Sample RFP for Third Party Administrators

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR LABOR COMPLIANCE PROGRAM THIRD PARTY ADMINISTRATOR SERVICES INTRODUCTION

The School District ("District") is seeking proposals from qualified firms for professional services as a Third Party Administrator ("TPA") to implement and enforce the District’s Labor Compliance Program ("LCP").

This Request for Proposals ("RFP") describes the required scope of services, consultant selection process, and minimum information that must be included in response to this RFP.

THE DISTRICT'S SCHOOL FACILITY PROJECTS

The District plans to construct the following school facility projects that will be funded by State funds which require an LCP. The District intends to construct... and/or to modernize ... The anticipated timelines for these projects are set forth as

follows.

THE DISTRICT'S LCP

LCP Background/Description.

The District has or will adopt an LCP, which will be submitted to the Department of Industrial Relations ("DIR") for approval. The District intends to, or already has presented this LCP to its Board at the ______, 2003 Board meeting. As part of that meeting, the most qualified proposal(s) will be presented.

Fee Schedule.

Each proposal must contain a fee schedule. The fee schedule must contain a detailed estimate of the number of hours anticipated to competently and expeditiously implement and enforce the District’s LCP for the projects described in Section II, above.

Upon completion of the evaluation process outlined in Section VIII below, the District will attempt to negotiate a TPA agreement ("Agreement") with the firm submitting the most qualified and responsive proposal to meet the District's needs.

Term.

The initial term of the Agreement shall be equal to the District's first construction project thru the filing of a Notice of Completion. At the District's discretion, the term may be extended to include TPA services on other construction projects.

SCOPE OF REQUIRED SERVICES

Each proposal shall contain sufficient detail to show that the firm has the ability, experience, and staff to accomplish the necessary procedures to implement and enforce the District’s LCP, including at a minimum the following:

■ Conduct a Pre-Bid or a Pre-Job Conference with all contractors and subcontractors.

■ Develop procedures to ensure the receipt of weekly CPRs.

■ Coordinate with District employees the necessary procedures for approving contractor payments and, when necessary, contractor withholding.

■ Review weekly certified payroll reports and investigate any irregularities. ■ Conduct site visitations and investigate any claims submitted by workers on

projects as necessary.

■ Audit payroll records when necessary as determined by investigation of irregularities in weekly certified payroll reports, claims made by workers, or anomalies discovered as a result of worker interviews and site visitations. ■ Calculate the amount of monies or funds to withhold and make recommendations

to District and to DIR for such withholding(s).

■ Prepare a request for forfeiture and distribute forfeited sums upon approval. ■ Coordinate and prepare all necessary documents for any hearings, and represent

the District at the hearing(s).

■ Prepare and submit the District's Annual Report to the Board of Education and to the DIR.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS Overview.

The proposal shall describe the firm’s experience and expertise and include a general background on the firm and each principal, and the qualifications and experience of each person who would potentially be assigned to implement and enforce the District’s LCP. Format.

Submitted proposals must follow the format of this RFP, and each component of this RFP must be addressed. Firms are encouraged to be thorough and to specifically address the District’s needs. Firms are discouraged from including extraneous generic promotional materials not responsive to the RFP.

To assist the District in its evaluation, submitted proposals should be clearly marked to indicate which section of the RFP is being addressed. Format should include a Table of

the firm or other person authorized to execute legal documents on behalf of the firm is required.

Identify and describe the firm proposing to be a TPA, including: Legal name and address of company;

Legal form of company (corporation, partnership, etc.);

Address and phone number of the office that will be primarily responsible for providing services for this Proposal, and, if different, the principal place of business of the firm;

California Business License Number, if applicable; and

Staff proposed for this project including biographies and designation of a primary contact person.

Experience.

