Mount Vernon opens RFQs for Edison Avenue pump station upgrade; city stresses vendor outreach

The City of Mount Vernon’s Board of Estimate and Contract opened two requests for qualifications (RFQs) on Jan. 28 for the Edison Avenue pump station upgrade — one for general construction and one for equipment procurement — with submissions listed as received from Mace Contracting Corporation and Intercontract Incorporation.

The RFQs were noticed on BidNet and in the Journal News; the clerk stated the notices were published Jan. 23, 2025, and the closing date for both solicitations was Jan. 27, 2025. A staff member clarified that these submissions are qualifications only and “there are no numbers associated” with the RFQ openings, meaning the meeting recorded vendor qualifications rather than bid prices.

Why it matters: The pump station project will require hiring a contractor and separately procuring equipment. Opening RFQs in a public meeting was discussed as a transparency practice to show submissions were not tampered with; the procurement steps that follow include departmental evaluation and eventual city council approval before any contracts are executed.

Procurement staff and council members also discussed whether RFQ openings must occur at this meeting or could be handled elsewhere in the procurement process. A staff member said RFQs “still have to go into contract with the companies if for whatever work needs to be done” and that the department’s evaluation, evaluation sheets and scoring will be included in the referral packet to the council.

Mayor Deirdre Patterson Howard highlighted city outreach to local businesses and announced an IDA event intended to increase local participation in solicitations: “02/06/2025 from 5 to 8PM in El Patio restaurant is a good opportunity for a lot of our contractors and a lot of our supply and equipment companies to come out,” she said, noting the city and the Mount Vernon Industrial Development Agency will be present so local firms can learn how to bid on upcoming projects.

The RFQ openings recorded company addresses for the submissions: Mace Contracting Corporation listed 35 Portland Road, New Rochelle, NY 10801; Intercontract Incorporation listed 35 Colonial Place, Mount Vernon, NY 10550. There was an on-the-record correction during the meeting about the notice date (staff corrected an earlier misstated year to indicate the notices were published in late December 2024). The RFQ openings themselves do not award contracts; selected firms would later appear in a contract authorization packet to the city council that must include evaluation materials.

Next steps: Department staff will evaluate qualifications according to the procurement rubric, assemble the evaluation sheets and supporting documents, and include those materials in the referral to the City Council when a contract recommendation is ready. The Mayor’s office and IDA will continue outreach to encourage local firms to submit for future RFQs.