820-Copier 2026

Sampson County Schools INVITATION FOR BIDS DUE DATE FOR BID: 2:00 pm (ET) March 31,2026 31,May 1, 2020
Refer all inquiries to: Cyndi Mesimer Telephone No: 910-592-1401 Fax: 910-596-0662 E-Mail: cmesimer@sampson.k12.nc.us	Item: Multi-Function Devices Copier/Scanner/Printer Bid Number: 820-SCS Copier 2026 Source of Funds: Local

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

Sealed bids subject to the conditions made a part hereof, will be received at this office (437 Rowan Road, Clinton, NC 28328) until 2:00 pm (ET) March 31st, 2026. Refer to page 2 for proper mailing instructions. Bids submitted via fax or e-mail will not be accepted.

ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION

The Sampson County Schools system reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive any informality in bids and to accept any item in the proposal. Bids are subject to rejection unless submitted on this form.

EXECUTION:

In compliance with this Invitation for Bids and subject to all the conditions herein, the undersigned offers and agrees to furnish and deliver any or all items upon which prices are bid, at the prices set opposite each item within the time specified herein. By executing this bid, I certify that this bid is submitted competitively and without collusion (GS. 143-54).

Failure to execute/sign bid prior to submittal shall render bid invalid. Late bids are not acceptable.

BIDDER:	Federal ID or Social Security No:
Street Address:	P. O. Box:	Zip:
City & State & Zip:	Phone:			Toll Free No:
Type or Print Name & Title of Person Signing:	Fax No:
Authorized Signature:	Date:	E-Mail:

Offer valid for 60 days from date of bid opening unless otherwise stated here: days (See Instructions to Bidders, Item 5).

ACCEPTANCE OF BID

If any or all parts of this bid are accepted by Sampson County Schools (SCS), the SCS Finance Officer shall present this bid to the SCS Board of Education for approval at a public meeting. Should the Board accept the bid, this document and the provisions of the Instructions to Bidders, special terms and conditions specific to this Invitation for Bids, the specifications, and the General Contract Terms and Conditions shall then constitute the written agreement between the parties. A copy of this acceptance will be forwarded to the successful bidder(s).

MAILING INSTRUCTIONS Send two (2) copies of your bid response to the address listed below. Put both copies in one (1) envelope.

Delivered By US Postal Service	Hand Delivered	Delivered by Courier
Sampson County Schools	Sampson County Schools	Sampson County Schools
Attn: Cyndi Mesimer	Attn: Cyndi Mesimer	Attn: Cyndi Mesimer
437 Rowan Road	437 Rowan Road	437 Rowan Road
Clinton, NC 28328	Clinton, NC 28328	Clinton, NC 28328

INTERPRETATIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

Requests for information or clarification of this IFB must be made in writing and addressed to Stephen Britt at the address, fax, or e-mail address below, with e-mail being the preferred method of communication. The deadline for all questions and requests for information will be 2pm April 20, 2020.

Stephen Britt, Finance Officer Sampson County Schools

Attn: Stephen Britt

437 Rowan Road

Clinton, NC 28328

The answers to questions submitted that require a response will be available to all vendors in the form of an addendum via e-mail or on the Sampson County Schools Finance page: https://www.sampson.k12.nc.us/domain/58

OVERALL SCOPE OF PROGRAM

The purpose of this Invitation for Bids is to obtain pricing for and select a vendor to provide a Cost per Copy (CPC) program for the Sampson County Schools system. The selected vendor shall provide multi-functional digital devices with print, copy, scan and fax capabilities throughout SCS at a fixed price per copy. The vendor shall furnish, deliver, install, properly train and maintain to the end user’s complete satisfaction, NEW EQUIPMENT (not used, reconditioned, refurbished, newly remanufactured or remanufactured equipment). This program shall include ALL operating supplies (excluding paper and fax supplies) and ALL service requirements as necessary to meet the current and future copy/print demands generated by the school system.

NEW EQUIPMENT may be added at any time during the program period. SCS will NOT be charged any additional costs. All equipment added will be coterminous with the original program.

