LAND ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SOLUTION

SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION
Purpose and Project Overview
The Suwanee River Water Management District (District) is soliciting proposals for a software
solution to modernize and automate the end-to-end lifecycle of land assets, from initial
acquisition applications to long-term stewardship to disposition. This project aims to replace
manual processes with a centralized system capable of handling electronic submissions,
complex workflow approvals, personnel task assignment tracking, and data-driven land
management planning, management of ownership, lease agreements, and reporting. The
solution must integrate with ESRI GIS technologies. Reduce manual task time by 40% and
enable real-time geospatial visualization.
Background
The District has an Access database for land acquisition transactions. Applications are received
through CivicPlus software solutions. Workflows are routed and completed by manually routing
documents through Windows network folders. District documents are retained in PaperVision
Enterprise.
The District utilizes GIS for reviewing acquisitions, planning and tracking completion of land
management work for prescribed burning, site preparation, reforestation, road maintenance,
mowing, daylighting, recreation maintenance, field services, rare species, invasive species,
natural community mapping, and facility improvement programs.
District documents, including but not limited to online forms, contracts, letters, and reports are
done manually. The current system relies on spreadsheets and PDFs, leading to inefficient
reporting, data inaccuracies, and risks of missing compliance deadlines.
SECTION 2 - PROPOSED SCHEDULE
July 23, 2026 Release of Request for Proposals.
July 31, 2026 Deadline for submittal of questions no later than 5:00 p.m.
August 3, 2026 District response to questions posted to website.
August 19, 2026 Proposals must be submitted on DemandStar no later than 3:00
p.m. and will be opened at that time. *
September 4, 2026 Selection of Proposals for Presentation.
September 21-25, 2026 Selected Proposals Presented to District in person or via Teams.
October 1, 2026 Selection Committee Meeting at District Headquarters in Live Oak at
9:00 a.m. *
November 10, 2026 Governing Board consideration of Recommended Proposal at
District Headquarters in Live Oak. *
January 1, 2027 Commencement of work.
* Denotes a public meeting. All times are Eastern Time (ET).
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SECTION 3 - INSTRUCTION TO RESPONDENTS
Delivery of Proposal: Proposals shall be submitted electronically through DemandStar.
https://www.demandstar.com/app/agencies/florida/suwannee-river-water-management-
district/procurement
For articles and videos to assist you through the DemandStar registry and uploading of
documents visit the DemandStar business support page at -
https://network.demandstar.com/business-support/
Proposal Deadline: Proposal packages are to be uploaded to the platform no later than 3:00
p.m. August 19, 2026. Proposals received after this time, for any reason, will be rejected.
Questions: To provide equal opportunity and ensure the same information is provided to all
proposers, any questions should be submitted by email to Tyler.Winburn@srwmd.org July 31,
2026, on or before 5:00 PM Questions cannot be answered via telephone or other verbal
communication.
RESPONDENTS TO THIS SOLICITATION OR PERSONS ACTING ON THEIR BEHALF MAY
NOT CONTACT, BETWEEN THE RELEASE OF THE SOLICITATION AND THE END OF THE
72-BUSINESS HOUR PERIOD FOLLOWING THE AGENCY POSTING THE NOTICE OF
INTENDED AWARD, ANY EMPLOYEE OR OFFICER OF THE DISTRICT CONCERNING ANY
ASPECT OF THIS SOLICITATION, EXCEPT IN WRITING AS INDICATED ABOVE. VIOLATION
OF THIS PROVISION MAY BE GROUNDS FOR REJECTING A RESPONSE.
Delivery of Proposal: It is the obligation of the proposer to ensure that they have reviewed all
amendments, addenda, and all questions and answers to this RFP as posted on the District
website to ensure that the proposal responds to the most current information before uploading
to DemandStar.
SECTION 4 - KEY POINTS
Challenge of Solicitation Process: If a potential respondent protests any provisions of this
RFP, a notice of intent to protest shall be filed with the District in writing within 72 hours after the
posting of the request for proposal on the District's website. "Failure to file a protest within the
time prescribed in Section 120.57(3) Florida Statutes shall constitute a waiver of proceedings
under Chapter 120 of Florida Statutes."
