HMS SERVING LINE RFP 2025

Location:	Mississippi
Posted:	Nov 4, 2025
Due:	Dec 12, 2025
Agency:	State Government of Mississippi
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	73 - Food Preparation and Serving Equipment
Solicitation No:	53-20251104064041 HCSD
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

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REQUEST FOR BIDS

The Hancock County School District will accept sealed bids at the School District Office, subject to the

attached conditions until Friday, December 12, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. CST in the Board Room 18375 Hwy 603

MS 39556, for the acquisition of the products and/or services described below.

Project: Purchasing and Complete Installation at Hancock Middle School for Cafeteria Serving Lines &

Equipment

The bid opening will be held shortly after the deadline of Friday, December 12, 2025 at 9:00PM CST.

Official bid documents can be downloaded from Central Bidding at www.centralbidding.com or visiting the

school district website at https://www.hancockschools.net/page/child-nutrition.

A pre-bid site visit is required. Inquiries regarding the project specifications and pre-bid site visits should be

directed to Karen Albrecht, Child Nutrition Director, by emailing childnutrition@hancockschools.net using the

subject line “Hancock Middle School Serving Line RFP”.

Please note the Hancock County School District Child Nutrition Department will be utilizing the competitive

sealed bid process for this project. Sealed bids will be received in person or by mail by the Hancock County

School District Child Nutrition Department, 18375 Hwy 603, Kiln, Mississippi, 39556 up to and no later than 9:00

AM (CST) on Friday, December 12, 2025.

Bids can be in a sealed envelope clearly marked as follows:

“Hancock Middle School Serving Line RFP”

Envelopes not marked will remain sealed.

The Hancock County School District reserves the right to reject any and/or all bids and waive any informalities.

It is the sole responsibility of the respondents to ensure their responses arrive in a timely manner. Late arrivals will

be rejected. The Hancock County School District is not responsible for delays of any commercial carrier or delays

incurred by the respondents.

BID CALENDAR:

Bid Published:

Bid Advertisements:

November 4, 2025 12:00PM CST

November 6, 2025, November 13, 2025

Hancock County School District

HMS Cafeteria Serving and Equipment

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider”

Mandatory Pre-Site Visit: December 2, 2025 9:00AM

Bid Opening:

9:00AM CST, December 12, 2025

Board Approval:

January 8, 2026

INTRODUCTION

The Hancock County School District Child Nutrition Department seeks to purchase new cafeteria serving lines and

equipment for Hancock Middle School cafeteria with complete delivery, complete turn-key installation, fully

operational testing, debris removal, old equipment removal by vendor.

To assure high and satisfactory quality, design and operation of products, reference has been made to brand names;

however, it is not the intention of the Hancock County School District Child Nutrition Department to limit

competition and items of brands that are equal in quality, design and operation of the stated items will be given full

consideration. The use of said brand names is to establish the minimum acceptable quality. Determination of

equality is solely the responsibility of the Hancock County School District.

The Vendor is responsible for providing documentation that the equipment meets the requirements at the time the

bid proposal is opened. All warranties, brochures, estimated delivery dates, and alternate items must be clearly

indicated and attached. Compliance must exist at the time of the bid opening. Lack of documentation will

constitute non-compliance with the requirements, is considered incomplete, and will be rejected. Vendors must

satisfy themselves, upon examination of these specifications, as to the intent and meaning of the specification.

After submission of the bid, no complaint or claim that there was any misunderstanding regarding items listed for

bid will be entertained from either party.

All cost associated with this project SHALL BE included in the bid price. All instructions are provided within this

bid packet. If you have any questions during the bid process, please relay them to the Director email at

childnutrition@hancockschools.net. Any emails, please use the subject line “Hancock Middle Serving Line RFP

Question”

A pre-site visit is required for all bidders. Please Confirm you will be present for the mandatory pre-site walk

through, please email childnutrition@hancockschools.net with the subject line “Hancock Middle School RFP

Walkthrough” no later than 2PM CST on December 1, 2025. The walkthrough will take place December 2, 2025,

beginning at 9:00 AM. Details will be given once we confirm the vendor is doing an on-site walkthrough via

above email. Vendors will be responsible for taking any needed measurements during a walkthrough. Signed

verification of site visit to be attached with bid.

Thank you for your time and effort and we look forward to this being a positive experience for you as a bidder.

BIDDER INSTRUCTIONS

B-1. DELIVERY OF BIDS:

1. The Hancock County School District will accept bids up to and no later than 9:00 A.M. Friday, December 12,

2025, in person or by mail.

