1-Internal Audit RFSQ NS 11.3.26.docx

Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants Independent Auditor for Box Elder School District

PURPOSE OF SMALL PURCHASES OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS AND CONSULTANTS

The purpose of this request for Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants is to enter into a contract with a qualified independent auditor (Contractor) to provide audit services. With the intent to award a contract under Administrative Rule R33-5-108 for the Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants. It is anticipated that this RFSQ may result in a contract award to a single contractor.

This RFSQ is designed to provide interested offers with sufficient basic information to submit qualifications meeting mandatory and minimum requirements but is not intended to limit the qualifications content or exclude any relevant or essential data. Offers are at liberty and are encouraged to expand upon the specifications to evidence service capability under any agreement.

The most qualified individual/firm will assist Box Elder School District (The District) as required by law (Utah Code 53G-7-402) to direct and perform Internal Audit Services for the district by a qualified individual in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Under Utah Code Annotated 53G-7-402 and in keeping with Utah State Board of Education Rule R277-113-4, Box Elder School District is seeking solicitations for an Audit Director to direct and perform Internal Audit Services for the district.

The District serves 11,800 students and has 200 employees. The District maintains the District Office in Brigham City, Utah and presently operates fourteen (14) elementary schools, and nine (9) secondary schools. Three of these schools are considered Necessarily Existent Small Schools (NESS) and are combined elementary and secondary schools. Nine of the schools maintain a separate school checking account.

In addition to the internal audit, Box Elder School District also is required by State law to provide an annual independent audit of its financial statements by a Certified Public Accountant in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. This audit is currently being performed by Squire & Company out of Orem, UT.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT

If the selected and the Audit Director performs satisfactorily for the first year audit, it is anticipated that the same firm will be engaged to perform the audit for the succeeding years, subject to an annual evaluation by the Box Elder School District Board. The Board, at its sole discretion, may contract for consecutive engagements with the successful solicitor for up to 5 years and under any terms deemed in the best interest of the district.

The District reserves the right to review the contract on a regular basis regarding performance and cost analysis and may negotiate price and service elements during the term of the contract.

CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTS

A. Document Retention Audit programs, work papers and reports must be retained for a period of three years after the completion of the audit and made available for inspection by the Box Elder School District or government auditor’s if requested by them

B. Compensation for Services Billing should include detailed hours, and work performed and can be made in four installments. The final twenty-five percent (25%) of the total estimated payment for the audit will be made upon receipt of the required audit reports.

C. Availability of Staff Box Elder School District staff will be available by appointment to provide necessary access to information and reports.

DETAILED SCOPE OF WORK

The selected provider will be expected to perform the following:

1. Sit on and advise as the Audit Director the District Audit Committee which consists of three Box Elder School Board Members, the Superintendent and the Business Administrator.

2. Recommend and establish an internal audit program for the programs administered by the local school board upon approval from the Audit Committee.

3. Perform the internal audit function in accordance with current International Standard for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing or The Governmental Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.

4. Perform independent appraisal of internal control systems, risk, and efficiency of the School District operations.

5. Submit reports of the above appraisals as well as findings to the Audit Committee and the district independent auditor and make reports available to the State Board of Education, Office of the State Auditor, and the Office of Legislative Auditor General upon request.

6. Ensure that matters reported by internal audits, or other regulatory bodies are resolved in a timely manner.

The internal audit must be performed between November 1 and March 30 of each year with the report completed for presentation by June 1. The audit should include a review of all school checking accounts.

The selected party must be willing and able to travel between schools during daytime school hours. (Between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.) They also must be available to meet with the Audit Committee in the evenings as needed.

It is expected that the total time required will be between 60 and 100 hours annually.

PROPOSAL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

Interested offers should include the following information in their qualification response to perform the audits.

