Apex Frame Systems
Public Bid Systems
RFP Breakdown Brief · Sample
Clarify First
Two pre-priced items consume roughly $1.3M of the bid envelope before competition starts. Subsurface and hazmat risk transfer to the bidder. Pre-bid attendance on May 27 is the gate; everything else follows from what gets clarified there.
Why clarify first

A structured first read of the RFP. Submission risks, missing firm inputs, and the decision call. Every requirement tied to its section in the source document.

  • Pre-selected membrane filtration equipment (§ Bid Form 5.03). Bid Item 2 is fixed at $1,241,502 for the Section 13201 package per a manufacturer proposal dated April 27, 2026. This firm is the named subcontractor disclosure under § 12.03 of the Instructions to Bidders. Coordination with the membrane manufacturer is mandatory and runs through procurement, install, startup, and commissioning.
  • Bidder qualifications bar (Advertisement). Minimum five years experience plus at least ten completed projects of similar nature. If your firm cannot document ten WTP-scale, process-mechanical, or comparable municipal projects in the Qualifications Statement, the bid is non-responsible regardless of price.
  • Plant cannot go offline (§ 01010 1.05.A and 1.05.E). Public drinking water supply must be maintained throughout the 360-day construction window. Major shutdowns are capped at 4 hours for the filtered and raw water tie-in, 6 hours for Main Distribution Panel demolition, and 1 hour each for the ATS conductor swaps. No extra compensation for extended downtime or standby time, per § 01010 1.05.H.1.
  • Subsurface and hazmat risk on the bidder (§ SC 5.03 and SC 5.06). Owner declares no subsurface reports and no hazmat reports are known. Forcemain installation along Hummelstown Street, ductbank work, and Clearwell building work adjacent to Conoy Creek all proceed without documented data. The lump sum bid carries the contingency.
Public RFP analysis · Apex Frame Systems · May 2026
First-Read Brief

Elizabethtown Area Water Authority / Water Treatment Plant Improvements, Contract 1: General Construction

Section references throughout point back to the source RFP. Items are graded by whether they bar bidders, drive responsiveness, or shape pricing.

Owner
Elizabethtown Area Water Authority, Lancaster County, PA
Scope
Membrane filtration retrofit + send-out pump replacement (Contract 1 of 3)
Bid Due (receipt deadline)
Wed Jun 24, 2026, 2:00 PM ET
Bid envelope
Lump sum + $1.24M pre-priced equipment + $50K allowance
Top 3 risks worth pricing now
  1. Bonding capacity at full-contract scale. Per Advertisement and § 8.01 of the Instructions to Bidders. Bid Bond at 10% of maximum bid, Performance + Payment Bonds at award. With Bid Item 2 fixed at $1,241,502 and Bid Item 3 at $50,000, a base bid in the $4M to $8M range puts total contract value at $5.5M to $9.5M and aggregate bonding at $11M to $19M. Call your surety this week. If single-project or aggregate is thin, line up a co-surety before pricing time goes in.
  2. Schedule float against 360-day timeline with $1,000/day LDs. Per § Agreement 4.02 and 4.03. Substantial completion 360 days from NTP. $1,000/day past substantial, $1,000/day past final completion at 390 days (not additive), $250/day per missed milestone. The 14-step WTP construction sequence in § 01010 1.05.B has hard shutdown caps of 4 hours, 6 hours, and 1 hour that cannot slip. Membrane manufacturer delivery is the critical path; any schedule without all major shutdown equipment pre-staged on-site is exposed.
  3. Coordination overhead between three prime contracts. Per § 01010 1.04.A.1. The General Contractor prepares and updates the Progress Schedule with input from Contracts 2 (Electrical) and 3 (HVAC), coordinates work between all three contractors, and furnishes and installs equipment pads for equipment that Contracts 2 and 3 will install on those pads. This is not a flat-rate-PM project. Build coordination cost into general conditions, not into project management overhead.
Decision check

Bid / No-Bid Scan

Six checks. Start here. Green means go. Yellow means get answers before you spend time on the bid.

