Library Materials and Related Value-Added Services

Agency:	Bucks County Free Library
State:	Pennsylvania
Type of Government:	State & Local
NAICS Category:	423430 - Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers 541330 - Engineering Services 541511 - Custom Computer Programming Services 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services 541519 - Other Computer Related Services 541611 - Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
Posted Date:	Oct 22, 2025
Due Date:	Nov 21, 2025
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Contact information:	Please Login to View Page
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Bucks County Free Library Request for Proposal

Library Materials and Related

Value-Added Services

Date issued: October 22, 2025

Response due: November 21, 2025 by 2 pm

Bucks County Free Library invites sealed bids for the purchase of library materials

and related processing and cataloging services for the period tentatively to

commence January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2029 until:

2pm

Friday

November 21, 2025

Awards will be made to selected Vendors on or around December 16, 2025.

Responses may be delivered in person addressed to Bucks County Free Library

CFO, John J. Doran Ill or mailed to:

Bucks County Free Library

150 South Pine Street Doylestown, PA 18901

Bucks County Free Library does not accept e-mailed or faxed bids.

Each bid must be enclosed in clearly, marked sealed envelope, attached to

three(3) copies of the required information. Bids are opened publicly in the 2nd

floor Conference Room of the Doylestown Library at 2:15 pm the day they are

due. Bids received after the above cited time will be considered a late bid and are

not acceptable unless waived by the BCFL Administration.

General questions should be directed to Holly Ambrose at:

ambroseh@buckslib.org. However, no oral interpretations shall be made to any

respondent as to the meaning of any of the bid documents. Every request for an

interpretation shall be made in writing and e-mailed to the address listed above.

Such questions must be received at least seven (7) calendar days before the

established date for receipt of bids. These written requests will be answered in the

form of an addendum and issued to all providers.

BCFL reserves the right to reject any or all bids or parts thereof, as deemed to be

in the best interest of BCFL.

1. Purpose and Background

Bucks County Free Library (BCFL) is seeking proposals from Vendors for

the purpose of obtaining information and firm bids for Vendors of library

materials and related value-added services. BCFL seeks to establish a

contract with one or more Vendors for a wide range of materials for adult,

teen and juvenile audiences and Vendor services.

The budget for physical library materials for calendar year 2026 is

approximately $1,500,000 from all funding sources, which includes

independent libraries. BCFL may choose to divide this budget among

multiple Vendors and therefore cannot guarantee the actual amounts

which will be purchased from any one Vendor. BCFL in its sole

discretion will decide which selected Vendor is most suitable to provide

required materials and services for each order.

About Bucks County Free Library

The Bucks County Free Library is a seven-branch county library system

with locations in Bensalem, Doylestown, Langhorne, Levittown, Perkasie,

Quakertown, and Yardley-Makefield.

As a designated Pennsylvania public library district and system, the Bucks

County Free Library collaborates on county wide projects, shares a public

catalog, and provides collection development, materials processing,

cataloging, and delivery services to 11 additional independent libraries in

Bucks County. These libraries are independently governed and managed

by their local boards and directors.

2. Scope of Services

BCFL is seeking a wide range of Vendor services for cost effective and

timely provision of library materials for adult, teen and juvenile audiences

as well as selection tools, physical processing, cataloging and other value-

added services.

Library materials are primarily books, but may include audiobooks on CD,

DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

Value added services include but are not limited to: automatic order plans,

web based bibliographic resources, selection lists and other selection

tools, electronic transmission of orders using the EDI standard, MARC

catalog records, linked data services and shelf-ready item services

including adaptive and copy cataloging and physical processing of

materials.

3. Proposal Requirements

Firms interested in providing the services described above are

requested to submit the following information. Responses to each item

should appear in the same order as in this RFP and should designate

by heading and paragraph the item to which the response applies.

3.1. Company Information & Executive Summary

Please provide the following information:

• Vendor's full company or corporate name

• The company's office location responsible for performance under a

contract with BCFL.

• Provide the URL for the Vendor's website.

Each proposal should be accompanied by an executive summary not

exceeding two pages which summarizes key points of the proposal and

which is signed by an officer of the firm who is responsible for committing

the firm's resources.

3.2. Ordering, Delivery, Invoicing and Customer Service

Please note any fees that would be charged by the Vendor for any of

the services described below. If a service that is described is not one

that can be provided, please mark as "NA" (not applicable).

NOTE: Questions related to Vendor "value added services" (e.g. automatic

order plans, selection tools and lists, cataloging, physical processing

services, etc.) are listed in Section 3.3 and questions related to discounts

and terms extended by the Vendor are contained in Section 3.4.

3.2.1. Ordering Methods

Describe the types of orders accepted (e.g. mail, phone, electronic, etc.).

Also describe how accounts for different types of orders (e.g. adult,

juvenile, teen, rush, special processing services, etc.) are profiled and set

up. Indicate how rush orders are handled. Describe the software and

equipment required for electronic ordering and whether the company can

receive electronic orders generated from OCLC Wise in the EDI format.

Indicate if orders can be transmitted electronically from lists produced on a

web-based bibliographic database and whether the Vendor website

includes stock information.

If the company has several warehouses, please indicate whether the

library must select a warehouse when an order is placed and any related

requirements or changes in the order process. Please describe how orders

are filled if the Vendor's primary warehouse does not have enough

stock to fill an order.

BCFL currently uses the 959 tag in a brief MARC record downloaded from the

Vendor website to transmit order information into OCLC Wise. The order

is then transmitted to the company from OCLC Wise via EDI. Describe

the Vendor's company's ability to work with this current workflow.

3.2.2. Delivery of Materials

3.2.2.1. Fill Rates

Describe the average fill rates by format using percent (%) figures for

materials.

3.2.2.2. Turnaround Time

Describe the average turnaround time (including physical processing and

cataloging of materials) for:

• Rush orders

• In-stock high demand new release titles

• In-stock backlist titles

• No stock or insufficient stock items

3.2.2.3. Delivery of Materials before Street Date

Describe the Vendor's ability to deliver fully processed and cataloged materials

ahead of street date.

3.2.2.4. Packing and marking shipments

Describe how shipments are packaged and labeled and what types of materials

are used for the boxes and packing. Include information about the numbering of

boxes within a shipment (1 of 6, 2 of 6, for example) and where the numbering

is located on the boxes. Indicate how boxes with packing slips or master

packing slips are marked.

3.2.2.5. Packing slip

Describe the format of packing slips provided and in what order the titles are listed.

Indicate whether packing slips are routinely included with all shipments and whether

boxes containing packing slips are clearly labeled as such. Enclose a sample of the

packing slip.

For shipments comprised of multiple boxes, BCFL prefers to receive a packing

list or equivalent with each carton listing the items in that carton along with one

master packing list detailing all of the items in the shipment. Describe the

Vendor's ability to meet this request.

3.2.2.6. Method of shipment and shipping charges

Describe how shipments are sent, which types of carriers are used, and how deliveries

are made. Include information on point of shipment for the bulk of orders that

would be filled for BCFL and where secondary points of shipment are located.

Also include average shipment times and describe how shipping charges are

calculated and what percent of the value of the shipment is generally

represented by shipping charges (for example, "an average of 2.5% of invoice

total").

If there is no charge for shipping to BCFL, so declare.

3.2.2.7. Partial Shipments

BCFL may choose to accept partial shipments from orders. Please detail how partial

shipments are handled in processing, shipping, and invoicing.

This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.

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