| Joint Bid Program | Debris Services | Debris Services FAQ |
Alabama law allows counties to jointly bid for items which are subject to Alabama’s competitive bid law. (See Ala. Code § 41-16-50(b).) Since 2000, the Association of County Commissions of Alabama has administered the Alabama County Joint Bid Program for this purpose. All 67 counties participate in this program, which has historically offered annual joint bids on heavy equipment, herbicides, and road signs, and has, when there have been special needs, held special bid offerings for election equipment, computers, and tobacco stamps. Under this program, all counties have adopted resolutions to participate in the program and to allow one county (currently Houston County) to act as awarding authority on behalf of all counties in the award of bids and execution of contracts. Once bids are awarded, each county in the state may purchase items included in the program without having to bid separately (similar to the process for purchasing items available on the state bid list) and deals directly with the successful bidder for any purchases made. The program is strictly voluntary, meaning that no participating county is required to purchase goods or services available under the program if the county determines the product does not meet its needs.
Recognizing the need for counties to have pre-event contracts for debris removal and monitoring services in place prior to an unexpected disaster requiring these services, the Alabama County Joint Bid Program has developed this joint bid offering to award contracts for these services to make these services available in each county without the need to bid separately before or after a disaster. The process for this bid offering is a little different than in other bid offerings. Participating counties have been geographically divided into seven separate regions identified in this region map. Participating counties in the region have passed resolutions to participate in this regional bid offering and have designated one county in the region to serve as the awarding authority for that region. Each awarding authority will award the bid to the lowest responsible bidder meeting bid specifications for that region and execute a contract with the successful bidder on behalf of all participating counties in the region.
There is a separate bid offering for debris removal services and debris removal monitoring services. Bidders may submit bids for multiple regions. However, no bidder will be awarded the contract for debris removal and monitoring services in the same region.
Any additional questions should be submitted in writing to ACCA Joint Bid Program (jointbid@alabamacounties.org).