!
Bidder qualifications?
Minimum 5 years experience + 10 completed projects of similar nature.
Per Advertisement. Pull your project list. If you cannot credibly point at ten WTP, wastewater treatment, or comparable municipal process-mechanical projects in the last five years, the bid is non-responsible regardless of price.
!
Bonding capacity for $5M to $10M contract?
10% Bid Bond at submission, 100% Performance + 100% Payment Bonds at award.
Per Advertisement and § 8.01 of the Instructions to Bidders. Aggregate exposure $11M to $19M depending on your base bid. Confirm single-project and aggregate capacity with your surety this week. Treasury-listed surety licensed in PA.
!
Membrane manufacturer coordination capacity?
Pre-selected Section 13201 equipment at $1,241,502 fixed.
Per § Bid Form 5.03 and § 12.03 IB. Bid Item 2 is locked at the April 27, 2026 manufacturer proposal amount. Your firm carries the equipment, coordinates factory inspections, manages a long-lead delivery, and runs field commissioning. Internal lead needed who can manage all of it.
!
Subsurface and hazmat risk acceptance?
Owner declares no subsurface reports and no hazmat reports exist.
Per § SC 5.03 and SC 5.06. Forcemain trench along Hummelstown Street, electrical ductbank work, and Clearwell building work adjacent to Conoy Creek all proceed without documented data. The lump sum carries the contingency. Price it.
!
PA Prevailing Wage compliance?
Act 442 applies. Wage determination posted in bid package.
Per § Bid Form 5.02.A and § SC Article 2. Certified payroll required, weekly. If your back-office cannot deliver certified payroll on a 360-day project across multiple subs, fix the process or partner with a payroll service before bidding.
✓
Owner-furnished utilities during construction?
Owner pays reasonable utility use, GC provides temporary meters.
Per § 01010 1.04.A.1.e. Real cost saving on a 360-day project. GC furnishes the meters and a portable toilet. Use shall not impact ongoing plant operations.
Submission

Submission checklist

Miss any of these and your bid is non-responsive on receipt. Click each box as you confirm it.

0 of 12 done
Schedule

The dates that matter

Six dates between now and award. The receipt deadline in orange is the hard cutoff.

Wed May 27
Mandatory pre-bid meeting + site visit. 10:00 AM at the Water Treatment Plant, 211 W. Hummelstown St, Elizabethtown. Site visit immediately following. Both buildings (WTP and Clearwell) are walked. Send a representative with authority. Advertisement
~Mon Jun 8
Surety briefed and bond requested. Internal target. A clean bid bond from a new project relationship typically needs 5 to 10 business days. Get surety the project information by this date to avoid bid-week scrambles. § 8.01 IB
Wed Jun 17
Last day to submit written questions via PennBid Q&A. 5:00 PM ET. Questions received less than seven days prior to bid opening may not be answered. Only Addenda responses are binding. § 7.01 IB
~Fri Jun 19
Anticipated final Addendum window closes. Set a calendar reminder for Jun 23 morning to verify no late addendum slipped in. Bidding off a superseded document is non-responsive. § 7.02 IB
Wed Jun 242:00 PM ET
Bid receipt deadline. PennBid upload only. Paper bids will not be accepted. Server-side timestamp controls. Upload by 1:30 PM ET to allow margin. Late submissions are rejected by the system. § 15.01, 15.02 IB
~Mon Aug 25
End of standard 60-day bid hold. Bids remain open 60 calendar days from opening, with an additional 60 days if award is delayed by required approval from another government agency, sale of bonds, or award of a grant. § 16.03 IB; 62 Pa.C.S. § 3911
Award basis

How they're scoring this

This is a low-bid procurement among responsible and responsive bidders, with a real responsibility bar built into the Advertisement. Lump sum bid, not unit price.

The Authority awards to the lowest responsible bidder whose Bid is responsive to the bid documents. "Responsible" and "responsive" are separate hurdles. Either one can disqualify you regardless of price. The 5-yr / 10-project minimum in the Advertisement is the responsibility filter, and it is a real filter on this scope.
  1. Responsive bid (pass/fail). Your submission includes everything required, signed and notarized correctly, on the right PennBid forms, with no unauthorized changes. The submission checklist above is the responsiveness test.
    Lever: don't lose on a paperwork miss. Run the checklist back-to-front before upload on Jun 24.
  2. Responsible bidder (pass/fail). Per Advertisement, the Authority evaluates 5+ years of experience, 10+ completed similar projects, plus bonding capacity, references, and financial standing (Document 00451). The Authority can reject a low bid for being non-responsible.
    Lever: front-load your WTP, wastewater plant, and process-mechanical projects in the Qualifications Statement. The reviewer should not have to hunt for the relevant 10.
  3. Total bid price (lump sum, Bid Items 1 + 2 + 3). Bid Item 2 ($1,241,502 Membrane Filtration Equipment) and Bid Item 3 ($50,000 unforeseen conditions allowance) are fixed. Bid Item 1 (Base Bid Lump Sum) is where you actually compete. Mathematically lowest total that clears responsiveness and responsibility wins.
    Lever: get your means-and-methods estimate right on the long-pole items: concrete pads (including for Contracts 2 & 3), process piping, structural openings, electrical coordination overhead, and the coordination cost of running three primes.
  4. Reserved right to reject. Per Article 17 of the General Conditions (standard EJCDC reserved rights). The Authority may reject any or all bids and waive informalities. In practice, GHD's recommendation drives the award decision.
    Lever: be the bid GHD wants to recommend. Clean package, credible project history, no red flags at the May 27 site walk.
Process risks

What can derail a clean submission

Beyond the paperwork checklist. Things that go wrong between now and bid day, even when the qualifications are in order.

Bid package contents

What goes in the bid

PennBid upload only, no paper. Order doesn't matter to the system, but it matters to the engineer reading it.

