22-23-09 - Annual Contract for Landscape Maintenance, Quadrant I

SEALED BIDS will be received at the office of the Purchasing Division, City Hall West, 707 W. Acequia, Visalia, California 93291, until 11:30am, on Friday, May 26, 2023, for landscape maintenance of an area identified as Quadrant B.  This contract is for the maintenance of approximately 341,826 sq. ft. (7.85 acres).
Maintenance of areas must include if applicable, but not be limited to, pruning, shaping and training of trees, shrubs and ground covers; fertilization; weed control; litter control; control of all plant diseases and pests; mowing; maintenance of irrigation system; and all other duties required to keep the area(s) in safe, attractive, usable condition and maintain plant and turf condition with horticulturally acceptable growth and color and as otherwise described herein.
The initial contract term shall be for a 12-month period and shall, at the City’s option and with consent of the Contractor, be extended annually thereafter for four (4) consecutive one-year periods. 
License requirements: Contractor must possess all required State, Federal, and local licenses as it pertains to the scope of work of this RFB.  Awarded Bidder must hold:

A C-27 Landscape Contractor’s License,
A Pesticide Applicator’s License (QAL category “B”), and
A valid Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business License.
A valid Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Registration Number (as mentioned previously)
A valid City of Visalia Business Tax Certificate (as mentioned in Section E)

Awarded Bidder must also obtain a valid City issued encroachment permit to work in City Right of Way

Mandatory Pre-Bid Meetings have been scheduled for this project.  Interested Bidders are required to attend at least one of the mandatory meetings to be considered eligible to bid on this project. Meetings will be held in the City Council Chambers at Visalia City Hall, 707 W. Acequia Avenue, Visalia as follows:
Pre-Bid Meeting #1:          Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 2:30pm, and 
Pre-Bid Meeting #2:          Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at 9:30am
Time will be set aside at these meetings for Contractors to ask questions about the project work and contract requirements. It shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to have acquired full knowledge of the job sites, scope of work and any problems or difficulties that may affect the work proposed.
Obtain Contract Specifications/Bid Documents: All documents may be requested from the office of the Purchasing Division, 707 W. Acequia, Visalia, CA 93291 by telephone (559) 713-4334, or by email: purchasing@visalia.city. These documents will be emailed when possible if they do not exceed our email capacity. Documents may also be downloaded from BidNet by registered users (registration information included with this notice).
Public Works Maintenance Contract: This is a public works maintenance contract and therefore subject to State and other requirements, including payment of prevailing wages, registration with the Department of Industrial Relations,  Monitoring by the Labor Commissioner and other requirements outlined in the City of Visalia Labor Compliance Manual (included with Bidding Documents).
Bidders/Contractors/Subcontractors must be registered with the State of California Department of Industrial Relations in compliance with SB854 which states: A contractor or subcontractor shall not be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, subject to the requirements of Section 4104 of the Public Contract Code, or engage in the performance of any contract for public work, as defined in this chapter, unless currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Section 1725.5. Awarded Contractor will be required to furnish electronic payroll records for project to the Labor Commissioner.
Business Tax Certificate: All Contractors and/or subcontractors performing work on this project shall be required to obtain a City of Visalia Business Tax Certificate. No payment will be made to any Contractor until such license is obtained.
Questions: Direct Questions in writing to the Purchasing Department, at fax (559) 713-4801 or email: purchasing@visalia.city, Questions must be received by Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at 4:00pm
THE CITY HEREBY AFFIRMATIVELY ENSURES that Minority Business Enterprises and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) will be afforded full opportunity to submit proposals in response to this notice. Individuals and/or entities submitting bids/proposals to the City of Visalia will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, age, religion, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status in any consideration leading to the award of contract.
Executive Order N-6-22 – Russia Sanctions
On March 4, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-6-22 (the EO) regarding Economic Sanctions against Russia and Russian entities and individuals. “Economic Sanctions” refers to sanctions imposed by the U.S. government in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, as well as any sanctions imposed under state law. By submitting a bid or proposal, Contractor represents that it is not a target of Economic Sanctions. Should the State determine Contractor is a target of Economic Sanctions or is conducting prohibited transactions with sanctioned individuals or entities, that shall be grounds for rejection of the Contractor’s bid/proposal any time prior to contract execution, or, if determined after contract execution, shall be grounds for termination by the State.

