RFP - Drone Spraying - 2025

The City of Dickinson invites qualified contractors to submit proposals to provide agricultural drone spraying services for facilities and grounds maintained by the City of Dickinson. The total area to be serviced contains 130.29 acres across 18 separate locations. Spraying services proposed should effectively mitigate all state and county recognized noxious weeds.

Scope of Services

Landfill
• Landfill and the Emergency Landfill containing approximately 51.2 acres pictured in appendix a-b

WRF Lagoon Sites
• Lagoons and the WRF drainage containing approximately 72.9 Acres pictured in appendix c-f

Utilities Drainage
• Utilities Drainage by fisher sand and gravel, and the Grit chamber containing approximately 6.19 acres pictured in appendix g-h

Buildings and Grounds Drainage
• Drainage through town controlled by Building and Grounds contains approximately 44.66 Acres pictured in appendix i-m

General
• The selected contractor must furnish all labor, equipment, materials, tools, and incidentals necessary to perform the proposed services.
• Noxious weed spraying shall be conducted two times per summer for each site.
• The selected contractor is expected to effectively control, by means of aerial drone mounted sprayer, the following state and county recognized noxious weeds:
o Absinth Wormwood
o Black Henbane
o Canada Thistle
o Dalmatian Toadflax
o Diffuse Knapweed
o Hoary Cress
o Hounds tongue
o Leafy Spurge
o Musk Thistle
o Palmer Amaranth
o Purple Loosestrife
o Russian Knapweed
o Salt cedar
o Spotted Knapweed
o Yellow Toadflax
• If travel charges are to be applied, reasonable effort should be made to conduct spraying of all sites in a single day to avoid multiple charges for mileage or overnight stays.
• Specific herbicide used for weed control must meet or exceed industry standard performance.
• The contractor’s personnel shall have the qualifications, knowledge, and experience to properly and reliably perform the services described.
• The contractor shall perform all work in coordination with the City’s schedule.

Submittal Requirements
The City of Dickinson requests the following information be submitted in a sealed envelope at or before 3:00 PM, March 25, 2026. Submittal should include, at a minimum, the following information:
• Valid North Dakota Contractor’s License
• Hourly rate for necessary labor and equipment.
• Mileage, per diem, travel expenses (if necessary due to distance).
• Herbicide cost with any necessary additives.
• Estimate of time and materials for the sites listed under “Scope of Services.”
• Estimate of total cost for 2 applications during the 2026 calendar year.
• Each proposal must be signed by an officer of your company who can be held accountable for all representations.

Transfer of Agreement
Contractor shall not assign this agreement nor any part thereof, nor the right to receive compensation hereunder, without the prior written consent of the City. No part of the work or services covered by this contract shall be subcontracted without the prior written approval of the City.

Payment
• The City's liability hereunder shall be limited to the amounts due the Contractor for services actually rendered.
• Contractor shall invoice the City of Dickinson at 3411 Public Works Boulevard, Dickinson, ND 58601, on a per application basis.
• Upon receipt of a correct itemized invoice, payment will be made upon approval at a normally scheduled meeting of the Board of City Commissioners (1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month).
• The City shall pay Contractor for Services in accordance with the Contracted Rate. The rate for each piece of equipment shall include the Contractor providing the equipment, operator, insurance, repairs, fuel, oil, lubricants, herbicides, and all other costs related to the operation of the equipment.

Insurance
• During the term of this Agreement, Contractor shall comply with the minimum insurance provisions set forth below. The insurance specified below shall be maintained by Contractor, at its expense, and certificates thereof shall be presented to City in form and content satisfactory to City prior to commencement of the Services. The insurance requirements are as follows:
o Workers’ Compensation in accordance with the laws of the state of North Dakota;
o Employer’s liability in an amount not less than $1,000,000.00;
o Comprehensive general liability with limits of at least $1,000,000.00 combined single limit each occurrence.
o Comprehensive Liability, covering all vehicles and equipment operated under this contract with limits of at least $1,000,000.00 combined single limit each occurrence.
o Excess liability (umbrella) insurance with limits of at least $2,000,000.00.
• The City shall be named as an additional insured on all policies except for Worker’s Compensation.
• In the event the Contractor fails to obtain and maintain any insurance coverage required under this agreement the Contractor's agreement shall be terminated.

Indemnification
Contractor assumes the entire responsibility and liability for, and agrees to pay, indemnify, defend and hold harmless the City, and its respective principals, agents, affiliates, directors, managers, employees, (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any loss, expense, liability, damage or cost (including, without limitation, judgments, attorneys’ fees and costs, court costs and the cost of appellate proceedings) which any of the Indemnified Parties incur because of injury to or death of any person or on account of damage to property including, but not limited to, damage to buildings, curbs, parking blocks, islands, sidewalks, light poles, signs, landscaping, paving, including the loss of use thereof, or any other claim arising out of, in connection with or as a consequence of the performance of, or the failure to perform, the Services by Contractor, its agents, employees, or any one for whose acts Contractor may be liable with respect to the Services. Contractor, for itself and its agents, employees and subcontractors, and any party claiming through any of them, also waives all right of recovery, claim, action or cause of action against the Indemnified Parties for any matters described in the preceding sentence. This indemnity shall not be limited by any limitation on amount or type of damages, compensation or benefits payable by contract or by any federal or state law.
In case of suits or claims for damages, the City may withhold such portions of any payments that may be due hereunder, as may be considered necessary to cover said suits and claims, until they have been settled and satisfactory evidence to that effect has been furnished to the City.

Term of Agreement

Termination
City may terminate this Agreement at any time for any reason upon submitting to Contractor written notice of its intention to terminate. Upon receipt of such notice, Contractor shall immediately cease to incur expenses pursuant to this Agreement unless otherwise directed in the City’s termination notice. Contractor shall promptly notify City of costs incurred to date of termination and the City shall pay all such reasonable and supportable costs. The City shall not pay any costs incurred after 11:59 pm on the day of issuance of the written notice. An email to the designated Contractor representative, identified herein, shall be considered written notice.

Selection Criteria
A selection committee will evaluate submittals. A contractor will be selected based on the following criteria:
• Ability to successfully control the listed plant species.
• Adequately sized equipment on hand to cover specified sites;
• Cost of services provided;

Important Dates
• Post RFP: March 4, 2026
• Pre-bid meeting March 18, 2026
o Vendors interested in attending a pre-bid meeting for Q&A regarding the RFP may request invitation by emailing Jacob.waldo [at] dickinsongov.com (Jacob[dot]waldo[at]dickinsongov[dot]com)
• Proposals Due: March 25, 2026
• Bid Opening: March 26, 2026
• Selection/Award: April 7, 2026