This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Urbana, Illinois. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

The City of Urbana is seeking assistance to provide all supervision, labor, tools, equipment and services required to perform tree and stump removal work in the City of Urbana as specified herein. Bidding on this contract shall be limited to individuals, partnerships and corporations actively engaged in the field of arboriculture. Bidders shall demonstrate competence, experience, and financial capability to carry out the terms of this contract. The City requires proof of these qualifications through professional certifications one of which has to be the International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist Certification, references for similar contract work and number of years in business. All bidders must have in their possession or available to them by formal agreement at the time of bidding, trucks, devices, chippers, stump grinders, hand tools, aerial and other equipment and supplies which are necessary to perform the work as outlined in these specifications. Question Submission Deadline: December 8, 2023, 3:00pm. No Pre-Submittal meeting is required for this procurement. Public Records and Requests for Confidential Treatment Proposals become the property of the City and, along with late submissions, will not be returned to the proposing party. Your proposal will be open to the public under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") (5 ILCS 140) and other applicable laws and rules, unless you request in your proposal that City treat certain information as exempt. A request for confidential treatment will not supersede the City's legal obligations under FOIA. The City will not honor requests to exempt entire proposals, and it shall be your responsibility as the proposing party to show the specific grounds under FOIA or other law or rule that support exempt treatment. Regardless the application of any exemptions pursuant to FOIA or other law or rule, the City shall disclose the successful proposer's name, the substance of the proposal, and the price. If you request exempt treatment of portion(s) of your proposal, you must submit an additional copy of your proposal with such exempt information redacted. This copy must state the general nature of the material redacted and shall retain as much of the proposal as possible. You, the proposing party, shall be responsible for any costs associated with the City's defense of your request for exempt treatment. Further, you agree to allow the City to facilitate evaluation, or to respond to requests for public records. Additionally, you warrant tha the copy or duplication of your proposal pursuant to a request for public records will not violate the rights of any third party. Any restriction on the use of proprietary information contained within a proposal shall be clearly stated as such within the proposal. The City will only be able to comply with a request for confidentiality to the extent allowed by law. After withdrawing a previously submitted bid/proposal, the responding firm may submit another bid/proposal at any time prior to the submittal deadline. All proposals submitted in response to this Request shall be irrevocable for a period of Ninety (90) days after the Proposal's due date and may not be withdrawn by the Vendor during this period. After such time has elapsed, the Vendor may withdraw the proposal if it has not been selected prior to the request to withdraw. Except as otherwise provided by regulation, all decisions to permit the correction or withdrawal of bids/proposals following the submittal deadline, or to cancel awards or contracts based on bid/proposal mistakes, will be submitted in writing and will be supported by a written determination made by the City procurement contact. City's Rights Reserved The City of Urbana reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, or any part therof, and to waive any technicalities or informalities deemed to be in the best interests of the City. Any such decision shall be considered final. Proposals shall be opened in private so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing respondents. The Evaluation Committee may request additional information and/or conduct interviews/discussions with any respondent who submits an acceptable or potentially acceptable proposal. Respondents shall be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals. During the course of such discussions, the Evaluation Committee shall not disclose any information derived from one proposal to any other respondent. The City of Urbana reserves the right to negotiate final specifications, terms and conditions, which may be necessary or appropriate to the accomplishment of the purpose of this RFP. The City may require the RFP and the respondent's proposal be incorporated in full or in part as Contract Documents. This implies that the RFP and all responses, supplemental information, and other submissions provided by the respondent during discussions or negotiations may be held by the City as contractually binding on the successful respondent. When the Evaluation Committee determines a respondent's proposal to be unacceptable, such respondent shall not be afforded an additional opportunity to supplement its proposal. The City of Urbana will not be liable in any way for any costs incurred by respondents in replying to this RFP. Anyone whom is not submitting a proposal for the work but wishes to receive final tabulations or award information should "Follow" the project to receive automated notifications pertaining to this solicitation. The City reserves the right to award tree removal (task #1) and stump removal (task #2) to separate contractors. Bidders are encouraged