Each proposal shall include a description of the firm’s related experience that will enable it to successfully implement and enforce the District’s LCP. The relevant LCP experience should, include:

■ Relationship of the firm to the K-12 school District or community college District

■ Description and status of the LCP program ■ Staffing

■ Fee structure

■ The District's contact name, position, entity name, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address for each project. If any of the following has occurred, please describe in detail:

Termination or failure to complete a contract;

Debarment by any municipal, county, state, federal or local agency; Involvement in litigation, arbitration or mediation and underlying reason; Conviction of the firm or its principals for violating a state or federal law

related to bidding or professional services performance; Falsification of information or submission of deceptive or fraudulent

statements in connection with a contract; and/or Willful disregard for applicable rules, laws or regulations.

Information regarding any of the above, at the sole discretion of the District, may be deemed to indicate an unsatisfactory record of performance.

Other resources available to firm.

Describe resources, other than professional or technical staff, available to the firm to ensure successful implementation of the District’s LCP, including but not limited to, additional language capabilities, specialized software applications, etc.

Fee Schedule.

Describe in detail the proposed personnel and the hourly billing rates for those individuals the firm believes are necessary for expeditious enforcement of the District’s LCP. The fee schedule should include the estimated number of hours per type of service rendered, the hourly billing rate, and the total of hours and fees with a not-to-exceed percentage of construction costs. The firm should indicate which, if any, services are to be performed by firm employees and which are to be performed by outside contractors and/or the District's representative. Any outside contractors’ costs are to be clearly indicated. The firm should also include the anticipated costs for any services not included in this RFP, but which the firm believes are necessary for successful LCP enforcement.

Evidence of Insurance.

Submission of the proposal indicates that the firm currently has, or will if selected, meet the following insurance requirements:

Commercial General Liability Insurance. TPA shall obtain and maintain occurrence version commercial general liability insurance, or an

equivalent form, with a combined single limit of not less than $1,000,000.00 per occurrence, and a general aggregate limit of $2,000,000.00. Such insurance shall:

Include the District, its officials, Board members, officers and employees as additional insured with respect to performance of TPA services, and shall contain no special limitations on the scope of coverage or the protection afforded to these additional insured;

Be primary with respect to any insurance or self-insurance programs covering the District, its officials, officers, Board members, employees, agents, and consultants; and

Contain standard separation of insured provisions.

Errors and Omissions Insurance. TPA shall maintain, professional

liability insurance to protect the District and its LCP from TPA’s negligent acts, errors, or omissions of a professional nature; the total aggregate of TPA’s professional liability insurance coverage shall be a minimum of $ ________ dollars.

Certificates of Insurance/Endorsements. TPA shall, prior to

commencement of enforcement of District’s LCP, furnish the District with properly executed certificates of insurance and endorsements which clearly evidence all insurance requirements under this Agreement, and provide that such insurance shall not be canceled, allowed to expire or be materially reduced in coverage, except on thirty (30) days prior written notice to the District. In addition, TPA shall allow the District to view, at any reasonable time upon three (3) business day’s notice, full copies of any policy required hereunder. TPA shall make such policies available at the offices of the District. The District shall have the sole discretion to

determine whether the certificates and endorsements presented comply with the provisions of this RFP.

Coverage Maintenance. TPA shall replace certificates, policies and endorsements for any insurance expiring prior to completion of the TPA services.

Licensed Insurer. TPA shall place all such insurance requirements

contained herein with insurers having an A.M. Best Company rating of no less than A, and with a company licensed to do business in California, unless otherwise approved, in writing, by the District’s Representative. Financial Stability.

Each proposal should provide evidence of the firm's financial stability including:

A current report from any commercial credit rating service; or

A letter from a financial institution stating a current line of credit; and The latest audited financial statement and/or annual report that has been certified by a CPA of the firm. This information will remain confidential, and shall not be subject to public disclosure.

Litigation.

Provide litigation history for any claim(s) filed by your firm or against your firm related to the professional services provided in the last five (5) years.

QUESTIONS ON, AND REVISIONS TO, THE RFP Questions on the RFP.

All questions regarding this RFP must be in writing and directed to: _______________, Coordinator, Facility and Community Services _______________ School District

_________________________________

_________________________________ Telephone: _______________

Fax: ___________________

All inquiries will be answered in writing and distributed to all firms that received the RFP. No oral inquires will be accepted or responded to.

Revisions to the RFP.