The vendor shall provide a bid on a PER COPY basis, which shall represent the total compensation to the vendor. The vendor shall NOT inflate this PER COPY rate for the duration of this agreement. However, the vendor may decrease the rate at any time during the program term. SCS will NOT GUARANTEE any daily, monthly or annual volumes to the awarded vendor. However, SCS has produced a total of approximately 12.7 million black & white pages and 15 thousand color pages in the last four quarters. Alternative bids will also be accepted IF a price per copy bid is also provided.

Printers are to be priced as scalable. Should the vendor require a contract extension or an addendum to add additional printers after 2026, such an extension or addendum shall be reviewed by the Finance Officer, and if agreeable, presented to the SCS Board of Education for approval.

The costs for maintenance, supplies, drums, staples, repairs, all taxes (excluding NC sales tax) and other applicable items must be included in your proposed bid. Vendor will provide any receptacles that are required to operate the devices. SCS’ only cost in operating the devices is paper.

An inventory of supplies is not required except for times of high need. Each year testing, benchmarks, and other events that require unusually high amounts of copies occurred on a planned basis. At such times, a SCS employee will contact the vendor with the number of extra copies for the event and the vendor will be required to send enough supplies to complete the process plus normal use without running out of toner, staples, etc., if needed.

The awarded vendor must be able to respond within 24 hours for service response time on all service calls. A qualified, factory trained service technician must respond to each service call. Frequent neglect or deviation from this response time will result in the termination of the program. Upon arrival to any school or department for service calls, the service representative must notify SCS personnel of his/her arrival.

Training for the “key operator” and other departmental personnel shall be provided after installation. On-going training is to be provided as needed at NO additional cost to SCS.

The awarded vendor shall maintain complete ownership of the equipment for the duration of the program. Upon completion of the program the vendor shall have no more than two (2) weeks to remove all of its equipment. There will be NO costs to SCS for any removal charges and/or freight expense. If vendor fails to comply, SCS may forward the equipment to the vendor on a “collect” basis by common or contract carrier.

SCS shall exercise reasonable and appropriate insurance guarding against fire, theft, vandalism and other acts that a reasonable owner would normally maintain.

FINANCING

SCS will not accept 3rd party leasing.

DELIVERY

The delivery and installation of the equipment proposed must be during the month of July 2026. The equipment must be delivered to school/department sites at vendor’s expense. The representative will remove all boxes and other debris as a result of installation. The representative will be responsible for leaving the area clean and ready for use.

BILLING

Billing must be processed no less than on a quarterly basis and must provide at minimum the following:

1. One master invoice summarizing all billing for the total program population.

2. Detailed backup for master invoice that identifies, by location and machine number the following:

a. All models and accessories

b. Beginning and ending meter readings with total copies made.

c. Total charges by location including sales tax (as a separate line item). (Note: SCS is not exempt from NC Sales Tax.)

SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications for the required multi-function devices are listed in Attachment A. Additionally, the following items are required.

1. All devices, except stand-alone fax machines, must be network capable for print, copy and scan. Scanning options shall not create a CPC charge.

2. All devices, except stand-alone fax machines, must be capable of restricted access with user assigned codes and the ability of system administrators to grant/modify maximum volume levels for each code.

3. All Duplicators must come with a HECON for access codes.

4. Large capacity cassettes should hold at least 1,000 sheets of paper.

5. Network capable machines must be able to scan from the device control panel to e-mail, network file share, FTP, and removable USB storage drive. Scanning must be available in color or black & white.

6. SCS system administrators must be able to monitor system activity from either local and/or remote locations (i.e. consumables usage, system events, etc.) using software and training provided by the vendor at no charge to SCS.

7. Vendor must provide power cords, surge protectors (if required), network connection cables and any other required cords or connection devices at no cost to SCS.

8. All scanning devices proposed will have the ability to scan documents into a minimum of:

• TIFF

• JPEG

• PDF

9. All multi-function devices must have the ability to effectively utilize 20 lb. xerographic bond paper and card stock. No equipment may be proposed which requires special or coated paper.