A. Profile and Qualifications The profile of the Offorer should provide general background information including:

1. Education and training including credentials, licenses and certifications especially as it relates to auditing.

2. Experience in internal and governmental auditing.

B. Offorer’s Approach to the Examination

1. A statement of the proposer’s ability to meet the objectives and scope as outlined above.

2. Submit a brief general audit work outline to accomplish the scope defined in these guidelines. The audit outline should demonstrate the solicitors understanding of the audit requirements and the audit tests and procedures to be applied in completing the audit.

3. The outline should also include initial recommendations to the Audit Committee.

C. Audit Experience

1. Demonstrates experience and provides positive references indicating successful past performance.

2. Please list all experience in auditing for school districts and/or other similar local government entities if any.

D. Comprehensive Not-To-Exceed Fee Supply the billing rates, estimated number of billable hours, other billable expenses and a comprehensive "not-to-exceed" fee for the audit, inclusive of travel, per diem and all other out-of-pocket expenses. The not-to-exceed fee information requested above should be provided as a separate amount for each fiscal year being audited.

EVALUATION OF STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS

Each Statement of Qualifications received shall be evaluated for responsiveness in as outlined in the Utah Procurement Code. Pursuant to Administrative Rule R33-5-108, the Conducting Procurement Unit will evaluate the qualifications of all submitted responses and will select the vendor who is most qualified for direct negotiations.

Professional service providers and consultants may be procured up to a maximum of $100,000, by direct negotiation after reviewing the qualifications of a minimum of three firms or individuals.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Qualifications in response to this RFSQ will be evaluated in a manner consistent with the Utah Procurement Code and Administrative Rules, and the evaluation criteria in this RFSQ. Offerors bear sole responsibility for the items included or not included within their qualification response submitted by the Offeror. Each of the evaluation criteria must be addressed in detail in the qualification response.

A. Profile and Qualifications (20%) B. Proposed Procedures and Audit Outline (10%) C. Governmental and School Experience with references from other agencies (20%) D. Cost of the audit/Comprehensive Not To Exceed Fee (50%)

a. Provide a separate cost proposal using the outlined scenario below

b. Comprehensive Not to Exceed fee should be based off a 5 year contract

COST PROPOSAL OUTLINE

INSTRUCTIONS: Using this outline, provide a cost proposal for the internal school audit scenario provided below. Scenarios will be used for evaluation purposes only.

DESCRIPTION SCENARIO

Audit of Garland Elementary School 450 S 100 W, Garland, UT

Billed Rate for onsite visit estimated at 3 total hours

Billed rate for written examination estimated at 1 hour

Billed Rate for per diem based off of 40 total miles round trip

Additional Expenses

Estimated total bill for Garland Elementary Audit Scenario

Comprehensive Not to Exceed Fee based on a 5 year contract

The proposal with the lowest cost will receive the maximum points available. All other proposals will receive points determined by the ratio for the lowest proposal’s cost to each other proposal’s cost with the points being rounded down to the nearest whole number. The ratio is calculated as follows: the maximum points available for the cost category, multiplied by lowest proposed price/proposal price.

AWARD / RIGHT TO REJECT

Contract will be awarded to the offeror with the highest average score of the committee.

The District reserves the right to reject all qualifications submitted and to request additional information from all offers. Any contract awarded will be made to the offer or who, based on evaluation of all responses (applying all criteria), is determined to be the best to perform the audit.

SUBMITTING YOUR QUALIFICATIONS

By submitting a response to this Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants, the Vendor acknowledges and agrees that the requirements, assignment of work process, and the evaluation process outlined in this Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants are understood, fair, equitable, and are not unduly restrictive. Any exceptions to the content of this Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants posting must be addressed within the Q&A period. The Vendor further acknowledges that it has read the Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants posting.

Qualifications must be received by the submission deadline of November 16, 2026 no later than 12:00 noon MST.

Qualifications received after the deadline will be late and ineligible for consideration.

Qualifications must be submitted to the following address by the proposal due date above.

Box Elder School District Yvette Gunn 960 S Main Brigham City, UT 84302

Offerors must submit 5 paper copies limited to ten (10) total pages, including 1 copy on a USB drive.

