SOLID WASTE AND RECYCLING COLLECTION

CITY OF FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

RFP Title: City of Frankfort Residential Solid Waste Collection Services

RFP Number: 22526001-65

Issuance Date: December 8, 2025

Proposals Due Date: Proposals must be submitted by January 6, 2026 at 2:00 p.m., EST

Contact: Angela Disponette
Office of the Purchasing Division
City of Frankfort, Kentucky
City Hall
315 West Second Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Phone: (502) 352-2076
Email: adisponette@frankfort.ky.gov

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RFP Schedule:

RFP Release Date	December 8, 2025
Questions due by	December 18, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Responses due by	January 6, 2026 at 2:00 pm
Anticipated announcement of the Selected Responder	February 23, 2026

1. Introduction to Frankfort Solid Waste

The City of Frankfort (City) is soliciting proposals to provide for the collection and disposal of residential solid waste including garbage and recyclable commodities. Responses to this Request for Proposals (RFP) must be received no later than 2:00 pm EST on January 6, 2026.

2. General Instructions

Provide three (3) bound Response Packets and one (1) electronic version in a PDF format to Angie Disponette, City of Frankfort Purchasing Agent, by 2:00 pm EST, on January 6, 2026. Submit any additional information at that time.

Responses should comply with Section 5 - Proposal Format outlined later in this RFP. If any proposal is determined not to meet the requirements of this RFP during the evaluation process, the proposal may be rejected by the City and will not be further considered.

Pricing and other conditions in the proposal shall remain firm and valid for a period of no less than ninety (90) days from the date of submission.

3. General Conditions

A. Questions and Addenda

Responders should seek clarification of any ambiguity, conflict, omission, or other error in this RFP in writing to the contact listed in this RFP. No oral statement or communications shall modify or otherwise affect the terms, conditions, or specifications stated in the RFP or ensuing contract. If the answer materially affects this procurement, the information will be issued in an addendum on a rolling basis at regular intervals. All addenda to this RFP must be applied in the proposal submitted to the City. Failure to use the correct and most recent addenda may result in the proposal being rejected. In the case of a discrepancy, the answers provided will govern over all other RFP documents. Any addendum issued shall not be interpreted to relieve Responders of their authority and duty to comply with applicable federal, state, or local laws, regulations, or policies.

Written communications should be addressed as follows:

Angela Disponette, Office of the Purchasing Division, City of Frankfort, 315 West Second Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601. Phone: (502) 352-2076 Email: adisponette@frankfort.ky.gov. The last day for submitting questions will be December 18, 2025 at 4:30 pm EST. Any questions will be answered and communicated by an addendum to the RFP.

B. Communications Restricted

All communications, oral and written (regular, express, or electronic mail, or fax), concerning this procurement shall be addressed to the Contact person shown on the RFP cover sheet. For violation of this provision, the City shall reserve the right to disqualify the Responder’s Proposal.

C. Right to Reject

The City reserves the right to reject any and all proposals received in response to this RFP, and to waive any informality in this RFP. The award of a contract, if any, shall be at the sole discretion of the City.

D. Retention of Records

The successful Responder shall be required to maintain, for a period of five (5) years from the date of final payment to the successful Responder, all books and records pertaining to this RFP.

E. Conflicts, Gratuities, and Kick-Backs Prohibited

The City adheres to the provisions of KRS 45A.455, paragraphs (1) through (5) relative to conflicts of interests, gratuities, kickbacks, and use of confidential information in all proposals.

F. Cost Incurred in Responding

This RFP does not commit the City to pay any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of proposals or in making necessary studies or designs, nor does it commit the City to enter into a contract.

G. Disposition of Proposals

All materials submitted in response to this RFP will become the property of the City. One (1) copy of each proposal shall be retained for the official files and will become a public record after an award is made by the City, and thus open for public inspection. It is understood that the proposal will become a part of the official file without obligation on the part of the City.

H. Disclosure

In compliance with the Kentucky Open Records Act, trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by a Responder in connection with this RFP shall not be subject to public disclosure. However, the Responder must invoke this protection before or upon submission of the data or other materials and must clearly identify the specific area or scope of data or other materials to be protected and state the reasons why protection is necessary.

I. Oral Presentations

The City reserves the right to require oral presentations from one or more Responders as part of the selection process. The City may ask some or all Responders to present in person before a selection committee, the City’s Board of Commissioners, or both, prior to selection. All proposals, information and responses from the Responder must be submitted in writing and may be incorporated into any final agreement between the City and the successful Responder.