10. Must include Advanced Encryption Standard 64-bit encryption of content storage on hard drive. Must be compliant with International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) hard drive security standards (ISO 15408 certification)

11. Devices must have job erase function to overwrite hard drive contents.

This section intentionally left blank.

Bid Sheet

Multi-function Device Cost per Copy Program for

Sampson County Schools

COST PER COPY

Sixty (60) month contract

Copier Price per Copy (Black & White) $

Copier Price per Copy (Color) $

Duplicator Price per Copy (if applicable) $

Printer Price per Copy (Black & White) $

Minimum number of copies per printer per month? #

Printer Price per Copy (Color) $

Minimum number of copies per printer per month? #

**Alternative proposals will also be accepted however vendors must also submit a per copy bid**

NOTE: Black & white copies made on color copiers will be quoted at the same Price Per Copy rate as the Black & White rate listed above.

The following questions must be answered in order to consider your bid. Failure to answer any questions listed below will result in rejection of your bid.

1. Where is your service department located?

2. What is your number of service representatives that cover Sampson County, NC that have been trained on the devices you are proposing?

3. What is your guaranteed response time from the time a service call is made?

4. What is the length of time to expect before a loaner is provided when a machine is down?

5. Can you complete delivery and installation of the equipment during the month of July 2026?

6. Describe your company's experience with network solutions, management, and security.

7. How do your devices ensure the preloaded BIOS has not been corrupted? What steps do your devices take to address corrupted BIOS if detected?

8. How do your devices validate firmware integrity?

9. How do your devices monitor the well-being and integrity of security settings during the use of the device?

10. All units must meet ISO 15408 security standards to be considered. Do your devices meet these standards?

11. Do your devices encrypt data on the device and during transmission?

12. Describe how your devices are set up to permit only authorized users and groups to access and print/copy.

REFERENCES

Bidders should list below three (3) references with equivalent scope of Cost per Copy programs. At least one of the references must be of an organization as large as, or larger than Sampson County Schools.

1. NAME OF ENTITY Contact Person Phone Number Address How long have you had this program with this company?

2. NAME OF ENTITY Contact Person Phone Number Address How long have you had this program with this company?

3. NAME OF ENTITY Contact Person Phone Number Address How long have you had this program with this company?

Award Criteria: As provided by statute, award will be based on the lowest and best bid(s) (most
advantageous to SCS) as determined by consideration of:
1. Prices offered 2. Quality of products offered 3. General reputation and performance capabilities of the bidders 4. Conformity with terms and conditions of this Invitation for Bids 5. Delivery/installation schedule offered 6. Durability and Suitability of items for intended use	7. Functional Equivalency to specifications stated herein 8. Samples, if requested 9. Conformity of Product Specifications 10. Product’s Presentation and Finish 11. References

SCS reserves the right to waive any minor informality or technicality in bids received.

BID EVALUATION

Bids are requested on the items and/or equipment specified herein. Bidders are cautioned that any/all information furnished or not furnished on this bid may be used as or in the determination of the award of this contract.

BASIS FOR REJECTION

Sampson County Schools reserves the right to reject any and all offers, in whole or in part, by deeming the offer unsatisfactory as to quality or quantity, delivery, price or service offered: non-compliance with the requirements or intent of this solicitation; lack of competitiveness; error(s) in specifications or indications that revision would be advantageous to Sampson County Schools; cancellation or other changes in the intended project, or other determination that the proposed requirement is no longer needed; limitation or lack of available funds; circumstances that prevent determination of the best offer; or any other determination that rejection would be in the best interest of Sampson County Schools.

DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE

All bids must be accompanied by complete and descriptive literature, specifications and other pertinent data necessary for evaluation of the proposed devices. Bid responses without sufficient technical documentation may be rejected.

AWARD OF CONTRACT

The place of contract shall be the state of North Carolina, where all matters, whether sounding in contract or tort, relating to its validity, construction, interpretation and enforcement shall be determined.

