Single Stream Recyclables Collection Service

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
Request for Proposals
for
SINGLE STREAM
RECYCLABLES COLLECTION
SERVICE
by
Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal
Authority
for
Frederick County, Maryland
Date of Issue: April 20, 2026

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
Table of Contents
1. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE ...........................................................................................1
2. GENERAL INFORMATION ...................................................................................................2
2.1 PROCUREMENT ......................................................................................................................2
2.2 RFP AVAILABILITY ...............................................................................................................3
2.2 PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE ...........................................................................................3
2.3 INFORMATION OR CLAIRIFCATION REQUESTS ............................................................3
2.4 SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................................4
2.5 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION .........................................................................................4
2.6 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY ............................................................................4
2.7 IRREVOCABILITY OF PRICE PROPOSALS ........................................................................5
2.8 ADDITION OF SUBCONTRACTOR FOR THE SERVICE ...................................................5
3. SCOPE OF SERVICE ..............................................................................................................5
3.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................................5
3.2 SERVICE CONTRACT TERM ................................................................................................6
3.3 ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF SERVICE CONTRACT ......................................................6
3.4 PRICE PROPOSALS ................................................................................................................6
4. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS ............................................................................................6
5. REQUIRED CONTENT OF PROPOSALS ...........................................................................7
5.1 GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PROPOSER ................................................................7
5.2 EXPERIENCE W/ SINGLE STREAM RECYCLABLES COLLECTION SERVICES .........8
5.3 PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS ...............................................................................................9
5.4 FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS ..........................................................................................10
5.5 PROPOSAL BOND .................................................................................................................11
5.6 PERFORMANCE BOND OR LETTER OF CREDIT ............................................................11
5.7 OTHER PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS ..............................................................................11
6. EVALUATION PROCESS AND CRITERIA .....................................................................12
6.1 EVALUATION PROCESS .....................................................................................................12
6.2 EVALUATION CRITERIA ....................................................................................................12
6.3 PROCUREMENT METHOD ..................................................................................................13
6.4 DISCRETION IN DETERMINING DEVIATIONS AND COMPLIANCE .........................13
7. ADA COMPLIANCE .............................................................................................................13

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
7.1 ALTERNATIVE FORMS ......................................................................................................13
APPENDIX A: SERVICE CONTRACT ...................................................................................14
APPENDIX B: ADDENDA RECEIPT FORM .........................................................................15
APPENDIX C: PRICE PROPOSALS .......................................................................................16
APPENDIX D: RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING COLLECTION REGIONS ........................17
APPENDIX E: RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING COLLECTION ROUTE INFORMATION
........................................................................................................................................................18
APPENDIX F: COUNTY OFFICE RECYCLING PROGRAM COLLECTION
INFORMATION ..........................................................................................................................19
APPENDIX G: FORM E-1 PROPOSER'S CONTACT INFORMATION FORM ..............21
APPENDIX H: FORM E-2 WAIVER OF DAMAGES ...........................................................22
APPENDIX I: PROPOSAL ITEM CHECKLIST ....................................................................23

