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Local Government Seeks Vendors for Data Work

The Northern California county wants to hear from companies capable of assisting it in a particular aspect of technology work.

The state’s seventh most populous county wants to connect with IT vendors as it looks to augment a key part of its talent pool.

In a Notice of Request for Pre-Qualification of Contractors (pre-RFP) released Friday, Alameda County – a Silicon Valley county that’s home to more than 1.6 million residents – is calling for responses from companies that are capable of assisting it in a specific area of IT services. Among the takeaways:

  • The county is seeking contractors who can “purchase, install, modify and service data communications cabling”; those that qualify will be required to perform “a full range of cable installation services” according to the pre-RFP. More specifically, these will include “cable infrastructure design and technology consultation.” Here, data communications cabling is largely “inside horizontal station cable, fiber-optic backbone-data cable, and copper voice backbone cable.” Qualifying companies may be called on to do some outside installation, fiber backbone repair and copper distribution cable repair. The work may also include installation of county-provided wireless access points (WAP) that have been pre-configured. The contract will apply to “existing” county-owned buildings; and, in most cases, buildings it leases, dependent on site and project. Per the pre-RFP, Alameda County now has an average of 10 to 20 cabling requests per month valued at $500 to $20,000; the average is about $2,500.
  • The county is especially interested in contractors with experience doing “public-sector cable installation projects of various sizes and complexity” including those involving “minor demolition, repair, modification and maintenance of existing buildings and infrastructure” in Alameda County. Also of particular interest are contractors with experience leading multiple construction crews across differing types of public facilities “including correctional facilities”; and contractors that can deliver a workforce capable of passing “on-site security requirements” to work in correctional facilities including those with “compliance with correction facility construction security procedures and work restrictions.”
  • For contractors that successfully pre-qualify, that pre-qualification approval will be valid for one year from the “date of notice of qualification,” with the county reserving the right to “adjust, increase, limit, suspend or rescind the pre-qualification ratings based on subsequently learned information and after giving notice of the proposed action” with opportunity for a hearing. The pre-RFQ doesn’t preclude Alameda County from a “post-bid consideration and determination on a specific project of whether a bidder has the quality, fitness, capacity and experience to satisfactorily perform the proposed work.”
  • A voluntary pre-submittal conference is set for 10 a.m. Nov. 21 on Microsoft Teams; a list of attendees will come Nov. 28. Written questions are due by 5 p.m. Nov. 28, and responses will come Dec. 2. Pre-qualification documents are due by 2 p.m. on Dec. 12, and the notification of pre-qualified general contractors is expected Dec. 28.
Theo Douglas is Assistant Managing Editor of Industry Insider — California.