The City of Tucson, herein referred to as the City, is requesting proposals from qualified firms to establish an annual requirements contract for New Vehicle Batteries and Related Services, per the Scope of Work to be delivered to various City locations.  The City owns a fleet of approximately 2,200 light duty vehicles.  This contract will be used primarily by the City’s Fleet Services Division of the Environmental and General Services Department and the Fire Fleet Management. 

This contract will include the purchase of new batteries only; reconditioned batteries will not be considered. This contract may also include installation services.  Most of the orders will be warehouse based and will need items shipped to the City.  However, there may be times when same day service is required and/or City personnel will pick up items at a Tucson Metropolitan area storefront.  How the City acquires the items it buys is at the sole discretion of the City. This contract may result in multiple, positional awards.

The City changes many of its vehicle batteries on a scheduled basis, within the manufacturer’s warranty period, rather than allowing them to fail. Therefore, offerors are encouraged to propose value-added programs for these “good” batteries and/or the manufacturer’s warranties attached to them.

For example, Group 65 batteries used in marked police units are replaced annually during Preventive Maintenance (PM) service. This process ensures minimal starting failures due to aging batteries in first responder units equipped with additional electronic devices. Through this process, Fleet Services replaces, on average, 700 of Group 65 batteries that have not been run to failure and may still be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Fleet Services requires maintenance-free batteries.

Fire Fleet Management requires lead-acid low maintenance batteries and conventional lead-acid batteries that allow for water to be added for their fleet. Fire Fleet Management also requires a minimum 18-month free replacement with a 36-month prorated warranty on all of their batteries purchased.  Fire Fleet Management replaces batteries on frontline emergency response vehicles as part of the preventive maintenance program at 12 – 18 month intervals.  Consequently, batteries that have been removed during this service may still be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.

The City of Tucson, as the Lead Procurement Agency, as defined in Attachment C, has partnered with Axia Coop LLC ("Axia Cooperative") to make the resultant contract (“Master Agreement”) from this solicitation available to other public agencies nationally, including state and local governmental entities; public and private primary, secondary and higher education entities; non-profit entities; and agencies for the public benefit (“Public Agencies”), through Axia Cooperative's cooperative purchasing program. The City of Tucson is acting as the contracting agency for any other Public Agency that elects to utilize the resulting Master Agreement. Use of the Master Agreement by any Public Agency is preceded by their registration with Axia Cooperative as a Participating Public Agency in Axia Cooperative's cooperative purchasing program. Attachment A of the Axia Cooperative Document (RFP Attachment A) contains additional information on Axia Cooperative and the cooperative purchasing agreement. Axia Cooperative provides shared services and supply chain optimization to state, local, education, and other governmental entities. Axia Cooperative leverages the spend of public agencies nationwide to command the best prices on products and services. With executive support from the supplier along with pricing and sales commitments, Axia Cooperative provides marketing and administrative support for the Supplier that directly promotes the Supplier's products and services to Participating Public Agencies through multiple channels, each designed to promote specific products and services to Public Agencies on a national basis. Public Agencies benefit from pricing based on aggregate spend and the convenience of a contract that has already been advertised and competed. The Supplier benefits from a contract that allows Participating Public agencies to directly purchase goods and services without the Supplier's need to respond to additional competitive solicitations. As such, the Supplier must be able to accommodate a nationwide demand for services and to fulfill obligations as a nationwide Supplier and respond to the Axia Cooperative documents (Attachment C). The City of Tucson anticipates spending approximately $5,000,000.00 over the full potential Master Agreement term for New Vehicle Batteries and Related Services. While no minimum volume is guaranteed to the Supplier, the estimated annual volume of New Vehicle Batteries and Related Services purchased under the Master Agreement through AXIA Cooperative is approximately $20,000,000.00. This projection is based on the current annual volumes among the Lead Procurement Agency, other Participating Public Agencies that are anticipated to utilize the resulting Master Agreement to be made available to them through AXIA Cooperative, and volume growth into other Public Agencies through a coordinated marketing approach between the Supplier and AXIA Cooperative.