LATE BIDS

Regardless of cause, a late bid will not be accepted and will automatically be disqualified from consideration. It shall be the bidder’s sole risk to ensure delivery at the designated office by the designated time. Late bids will not be opened and may be returned to the bidder at the expense of the bidder or destroyed if requested.

AWARD NOTIFICATION

After the bids have been evaluated and an award has been made, each vendor who submitted a bid will be notified of the award. The award may not be made for several weeks dependent upon the complexity of the acquisition and the length of time to complete the evaluation process.

TERM OF AGREEMENT

The term of the contract is for five (5) years beginning July 1, 2026 and expiring June 30, 2031. At its sole option, SCS may elect to extend the term for an additional two (2) year period.

CONFIDENTIALTY OF BIDS

In submitting its bid, the bidder agrees not to discuss or otherwise reveal the contents of its bid to any source outside of Sampson County Schools until after the award of the contract. All bidders are advised that they are not to have any communications with SCS during the evaluation of the bids (after the public opening of the bids and before the award of the contract) unless SCS contacts the bidder for the purpose of seeking clarification. A bidder shall not transmit to SCS any information commenting on the ability or qualifications of any other bidder to provide the advertised equipment, defects, errors and/or omissions in any other bidder’s bid and/or prices at any time during and/or award of the contract that is subject of this IFB. Bidders not in compliance with this provision may be disqualified, at the option of SCS, from the contract award.

IRAN DIVESTMENT ACT AND DIVESTMENT FROM COMPANIES BOYCOTTING ISRAEL

Sampson County Schools may not enter into a contract with a restricted company as listed by the State Treasurer in accordance with N.C.G.S. Chapter 147, Articles 6E or 6G, except as permitted by those laws. By responding to this Invitation for Bids and subsequently entering into a contract (“Contract”) and providing materials, equipment or services described in the Contract ( the “Work”), Contractor acknowledges and represents that it is not a restricted company as defined in N.C.G.S. Chapter 147, Articles 6E or 6G.

LUNSFORD ACT

The bidder acknowledges that N.C.G.S. 14-208.18 prohibits anyone required to register as a sex offender from knowingly being present upon the premises of any school, and if awarded this contract, Contractor shall insure that neither Contractor, its subcontractors, nor its suppliers shall allow any person registered as a sex offender to come on or about the premises of any subject school in any manner or for any reason related to the Work or the Contract.

E-VERIFY

If awarded the contract pursuant to this IFB, Contractor shall comply with the requirements of Article 2 of Chapter 64 of the General Statutes. Further, if Contractor utilizes a subcontractor, Contractor shall require the subcontractor to comply with the requirements of Article 2 of Chapter 64 of the General Statues.

BOARD POLICY COMPLIANCE

If awarded the contract pursuant to this IFB, Contractor, its subcontractors and suppliers, shall comply with all SCS Board policies relating to visitors in the schools while engaged in the Work.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

The successful bidder will provide a Cost per Copy program to Sampson County Schools in accordance with the criteria established in this IFB. Failure to do so will result in termination of this agreement. Equipment that has a continual maintenance problem will be replaced at no cost to SCS with comparable or superior equipment.

CONDITIONS OF DEFAULT

Sampson County Schools may terminate this agreement upon the Contractor’s default of any material duty or obligation and said Contractor’s failure to cure such default within thirty (30) days from SCS notice. The Contractor will be required to give written notice to SCS with a schedule of cure within ten

(10) business days of the notice of default. Once a cure has been given, both parties will discuss how to proceed. SCS may accept the schedule of cure, may make a written demand that Contractor cure the default within a time frame set by SCS, or may terminate this agreement at the end of the 30 day default period.

AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS

Any and all payments of compensation required under this contract or any renewals or extensions thereof are dependent upon and subject to the appropriation of funds to SCS for the purpose set forth in this agreement (N.C.G.S. 143.342)

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

1. Read, Review and Comply: It shall be the bidder’s responsibility to read this entire document, review all enclosures and attachments, and comply with all requirements specified herein.

2. Notice to Bidders: DO NOT ATTACH ANY ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS. By execution and delivery of this document, the bidder agrees that any additional terms and conditions, whether submitted purposely or inadvertently, shall have no force or effect.

