Agenda Item Request:
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Authorization for the County Manager to award the bid of Office Furniture RFP and enter into a contract between Cumberland County and Creative Office Resources for the design, delivery and installation of new office furniture for the 27 Northport Building.
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Background and Purpose of Request:
Requestor: James H. Gailey
County staff are currently working with WSP Architects on the floor design of the County’s new building at 27 Northport. The floor design is at the stage where the County needs to understand what type and size of furniture we are looking at for the various office environments. To be able to move to the next phase of design, a furniture Request for Proposals (RFP) was advertised in order to select a company and its furniture models to understand the dimensions of furniture installed in each office.
Three vendors responded to the RFP.
Staff followed up with each vendor, asking each to provide their “Good”, “Better” and “Best” furniture lines with associated pricing. Staff were able to further our consideration of each vendor based on the following criteria asked of each vendor:
• Product Quality
• Product Availability, Delivery and Installation
• Qualifications and Experience
• Customer Service and Support
• Product Pricing - Good, Better, Best
The Committee of Facilities Director Bill Trufant, Compliance & Audit Manager Sandy Warren, Deputy Manager Alex Kimball and myself, went through and scored each proposal based on the above criterial.
Staff brings forth Creative Office Resources as the desired vendor to contract with for the furniture fit-up at 27 Northport. The Committee felt that their qualifications and experience was very strong, their submission was far superior to the other vendors, product line was attractive and provided items that staff liked and the pricing per cubical was felt to be appropriate. Staff brings forth the recommendations that the County purchase the “Better” furniture line.
Creative Office Resources has a significant list of clients they have worked with in the past, including Cumberland County. Numerous local school districts, town and cities and universities have purchased the Creative Office Resources furniture. They have also done recent projects at MaineHousing, Hannaford HQ, Woodard & Curran and the LL Bean HQ. Creative Office Resources has the State of Maine Bureau of Purchases bid and has extended the government pricing to Cumberland County.
Funding Amount and Source: The project will be funded through designated ARPA funds.