Solid Waste Outreach Seattle Schools

The City of Seattle is seeking proposals for Solid Waste Outreach Seattle Schools. Proposals are due no later than 1:00 pm on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. All questions are to be submitted through the e-procurement portal at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/seattle no later than 5:00 pm on Friday, June 5, 2026.

Background

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has partnered with Seattle Public Schools and private K-12 schools to educate students about Seattle’s recycling, composting, and proper disposal since 1990. SPU has continued to work with schools to improve their waste handling systems and process to better divert and prevent waste in their facilities. With this solicitation, we are seeking innovative ideas to reach our recycling and composting, and waste prevention goals as defined in SPU’s Strategic Business Plan[LH1] , develop environmentally aware young residents, and reach our Service Equity goal that all Seattle’s kids have an equal opportunity to participate, regardless of school resources.  

The Consultant team, in conjunction with staff from SPU, will develop and implement educational materials and lesson plans for K-12 audiences, as well as provide support for School staff to reduce, prevent, and better sort their waste through onsite support.  

The expected benefits include students who are informed about waste management and trained to reduce, prevent, and sort their waste in accordance with Seattle’s guidelines, outfitting schools to do the same, and be the practice grounds for these behaviors. As a result, students will be able to sort their waste better, understand the impact of waste on the environment, and reduce overall waste produced at schools. 

Additional outcomes from this contract may include: 

• Schools switch from single use serviceware to reusable/durable products 
• Key staff (i.e., principals, teachers, cafeteria staff, etc.) are active participants in supporting students on various waste reduction efforts  
• Nutrition services have the knowledge, motivation, and equipment to collect food for food rescue partners and develop strategies that maximize their food resources from Central Kitchen to school lunch rooms. 

Strong applicants will have expertise in solid waste reduction programming, K-12 outreach and education, delivering technical assistance, program development, or related areas. 

It is anticipated there will be one contract, with a prime and subconsultants if needed. The contract is estimated to be for 3 years for an estimated value of $450,000.  

Project Details

• Reference ID: 26-072-S
• Department: Seattle Public Utilities
• Department Head: Andrew Lee (General Manager and CEO)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-06-06T00:00:00.000Z
• Pre-Proposal Meeting: 2026-06-02T17:45:00.000Z — Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/27493352212750?p=JAG5zRjdyN0QLkLzvk Meeting ID: 274 933 522 127 50 Passcode: oW9xC3nC Dial in by phone +1 206-686-8357,,354685114# United States, Seattle Find a local number Phone conference ID: 354 685 114#

Evaluation Criteria

• Criteria #1 Schools Outreach and Education Programs (Page limit 5) (15 pts) —

  In no more than 5 pages, describe your team members’ experience in Schools Outreach and Education programs.

  Describe at least two (2), but not more than five (5), recent projects that demonstrate your key team members’ qualifications to complete the scope of work described in the scope of work (Section 4). Strong responses will incorporate the following for each project:

  • A description of how you approached project management during the scope of work.
  • A clear understanding of the proposed scope of work and relevant experience with School’s Outreach and Education, specifically:
    • Developing, implementing, and evaluating the success of School workshops, lesson plans, and activities related to solid waste topics
    • Experience working with public and/or private schools, including examples of strategic collaboration and facilitation across stakeholders (parents, teachers, nutrition services, after school programs, etc.)
    • School-to school competition/engagement
    • Community-based social marketing and/or other behavior change expertise specific to youth and/or school environments

  Do not include projects completed by members of a firm that are not assigned to the proposed team.

• Criteria #2 Solid Waste: Diversion, Reuse, and Prevention (Page limit 5) (15 pts) —

  In no more than 5 pages, describe your team members’ Solid Waste Experience, including, but not limited to, Diversion, Reuse, and/or Prevention.

  Describe at least two (2), but not more than five (5), recent projects that demonstrate your key team members’ qualifications to complete the scope of work described in the scope of work (Section 4). Strong responses will incorporate the following for each project listed:

  • A description of how you approached project management during the scope of work.
  • A clear understanding of the proposed scope of work and relevant experience with Solid Waste, specifically:
    • Experience with solid waste system/industry
    • Waste audits and/or composition studies
    • Recycling and composting programs
    • Food waste prevention
    • Food rescue
    • Reuse and repair
    • Relevant partnerships, including policy-makers, food suppliers, food growers, hunger relief organizations, waste haulers, landfills, recycling facilities, and composting sites

  Do not include projects completed by members of a firm that are not assigned to the proposed team.

• Criteria #3 Education & Technical Assistance Programs (Page limit 5) (15 pts) —

  In no more than 5 pages, describe your team members’ experience in delivering Educational & Technical Assistance Programs.

  Describe at least two (2), but not more than five (5), recent projects that demonstrate your key team members’ qualifications to complete the scope of work described in the scope of work (Section 4). Strong responses will incorporate the following for each project listed:

  • A description of how you approached project management during the scope of work.
  • A clear understanding of the proposed scope of work and relevant experience with Education and Technical Assistance, with specific attention to:
    • Reuseable serviceware activation
    • Solid waste technical assistance
    • Qualitative and quantitative data collection
    • Behavior change programs, studies, or campaigns
    • Strategic collaboration and facilitation across stakeholders
    • Working with stakeholders to find project alignment, operational efficiencies, clearly identified pilots and measurable outcomes
    • Program evaluation and continuous improvement

  Do not include projects completed by members of a firm that are not assigned to the proposed team.