2. If the Hancock County School District Administrative Office Building is closed for any reason, including but

not limited to: acts of God, strikes, lockouts, riots, acts of war, epidemics, governmental regulations

superimposed after the fact, fire, earthquakes, floods or other natural disasters (the “Force Majeure Events”),

Hancock County School District

HMS Cafeteria Serving and Equipment

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider”

which closure prevents the opening of bids at the advertised date and time, all bids received shall be publicly

opened and read aloud on the next business day that the district shall be open and at the previously advertised

time. The new date and time of the bid opening, as determined in accordance with this paragraph, shall not be

advertised, and all Vendors/Contractors, upon submission of a bid proposal shall be deemed to have

knowledge of and shall have agreed to the provisions of this paragraph. Bids shall be received by the district

shall not be held responsible for the receipt of any bids for which the delivery was attempted and failed due to

the closure of the district offices as a result of a Force Majeure Event. Each Vendor/Contractor shall be

required to ensure the delivery and receipt of its bid by the district prior to the new date and time of the bid

opening.

B-2. PRICES:

1. ONLY ONE BIDDER WILL BE AWARDED THE BID.

2. Bid price should be inclusive of removal and disposal of existing equipment and installation of all items listed

in the specifications.

3. Bid prices, unless otherwise specified, shall be net, including transportation and handling charges fully prepaid

by the Bidder.

4. All bids must be firm prices, free of any escalator clauses.

5. Prices should include any and all applicable taxes, as Hancock County School District is a tax-exempt

governing authority, tax exemption letter furnished upon request.

6. While it is the intention of the Hancock County School District to purchase the specified quantities, the right is

reserved to accept bids on the basis of individual line item or by total bid price whichever is deemed to provide

the maximum benefit to the district. The right is also reserved to omit any item or reduce quantities as

necessary to bring the total cost within budgetary provisions.

B-3. BID ADDENDUM:

1. Written instructions issued by the district before the bid opening modify or interpret the specifications

documents by additions, deletions, clarifications, or corrections. Such written instruments shall be the

sole method employed to amend, change or clarify the bid specification, and any claims (from whatever

source) that verbal amendments, changes, or clarifications have been made shall be summarily rejected by

the district. All questions should be emailed to childnutrition@hancockschools.net with the subject line

“2025 Hancock Middle Serving Line RFP Question”. Any response will be uploaded as an addendum on

www.centralbidding.com and will also be posted to our school district website at

https://www.hancockschools.net/page/child-nutrition. It is the sole responsibility of the vendor to visit

this page or email childnutrition@hancockschools.net prior to bid submission to ensure they have the

latest information.

2. As per Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended; SEC. 31-7-13. Bid requirements and exceptions; (iv) No

addendum to bid specifications may be issued within two (2) working days unless such addendum also amends

the bid opening date to a date not less than five (5) working days after the date of the addendum.

B-4. EXECUTION:

1. All bids must be submitted in accordance with Section 31-7-13 of Mississippi Code of 1972 as amended and

must be properly executed and signed by a responsible officer or employee of the Bidder.

Hancock County School District

HMS Cafeteria Serving and Equipment

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider”

2. Bids should be checked before submission for accuracy and correctness since the Hancock County

School District WILL NOT be responsible for any errors for which the Bidder is responsible.

3. The district reserves the right to reject bids from Bidders who submit incomplete bids that do not

specifically adhere to the bid instructions herein.

B-5. CERTIFICATION OF INDEPENDENT PRICE DETERMINATION:

By signing the BID PROPOSAL FORM the Bidder certifies, in connection with procurement, that to the best of their

knowledge and belief:

1. The prices in their bid have been arrived at independently, without consultation, communication, or

agreement, for the purpose of restricting competition; as to any matter relating to such prices with any other

Vendor or Bidder.

2. Unless otherwise required by law, the prices have not been knowingly disclosed by the Bidder and will not

knowingly be disclosed by the Bidder prior to the Bid Opening Date and Time specified on page 1-2 of the

BID INSTRUCTIONS, directly or indirectly with any other Vendor or Bidder.

3. No attempt has been made or will be made by the Bidder to induce any other Person or Bidder to submit or

not to submit a BID PROPOSAL for the purpose of restricting competition.

B-6. BID WITHDRAWAL and MODIFICATION:

1. If a Bidder withdraws his bid, all documents shall remain in the possession of the Hancock County Board of

Education, marked as withdrawn, and included in the permanent file of that bid item.

2. No bids shall be withdrawn for a period of thirty (30) days following the bid opening date, unless otherwise

provided for by law.