The City of Visalia reserves the right to reject any or all bids.


Per California Labor Code (CLC), the following statements are incorporated into RFB-22-23-09:
As set forth in CLC section 1771.1(a), all contractors and subcontractors must be currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to CLC section 1725.5 to be qualified to bid, be listed in a bid proposal, or perform any public work for the COV.  Proof of registration for each contractor and subcontractor listed on the bid is required.
As set forth in CLC section 1771.4(a)(1), notice is given that this project is a public work, subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations.
As set forth in CLC section 1773, the COV shall obtain the general prevailing rate per diem wages and the general prevailing rate for holiday and overtime work in the locality in which the public work is to be performed for each craft, classification, or type of worker needed to execute the contract from the Director of Industrial Relations.  In accordance with labor code section 1773.2, this information is to be included in the bid specifications and in the contract itself.
This project will be subject to all applicable State Wage Determinations. The Contractor will be responsible for paying wages from the State Wage Determinations for all trades.  The wages are set forth in the General Prevailing Wage Rates for this project, available at City of Visalia address and available from the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Internet web site:  http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlsr/PWD/index.htm. 
In accordance with the provisions of Section 1770 of the Labor Code, the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations of the State of California has ascertained the general prevailing rate of wage: and employer payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, travel time and subsistence pay as provided in Section 1773.8, apprenticeship or other training programs authorized by Section 3093, and similar purposes applicable to the work to be done.  These rates shall be a part of the Contract and are on file in the office of the City Engineer and will be made available to any interested person on request.  The Contractor must ensure that employees and applicants for employment are not discriminated against because of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Pursuant to Section 22300 of the California Public Contract Code (Section 10263 of the Public Contract Code for State Agencies), the Contractor may substitute securities for any money held by the Owner to insure performance of the contract. At the request and expense of the Contractor, securities equivalent to the amount withheld shall be deposited with the Owner or with a State or federally-chartered banks as an escrow agent, who shall return such securities to the Contractor upon satisfactory completion of the contract. Deposit of securities with an escrow agent shall be subject to written agreement in accordance with the provisions of Section 22300. The Owner shall not certify that the contract has been completed until at least 35 days after filing by the Owner of a Notice of Completion. Securities eligible for investment under this Section shall be limited to those listed in Section 16430 of the California Government Code, bank or savings and loan certificates of deposit, interest bearing demand deposit accounts, standby letters of credit, or any other security mutually agreed upon by the Contractor and the public agency.


Bid Net Registration Instructions (optional)
The City of Visalia utilizes a regional bid notification system created exclusively for the Purchasing Department within the area.  This system allows the City of Visalia to post all information needed by vendors regarding bids, quotes (informal), request for proposals, construction notices, addenda and awards.    By establishing one centralized bidding and registration system, vendors will now have a single point of contact for business opportunities throughout our region.  The system will save the City of Visalia (and our vendors) time and money by reducing printing, postage and mailing costs.  All vendors who wish to do business with the City of Visalia are asked to register on this new system.   
Vendors must register online by signing on to the following web address: http://www.govbids.com and clicking on the Central Valley Purchasing System link.  Registration options are the following:
 

• Option #1 is paid registration.  This option emails notification of all bids and addendums from all participating agencies.  This option also allows the vendor to view award information and any other information that is posted.  One year registration for this option is $49.95, two years is $79.95.

• Option #2 is free registration.  This allows the vendor to login and search (by agency) all bids, addendums, award information, and any other information that is listed.