The District reserves the right to revise this RFP until the date specified in the Timeline below. Any revision(s) to this RFP shall be mailed and faxed to all firms who received a RFP.

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

Date, Time and Place of Submission.

All proposals must be received no later than 1:00:00 P.M. according to the District's office clock on June __, 2003, and addressed to:

_______________, Coordinator, Facility and Community Services _______________ School District

_________________________________

_________________________________ Telephone: _______________

Fax: ____________________

Submission of proposals by facsimile or e-mail is not acceptable. LATE PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Number of Copies.

One (1) unbound original and five (5) copies of the proposal shall be submitted to the District contact person identified in Section VI. The proposal shall be placed in a sealed envelope with the firm's name on the outside of the envelope.

EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS AND AWARD OF CONTRACT Evaluation of Proposals and Award of Contract.

The District reserves the right to request additional information, which, in its opinion, is necessary to assure that the firm's competence, number of qualified employees, business organization and financial resources are adequate to perform the required TPA services for the District.

The District will review all proposals initially to verify that the firm meets the RFP’s minimum requirements. The District’s goal is to select the firm that clearly displays the ability to competently and expeditiously implement and enforce the District’s LCP with a minimal amount of supervision by the District's representative and/or personnel. The District reserves the right to reject all proposals received pursuant to this RFP.

The TPA(s) will be selected on the basis of information provided in the proposal, the results of District's research and investigation, and possibly an oral interview, if requested by the District. After confirming the proposal meets the requirements of this RFP, the firms will be ranked, and District will attempt to negotiate a mutually agreeable professional services agreement with the most qualified firm, the agreement will be substantially in the form as Attachment A. In the event that District is unable to reach agreement with any one firm, the District may proceed, at its sole discretion, to negotiate with the next most qualified firm who responded to this RFP. The District reserves the right to contract for services in the manner that is most beneficial to the District, including the selection of one or multiple TPAs.

TIMELINE OF EVALUATION AND SELECTION

The District anticipates the following timeline for the selection of a TPA(s) to enforce the District's LCP.

Action Date

■ RFP mailed to firms June __, 2003

■ Final day and time for questions June __, 2003 ■ Final day for District answers and/or

revisions by District June __, 2003 at 5:00 P.M*

■ Proposals due July ___,2003 at 1:00 P.M*

■ Oral Interviews, if requested July __, 2003

■ Negotiations July __, 2003

■ Presentation to Board of Education for award July __, 2003 According to the clock in the District's office.

GENERAL PROVISIONS Additional Services.

The District reserves the right to amend any Agreement awarded as a result of this RFP, and for request additional services from the TPA. Should this occur, the District and the TPA will agree to a revised scope of services and fees, if any, that result from the

inclusion of additional services. Addenda.

The District reserves the right to revise this RFP and/or any of its deadline dates set forth in Section IX of this RFP, prior to the due date for receipt of proposals. All revisions to this RFP will be mailed and faxed to all firms that received this RFP.

No Alternative Proposals.

The District will evaluate only one proposal per firm. Multiple proposals by a firm will result in the rejection of all proposals submitted by that firm.

Withdrawal of RFP.

A firm may withdraw its proposal by submitting a written or facsimile request signed by the firm authorized representative. To be effective, the withdrawal must be received by the District prior to the date and time set forth herein as the due date for receipt of proposals.

Proposals may be withdrawn and resubmitted in the same manner, if done so before the proposal submission deadline. Withdrawal or modification of a submitted RFP in any other manner will not be permitted.

other marketing costs associated with this RFP. The District further reserves the right not to contract for the TPA services described in this RFP.

The District may reject any or all proposals, and may waive any immaterial deviation(s) in a submitted proposal. The District's waiver of an immaterial deviation shall in no way modify the RFP or excuse the firm from compliance with the other provisions of this RFP.

Disposition of Proposals.

Proposals become the property of the District, and may be returned only at the District's option at the firm's expense. The proposal shall become a public document subject to the Public Records Act, excluding information that has been clearly labeled by the firm as proprietary information.

Non-Discrimination.

The District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, ancestry, medical condition, disability or gender in consideration of this RFP or the award of contracts for professional services.