REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Document# 2025-328
MRF, COMPOSTING, AND C&D CONSULTANT SERVICES
PROPOSALS DUE:
FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2025, 4 P.M. PST
Deschutes County
Department of Solid Waste
1300 NW Wall Street
Bend, Oregon 97703
Phone : (541) 330-4681
DC 2025 • 3 2-8.
DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Deschutes County, a political subdivision of the State of Oregon, is releasing this competitive solicitation to secure one (1) agency,
team, or individual to provide consulting services for assistance with the physical and operational design phases of new municipal
materials recovery facility (MRF), composting, and construction and demolition (C&D) waste processing in Deschutes County,
Oregon .
NOTE: All proposals submitted in response to this Request for Proposal (RFP) shall become the property of Deschutes County and
may be utilized in any manner and for any purpose by Deschutes County. Be advised that proposals and all documents submitted in
response to this RFP are subject to public disclosure as required by applicable state and/or federal laws. If you intend to submit any
information with your proposal which you believe is confidential, proprietary or otherwise protected from public disclosure (trade
secret, etc.), you must separately bind and clearly identify all such material. The cover page of the separate binding must be red, and
the header or footer for each page must provide as follows : "Not Subject to Public Disclosure." If your proposal is in an electronic
format, please include a redacted version . Where authorized by law, and at its sole discretion, Deschutes County will endeavor to
resist disclosure of properly identified portions of the proposals.
RFP packets are available on the Deschutes County website at: https ://www .deschutes.org/rfps. Proposers intending to submit
proposals must register online when retrieving the RFP packet.
Proposals must be received no later than 4 p.m. PST on Friday, May 2, 2025, to be eligible for consideration. All costs associated
with preparing and submitting a proposal is solely the responsibility of the proposer. This solicitation does not obligate Deschutes
County to select any single proposer and Deschutes County reserves the right to cancel the procurement, reject any and all
proposals, to retain all proposal materials in accordance with ORS 2798.100, and to use any material included in the proposal
regardless of whether it is selected .
Inquiries pertaining to the RFP shall be directed to Tim Brownell, Director, Department of Solid Waste, in writing at
tim .brownell@deschutes.org.
PUBLISHED :
DAILY JOURNAL OF COMMERCE: MARCH 31, 2025
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A. INTRODUCTION
Deschutes County is located in the heart of Central Oregon. With Bend as its county seat, the county consists of 3,055 square miles
and approximately 200,000 residents, with the most rapid population growth of any county in Oregon .
The Deschutes County Department of Solid Waste is organized as an enterprise fund that provides a range of waste and recycling
services, and generates revenue primarily from the following sources:
• Franchise-fees paid by private haulers to deliver residential, commercial, and industrial collection services in the
county
• Commercial-tip fees paid for disposal of commercial waste as well as construction and demolition debris
• Private (household)-tip fees self-hauled residential waste collection
• Franchise Fees-fees paid by private haulers under County Code under exclusive rights for franchise collections
Currently, the only landfill in Deschutes County, Knott Landfill Recycling and Transfer Facility, is expected to reach full capacity by
2031.
In response, Deschutes County developed a Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) in 2019 to provide a roadmap for meeting the
challenges of materials (sol id waste, recycling, compost, etc.) management in a growing community, wh ich include :
• An Oregon Department of Environmental Quality goal to divert 45% of its waste stream to recycling, up from its current
33 %
• Older solid waste facilities operating over capacity, needing improvements to handle increases in waste and recyclable
material volumes
• Implementing the nation' s first extended produ cer responsibil ity policy
• A need to maintain affordability and reliability for participants
Deschutes County is in the process of identifying a location for a new landfill site with opportunities for related recycling and
recovery facilities such as separation and diversion facilities for comm ingled and source separated recyclables, food waste and yard
debris, construction and demolition materials, and other commodities .
The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to execute a contract with one (1) agency, team, or individual who is qualified to
provide assistance with the physical and operational design phases of new municipal transfer station (TF), materials recovery facility
(MRF), composting, and construction and demolition (C&D) waste processing in Deschutes County, Oregon .
Contingent upon approval by the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners and/or the designated procurement official, the County
intends to award one (1) contract to the responsive proposer whose proposal is determined to be the most responsive to the
requirements of this RFP . The term of the resulting contract(s) is estimated to begin on or aboutJuly 1, 2025, and terminate on June
30, 2028, with a possible extension of up to two years, subject to County approval. Deschutes County retains sole discretion to
renew for additional terms without a competitive bid process, subject to contractor performance and continued funding.
Proposer will be expected to furnish insurance certificates as outlined in Exhibit A of this RFP and provide a copy of applicable
certifications . In some circumstances, an insurance waiver may apply, subject to County approval. Proposer will be required to agree
to the County's standard Services Agreement in Exhibit A.
B. SCOPE OF SERVICES
Deschutes County seeks a consultant to help the Department of Solid Waste and the County determine a comprehensive scope of
work for a new solid waste program for the county and region . The consultant should collaborate with the County to weigh multiple
financial and operational options and ultimately develop a detailed plan that includes the following deliverables :
1. An analysis of ava ilable financing mechanisms to design, build, and operate a new separation and diversion facility (or
facilities) focused on a single-stream, comm ingled recyclable processing facility (CRPF), organic residuals (including food
discards), and construction and demolition debris. This analys is should include capital project costs, sources of recurring
revenue, and operating expenses. Financing options include debt financing (bonds), public-private partnership, and/or
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revenue from tip fees, sales of recovered items, and associated operating expenses.