  1. Bid Form Contract 1, completed electronically on PennBid with Base Bid + total. Document 00410
  2. Bid Bond at 10% of maximum bid price, Treasury-listed surety licensed in PA. Cashier's check also acceptable. § 8.01 IB, Document 00435
  3. Non-Collusion Affidavit, signed and notarized. Document 00320
  4. Steel Products Procurement Act Affidavit. US-made steel for all steel products. Document 00330
  5. Public Works Employment Verification Form (Act 127 of 2012). E-Verify enrollment statement. Document 00340
  6. Statement of Bidder's Qualifications with 5-yr experience and 10 similar projects documented. Financial statement attached. Document 00451
  1. Evidence of authority to do business in PA. Foreign corporations must be PA Foreign Corp registered with Department of Labor and Industry. § 13.07 IB
  2. List of Proposed Subcontractors, including Membrane Filtration Equipment supplier under Section 13201. § 12.03 IB, Bid Form Art. 7
  3. List of Proposed Suppliers for major material items. Bid Form Art. 7
  4. Acknowledgement of all Addenda received on the Bid Form's receipt-of-addenda table. Bid Form Art. 3.A
  5. Bidder Acknowledgement Questionnaire, completed in PennBid Requested Information. PennBid portal
Internal prep

What you still need before anyone starts pricing

Things the bid requires that aren't in the documents themselves. Track these down before estimating starts.

  • Confirm bonding capacity for $5M to $10M contract. Call your surety this week. Single-project and aggregate capacity both matter. If thin, line up a co-surety now, not in week three of pricing.
  • Audit qualifications against the 5-yr / 10-project bar. Pull project list. If marginal, identify the ten strongest references with WTP, wastewater plant, or process-mechanical content. Document owner contacts and dollar values now.
  • Identify the Membrane Filtration Equipment vendor. The $1,241,502 amount points to a specific manufacturer proposal dated April 27, 2026. Submit a PennBid question to GHD to confirm which manufacturer was pre-selected and establish coordination expectations before bid.
  • Walk the corridor before May 27. Look at pavement condition along Hummelstown Street, sidewalk, driveways, tree canopy, and stream proximity at the Clearwell building on W. High Street. The site walk is at the pre-bid but you want your own first impression.
  • Pre-bid your concrete pad work and structural openings. Per § 01010 1.04.A.1.c, the GC furnishes and installs equipment pads for equipment furnished or installed by Contracts 2 and 3. Concrete is on the critical path for multiple equipment items. Get a subcontractor lined up early.
  • Pull recent PA prevailing wage rates for Lancaster County. The wage determination posted in the bid package controls, but cross-check against the latest L&I posting before pricing labor. Confirm the certified payroll workflow is operational for a 360-day project with multiple subs.
Clarifications

Questions to send before Jun 17

Submit through the PennBid Q&A portal via the "Ask a Question" button. GHD's answers will be posted as Addenda. Questions received less than seven days before bid opening may not be answered. Review and prioritize before sending.

  1. Section 01010 1.04.A.1.c states the General Contractor furnishes and installs equipment pads for equipment furnished or installed by Contracts 2 (Electrical) and 3 (HVAC). Please confirm whether the pad dimensions and reinforcement details for Contracts 2 and 3 equipment will be issued in an addendum before bid, or whether bidders are to size pads from the existing drawings (ST-03101, ST-03601 et al.) alone.
  2. Section 01010 1.05.B step 2.j states the WTP will run on the standby generator while DP-1 is reconnected. Please confirm whether the existing 600 kW generator has sufficient fuel capacity for the worst-case duration of the DP-1 swap, including any extended fault-recovery period, and clarify which party provides emergency refueling if needed.
  3. Section 13201 names Membrane Filtration Equipment as a pre-selected package at $1,241,502 per a manufacturer proposal dated April 27, 2026. Please confirm the membrane manufacturer's identity, the included scope of supply (CIP skid, neutralization skid, air compressors, sodium bisulfite feed system), and the manufacturer's lead time from approved shop drawings to delivery on-site.
  1. SC 5.03 states no reports of explorations or tests of subsurface conditions are known to Owner. Please confirm whether any geotechnical, boring, or test pit data exists in EAWA's records for either the Water Treatment Plant site or the Clearwell building site that bidders may review, even if not Technical Data under the Contract.
  2. Section 01010 1.05.B step 9 limits the major plant shutdown to 4 hours for the filtered and raw water tie-in. Please confirm whether a bidder may propose alternative tie-in sequencing or temporary bypass arrangements that would extend the shutdown window in exchange for reduced overall construction duration, and clarify the approval process if so.
  3. Section 01010 1.04.A.1.b requires the General Contractor to coordinate work between all three Contractors and to update the Progress Schedule with input from Contracts 2 and 3. Please confirm the mechanism for resolving schedule conflicts between primes and clarify whether the GC has any contractual authority to direct Contracts 2 or 3 to accelerate or re-sequence work, or whether such direction is reserved to the Owner and Engineer.