Ariz. 5,000-bed RFP Due Next Week

PHOENIX — Bids to build new privately-run minimum-to-medium security prisons are due Thursday, Feb. 24, to the Arizona Department of Corrections Procurement Services.
 
The new bid proposals can be for all 5,000 beds or submitted in increments of 500. The RFP requires that 2,000 beds be operational by April 2013 and an additional 3,000 beds by April 2015.
 
Bidders will be able to build the facilities on privately-owned land, state trust lands, or on four vacant Department of Corrections land sites near its state prisons in Florence, Lewis, Yuma and Perryville. 
 
Bidders must include provisions in their proposals allowing the state to buy the facilities in the future.
 
The latest request for proposals lists new security requirements, including random and scheduled prison perimeter checks. New requirements for reporting and evaluating problems at the facilities are also included. ??
 
The Request for Proposals made Jan. 25 replaced an earlier bid call canceled Sept. 1, 2010 due to concerns over prison design after the July 30, 2010 escape of three inmates from a prison in Kingman.
 
Additional amendment to the January bid call include the rescheduling of a pre-proposal conference for bidders at the Procurement Services Office of the DOC in Phoenix to Feb. 3 from Feb. 8., and the inclusion of additional information about the four sites the DOC made available for bidders to consider, such as maps, copies of property deeds, locations of waste water systems and connecting lines, nearby water supplies and capacity limits.
 
Changes were also made to the solicitation requirements.