Project Information

Bid Title

Materials and Guidance to Maximize the Value of a Weather Services Contract

Issuing Agency

State Government of Minnesota

Location

Minnesota

Published Date

Dec 2, 2025

Closing Date

Dec 16, 2025

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Bid Documents

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Project Description

Materials and Guidance to Maximize the Value of a Weather Services Contract

Brief Description: MnDOT requests responses for a Clear Roads project to develop a Request For Proposals (RFP) template for use by states DOTs when procuring a contract with a vendor to provide weather forecasting services. While a reliable weather forecast is crucial to winter maintenance operations, many other departments – maintenance, construction, emergency response, aeronautical – within a DOT rely on accurate weather forecasts as well. To optimize the value of a weather forecasting services contract, it is important for a DOT to evaluate all its needs and select the appropriate weather services to request from the vendor in the RFP process, as not contracting for enough services, or contracting for unneeded services, will have negative operational or fiscal outcomes. The goal of this project is to maximize the value of a weather forecasting services contract by providing a list of potential weather forecasting services that agencies can use to build their own RFP.

Date posted: 11/04/2025
Due date: 12/16/2025

• RFP Part A
• RPF Part B
• Addendum #1
• DBE Special Provisions

Attachment Preview

State of Minnesota

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

PART A: INSTRUCTIONS AND CONTENT

Materials and Guidance to Maximize the Value of a Weather Services Contract

MnDOT Contract Number: 1060856

Date Posted: 11/04/2025

1. Responses must be received not later than 2:00 PM, Central Time, 12/16/2025. Late responses will not be

considered.

2. This document is available in alternative formats for persons with disabilities by calling Michael Friberg at 651-

366-4683 or for persons who are hearing, or speech impaired by calling the Minnesota Relay Service at 1-800-

627-3529. For other information on disability rights and protections, contact MnDOT’s Americans with

Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator.

3. As of July 1, 2025, certain terms are unenforceable in state contracts. See Session Laws, 2025 Regular Session,

Chapter 39, Article 2, Sec. 45.

Minnesota’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

The State of Minnesota is committed to diversity and inclusion in its public procurement process. The goal is to

ensure that those providing goods and services to the State are representative of our Minnesota communities

and include businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and those with substantial physical disabilities.

Creating broader opportunities for historically under-represented groups provides for additional options and

greater competition in the marketplace, creates stronger relationships and engagement within the State’s

communities, and fosters economic development and equality.

To further this commitment, the Department of Administration operates a program for Minnesota-based small

businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and those with substantial physical disabilities. For additional

information on this program, or to determine eligibility, please call 651-296-2600 or go to

www.mmd.admin.state.mn.us/mn02001.html.

SPECIAL NOTICE: This is a request for proposal. It does not obligate MnDOT to award a contract or complete the

proposed program, and MnDOT reserves the right to cancel this RFP if it is considered in its best interest.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Request For Proposal Content

SECTION 1 - INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDERS ......................................................................................................... 4

SECTION 2 - SUMMARY OF PROJECT SCOPE ............................................................................................................ 5

SECTION 3 – PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ............................................................. 6

SECTION 4 – PROPOSAL CONTENT & SUBMISSION.................................................................................................. 8

SECTION 5 – EVALUATION PROCEDURE AND CRITERIA ..........................................................................................13

SECTION 6 – TERMS & GENERAL REQUIREMENTS ..................................................................................................14

Request For Proposal Required Forms and Declarations (see PART B, posted seperately)

1. Attachment 1: Responder Declarations

2. Attachment 2: Exceptions to MnDOT's Terms and Conditions

3. Attachment 3: Responder Forms

a. Workforce and Equal Pay Declaration Form

b. Conflicts of Interest Checklist and Disclosure Form

c. Resident Vendor Form

d. Federal Disclosure Form to Report Lobbying (Standard Form-LLL)

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SECTION 1 – INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDERS

Steps for

Completing Your

Response

Follow the steps below to complete your response to this RFP:

Step 1: Read the solicitation documents and ask questions, if any

Step 2: Write your Proposal and complete the required Forms in Part B of this RFP

Step 3: Submit your Proposal

Incomplete

Submittals

A Proposal must be submitted along with any required additional documents. Incomplete

Proposals that materially deviate from the required format and content may be rejected.