Qualifications will be evaluated by individuals of the selection committee. Selection will be made by the by the committee and will be notified of award no later than November 30, 2026. Selection award will be posted on U3P.

QUESTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

Questions and clarification must be sent through the Utah Public Procurement Place. The question and answer period closes on November 10, 2026 by 3:00 PM MST. Questions received after this date and time will be late and will not be considered. All Questions and Answers received will be posted in U3P following the cutoff date and time for vendors to prepare their qualification responses.

Questions may include notifying BESD of any ambiguity, inconsistency, scope exception, excessively restrictive requirement, or other errors in this RFSQ.

Questions are encouraged. Questions may be answered individually or may be compiled into one document.

RESTRICTIONS ON COMMUNICATION

From the issue date of the Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants posting, vendors are prohibited from communications regarding the Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants with BESD employees or other associated individuals EXCEPT the State of Utah Division of Purchasing procurement officer overseeing the Small Purchases of Professional Service Providers and Consultants. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in disqualification.

Legal Information and Disclaimers

INSURANCE

Workmen's Compensation and Employer's Liability Insurance. The Contractor shall comply with the provisions of the Workman's Compensation Act, and all other legislation, federal and state, applicable to the work described herein, and the Contractor agrees to make all payments, returns, an reports required by these acts. Basic business liability insurance should also be provided.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION:

Offerors are required to submit a clearly marked redacted version of proposal if there is specific information contained in their proposal, which is not to be disclosed to the public, or used for purposes other than the evaluation of the proposals. Pricing and service elements of the successful proposal will not be considered proprietary. All materials become the property of Box Elder School District and may be returned only at the District's option. Proposals submitted may be reviewed and evaluated by any person at the discretion of the District.

INDEMNIFICATION

The contractor agrees to protect, indemnify and hold the Board, the officers, members, agents and employees to the Board (collectively the "Indemnities") free and harmless from and against all losses, claims liens, demands and causes of action of every kind and character arising out of judgment, penalties, interest, court costs and legal fees incurred by the Indemnities or any of them in defense of same, arising in favor of any party, including governmental agencies or bodies, on account of, but not limited to, taxes, claims, liens, debts, personal injuries, death or damages to property (including property if Indemnities). The Contractor further agrees to investigate, handles, respond to, provide defense for and defend any such claim, demand or cause of action at its sole expense, and agrees to bear all other costs and expenses related thereto.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACT

It is understood and agreed by the parties that the contractor is to act in the capacity of an independent contractor. Contractor's officers and employees shall not be considered as employees or officers of the District and shall not be entitled to any employee benefits as District employees as a result of the execution of this agreement.

ASSIGNMENT

The contractor shall not assign this agreement or assign, pledge transfer or otherwise dispose of its interest or this agreement, without the specific consent of the District, and that no such assignment, pelage, mortgage, transfer, or other disposition shall relieve the contractor of its obligations hereunder, nor shall such an assignment of other disposition terminate any such claim or defense which the District may have. The District may assert any claim or defense it may have against the contractor and against any such assignee.

TAXATION

It is understood and agreed that the contractor shall pay and discharge all license fees, assessment, and sales, use and property and other tax or taxes lawfully imposed.

NON-DISCRIMINATION/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The Offeror agrees to abide by the provisions of the Utah Anti discrimination Act, Title 34 Chapter 35, U.C.A. 1953, as amended, and Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (USC 2000e), which prohibit discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment, or any applicant or recipient of services, on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin; and further agrees to abide by Executive Order No. 11246, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap. This agreement may be canceled if the offeror fails to comply with the provisions of these laws and regulations. Offeror must include this provision in every subcontract or purchase order relating to purchases by Box Elder School District to insure that subcontractors and vendors are bound by this provision.

Name ___________________________________________ Printed

Company ________________________________________

Address _________________________________________

City _____________________________State ________

Zip _________________

Phone ________________

Acknowledgement I agree to abide by all of the contractual and legal requirements listed above as well as terms and conditions. I have included my profile, outline and fee structure as part of this offer.

Signed Date