2. A comparative economic analysis of building and operating a local CRPF vs. transporting recyclables to the Portland CRPF
including operating expenses and revenue generated from re covered materia ls and pickup/acceptance fees 1
3. An analysis of all available options' impacts on rate structures and modeling scenarios at differing tip and contamination
fees per facility
4. An analysis of aforementioned facilities' equ ipment needs, traffic flow, site planning, feasibility, operational requirements,
and other factors
5. An RFP template and criteria for identifying and selecting potential facility operators including, but not limited to, private
companies, county staff, non-profit operators {i.e ., producer responsibility organizations), or other third parties
6. Assistance in developing facility design to include tip floor space, traffic flow, size and shape, or any other aspects of design
that impact or are informed by operations
7. Assistance with the procurement process of the aforementioned including operating contract development and contract
negotiation support.
Note that Deschutes County has plans to create a new position in-house to assist with the identification of construction and
equipment vendors to design, develop, and construct waste processing, construction demolition, materials recovery, and/or
composting facilities within the County.
C. PROPOSAL PREPARATION, SCHEDULE, CRITERIA, AND REVIEW
All questions shall be made in writing via email to Tim Brownell , Director, Department of Solid Waste, at t im.brownell
@deschutes.org by 4 p.m. PST on Wednesday, April 16. Fax or phone requests for information will not be accepted . Responses to
questions will be posted to the Deschutes County RFPs website {www.deschutes.org/rfps).
Proposers intending to submit a proposal must register online when retrieving the RFP packet for this project at
w w w .deschutes .org/rfps .
Proposals must be received no later than 4 p.m. PST, Friday, May 2, 2025 . Proposals received after the deadline will not be
considered.
The County anticipates the following schedule for the review and selection process :
RFP advertisement
Last day/time to submit questions
Responses to questions issued
Proposals due
Interviews and selection
Recommendation to Board of County Commissioners
Notice of Intent to Award :
Protest period :
Contract start
Monday, March 31, 2025
4 p.m. PT, Wednesday, April 16, 2025
4 p.m. PT, Monday, April 21, 2025
4 p.m. PT, Friday, May 2
Weeks of May 12 and May 19
Late May/ early June
Early June
Due within 7 days of Notice of Intent to
Award issuance
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
1 Oregon' s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modern ization Act (RMA) re quires producers of packaging, printing and writing paper, and food service-
ware to share the respons ibility for build ing and maintaining a more resilient and responsible recycling system . Producers must join and pay fees to
a nonprofit producer responsibility organization (PRO) . Recycling system changes will begin in July 2025 .
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Proposers are responsible for reading and understanding all portions of the solicitation documents, including exhibits and addenda,
if any, and to include all requ irements in their proposals. To be responsive, proposals must be made in writing, and address the
background, information, questions, criteria, and requests for information contained in the RFP . Proposals must be submitted in the
required form and containing all required documents and responses, be signed by the proposer or its authorized representative, and
submitted in the manner and number described in the Request for Proposal.
The Proposal will be evaluated on the completeness and quality of content. Only those proposers who supply complete information
as required in the Evaluation Criteria below will be considered for evaluation .
Deschutes County reserves the right to :
• Cancel the procurement or reject any or all proposals in accordance with ORS 2798.100, or any applicable law or regulation
• Not award a contract for the requested services
• Waive any irregularities or informalities
• Accept the proposal which the County deems to be the most beneficial to the publ ic and the County
• Negotiate with any proposer to further amend, mod ify, redefine, or delineate its proposal
• Negotiate and accept, without re-advertising, the proposal of the next-highest scored proposer, in the event that a contract
cannot be successfully negotiated with the selected proposer, which may occur prior to the time of notice of intent to
award
• Further question any proposer to substantiate claims of experience, background knowledge, and ability
It is understood that all statements will become part of the public file on this matter, without obligation to Deschutes County. The
County is not liable for any cost incurred by proposers in the preparation or presentation of their proposal.
Proposals and quoted costs shall remain valid for at least 60 days after submission .
D. SUBMISSION
Proposals shall be limited to no more than 30 pages in length, excluding resumes of key staff.
Proposals should be submitted in one PDF document of no more than 15MB via email to tim .brownell@deschutes.org. In the subject
line, the email should include the project name : "MRF, Composting, and C&D Consultant Services."
E. EVALUATION
Submittals will be reviewed, evaluated and scored by an inter-departmental group of Deschutes County staff. Proposers may be
asked to participate in interviews and provide additional information to discuss proposal specifics with the selection committee . If
interviews are conducted , there will be an additional 25 points available.
The County will evaluate proposals based on the following criteria :
1. Experience, capabilities, and resources of the proposing firm(s) (30 points)
Proposing firm experience, capabilities and resources will be evaluated and scored based on the following :
o Experience in MRF, composting, and C&D facilities financial analysis, design, operations, and procurement
o Experience on projects of a simi lar nature, magnitude and impact involving land use entitlements, environmental
and natural resources permitting, document and application preparation, evaluation and implementation under
State of Oregon land use laws, local land use codes, and regulatory/permitting authorities.
2. Experience of project team members and subconsultants (20 points)
Proposals will be scored on the experience of the individuals and subconsultants to be assigned to the project and performing
the work. The proposal should identify the role and responsibility of individuals to be assigned to the project.
3. Demonstrated understanding of scope of work and thoroughness of proposal (30 points)
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This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.