• Criteria #4 Project Organization Structure & Roles of Key Personnel (Page limit 3) (15 pts) —

  In no more than 3 pages, provide a detailed consultant team organizational chart and supporting information to include key personnel roles, responsibility and level of effort, and for the consulting services (work) for Schools Outreach and Education program.

• Criteria #5 Inclusion Plan (No page limit) (10 pts) —

  For this criterion, provide a list of expected contract core services. Points are awarded for responses that evidence:

  • Responsible good faith efforts
  • Meaningful and attainable self-set aspirational goals, which are consistent with Consultant Team strategy
  • WMBE firms integrated into the team and within core work
  • WMBE firms integrated within value-added work opportunities
  • Evidence of strong past performance using effective models

  Evidence of effective mentoring, training, or capacity-building.

• Criteria #6 Team Qualifications (Page limit 2, does not include resume page count) (20 pts) —

  Submit resumes for key personnel and lead personnel for the prime and, if applicable, the subconsultant teams. Resumes should be no longer than 2-pages each. Resumes will not count towards the 2-page limit for the Team Qualifications Criteria.

  In no more than 2 pages:

  • Name key personnel and lead personnel and briefly describe their experience and qualifications.
  • Describe why the proposed members of your prime consultant team are well-qualified to perform the work described in the scope of work (Section 4):
    • Strong responses will pay particular attention to Criteria’s 1, 2, and 3.

  (If applicable) Describe your subconsultants’ qualifications to perform the work described in the scope of work (Section 4):

  • Describe the tasks that each team member will be assigned and how they are qualified to complete the work, with particular attention to Criteria’s 1, 2, and 3.
  • If applicable, describe your past work experience with your subconsultant. 
• Criteria #7 Inclusive Engagement (Page limit 5) (10 pts) —

  In no more than 5 pages, and using no more than 2 recent projects as examples, describe your team’s experience and approach to:

  • Inclusive engagement with BIPOC communities. 
  • Ensuring services provided are culturally relevant, sensitive, and linguistically applicable. 
  • Inclusive engagement with communities where English is not the first language. 

  A good response will show an understanding, and application, of SPU’s commitment to race, equity, and inclusion.

Submission Requirements

• Minimum Qualifications (required) —

  This response is mandatory. The determination you have achieved all minimum qualifications is made from this section alone, and therefore, the Evaluation Committee is not obligated to check references or search other materials in your proposal to make this decision.

  For each Minimum Qualification listed below, please describe how you meet the minimum qualification.

  Minimum Qualification #1
  Provide Minimum Qualification

  Minimum Qualification #2
  Provide Minimum Qualification

  Minimum Qualification #3
  Provide Minimum Qualification

• Consultant Inclusion Plan (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Proposal Response (required)
• Pricing Proposal (required) —

  Upload your pricing proposal here.

• Consultant Questionnaire (required) —

  Please download the below document, complete, and upload. 

  Provide information to the extent this information is available. If your response is incomplete or requires further description, the City may request additional information within a specified deadline, or may determine the missing information is immaterial.  

• Contract Modifications —

  Make requested changes to the Contract language using track changes and upload here.

• Will there be minimum qualifications? (required) —

  Are there qualifications the Consultants must have to even be considered?  Minimum qualifications should ONLY be those that the Consultant must meet to have their proposal considered, meaning you will toss the proposal out in full if the Consultant cannot meet the minimum qualifications. If none, delete the paragraph and say there are no minimum qualifications. Minimum qualifications can sometimes be important, such as a professional license.  If you require a Minimum Qualification, ensure it is fair, appropriate and reasonable. Consultants can protest these if they seem exclusionary and unnecessary.  In addition, some federal requirements may restrict or prohibit the use of such qualifications. Review the terms of the grant to ensure compliance with all such requirements. For instance, for FTA funded projects, the use of geographical preferences is prohibited or extremely limited under certain circumstances.  See the Sidebar Supplement for more information. Minimum Qualifications are only for factual yes/no items which can be easily proven as a matter of fact and on the face of the RFP/RFQ response.  These are NOT subjective such as “Company needs to be experienced” or “needs to have good references.”  These are instead hard and fast criteria we check off “yes or no,” and we will toss them out without further consideration if they say no.

• Background checks __________ be required. (required) —

  If background checks are not required, select "may"

• Will a Consultant Inclusion Plan be needed? (required) —

  Note to department – All non-federally funded contracts above $395,000 require an Inclusion Plan. If potential work, including all phases, is above $395,000, retain the Inclusion Plan as a required submittal. The Mayor’s 2010 policy requires you to score the WMBE response, for no less than 10% of total points.

  Departments are encouraged to list the core Scope of Work items that the department has determined to be available for subcontracting.

  Contracts with FEDERAL FUNDING may require different or additional social equity requirements, such as federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) requirements, which are required for US DOT funded projects, such as FTA projects.  

  Exceptions: Exceptions to the Inclusion Plan requirement are rare. Departments must notify their WMBE IDT representative and PC for a review and written approval of an exception. An exception does not relieve the Consultant of its responsibilities to seek WMBE inclusion if changes to the contract provides opportunities for WMBE inclusion.

  For assistance, contact Miguel Beltran at Miguel.Beltran@Seattle.gov or 206-684-4525.

• Are you open to negotiating the standard contract terms and conditions? (required)
• Will you be using an Electronic Pricing Table or having your Consultant upload a Pricing Proposal? (required)
• To determine highest ranked Consultant, will interview scores be combined with all proposals or will it be a standalone phase? (required)