How to Ask

Questions

STEP 1 – READ THE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT & ASK QUESTIONS, IF ANY

The Instructions for Questions and Answers section is in this link to Section 3.

The contact person for questions is:

Michael Friberg, Contract Administrator

Consultant Services

Michael.friberg@state.mn.us

How to Write

your Response

Where to Send

Your Response

The MnDOT Contract Number and RFP title must be included in the subject line of the email

Questions must be emailed to the contact by 2:00 p.m. Central Time on 11/25/2025.

Other personnel are not authorized to answer questions regarding this RFP.

STEP 2 – WRITE YOUR RESPONSE

The Proposal Content section is in this link to Section 4. Prepare a written response and supply

all requested content. Proposals must address the requested information and documents

detailed in Section 4 or be disqualified as non-responsive.

All Proposals submitted in response to this RFP will be public information under the Minnesota

Data Practices Act, Minnesota Statutes Chapter 13 once the evaluation process is complete.

Make sure to review and sign your Proposal and include all necessary Part B Attachments.

STEP 3 –SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSE

Proposals must be electronically submitted to:

Michael Friberg, Contract Administrator

Michael.friberg@state.mn.us

Include the MnDOT Contract No. 1060856 and Materials and Guidance to Maximize the

Value of a Weather Services Contract in the subject line of the email. You must copy:

ProfessionalTechnicalContractForms.dot@state.mn.us on the email.

Proposals must be received not later than 2:00 PM, Central Time, on 12/16/2025. Late

responses will not be considered.

You will receive a confirmation email from MnDOT after submission. If you do not, please

email the Contract Administrator above to ensure your response was received.

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By signing and submitting a Proposal, you are making a binding legal offer for the period of

time listed here. This Condition of Offer is discussed in more detail in the Terms & General

Requirements section, in this link to Section 6 (13).

SECTION 2 –SUMMARY OF PROJECT SCOPE

1. Project Overview and Goals

This project has been developed by Clear Roads. Clear Roads is an ongoing pooled fund research project aimed at

rigorous testing of winter maintenance materials, equipment and methods for use by highway maintenance crews. Clear

Roads will fund and oversee the contract for this project in coordination with MnDOT. For more information, visit

www.clearroads.org.

MnDOT requests responses for a Clear Roads project to develop a Request For Proposals (RFP) template for use by

states DOTs when procuring a contract with a vendor to provide weather forecasting services. While a reliable weather

forecast is crucial to winter maintenance operations, many other departments – maintenance, construction, emergency

response, aeronautical – within a DOT rely on accurate weather forecasts as well. To optimize the value of a weather

forecasting services contract, it is important for a DOT to evaluate all its needs and select the appropriate weather

services to request from the vendor in the RFP process, as not contracting for enough services, or contracting for

unneeded services, will have negative operational or fiscal outcomes.

Clear Roads has previously examined the development of an RFP for vendor procurement in:

Clear Roads Project 19-04 (https://www.clearroads.org/project/19-04/), which expedited the process for states to

procure an automated snowplow route optimization program vendor by providing a list of technical requirements and

considerations that states can use to build their RFP. This project resulted in the creation of two documents to guide the

efforts of state DOTs.