J. Confidentiality

Proposals and the information contained within will be considered confidential and will not be shared with any entities or individuals other than for the purposes of evaluating the various responses.

K. Cancellation

The City reserves the right to cancel the RFP at any time prior to the execution of a written contract.

L. Business Tax Status

In order to receive a bid award from the City of Frankfort, Kentucky, the Responder must not be delinquent on any business, regulatory, and/or ad valorem taxes, due to the City for real or personal properties owned by the Responder, including penalty and interest charges, or any one or more of its corporate officers. Inquiries can be directed to the Finance Department, City Hall, 502-875-8541.

M. Business Status and Registration Requirements

In order to receive a bid award from the City of Frankfort, Kentucky, the Responder must be properly registered with the Occupational License Division to do business in the City. If the Responder is already registered, all of their applicable license accounts must be in “good standing” with the City. Good standing is defined as having all fees, including penalty and interest charges, relating to employee wages, and business net profits, paid in full with appropriate reporting forms filed in the offices of the City’s License Division. Inquiries can be directed to the License Division, City Hall, 502-875-8504. (This clause is only for firms bidding to perform actual business in the City, not delivering equipment. This is also only relevant if the Responder is awarded a contract.)

N. Insurance Requirements

Prior to commencement of work, the City of Frankfort will require the Selected Responder to submit a Certificate of Insurance to the City of Frankfort’s Risk Manager (and other parties upon request) in the form of a standard Acord Form 25 that fully complies with the requirements of our contract agreement. Failure to provide the certificate with the proper coverage and limits will result in delayed payment to the Selected Responder. The following is an outline of the Insurance requirements that must be provided and so indicated on the Certificate of Insurance.

Commercial General Liability (CGL) with limits of insurance not less than:

• $1,000,000 Each Occurrence and $2,000,000 General Aggregate

• $1,000,000 Personal Injury and Advertising Injury

The General Aggregate shall apply separately to each project per ISO form CG2503 (11/85) or its equivalent.

CGL coverage shall be written on ISO occurrence form CG0001 (04/13) or a substitute form providing equivalent coverage and shall cover liability arising from:

• Premises/Operations

• Personal Injury / Advertising Injury

• Products-Completed Operations

• Liability assumed under an Insured contract (including tort liability of another assumed in a business contract)

• Independent Contractors

Certificate Requirements

• Certificate Holder:

• City of Frankfort

• 315 W. Second Street

• Frankfort, KY 40601

• General Liability policy must be endorsed to provide there will be no cancellation or reduction in coverage without thirty (30) days prior written notice given to the City of Frankfort.

• Certificate of Insurance should be mailed to the corporate office of the City of Frankfort attention to the Risk Manager. Reference the project number and project name on the Certificate. Copies of the Certificate forms showing compliance with the insurance requirements must be provided prior to commencement of work.

The Responder may submit the appropriate Certificate of Insurance with their Response Packet.

O. Proposal Bond

Each Proposal must be accompanied by a bond or certified check of the Responder, drawn on a national bank, in an amount equal to Twenty Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000). This bond serves as a guarantee on the part of the Responder that he will, if called upon to do so, accept and enter into a contract to perform the work covered by such Proposal and at the rates stated therein and to furnish a corporate surety for its faithful and entire fulfillment. Checks and bonds will be returned promptly after the City and the selected Responder have executed the Contract, or, if no Responder’s Proposal is selected within ninety (90) days after the date of the opening of the Proposals, upon demand of the Responder at any time thereafter, so long as he has not been notified of the acceptance of his Proposal.

P. Performance Bond

Prior to execution of a Contract, the Selected Responder shall furnish a corporate surety bond as security for the performance of the Contract. Said bond must be in the amount of Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000).

Q. Kentucky Residential Bidder Preference

The Kentucky Residential Bidder Preference laws, KRS 45A.490 to 45A.494 and 200 KAR 5:400, apply to a contract awarded pursuant to this Request for Proposals, and are hereby incorporated by reference.

R. Local Purchasing Preference

Applicable provisions of the Local Purchasing Preference located in City of Frankfort Code of Ordinances §38.01 to 38.04 apply to a contract awarded pursuant to this Request for Proposals.

4. Scope of Work

The City of Frankfort (City) is soliciting proposals to provide for the collection and disposal of residential solid waste including garbage and recyclable commodities. The City intends to enter a five (5) year contract with an option to renew for up to an additional five (5) years with the selected Responder. Responses to this Request for Proposals (RFP) must be received no later than 2:00 pm EST on January 6, 2026.

