Procuring PFAS remediation technology through a competitive solicitation process requires a well-structured Request for Proposal (RFP). A poorly written RFP leads to non-comparable bids, contract disputes, and technology mismatches. This guide outlines the key components that procurement officers should include when sourcing PFAS treatment systems for municipal or industrial water applications.
Core Sections Every PFAS RFP Must Include
At minimum, a PFAS treatment RFP should define the scope of work clearly: the contaminants of concern (e.g., PFOA, PFOS, PFAS sum), influent concentration range, required effluent target (aligned with applicable MCLs or health advisory levels), and flow rate. Include site conditions such as available footprint, power supply, and discharge constraints.
Vendor qualification requirements should specify minimum years of experience with PFAS treatment, reference installations at comparable scale, and third-party certified testing data. Require vendors to disclose whether their media or technology has been independently validated under NSF/ANSI standards or equivalent protocols.
Evaluation criteria must be weighted and published in the RFP. Typical weightings allocate 30–40% to technical merit, 25–35% to lifecycle cost (capital plus operating), 15–20% to vendor qualifications, and 10–15% to schedule and implementation plan. Transparency in scoring prevents protests and delays.
Contract Terms and Performance Specifications
Performance specifications in the RFP should require vendors to guarantee effluent quality at or below the target concentration for the design life of the system. Define the basis for performance — average effluent, maximum effluent, or a rolling 30-day average — to avoid ambiguity at the contract stage.
Include a requirement for pilot testing data or, where a pilot is not feasible, bench-scale column test results under site-specific water chemistry conditions. Vendors should provide media exhaustion projections, regeneration or disposal plans, and operator training requirements as part of their proposal response.
Incorporating these elements into your RFP template ensures that responses are directly comparable, reduces evaluation time, and positions your organization to select the most cost-effective and technically sound PFAS treatment solution.