Being awarded a landscape contact

This came from an reactivated thread:

1) How does your Board locate contractors to offer a request for proposal (RFP) or to bid on a job?

Referrals
internet
(in the case of trash collection) list of approved providers
Personal observation (seen work done elsewhere and asked)
Sometimes - mailings

Side notes - what has me not consider contractors:
Cold calls (be it by phone or e-mail)

2) What criteria do you consider when awarding the contract?

Reputation - I do an internet search for complaints on the contractor, if there are a lot of them over the same thing, I may eliminate or, at least, ask about it. Sometimes, it's not the complaints themselves but the companies replies to the complaints.

BBB review (same thing as reputation)

License Verification

Years in business (checked via Corporation Commission Website). Mind you, this doesn't exclude new companies but it will have me exclude companies when I see the same type of businesses owned by the same person being re-branded every few years.

Size of Company/how many clients - I don't want the company to be so big that they don't care if we stay as a client or not. Nor do I want them to be so small that they can't adequately respond to all the clients they have.

Test Drives - having them do a small job first before considering them for a larger contract

If it were me, I would contact local HOA Management Companies and ask to be put on their bid list for HOA's in whatever geographical local you want to service. Either that or go from HOA to HOA and ask to be put on their bid list. We got our current landscaper from a recommendation of a homeowner, they've held the contract for the past nine years.