The Selected Responder, shall provide, in a good workmanlike manner, the services called for and described herein which shall consist of all supervision, equipment, labor, and all other items necessary to provide the City with complete solid waste collection, removal, and disposal and to complete said work in accordance with the provisions.

A. Service Area and Customer Base

The City currently provides curbside collection of solid waste, Tuesday through Friday beginning at 6:00 am, for 10,642 “residential units” at the following frequencies:

• weekly garbage collection

• bi-weekly recycle collection

Per City ordinance, residential units include private residences, households, and apartments with eight dwelling units or less on one lot of record. These services are provided within the City limits. See Appendix A for a map depicting the City limits.

Residential units currently have two (2) city-owned polycarts. These carts vary in size (32-, 64-, and 96-gallon capacity). City-owned carts assigned to residential units shall become the property of the Selected Responder.

Thirty (30) residential units fall under the City’s waiver program for medical or topographical exemptions. These waivers allow for use of bags only (approximately 5 residential units) or multiple carts (approximately 25 residential units). It is the City’s desire that these residential units continue to receive specialized collections services.

Additionally, the City provides garbage and/or recycle collection services for the following non-residential customers (See Appendix B for additional information):

• Schools

• Non-profit organizations (carts)

• Municipal Facilities (carts, currently serviced 3 times per week)

• Municipal Facilities (8-yard dumpsters)

B. Services, Operations, and Performance Standards

The City has an established history of providing excellent solid waste management and customer service to our residents. It is the City’s intention to award a Contract to the Responder who, among other things, can demonstrate an ability and willingness to provide continued exceptional services. The Responder shall include a description of their plan for customer service including complaint management, missed pickups, responses to inquiries (include timeframes), public education, billing, etc.

It is expected that the Selected Responder will be responsible for communication with our residents in regards to:

• Publishing collection routes and schedules.

• Defining acceptable recycling materials.

• Notification of delays or schedule changes.

The Selected Responder will be responsible for providing a list of routes and schedules to the City prior to award of a contract.

C. Residential Collection – Base Proposal

Where residential units are not already supplied with city-owned carts, or as replacement carts are needed, the Selected Responder shall supply two (2) polycarts of approximately 96-gallon capacity to each customer.

i. Garbage collection shall occur once per week and must occur between Monday and Friday, and not before 6:00 am. This schedule is to be adhered to unless inclement weather, equipment failure, or holiday schedules necessitate an alternate schedule. Under no circumstances shall collections occur on Sundays.

ii. Recycle collection shall occur bi-weekly, on the same day as garbage collection.

iii. Polycarts or 8-yard dumpsters shall be provided for municipal facilities.

iv. Proposed prices for these services shall be quoted for both municipal billing and customer billing by the Selected Responder.

D. Alternate and Additional Proposal Items

All proposals for the following alternate and additional items are welcome and will be considered individually.

i. Weekly Recycle Collection (include both municipal and customer billing quotes)

ii. Bulky and Oversized Item(s) Collection

iii. 20-, 30-, or 40-yard Roll Off Containers – Incidental use of roll off containers for municipal purposes only.

iv. Purchase of Municipal Solid Waste Fleet – Purchase some or all of the current municipal solid waste fleet. See Appendix C for a list of vehicles. The City will have all vehicles privately valuated.

v. Describe how you intend to provide service to the households included on the medical exemption list.

The Responder is welcome to propose services and prices in the alternates that reasonably match the alternate proposal item descriptions, and which are calculated by the Responder to be efficient and economical for both the City and the Selected Responder.

Additionally, the Responder is welcome to make suggestions beyond the scope of work in this RFP. These suggestions should be quoted separately and included in the Alternate and Additional Proposal Items section of the Response Packet.

E. Disposal Locations

The City currently disposes of all garbage at the Benson Valley Landfill in Franklin County, Kentucky.

The Responder shall identify both a primary and secondary disposal location for garbage. For both sites the Responder shall indicate the address, hours of operation, provide proof of capacity, and a statement that the sites are permitted by all relevant government agencies to accept and handle the specified waste streams. Additionally, please describe the plan for accepting excessive waste in response to a natural disaster or other emergency.

The Selected Responder will be responsible for collection, transport, and any potential fees associated with waste disposal, waste processing, and any violations. The waste becomes property and responsibility of the Selected Responder as soon as it is handled by their employees or equipment.