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
SINGLE STREAM RECYCLABLES COLLECTION SERVICE
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS ("RFP")
1. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Frederick County, Maryland is a body corporate and politic, and a political subdivision of the State
of Maryland. As such, Frederick County ("County") encompasses 660+/- square miles of territory
with a County Road network of 2,700+/- miles of County roadways, with 90,000 +/- individual
Residential Units (Services) that will qualify for Single Stream Recyclables Collection Services and
County Office Recycling Program (CORP) Materials Collection Service under this Service
Contract.
The Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority ("Authority") on behalf of the County is
requesting Proposals from vendors ("Proposers") for Residential Single Stream Recyclable
Materials Collection Service, every other week to each Residential Service Unit in the service areas
unless otherwise instructed by the County. The Proposer must submit Price Proposals for ALL
Single Stream Recyclables Collection Services, as detailed below.
Please note, the Appendix C Price Proposal Form acts as the base cost for the County's calculation,
for per unit Single Stream Recyclables Collection Service for qualifying Residential Units that fall
under the Acceptable Material definition. The County desires to be able to update the Acceptable
Materials list through the term of the contract (including any renewal periods).
Proposals are for the Service Area Single Stream Recyclables Collection. The Contractor (defined
below) shall drive a daily route (ride past/collect from +/- 9,000-13,000 residences per day) when
performing Residential Single Stream Recyclable Materials Collection Service, every other week to
each Residential Service Unit in the in the service areas unless otherwise instructed by the County.
Please see Appendix D for a map of Residential Recycling Collection Regions and Appendix E for
Residential Recycling Collection Route Information. The Contractor shall collect all acceptable
Recyclable Materials that are placed in or around at least one (1) County Recycling Container. The
County reserves the right to amend the list of acceptable Recyclable Materials at any time. The
County will provide the Contractor a route, i.e. a Service Area Single Stream Recyclables Collection
Service Calendar (geographic map/zone and list of qualifying residences) to be serviced under the
Service Contract. The Contractor must perform its daily Service Area Single Stream Recyclables
Collection. The geographic map/zone of qualifying residences will be driven by and collected by
the Contractor, regardless of how much Acceptable Material is set out on a given day, per the
applicable Service Area per day. The County intends for the Contractor to provide Single Stream
Recyclables Collection Service every other week per residence. There is no guarantee of usage by
the County or Authority for this Service.
Pricing for CORP Materials Collection Service within the geographic borders of the County are
also being sought. This will be a material collection to all current and future County offices in the
County where Recyclable Materials are commingled together in a Recycling Container and
removed from the County office by Contractor, delivered to and unloaded at the Designated
Recycling Facility as requested by the Frederick County, Division of Solid Waste and Recycling
1

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
("Division") to be performed within seven (7) Business Days of the request (see Section 4.2.4 of
the Service Contract). There is no guarantee of usage by the County or Authority for this Service.
See Appendix F for current CORP Collection Information.
The Proposer is allowed to use the County's Acceptance Facility (at no cost) to perform these
Services during their hours of operation, as listed below:
Frederick County Transfer Station, 9031 Reichs Ford Road, Frederick, MD 21701. Open from 7:00
a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Upon the award of the Service Contract to the successful Proposer (the "Contractor"), it is
anticipated that the residential curbside Single Stream Recyclables Collection Services will begin
on or about March 1, 2027, via the method as selected by the County and Authority. The Service
Contract shall have an initial term ending June 30, 2032. The Authority, at its sole discretion, may
extend this Service Contract for up to three (3) optional one (1) year terms, through June 30, 2035,
on the same terms and conditions as set forth in the Service Contract. See Section 3.2 of the RFP
and Section 1.1 of the Service Contract.
The Authority is soliciting Proposals for the Single Stream Recyclables Collection Service in
accordance with the attached draft Service Contract (Appendix A).
All capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this RFP have the meanings set forth in Section 2 of
the Service Contract, attached as Appendix A to this Request for Proposals.
Summary of Dates
Issuance of RFP Monday, April 20, 2026
Pre-Proposal Meeting (virtual) Friday, May 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Offeror Written Questions due Friday, May 15, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Responses to Offeror Written Questions Friday, May 29, 2026
(tentative)
Offeror Proposals due Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Proposal Evaluation/Negotiation/Award August 2026
Service Start Date March 1, 2027
2. GENERAL INFORMATION
Currently, the County provides Service Area Single Stream Recyclables Collection for its
Participating Residents through a third-party contractor and has the option to utilize CORP
Collection Services under the same service contract.
The Authority will evaluate the Proposer's technical and financial qualifications and the Technical
and Price Proposals (Appendix C) based on the written materials received and other evaluations that
may be conducted by the Evaluation Committee, as further described in Section 6 of the RFP.
2.1 PROCUREMENT
2