to provide a cost savings for combining both tasks into one contract by submitting a quote for both task #1 and task #2 in the proposal form under combined tasks #1 and #2 quote. The City also reserves the right to change, add, or delete tree and stump quantities from the bid list as it deems to be in its best interest. The amount of tree work to be performed is conditioned upon the total amount of funds budgeted. The City shall give notice to the Contractor of the trees to be removed the approximate number and size of each and any deletions and or additions to the contract tree removal list. Removal operations shall commence no later than 30 days after contract has been awarded and continue until completion, which shall be no later than March 22, 2024 or 90 calendar days after the date of the execution of the contract by both parties if 90 days extend beyond March 24, 2024 deadline. Unless otherwise authorized by the City, failure of the Contractor to comply with the approved removal schedule shall be sufficient cause to give notice that the Contractor is in default of the contract. Safety Standards All equipment to be used, including cranes and truck mounted winches, and all work to be performed must be in full compliance with the latest American National Standards Institute. Standard Z-133 (Safety Requirements for Arboricultural Operations). These standards are made part of this contract by this reference. Blocking of public streets shall not be permitted unless prior arrangements have been made with the City and is coordinated with appropriate departments. Traffic control is the responsibility of the Contractor and shall be accomplished in conformance with IDOT Manual Uniform Traffic Control Devices. The Contractor shall be solely responsible for pedestrian and vehicular safety and control within the worksite and shall provide the necessary warning devices, barricades and ground personnel needed to give safety, protection, and warning to persons and vehicular traffic within the area. Any practice determined by the City to be obviously hazardous shall be immediately discontinued by the Contractor upon receipt of either written and/or verbal notice from the City to discontinue such practice. Licenses, Permits, Certifications The Contractor shall provide supervision with an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist for all tree and stump removals, with authority to act. Each supervisor shall be authorized by the Contractor to accept and act upon all directives issued by the City. Failure for the supervisor to act on said directives shall be sufficient cause to give notice that the Contractor is in default of the contract unless such directives would create potential personal injury or safety hazards. The Contractor shall, at his/her expense, procure all necessary licenses and permits needed to conduct the work required under the terms of this contract. It shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to obtain all necessary permits, lane closure permits and other needed authorization to conduct tree maintenance operations on all rights-of-way. The Contractor shall give any and all necessary formal notices required in conjunction with the lawful prosecution of the work of this contract. Tree and Stump Removal Specifications: Location. The Contractor shall receive from the City lists giving the address, identification and diameter of trees to be removed. Trees shall only be removed upon orders of the City Arborist or his authorized representative. A preliminary tree list is contained in these specifications. The trees to be removed will be plainly marked by the City with a Red or Green simplex nail on the street side of the tree trunk. However, the Contractor must receive specific direction to remove each tree from the City's representative prior to removal. How Trees Should Be Removed. Removal shall consist of cutting down each identified tree in a safe manner so as not to unnecessarily endanger life or property. All trees designated for removal shall be removed in accordance with common standards of good practice. Methods used shall be subject to the approval of the City. The Contractor shall refrain from the practice of felling entire trees. All trees shall be "limbed" out prior to the final cutting of the trunk. Sidewalks, curbs, streets, manhole covers and meter pits shall always be protected from the impact of falling wood. If trees extend through power and/or telephone wires, it will be the responsibility of the Contractor to notify the appropriate utility company and make arrangements. All billable utility costs are the responsibility of the Contractor. No free felling of heavy limbs shall be allowed. All limbs of sufficient size that may cause damage to other trees or surrounding public or private property shall be lowered by ropes or crane. The Contractor shall remove all trees to a point one (1-6) inch/s above the adjacent ground level unless otherwise approved by the City Arborist. Stump removal shall be priced separate from tree removal costs. Stump site will include all exposed roots and or raised ground within a 10 ft. radius from stump center unless otherwise noted and shall be graded to match surrounding grade. It is the awarded Contractors responsibility to contact appropriate utility for removal clearance. Stumps shall be COMPLETELY REMOVED or ground down to a depth of no less than 16" except where utility conflicts exists in which case stumps shall be ground to 14" below grade, including the root flare. Grindings are to be completely removed from hole and replaced with clean topsoil, provided by contractor and approved by the City Arborist, and seeded with City supplied grass seed mix. All J.U.L.I.E. locate flags on property shall be removed upon completion.