Fire Service Consolidation Study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate opportunities to enhance operational efficiency, improve value, strengthen resiliency, and deliver a consistent level of fire-safety services for Northern Beaufort County.
Objectives
•    Eliminate jurisdictional response boundaries in Northern Beaufort County.
•    Strengthen resiliency through unified planning, resource deployment, and operations.
•    Standardize compensation and benefits among participating agencies.

Background

Beaufort County has 9 independent Fire Service Agency's. 3 are within municipality's, others are State Chartered, and the balance are county chartered. Each operates as its own taxing agency or as a PSD. Fire Service Consolidation efforts have been discussed and attempted for more than 30 years, but no effective progress has been made towards this effort. Beaufort County Council would like to move forward to identify and implement a solution in an effort to standardize employee compensation and benefit's, erase response boundaries created by independent departments, and a single level of service and command structure county wide.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 070926
• Department: Administration
• Department Head: John Robinson (ACA Public Safety)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-06-25T21:00:00.000Z
• Pre-Proposal Meeting: 2026-06-18T18:00:00.000Z — Please email gmurray@bcgov.net for your TEAMS invitation

Evaluation Criteria

• Compliance with Scope of work (30 pts) —

  Does the offeror provide appropriate examples of prior similar work? Was the prior work implemented and was it effective?

• Method and approach (25 pts) —

  Is the method and approach to complete the scope of work in line with expectations?

• Communication Plan (25 pts) —

  How will the proposer communicate with the Administrative team during the study process?

• Consulting Team Competence and Experience (20 pts) —

  Has the proposer presented a Principle and Team members who have proven experience, ability, and qualifications to produce the required result?

Submission Requirements

• Firm confirms the proposal is firm for a period of at least 90 days from the closing date for submission of proposal. (required)
• Certification regarding Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility, and Voluntary exclusion (required) —

  The contractor certifies, by submission of this qualification statement or acceptance of a contract, that neither it nor its principals is presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any State, Federal department, or agency.

  It further agrees by submitting this qualification statement that it will include this clause without modification in all lower tier transactions, solicitations, proposals, contracts, and subcontracts. Where the bidder/contractor or any lower tier participant is unable to certify to this statement, it shall attach an explanation to this solicitation/bid.

• Has your company been involved in any litigation within the past five (5) years, arising out of your performance. (required)
• Explain fully any litigation involving performance. (required)
• Non-Segregated Facilities (required) —

  CERTIFICATION BY CONTRACTOR

  Regarding

  NON-SEGREGATED FACILITIES

  The Bidder certifies that he does not, and will not, provide and maintain segregated facilities for his employees at his establishments and, further that he does not, and will not, permit his employees to perform their services at those locations, under his control, where segregated facilities are provided and maintained. Segregated fountains, transportation, parking, entertainment, recreation, ad housing facilities; waiting, rest, wash, dressing, and locker room, and time clock, work, storage, restaurant, and other eating areas which are set apart in fact, or by explicit directive, habit, local custom, or otherwise, based on color, creed, national origin, and race. The Bidder agrees that, except where he has obtained identical certifications from proposed subcontractors for specific time periods, he will obtain identical certifications from proposed subcontractors prior to the award of subcontractors exceeding $10,000.00 which are not exempt from the provisions of the Equal Opportunity clause, and that he will retain such certifications in his files.

  The Bidder agrees that a breach of this certification is a violation of the Equal Opportunity clause in this Contract. The penalty for making false statements is prescribed in 18 U.S.C. 1001.

• Please upload any relevant certifications and/or licenses
• Qualification Statement (required) —

  To achieve a uniform review process and allow for adequate comparability, the information is to be organized in the manner specified below and the entire package must not exceed 15 double-sided printed pages excluding cover pages. Please include a cover page at the start of each section.

  1. Executive Summary:  Summary of your company's mission, management, services provided, and competitive advantage
  2. Approach to the Planning Process: Explanation of the process to the Firm's Planning Process for project kickoff
  3. Work Plan: A summary of tasks to be performed from evaluation of data through County approval of the final plan.
  4. Experience and Qualifications:  Experience and qualifications of the team members, with an emphasis on similar type projects completed. Provide an organization chart including sub-consultants and contractors. 
  5. List any exceptions, qualifications, or exclusions to this RFP
• Will your Pre-Proposal Meeting be Mandatory or Non-Mandatory? (required)
• Will your Pre-Proposal Meeting be In-Person or Online? (required)