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
The Authority is soliciting Technical and Price Proposals in accordance with the
requirements and allowances set forth in Code of Maryland Regulations 14.13.01. This
procurement is being conducted as a competitive negotiation. The Authority and County
intend to award only one Service Contract to one Proposer for the entire County-wide
Service.
The Authority reserves and has the sole discretion to:
* Supplement, amend, or otherwise modify this RFP, or cancel this RFP without
substitution.
* Waive any or all informalities in the Technical and Price Proposal, or failures to comply
with the RFP requirements deemed by the Authority to be immaterial or insignificant.
* Request further information from Proposers as needed to support the Authority's
evaluation of the Proposers.
2.2 RFP AVAILABILITY
An electronic or paper copy of the RFP may be obtained at no charge from:
Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority
Tower II - Suite 402, 100 South Charles Street
Frederick, Maryland 21201-2705
Telephone: (410) 333-2730
E-mail: procurement@nmwda.org
16TU
2.2 PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE
A pre-proposal meeting will be held on Friday, May 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM. The pre-proposal
meeting will take place via Microsoft Teams. Potential proposers are encouraged to attend the pre-
proposal meeting, but not required to attend in order to respond to this RFP. Potential attendees
must RSVP to procurement@nmwda.org no later than 4:00 PM on Thursday, April 30, 2026 in
order to receive the link to the meeting.
2.3 INFORMATION OR CLAIRIFCATION REQUESTS
All contacts relative to this solicitation, including requests for information as well as questions
concerning these instructions, shall be emailed to procurement@nmwda.org on or before 4:00 p.m.
16TU U16T
(local time) on Friday, May 15, 2026.
Proposers shall submit questions or requests for additional information to
procurement@nmwda.org. Neither the County nor the Authority will accept Proposer telephone
16T 16T
calls or visits during the Technical and Price Proposal evaluation process.
Proposers shall notify the Authority in writing of any conflicts, errors, omissions or discrepancies
in this RFP prior to this time. The Authority reserves the right not to respond to questions received
after 4:00 p.m. (local time) on Friday, May 15, 2026.
3

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
Prior to award of this Service Contract, Proposers shall not initiate any communications related to
this project with other Authority staff; the County; local elected officials; or local government staff
responsible for solid waste and/or recycling management. Any communications may result in the
disqualification of the Proposer's Technical and Price Proposal.
The Authority will, as necessary, issue written Addenda that describe changes, interpretations, or
clarifications considered necessary by the County in response to Proposers' written questions. The
Authority will mail or deliver the Addenda to all parties recorded by the Authority as having
received the RFP documents. Only answers issued by formal written Addenda will be binding on
the Authority. Oral and other interpretations or clarifications will be without legal effect.
2.4 SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
Each Proposer shall submit an electronic copy of its Technical and Price Proposal (Appendix C) via
email to procurement@nmwda.org with the subject line "Single Stream Recyclables Collection
Service RFP for Frederick County." The Technical Proposal shall not be longer than thirty (30)
pages.
The Technical and Price Proposal must be emailed on or before 4:00 p.m. (local time) on
Thursday, June 18, 2026.
The Proposer shall be responsible entirely and exclusively for all costs incurred by the Proposer
associated with Technical and Price Proposal preparation and subsequent negotiations, if any, which
may or may not lead to execution of a Service Contract.
Any Technical and Price Proposals received after the indicated time and date will not be considered.
The Authority reserves the right to issue an Addendum that extends the original Due Date for
Technical and Price Proposals. The Authority will not return the Technical and Price Proposals
following the review and evaluation process.
2.5 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
Technical and Price Proposals submitted in response to this RFP may contain technical data or other
knowledge or materials that constitute proprietary information, which if publicly disclosed, would
cause injury to the Proposer's competitive position. Proposer should specifically identify the pages
of the Technical and Price Proposal that Proposer believes contain such information by marking the
applicable pages "CONFIDENTIAL." The Proposer may not claim the entirety of the Proposal as
confidential. However, the Proposer understands that the Authority in its sole discretion may
determine that disclosure of some Technical and Price Proposal information is required under the
Maryland Public Information Act, and the Proposer agrees to hold the Authority harmless with
respect to any such disclosure. The Authority will give notice to Proposers of any requests for
disclosure of information identified as confidential.
2.6 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
4

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
Proposers shall comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations pertaining
to equal employment opportunity. The Proposer is responsible for determining the applicability of
these provisions and extent of compliance.
2.7 IRREVOCABILITY OF PRICE PROPOSALS
The prices proposed will be irrevocable for a period of one hundred twenty (120) days from the Due
Date, or, if modified during negotiations, for a period of one hundred twenty (120) days from the
date such modified Price Proposals are proposed by the Proposer.
2.8 ADDITION OF SUBCONTRACTOR FOR THE SERVICE
2.8.1 Prior to the Start of Service
No subcontractor substitution will be considered prior to the start of service.
2.8.2 After the start of Service
Six months after the start of Service, the Contractor may submit a written request for the
consideration of the use of a subcontractor for no more than 49% of the Service. The proposal
package must include all of the technical documentation (for the subcontractor) required under the
RFP for consideration. The proposal shall reflect the proposed routes to be changed to the
subcontractor, as well as the defined transition plan for the Service.
The Authority and the County will review the proposal and, if accepted, provide written
approval of the same to the Contractor and the subcontractor.
2.8.3 No change in pricing or security
No increase of pricing is allowed under the subcontractor substitution, and all required
security and insurance coverages must be maintained by the Contractor, as well as the subcontractor.
3. SCOPE OF SERVICE
3.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Authority intends to enter into a Service Contract with one Proposer that submits a responsive
Technical and Price Proposal, deemed by the Authority to represent the best value to the Authority
and County. The Effective Date of the Service Contract will be March 1, 2027.
The Authority requests Technical and Price Proposals from qualified Proposers, as described in
Section 4 below, to provide for Single Stream Recyclables Collection Services in accordance with
the Scope of Work found in the Service Contract, attached as Appendix A.
5