1. Decision Support Guide (https://clearroads.org/download/decision-support-guide/)

2. Contracting Language Template (https://clearroads.org/download/contracting-language-template/)

3. Scope of Work and Deliverables

The goal of this project is to maximize the value of a weather forecasting services contract by providing a list of potential

weather forecasting services that agencies can use to build their own RFP. Every DOT faces its own weather challenges

and threats, which makes every DOT’s needs different and therefore requires its own unique set of weather forecasting

services. A small sample of some of the key questions DOTs must consider for an RFP include:

1. What are the needs- Desktop applications for management? Phone app for field staff? Or both?

2. What is the complete suite of needs for each DOT- Coastal flooding forecasts? Avalanche forecasts? Tornado

forecasts? Ice storm forecasts? Watershed forecasts?

3. Where is the information delivered- In an email? On a phone app? To the district or state level?

4. When is the information delivered- Three times a day? More often for severe weather? For how many days in

advance?

Overall, the project should clearly guide agencies through the RFP building process to enable their weather forecasting

services RFP to be as accurate as possible regarding internal agency needs in order to maximize the value of the resulting

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contract.

Investigators will create an RFP template for weather forecasting services that uses standard contractual language. The

template will be supplemented by a Decision Support Guide, which will offer details regarding available service options,

associated considerations, and a description of how each option may benefit an agency. Associated considerations refer

to items such as the manner in which weather forecasting services are received and viewed by DOT staff, the number of

staff receiving the information, the manner in which they are delivered by the vendor, the frequency of delivery, security

protocols and documentation requirements. The Decision Support Guide will include excerpts written in standard

contractual language for each service option so that they may be selected and inserted into the RFP template.

A literature and industry review, DOT survey, follow-up interviews and vendor outreach will provide valuable insights to

inform the development of the RFP template and Decision Support Guide to assist DOTs with building an efficient and

effective RFP.

Responders should detail their approach to this project and outline the steps they would take to achieve the project’s

goals and anticipated deliverables.

The following is a list of deliverables expected to be provided by the successful responder:

1. Kick-off teleconference at the start of the project to review project tasks and goals and discuss the plans for all of the

tasks.

2. Check-in teleconferences with Clear Roads to review deliverables as appropriate.

3. Survey of all state DOTs to determine what weather forecasting services are needed throughout the country and

across different regions. The survey should be sent to multiple staff within each DOT to capture the comprehensive

needs of each agency. This survey should also seek to obtain copies of current / recent RFPs used by states for weather

forecasting services. The task deliverables will be a set of draft survey questions and a draft survey analysis, including

sample RFPs, to be finalized after subcommittee review.

4. Follow-up DOT staff interviews to obtain pertinent information beyond the survey. The task deliverable will be a draft

summary of information and insights to be finalized after subcommittee review.

5. Survey of potential vendors to gain a better understanding of weather forecasting services options available to DOTs

to best meet various needs. The task deliverable will be a memorandum that summarizes vendor feedback and how it

can be incorporated into the weather forecasting services list and Decision Support Guide, to be finalized after review by

the project subcommittee.

6. A draft RFP template written with standard contractual language. The draft document will be finalized after

subcommittee review.

7. A draft Decision Support Guide, which will offer details regarding available service options, associated considerations,

and a description of how each option may benefit an agency. This document will be shared with vendors for review to

identify any potential issues. The draft document will be finalized after subcommittee review.

8. Draft and final report documenting the research methodology and findings. The report will include an executive

summary, conclusions, and recommendations.

9. PowerPoint file to support presentations at conferences or national and regional meetings by Clear Roads members

regarding findings and recommendations resulting from the project.

10. Virtual webinar to present project findings.

11. Quarterly Reports that provide documentation of progress should be submitted to the Clear Roads Technical

Advisory Committee (TAC) at the end of each quarter of the year (March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31) for

the duration of the contract.

4. Additional Tasks or Activities.

Responders are encouraged to propose additional tasks or activities if they will substantially improve the results of this

Project. These items must be separated from the required items on the cost proposal required under this RFP.

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Commodity Codes

• NAICS 541330Engineering Services
• NAICS 541611Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
• NAICS 541990All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

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