Challenge of District's Intent to Award Contract: Ifa respondent intends to protest District's
intent to award contract, the notice of intent to protest must be filed in writing within 72 hours
after posting of a notice of intent to award contract and the respondent shall file a formal written
protest within ten (10) days after filing of notice of intent to protest. Any respondent who files a
formal written protest pursuant to Chapter 28-110, Florida Administrative Code, and Section
120.57(3), Florida Statutes shall post with the District at the time of filing the formal written
protest, a bond pursuant to Section 287.042(2)(c), Florida Statutes (2020).
Failure to file a notice of intent to protest or failure to file a formal written protest within the time
prescribed in Chapter 28-110, Florida Administrative Code and Section 120.57(3), Florida
Statutes, or failure to post the bond or other security required by law within the time allowed for
filing a bond shall constitute a waiver of proceedings under Chapter 120, Florida Statutes. More
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specifically, "Failure to file a protest within the time prescribed in Section 120.57(3) Florida
Statutes shall constitute a waiver of proceedings under Chapter 120 of Florida Statutes."
Americans With Disabilities Act: The District does not discriminate upon the basis of any
individual's disability status. This nondiscrimination policy involves every aspect of the District's
functions including one's access to, participation, employment, or treatment in its programs or
activities. Anyone requiring reasonable accommodation as provided for in the Americans with
Disabilities Act should contact April Olive, Records, Contracts and Land Acquisition Manager at
386.362.1001 or 800.226.1066 (Florida only).
Minority Business Enterprises: The District recognizes fair and open competition as a basic
tenet of public procurement. Respondents doing business with the District are prohibited from
discriminating on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, handicap, age, or sex. The
District encourages participation by minority business enterprises. Whenever two or more
service providers are ranked equally, a minority business enterprise shall be given preference in
the award process.
Veteran's Preference: In the absence of minority business enterprise, whenever two or more
service providers are ranked equally by the Selection Committee, a veteran-owned business
enterprise shall be given preference in the award process.
ADA Compliance: For all electronic deliverables due under the contract resulting from this
Contract, Vendor must ensure that those deliverables and all supporting documents are
accessible according to 282.603 Florida Statutes and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 relating to the creation and use of electronic documents. This requirement applies to
editable formats, such as Microsoft Word, as well as portable document formats (PDF).
Drug Free Workplace Act: The selected PROPOSER shall certify that it has established a drug
free workplace.
Public Entity Crime: Section 287.133(2)(a), Florida Statutes, states "A person or affiliate who
has been placed on the convicted vendor list following a conviction for a public entity crime may
not submit a bid on a contract to provide any goods or services to a public entity, may not
submit a bid on a contract with a public entity for the construction or repair of a public building or
public work, may not submit bids on leases of real property to a public entity, may not be
awarded or perform work as a contractor, supplier, subcontractor, or consultant under a contract
with any public entity, and may not transact business with any public entity in excess of the
threshold amount provided in s.287.017 for CATEGORY TWO for a period of 36 months from
the date of being placed on the convicted vendor list."
Scrutinized Company: Section 287.135, Florida Statutes, states "A company is ineligible to,
and may not, bid on, submit a proposal for, or enter into or renew a contract with an agency or
local governmental entity for goods or services of:
1) Any amount if, at the time of bidding on, submitting a proposal for, or entering into or
renewing such contract, the company is on the Scrutinized Companies that Boycott
Israel List, created pursuant to s. 215.4725, or is engaged in a boycott of Israel; or
2) One million dollars or more if, at the time of bidding on, submitting a proposal for, or
entering into or renewing such contract, the company:
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a. Is on the Scrutinized Companies with Activities in Sudan List or the
Scrutinized Companies with Activities in the Iran Petroleum Energy Sector
List, created pursuant to 215.473; Florida Statutes or
b. Is engaged in business operations in Cuba or Syria."
Insurance Requirements: If awarded, PROPOSER shall represent and guarantee that all
employees, agents, servants or representatives of the respondent, and all employees, agents,
servants, or representatives of subcontractors are covered by workers' compensation insurance.
Prior to entering into contract with the District, respondent agrees to furnish the District
certificates of insurance on all insurance, naming District as additional insured for items 2 and 3
below, providing evidence that respondent has in full force and effect the following minimum
insurance with insurers authorized to do business in the State of Florida:
1) Workers' compensation insurance as required above;
2) Motor vehicular liability insurance with limits of not less than $1,000,000 combined single
limit which insurance shall be applicable to any and all vehicles utilized by respondent to
provide the services requested by District;
3) General liability insurance for all services rendered by respondent for the requested
services with a minimum of $1,000,000 personal and advertising injury and $1,000,000
general aggregate.