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
3.2 SERVICE CONTRACT TERM
Upon issuance of the purchase order and the notice to proceed from the County to the Authority, the
initial term of the Service Contract(s) will begin on March 1, 2027, the Effective Date. The initial
term of Service Contract(s) shall expire June 30, 2032. The Authority and County will have the
sole option to renew the Service Contract(s) for up to three (3), one (1) year periods, through June
30, 2035. The Authority shall give the Contractor sixty (60) days' written notice of its intent to
renew the Service Contract for each additional term.
3.3 ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF SERVICE CONTRACT
By submitting a Proposal, a Proposer agrees to accept the terms substantially in the form of the
Service Contract in Appendix A. Any proposed exceptions to the Service Contract shall be
submitted by 4:00 p.m. (local time) on Friday, May 15, 2026, via email to
procurement@nmwda.org. If the Authority determines to make a change in the terms of the Service
16T 16T
Contract in response to proposed exceptions submitted by 4:00 p.m. (local time) on Friday, May
15, 2026, all such changes will be distributed to potential Proposers via Addendum issued prior to
the Due Date and posted on the Authority's website at www.nmwda.org. The Authority does have
the option, after Proposals are submitted, to request Best and Final Offers. However, the Authority
reserves the right to make an award on the basis of initial Proposals, so Proposers should not assume
that they will have an opportunity to revise their initial Proposals.
3.4 PRICE PROPOSALS
Proposers are required to provide Price Proposals as set forth in Appendix C.
4. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
To qualify for this project, Proposers must provide detailed information on how they meet the
following minimum qualifications.
* Project staff with at least three (3) years management and/or supervisory experience in
Single Stream Recyclables Collection Services of Acceptable Materials.
* At least five (5) years of corporate experience managing Single Stream Recyclables
Collection Services of Acceptable Materials, utilizing methods required in the Scope of
Work and proposed by the Proposer.
* Evidence of ownership or control of sufficient collection equipment needed to fulfill the
Services required in the Scope of Work.
* Evidence of the ability to properly maintain the collection equipment in order to fulfill the
Services required in the Scope of Work.
* Possess all permits and licenses required to operate in accordance with all federal, state, and
local laws and regulations.
6

RFP for Frederick County Acceptable Materials Collection Service
April 20, 2026
5. REQUIRED CONTENT OF PROPOSALS
This Section 5 includes the Authority's requirements for presenting the Proposer's corporate and
personnel qualifications and plan to provide the required Services. The Authority will review each
Proposal in accordance with the procedures presented in Section 6 of this RFP. Refer to Section
2.4 of the RFP for submittal form requirements. Proposers shall provide the following information
for any companies, subsidiaries and/or parent companies that will work on the project. The County
and Authority shall have sole discretion to determine the adequacy of proposed companies,
subsidiaries or subcontractors. Information shall be submitted in a form which is in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles.
RFP Submission Format
Max Page Limit
Section Description
(double-sided)
Section 1 - Transmittal Letter 1
Section 2 - Offeror Qualifications 6
Section 2 - Key Personnel Matrix (resumes will not count
2
towards page limit)
Section 3 - Technical Proposal 20
Section 4 - Cost Proposal Form Sheet 1
Maximum Total Pages 30
Section 5 - Comments on Scope and Schedule No Page Limit
Section 6 - Mandatory Documents/Financial Qualifications No Page Limit
5.1 GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PROPOSER
The Proposer shall submit the following information to demonstrate its qualifications to perform the
Services described in this RFP and the Service Contract:
* Name of Proposer.
* Business Address.
* Type of Organization.
* Proposer's Authorized Representative and contact information including telephone and
email information.
* The number of years the Proposer has been in business under the present name.
7