F. Disposal Location - Recycle

The City currently disposes of all collected recyclable material at the Lexington Municipal Recycling Facility in Fayette County, Kentucky.

The Responder shall identify both a primary and secondary disposal location for recyclable materials. For both sites the Responder shall indicate the address, hours of operation, and current accepted items.

The Selected Responder will be responsible for collection, transport, and any potential fees associated with recyclable material disposal and processing, and any violations. The waste becomes property and responsibility of the Selected Responder as soon as it is handled by their employees or equipment. Any profits made from the sale of collected recyclable materials will remain with the Selected Responder.

5. Proposal Format

The City is expecting Responders to demonstrate their capability and reliability in their response. Please provide the following information in the Response Packet in this order:

A. Company profile and history including current size, legal status, and administrative structure.

B. Relevant experience, especially for similarly-sized communities. Please include client contact information, contract timeframe, and any other relevant information.

C. Provide a list of equipment anticipated to be used to complete the desired tasks. Include a description of the vehicles along with a plan for spare/backup equipment.

D. Discuss the company’s current staffing. Include a list of current staff that will be dedicated to fulfilment of this contract and their roles, an estimate of additional staff needed, and a description of relevant worker training.

E. Key personnel who will be dedicated to the project and their qualifications.

F. Include a list of at least three (3) references.

G. Outline your anticipated timeline for implementing services as described in this RFP.

H. Complete Response Packet Checklist (Appendix D) with all mandatory bid response prices.

I. All Alternate and Additional proposal items with pricing and descriptions.

J. A description of how the Responder will provide excellent customer service.

K. Certificate of Insurance, or alternatively the Certificate of Insurance Commitment Form

L. Proposal Bond as described in Part 3, Section O.

6. Response Evaluation

At a minimum, Responders will be evaluated on the following criteria:

A. Experience with similar projects

B. Completeness, professionalism, and creativity of response

C. Costs for the proposal

D. Demonstrated dedication to excellent customer service

E. References

The City reserves the right to meet with some or all of the Responders after all Response Packets are received in order to gain clarification or negotiate proposed services and associated prices.

APPENDIX A

City of Frankfort Incorporated Area
(link for full size map)

APPENDIX B

Current Customer Base

Customer Type	Number Served	Garbage	Recycle	Number of Carts	Frequency
Residential	10,642	X		1	Weekly
Residential	10,642		X	1	Bi-Weekly
Schools	13		X	Multiple	Weekly
Non-profits	10	X	X	1 - 14	1-3/Week
Municipal	18	X	X	Multiple	1-2/Week
Municipal Dumpsters	9	X		1 - 3 dumpsters	Varies

APPENDIX C

Current City Fleet

YEAR	ASL/Rear Loader	MAKE/MODEL	BODY
2007	Rear	Freightliner M206	New Way
2012	ASL	Mack LEU613	Ez Pack
2022	Rear	Peterbilt 348	New Way
2017	ASL	Freightliner	Labrie
2023	ASL	Freightliner	Heil
2022	ASL	Peterbilt 520	New Way
2019	ASL	Peterbilt 520	New Way
2018	Rear	Freightliner M2 106	New Way
2020	Rear	Peterbilt 348	New Way
2004	Boom	International	Pac Mac
2018	ASL	Peterbilt 520	Wayne
2024	ASL	Peterbilt 520	New Way
2016	ASL	Mack LR613	Wayne
2011	Rear	International 7400	New Way
2024	Rear	Peterbilt 548	New Way

APPENDIX D

Response Packet Checklist – RFP# 22526001-65

	Certificate of Insurance
	Proposal Bond
	Residential Collection Base Proposal
	Weekly Garbage Collection (municipal billing)	$
	Weekly Garbage Collection (direct customer billing)	$
	Bi-weekly Recycle Collection (municipal billing)	$
	Bi-weekly Recycle Collection (direct customer billing)	$
	Disposal Locations
	Primary Garbage Disposal Location	Address
	Secondary Garbage Disposal Location	Address
	Primary Recycle Disposal Location	Address
	Secondary Recycle Disposal Location	Address
	Garbage Disposal Locations Certification Statement: I certify that the proposed Primary and Secondary garbage disposal locations are permitted by all relevant government agencies to accept and handle the specified waste streams.	Signature:
	Alternate/Additional Proposals (Optional)
	Weekly Recycle Collection (municipal billing)	$
	Weekly Recycle Collection (direct customer billing)	$
	Bulky/Oversized Item Collection	$