The certificate of insurance shall also provide that District shall be notified in writing by the
carrier at least 30 days prior to any cancellation of said insurance.
Human Trafficking Affidavit: Human Trafficking Affidavit must be submitted by each
proposer or the bid will be considered non-responsive. In compliance with Section
787.06(13), Florida Statutes, this affidavit must be completed by an officer or
representative of a nongovernmental entity that is executing, renewing, or extending a
contract with the Suwannee River Water Management District (the "Governmental
Entity").
Rejection of Responses: The District reserves the right to reject any and all bids or other
proposals submitted in response to District invitation. District also reserves the right to waive
any minor deviations in an otherwise valid proposal.
Evaluation and Award: Proposals will be evaluated based on a scoring system based upon
completion of the Response Forms.
Proposals :
* Work Plan & Approach (50 Points): Technical depth in managing land acquisition, land
management and disposition software solutions. Evaluation criteria will focus on major
risk areas for software implementations and include, but not be limited to the following:
o Understanding of the District's needs
o Ability to meet District's project goals
o Software functionality, interface, network and any hardware requirements
o Identified risks and constraints with mitigation recommendations
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o Define any use of AI in the creation of a proposal, software solution, or
continuous improvement plan.
* Time and Cost Proposal (20 Points): Time-focused tasks and total not-to-exceed costs
for implementation of solutions. Financial consequences including failure to meet
deadlines. Cite your company's planned and accomplished historical timeframes for
similar projects.
* Staff Qualifications (15 Points): Assigned Project Manager and staff. Include their
knowledge, skills, certifications, and experience with similar land applications. Number
of similar projects staff have worked together on as a team and status (ex: 4 projects
completed on time and within budget, 2 projects over time and over budget).
* Outcomes and Performance Measurements (15 Points): Demonstrated ability to improve
data reliability, migrate data with efficiency and accuracy, provide automated solutions,
testing success, and training deployment. Cite company's historical ability to seek
continuous improvement with software solutions throughout software lifecycle.
Selection Committee members will:
* STEP ONE - Individual Selection Committee members will develop a score for each
criteria above and then total the proposal score for each submitted proposal.
* STEP THREE - Based on the final scores, the proposals/firms that have the highest final
scores may be contacted for demos/presentations, if necessary.
* STEP FOUR - The selected proposal/firm will be contacted for contract negotiations.
SECTION 5 - SCOPE OF WORK
The successful bidder will provide a proposal that addresses three functional modules/domains:
Land Acquisition, Land Management, and Disposition. The bidder/solution should seek
continuous improvement while providing a customized off the shelf software solution.
Implementation & Project Management
The vendor shall provide comprehensive project management services, including:
* Project Manager: Project manager assigned and committed to providing a teamwork
atmosphere, transparent communications, timeliness, responsiveness, and integrity.
* Methodology: Define project management method while utilizing not-to-exceed time and
cost amounts for work tasks, solutions, and/or modules. Respondent should define
recommended financial consequences for the respondent not meeting deadlines.
A. Shared Database Capabilities:
* Integration: Pull data from multiple database systems (Land Acquisition & Surplus
Access Database, AccuFund, ArcGIS, CivicPlus, Papervision, and PERCH) into a single
web-based interface to automate data pull and reduce manual data entry. Mobile-
compatibility needed.
* Automation: Functionality to create memos, contracts, bids, and letters.
* Data Storage: Storing backend data tables in an on-premises Microsoft SQL Server
instance is highly preferred.
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* User Authentication and Authorization: Implement secure user authentication and
authorization mechanisms to ensure data security and access control. Integration with
Microsoft 365/Entra ID Single Sign-On (SSO) is preferred.
* Data Editing Functionality: Provide users with the ability to edit project data efficiently
within the web application.
* Reports: Capable of automating monthly and annual reports by program criteria and GIS
data collection to support land acquisition and land management. Capable of creating
ad hoc reports.
* Dashboard: Capable of key statistics by timeframes, financial records, programs,
regions, counties, tracts, and/or other dynamic combinations that data is collected.
B. Land Acquisition Module
* Workflow Automation: File number assignment, and triage map creation based on GIS
data or application programming interface.
* Resource Planning: Tools to develop Land Management Prospectuses (site inspection
and program planning document with financial estimates) prior to land acquisition.