3. Execution: Failure to sign under EXECUTION section will render bid invalid.

4. Order of Precedence: In cases of conflict between specific provisions in this bid, the order of precedence shall be (1) special terms and conditions specific to this bid, (2) specifications,

(3) Sampson County Schools’ General Contract Terms and Conditions, and (4) Instructions to Bidders.

5. Time for Consideration: Unless otherwise indicated on the first page of this document, bidder’s offer shall be valid for 60 days from the date of bid opening. Preference may be given to bids allowing not less than 60 days for consideration and acceptance.

6. Prompt Payment Discounts: Bidders are urged to compute all discounts into the price offered. If a prompt payment discount is offered, it will not be considered in the award of the contract except as a factor to aid in resolving cases of identical prices.

7. Specifications: Any deviation from specifications indicated herein must be clearly pointed out; otherwise, it will be considered that items offered are in strict compliance with these specifications, and bidder will be held responsible therefore. Deviations shall be explained in detail. The bidder shall not construe this paragraph as inviting deviation or implying that any deviation will be acceptable.

8. Information and Descriptive Literature: Bidder is to furnish all information requested and in the spaces provided in this document. Further, if required elsewhere in this bid, each bidder must submit with their bid sketches, descriptive literature and/or complete specifications covering the products offered. Bids which do not comply with these requirements will be subject to rejection.

9. Clarifications/Interpretations: Any and all questions regarding this document must be addressed to the purchaser named on the cover sheet of this document.

10. Acceptance and Rejection: SCS reserves the right to reject any and all bids, to waive any informality in bids and, unless otherwise specified by the bidder, to accept any item in the bid. If either a unit price or extended price is obviously in error or the other is obviously correct, the incorrect price will be disregarded.

11. References: SCS reserves the right to require a list of users of the exact item offered. SCS may contact these users to determine acceptability of the bid. Such information may be considered in the evaluation of the bid.

12. Award of Contract: As directed by statute, qualified bids will be evaluated and acceptance may be made of the lowest and best bid most advantageous to SCS as determined upon consideration of such factors as: prices offered; the quality of the articles offered; the general reputation and performance capabilities of the bidders; the substantial conformity with the

specifications and other conditions set forth in the bid; the suitability of the articles for the intended use; the related services needed; the date or dates of delivery and performance; and such other factors deemed by SCS to be pertinent or peculiar to the purchase in question.

SCS reserves the right to accept any item or group of items on a multi-item bid.

13. Historically Underutilized Businesses: Sampson County Schools is committed to the State of North Carolina Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Program. SCS invites and encourages participation in this procurement process by businesses owned by minorities, women, disabled, disabled business enterprises and non-profit work centers for the blind and severely disabled.

14. Confidential Information: As provided by statute and rule, SCS will consider keeping trade secrets which the bidder does not wish disclosed confidential. Each page shall be identified in boldface at the top and bottom as “CONFIDENTIAL” by the bidder. Cost information shall not be deemed confidential. In spite of what is labeled as a trade secret, the determination whether it is or not will be determined by North Carolina law.

15. Samples: Samples of items, when required, must be furnished as stipulated herein, free of expense, and if not destroyed will, upon request be returned at the bidder’s expense. Request for the return of samples must be made within 10 days following date of bid opening. Otherwise the samples will become SCS property. Each individual sample must be labeled with the bidder’s name, bid number, and item number. A sample, on which an award is made, will be retained until the contract is completed, and then returned, if requested, as specified above.

GENERAL CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Availability of Funds: Any and all payments to the contractor are dependent upon and subject to the availability of funds to Sampson County Schools (SCS) for the purpose set forth in this agreement.

2. Taxes: Any applicable sales taxes shall be invoiced as a separate item. Property and other taxes are to be absorbed into the price per copy quoted above.