B-7. BID OPENING:

1. All bid openings are open to the public. The Hancock County School District staff will read a summary of

each bidder's proposal and answer questions to the extent possible at the time. Any information provided in the

bid which contains trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information and which bidder does not

wish to be disclosed other than for purposes of evaluating it must be clearly labeled on each sheet as

confidential.

2. All disclosures of bid information to interested parties will be made in compliance with Hancock County

School District policies and procedures.

B-8. RIGHT TO REJECT BIDS:

The Hancock County Board of Education reserves the right to reject any and/or all bids or any groups thereof and

waive any defect or informality in any bid or bidding procedure.

B-9. BID EVALUATON AND ACCEPTANCE:

1. No award will automatically result from the opening of the bids. The Hancock County School District

will review the results of the sealed bids and the Hancock County School Board of Education will award

the bid at its regularly scheduled board meeting.

2. The District will evaluate every bid submitted and reserves the right to be the sole judge of which bid

meets the needs of the District. During the course of the Contract, the District reserves the right to

negotiate changes in the scope, including the quantity and/or cost of the required services/equipment as

well as changes in the scope and/or cost of the enhancements offered by the Vendor to the District.

While cost is an important element in the bid process, many other factors may be considered, and the award

Hancock County School District

HMS Cafeteria Serving and Equipment

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider”

will not necessarily be based on the lowest price. The District reserves the right to consider all relevant and

reasonable criteria in selecting the successful Vendor, which may or may not be expressed in the

specifications. After determining that a bid satisfies the mandatory requirements stated in the bid documents,

Hancock County School District in its sole discretion will make a comparative assessment of the relative

benefits and deficiencies of proposals. The award of a contract resulting from these bid documents shall be

based on the lowest and best bid as determined solely by Hancock County School District, after consideration

of factors that may include, but not be limited to, the following:

Hancock County School District’s direct experience with Bidder/Vendor;

Vendor’s direct experience in the State of Mississippi;

Vendor’s direct experience in the Southeast;

Vendor’s financial standing;

Vendor’s ability to handle additional work;

Vendor’s insurance coverage and bonding;

Vendor’s price; and

Overall quality and appearance of Vendor’s bid packet submission

In no way shall the Hancock County School District or the Board of Trustees be required to justify their

decision or be held accountable to the Vendor in making its award of the contract or its refusal to contract with

any of the parties. The judgment of the value and merit of the bids shall be made solely at the discretion of the

Hancock County School District. All prospective vendors will be notified of the decision regarding the bid

award.

B-10. BILLING/ORDERING:

1. All invoices for items or services shall be provided by the successful bidder to the Child Nutrition

Department in arrears and payment will be due within 45 days of receipt of the invoice.

2. Payment of above described invoices shall follow regularly scheduled meetings of the Hancock County

School Board which meets once monthly.

3. No negotiations, decisions or actions shall be executed by any bidder as a result of any discussions

with any District employee. Only transactions that are on a Hancock County School District purchase

order may be considered official.

B-11. DAMAGE OR LOSS:

1. Any damage or loss to Hancock County School District property as a result of any action by the successful

Bidder in the execution or performance of any item or service in this bid, shall be repaired to the satisfaction of

the Hancock County Board of Education, at the Bidder’s expense, within a reasonable time set forth by the

Hancock County Board of Education.

2. The successful Bidder shall hold the Hancock County Board of Education, Hancock County School District, its

Officers, Agents and Employees harmless from liability of any nature or kind whatsoever, because of use of by

publisher or author, manufacturer or agent of any copyrighted or un-copyrighted composition, secret process,

patented or unpatented invention, article, environment-sensitive material, or appliance furnished or used under

this bid.

B-12. DELIVERY:

1. It is understood that the Bidder agrees to deliver all items prepaid to points of receipt. All related cost for

Hancock County School District

HMS Cafeteria Serving and Equipment

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider”

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.

Smart Number	53-20251104064041 HCSD	Advertised Date	11/04/2025 3:00 PM
RFx #	3170034238	Submission Date	12/12/2025 9:00 AM
RFx Status	Open	Major Procurement Category	CONSTRUCTION
RFx Opening Date	N/A	Sub Procurement Category	CONSTRUCTION - SERVICES
RFx Type	MDA - RFx
Agency	MPTAP
RFx Description	Pre-Bid Conference: Description: A pre-bid site visit is required. Inquiries regarding the project specifications and pre-bid site visits should be directed to Karen Albrecht, Child Nutrition Director, by emailing childnutrition@hancockschools.net using t

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