* Approval Management: Systemic support for the Land Acquisition and Support (LAS)
Team ranking process, including score sheet generation and memorandum preparation
for Committee and Board meetings.
* Due Diligence Tracking: Prompt/task management and storage of critical path items
such as appraisals, Environmental Site Assessments (ESA), contracts, memos and
closing document preparation.
* Transitioning Modules: Capable of transitioning applicable data to Land Management
Module.
C. Land Management Module
* Resource Planning: Tools to integrate the Land Management Prospectus into 3-year
plans within GIS attribute tables based on program area. Capable of GIS bi-directional
communication for 3-year planning by program and association with tracts, counties and
regions.
* Operational Task Management: Scheduling, assigning staff and contractor, and tracking
for routine tasks to support the land management programs with various tasks including
boundary maintenance, vegetative management (prescribed fire, chemical, and
mechanical), road maintenance, road mowing, ditch/daylight mowing, exotic plant
management, rare species monitoring, archaeological monitoring, facility improvements,
and recreational maintenance. Linked associations for tracts, regions, contracts and
purchase orders.
* Natural Resource Oversight: Specialized tracking for timber management including pre-
harvest meeting documentation, sale records, financial activity, inspections, load
tracking, inventory updates, closeouts with ratings, site preparation planning cycle, and
reforestation planning cycle.
* Association: Capability of connecting work performed in program plans to contracts,
purchase orders, tracts, facilities and regions.
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* Automation: Functionality to create memos, contracts, bids, and letters.
D. Land Disposition Module
* Workflow Automation: Evaluation and assessment including triage map creation based
on GIS data or application programming interface.
* Approval Management: Systemic support for the Land Acquisition and Support (LAS)
Team approval for disposal, including memorandum preparation for Lands Committee
and Board meetings.
* Due Diligence Tracking: Prompt/task management and storage of critical path items
such as appraisals, contracts, memos and closing document preparation.
* Transitioning Modules: Capable of transitioning applicable data from Land Management
Module to Disposition Module.
E. Technical & Security Requirements
* Collaborative Use: The software solution must be capable of simultaneous use by
multiple user accounts.
* GIS Centrality: Native integration with ESRI ArcGIS software is required for mapping,
managing parcel boundaries, and updating natural community layers.
* Security Standards: The solution must meet security requirements, including role-based
security.
* Technical Support: Company's technical support and/or help desk solutions.
F. Data Migration: Systemic data conversion and import from legacy applications, GIS
data, PDFs, and Excel-based documents with a zero-error rate.
G. Program Testing: Vendor will provide initial user testing during program development.
Vendor will correct any issues identified during development review period. Vendor will
include support user testing by District staff and collect user feedback for further system
corrections. Additional testing to ensure corrections were properly made will be included.
H. Training: Development: Written and online materials to support District staff. Production
of "Quick Steps" guides for identified key priority tasks.
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SECTION 6 - RESPONSE FORMS
FORM A
PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORM RFP 26/27-002
Proposer's Name: _______________________________________________
Company Name: _______________________________________________
Company Address: _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Company Phone Number: __________________________________________
Length of time company has been in business: ________________________
Primary Contact Person: __________________________________________
Primary Contact Email: __________________________________________
Primary Contact Phone: __________________________________________
Primary Contact Cellular: __________________________________________
Federal UIN/UEI: ________________________________________________
Service/Product: Cost:_$
Written proposal should include breakdown of costs by requirement and timeframes.
Have you previously done work for the District? Yes____ No____
If Yes, explain. _________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Are you currently under contract with or have been selected on a services shortlist for the
District? Yes No . If yes, explain:_____________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Have you previously done work for, or do you currently represent any clients who may cause a
potential conflict of interest if you are selected? Yes_____ No______ If Yes, list clients and
nature of conflict: __________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Is your company eligible for veteran's preference? Yes______ No______If yes, include
supporting documentation.
Are you a minority Business or Enterprise? Yes_____ No_______
Please include supporting documentation.
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FORM B
PROJECT REFERENCES
Name of Project: _
Agency/Company: _
Contact: _
Telephone: Email: _
Project Description: _
_
Web Link: ________________________________________________________
Name of Project: _
Agency/Company: _
Contact: _
Telephone: Email: _
Project Description: _
_
Web Link: ________________________________________________________
Name of Project: _
Agency/Company: _
Contact: _
Telephone: Email: _
Project Description: _
_
Web Link: ________________________________________________________
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