G.S. 143-59.1 bars SCS from entering into contracts with a vendor if the vendor or its affiliates meet one of the conditions of G.S. 105-164.8(b) and refuse to collect appropriate sales tax on sales to purchasers in North Carolina. Conditions under G.S. 105-164.8(b) include: (1) Maintenance of a retail establishment or office, (2) Presence of representatives in the State that solicit sales or transact business on behalf of the vendor and (3) Systematic exploitation of the market by media-assisted, media-facilitated, or media-solicited means. By execution of the bid document the vendor certifies that it and all of its affiliates, (if it has affiliates) collect(s) the appropriate taxes.

3. Situs: The place of this contract, its situs and forum, shall be North Carolina, where all matters, whether sounding in contract or tort, relating to its validity, construction, interpretation and enforcement shall be determined.

4. Governing Laws: This contract is made under and shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina.

5. Inspection at Contractor’s Site: SCS reserves the right to inspect, at a reasonable time, the equipment/item, plant or other facilities of a prospective contractor prior to contract award, and during the contract term as necessary for SCS’ determination that such equipment/item, plants or other facilities conform with the specifications/requirements and are adequate and suitable for the proper and effective performance of the contract.

6. Payment Terms: Payment terms are Net 30 days after receipt of correct invoice or acceptance of goods, whichever is later.

7. Affirmative Action: The contractor will take affirmative action in complying with all Federal and State requirements concerning fair employment and employment of people with disabilities, and concerning the treatment of all employees without regard to discrimination by reason of race, color, religion, sex national origin or disability.

8. Condition and Packaging: Unless otherwise provided by special terms and conditions or specifications, it is understood and agreed that any item offered or shipped has not been sold or used for any purpose and shall be in first class condition. All containers/packaging shall be suitable for handling, storage or shipment.

9. Patent: The contractor shall hold and save SCS, its officers, agents and employees, harmless from liability of any kind, including costs and expenses, on account of any copyrighted material, patented or unpatented invention, articles, device or appliance manufactured or used in the performance of this contract, including use by the government.

Location	#MFP	#Duplic.		Location	#MFP	#Duplic.		Location	#MFP	#Duplic.
Roseboro Elementary	3	0		Hobbton High School	4	1		Midway High School	6	0
180 Butler Island Road				12201 Hobbton Highway				15274 Spivey's Corner Rd
Roseboro N C 28382				Newton Grove NC 28366				Newton Grove NC 28366
P 910-525-4538				P 910-594-0242				P 910-567-6664
F 910-525-3032				F 910-594-1115				F 910-567-5989
Clement Elementary	4	0		Hobbton Middle School	4	0		Midway Middle School	6	0
3220 Maxwell Road				12081 Hobbton Highway				1115 Roberts Grove Rd
Autryville NC 28318				Newton Grove NC 28366				Dunn NC 28344
P 910-567-2112				P 910-594-1420				P 910-567-5879
F 910-567-5910				F 910-594-0049				F 910-567-5131
Hargrove Elementary	5	0		Lakewood High School	3	0		Plain View School	3	1
7725 Faison Highway				245 Lakewood School Rd				4140 Plain View Hwy.
Faison NC 28341				Salemburg NC 28385				Dunn NC 28334
P 910-533-3444				P 910-525-5171				P 910-891-4354
F 910-533-2121				F 910-525-3344				F 910-891-4868
Hobbton Elementary	5	1		Midway Elememtary	5	1		Union Intermediate	5	1
12361 Hobbton Highway				15375 Spiveys Corner Hwy				1190 Edmund Mathis Rd
Newton Grove NC 28366				Dunn NC 28334				Clinton NC 28328
P 910-594-0392				P 910-567-2244				P 910-592-4547
F 910-594-1610				F 910-567-4003				Fax 910-592-7382
Roseboro/Salemburg	3	1		Salemburg Elementary	3	1		Union Elementary Sch.	6	1
305 W Pleasant St.				404 E. College Street				10400 Taylors Bridge Hwy
Roseboro NC 28382				Salemburg NC 28385				Clinton NC 28328
P 910-525-4764				P 910-525-5547				P 910-532-2104
F 910-525-3471				F 910-525-4002				F 910-532-4434
Union Middle School	4	1	...