Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Stephen Farmer (Acting Director)
Department: Finance and Administrative Services Division: Purchasing
Information
Requested Action
title
MOTION TO APPROVE final ranking of the qualified vendors of Request for Proposals (RFP) No. TEC2125499P1, Libraries Automated Materials Handling System and RFID Tagging System for the Libraries Division. The ranked vendors are: 1 - mK Solution, Inc.; 2 - Invengo American Corp. dba FE Technologies; and 3 - Envisionware, Inc.
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Why Action is Necessary
In accordance with Broward County Procurement Code Section 21.42.(j), Procedures for RFPs, RLIs, and RFQs, if an objection or protest has been filed with respect to an Evaluation Committee’s ranking, the ranking must be submitted to the Board for final approval. The Board, by majority vote, may (1) accept the ranking as final; (2) reject all responses to the solicitation; or (3) direct the Evaluation Committee to reconvene to consider any new or additional information the Board directs the Evaluation Committee to consider. In addition, the Board may request presentations by the ranked vendors and may, by supermajority vote, rerank those vendors in a final ranking.
What Action Accomplishes
Approves the Evaluation Committee’s recommendation of the final ranking of qualified vendors.
Goal Related Icon(s)
☐County Commission
☐Go Green
☐MAP Broward
Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE PURCHASING DIVISION AND THE LIBRARIES DIVISION RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development (OESBD) determined that no County Business Enterprise (CBE) participation goal should apply to this solicitation based on OESBD review of the products or services and availability of CBE vendors (Exhibit 2).
This procurement is to engage a qualified vendor to provide a single comprehensive solution comprised of an Automated Material Handling materials sorter and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to provide accurate inventory control of library materials that sorts library material for distribution to library branches that integrates with the Integrated Library System.
The Request for Proposal was advertised on March 26, 2024, and, at the time of submittal deadline on April 24, 2024, four vendors submitted proposals: Adilam, Inc.; Envisionware, Inc.; Invengo American Corp. dba FE Technologies (FE Technologies); and mK Solutions, Inc (mK Solutions).
On September 9, 2024, an Initial Evaluation Committee (EC) meeting was held. The EC evaluated the submittals and determined that three out of four vendors: Envisionware, Inc., FE Technologies, and mK Solutions were responsive and responsible to the solicitation requirements; and deemed the fourth vendor, Adilam, Inc., as non-responsible to the Authority to Conduct Business in Florida responsibility requirement.
On September 18, 2024, a reconvened Initial EC meeting was held to clarify the responsibility requirements inquiry made by an EC member during the Initial EC meeting held on September 9, 2024 and to provide additional information to the EC regarding the Authority to Conduct Business in the State of Florida responsibility requirement to which Adilam, Inc. was deemed non-responsible. Resultantly, the EC affirmed its decision to deem Adilam, Inc. as non-responsible to the Authority to Conduct Business in Florida responsibility requirement.
On December 6, 2024, a Final EC meeting was held. After presentations, scoring, and ranking, the EC named mK Solutions as the first-ranked vendor; FE Technologies as the second-ranked vendor; and Envisionware, Inc. as the third-ranked vendor.
On December 11, 2024, the Director of Purchasing received a response to the EC’s proposed ranking from FE Technologies, which stated that it was a protest and included a filing fee. Since FE Technologies’ response was received before the official posting of the EC’s proposed recommendation ranking to the Purchasing Division website, FE Technologies elected for its response to be treated as an objection to the proposed ranking instead of a protest. The objection claimed that: 1) mK Solutions did not provide pricing for 216,000 media tags and their First Offer price contained only 1,916,000 books tags, 2) mK Solutions did not state that their proposed sorter will achieve a sorting speed of 2000 items per hour, and 3) mK Solution’s bronze maintenance and support level offered in their First Offer price did not meet the solicitation’s requirements (Exhibit 3).
The EC’s proposed recommendation of ranking was posted on the Purchasing Division website from December 13 - 18, 2024, which provided an opportunity for any proposer or interested party to present new or additional information regarding the responsibility of the proposers.
On March 18, 2025, the Director of Purchasing issued a response to FE Technologies stating that after review of the procurement records and proceedings of the EC, and in consultation with the Office of the County Attorney, the issues raised in Assertions No. 1 and No. 2 were of insufficient merit to substantiate either assertion, so the Objection to Proposed Ranking was denied. Assertion No. 3 was partially upheld to reconvene the EC to recalculate the pricing points using mK Solutions’ alternate pricing provided for its gold level maintenance plan, which met the solicitation’s requirements, as well as recalculate the total points using Line Items 1-12 in lieu of Line Items 1 - 22 as per the Evaluation Criteria, Section 6, and reannounce the recommended ranking based on the re-calculated points. (Exhibit 4).
On July 1, 2025, a Final Reconvene EC meeting was held. After recalculating the pricing points and recalculating total points using Line Items 1-12 only, the EC’s ranking remained the same with mK Solutions, as the first-ranked vendor; FE Technologies as the second-ranked vendor; and Envisionware, Inc. as the third-ranked vendor.
The EC’s final recommendation of ranking was posted on the Purchasing Division website from July 18 - 25, 2025. There was no protest filed against this procurement.
Additional supporting documentation provided to the EC regarding this procurement can be found on the Purchasing Division website at: https://www.broward.org/Purchasing/Pages/Repository.aspx.
Source of Additional Information
Robert E. Gleason, Director, Purchasing Division, (954) 357-6070
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
There is no fiscal impact.
Requisition No. LBD0002033