
2. reject any or all proposals, or portions thereof; or
   
3. reissue the Request for Proposal.

A response to this Request for Proposal is an offer to contract with the City based upon the terms, conditions and Scope of Work contained in the City's Request for Proposal. Proposals do not become contracts unless and until they are executed by the City's Business Services Director and the City Attorney. A contract has its inception in the award, eliminating a formal signing of a separate contract. All of the terms and conditions of the contract are contained in the Request for Proposal, unless any of the terms and conditions are modified by a Request for Proposal amendment, a Contract Amendment, or by mutually agreed terms and conditions in the Contract documents.

The name(s) of the successful offeror(s) will be posted on the Procurement Department’s Internet site at http://www.tucsonprocurement.com/ upon issuance of a Notice of Intent to Award or upon final contract execution.

A protest shall be in writing and shall be filed with the Business Services Director. A protest of a Request for Proposal shall be received at the Department of Procurement not less than five (5) working days before the Request for Proposal due date. A protest of a proposed award or of an award shall be filed within ten (10) days after issuance of notification of award or issuance of a notice of intent to award, as applicable. A protest shall include:

1. The name, address, and telephone number of the protestant;
   
2. The signature of the protestant or its representative;
   
3. Identification of the Request for Proposal or Contract number;
   
4. A detailed statement of the legal and factual grounds of protest including copies of relevant documents; and
   
5. The form of relief requested.