12-Special Requirements.pdf

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS/INSTRUCTIONS

The following requirements and instructions supersede General Requirements where applicable. The terms “Harris County” and “County” are understood to include the “Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department” (“HCCSCD”).

VENDOR INSTRUCTIONS

Responses to this Request for Proposal (RFP) shall be formatted and organized in the following order for consistency and easy screening:

• All proposals must be typed, single spaced, and printed single-sided on 8 ½” by 11” paper.

• Each section of the vendor’s response should start on a new page. A tabbed divider page marked with the section number should separate each section.

• Sections I-VII must be uploaded under Bonfire’s Requested Information Section.

Section I: Transmittal Letter, Residence Certification, Proof of Insurance, and signed Addenda

(when applicable; see Addenda under General Requirements) – The transmittal letter should include:

• Company name and address; name, title, email, telephone and fax number of person(s) to be contacted for clarifications or additional information regarding proposal;

• Name, title, email, telephone and fax number of person authorized to contractually obligate vendor’s company with proposal and any future negotiations; and

• A brief statement summarizing the vendor’s understanding of the project and relevant experience.

Section II: Scope of Service/Narrative of Proposed Services

• Describe approach(es) and preferred methods for meeting treatment requirements and/or deliverables in the specifications, including a description of understanding of the specifications.

• Provide the greatest amount of meaningful detail possible to describe the proposed services. Indicate if vendor can meet the specifications, or if the specifications can be met only under certain conditions or circumstances. Include the description of optional value-added services and unique features of the proposal that would provide greater benefit to the Department.

• If vendor is not able to meet the specifications, briefly explain why, noting any concerns or issues Harris County should be aware of.

• Provide a timeline indicating deliverables, vendor responsibilities and resources needed from Harris County.

• Provide a list of established location(s) which the vendor will provide the services.

If vendor has multiple office or treatment locations, vendor shall list the addresses of all of its office and treatment locations in its proposal response. Provide details whether vendor’s office location(s) is/are accessible by means of public transportation, vendor’s hours of operation, as well as whether vendor offers weekend, evening, or early morning individual and/or group therapy sessions.

• Provide current group schedule(s).

• Explain if the program utilizes clinical polygraph testing and/or plethysmograph as part of the treatment program.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS/INSTRUCTIONS (CONTINUED)

• Demonstrate the methodology for referring clients back to HCCSCD for additional or different treatment services if required.

Mere reiterations of specifications are strongly discouraged, as they do not provide insight into the vendor’s ability to meet the specifications.

Section III: Pricing Information – BidTable(s) shall be uploaded to Bonfire in an Excel format under the Requested Information section of this solicitation. (BT-19BX) Vendor shall additionally provide a completed copy of the Vendor Justification for Fee for Service Budget. Fees shall be inclusive of all necessary personnel, equipment, materials, supplies, facilities, and services, Section IV: Organizational Information/Qualifications

• Vendor’s history, background, and principal officers.

• Company organization chart.

• Description of project team organization; names and resumes of team members and the role of each team member that will be assigned to the proposed services; and the minimum qualifications/job descriptions for all staff providing direct services to clients.

Please note if staff are full-time salaried employees or if they are consultants with limited client contact.

• Please explain, describe, and provide examples of how vendor is qualified to provide the required services, with specific examples.

• Demonstrate vendor’s experience providing treatment services to clients who are hearing-impaired and/or to clients who utilize spoken languages other than Spanish or English.

o Explain how vendor has provided these treatment services to client populations historically, including vendor’s experience utilizing different formats of interpretation services (e.g., video interpretation, in-person interpretation, telephonic interpretation, etc.).

o In the event that vendor is unable or unwilling to provide treatment services in languages beyond English, vendor shall explain in vendor’s proposal.

• Audited Financial Statements or completed Financial Statement Form.

• Licenses/accreditations – Provide evidence of compliance with all governing requirements for licensure, accreditation and/or certification for all personnel and facilities associated with the provision of services to clients. Photocopies of relevant documents are sufficient for proposal submission. Vendors shall provide copies of all current State and Local licenses/certificates and shall include expiration and renewal dates.

• References - Provide a minimum of three (3) references for which the vendor has provided similar services in the past five (5) years. Vendors proposing to provide services through this contract shall have a minimum of five (5) years of experience providing sex offender treatment services to adult clients and in working with adult client populations who are involved in the criminal justice system. Exceptions to any client population(s) should be noted in vendor’s proposal response.

Section V: Legal Documents – Awarded vendor will be required to sign an agreement similar to the

Sample Services Operations Agreement available in Bonfire. Vendors are not required to return the Sample Services Operations Agreement with their proposals; it is included for vendor reference. However, vendor should include with its proposal any proposed revisions that it has to the terms and conditions contained within the Sample Services Operations Agreement. If vendors will ask clients to sign any documentation in conjunction with the services sought in the Specifications, vendors shall also provide copies of those documents in response to Section V.

Section VI: Questionnaires – Vendor must complete and return all answers to the questionnaires in the order in which they are listed. Failure to do so may result in disqualification.

Section VII: Miscellaneous – State and explain exceptions to any of the requirements in this RFP, if any.

Company brochures, marketing materials, or any other information vendor deems appropriate to the RFP response may be included in this section.

Harris County will not be liable for any costs incurred by the vendor in preparing a response to this RFP.

Vendors submit proposals at their own risk and expense. Harris County makes no guarantee that any products or services will be purchased as a result of this RFP and reserves the right to reject any and all proposals. All proposals and accompanying documentation will become the property of Harris County. All proposals are open to negotiation.

The vendor is expected to examine all documents, forms, specifications, and all instructions. Failure to do so will be at vendor’s risk.

At and after opening, proposals will NOT be part of the public record and subject to disclosure but will be kept confidential until time of award and execution of an agreement. When an award is made and an agreement is executed, proposals are subject to review under the “Public Information Act”. To the extent permitted by law, vendors may request in writing non-disclosure of confidential data. Such data shall accompany the proposal, be readily separable from the proposal, and shall be CLEARLY MARKED “CONFIDENTIAL”. For those portions identified as confidential by the vendor, Harris County must rely on advice, decisions and opinions of the Attorney General of the State of Texas relative to the disclosure of data or information.

EVALUATION PROCESS

All proposals will be examined by an evaluation committee consisting of various Harris County personnel and Harris County Purchasing.

Proposals that do not conform to the instructions or which do not address all the services as specified may be eliminated from consideration. However, Harris County reserves the right to accept such a proposal if it is determined to be in the best interest of Harris County.

While Harris County appreciates a brief, straightforward, concise reply, the proposer must fully understand that the evaluation is based on the information provided. Accuracy and completeness are essential.

Omissions, ambiguous and equivocal statements may be construed against the proposer. The proposal response may be incorporated into any contract which results from this RFP, and vendors are cautioned not to make claims or statements it is not prepared to commit to contractually. Failure of the vendor to meet such claims will result in a requirement that the vendor provide resources necessary to meet submitted claims.

Harris County Purchasing may initiate discussions with selected vendors; however, discussions may not be initiated by vendors. Harris County Purchasing expects to conduct discussions with vendor’s representatives authorized to contractually obligate the vendor with an offer. Vendors shall not contact any Harris County personnel during the RFP process without the express permission from the Office of the Harris County Purchasing Agent. Harris County Purchasing may disqualify any vendor who has made site visits, contacted Harris County personnel or distributed any literature without authorization from Harris County Purchasing.

All correspondence relating to this RFP, from advertisement to award shall be sent to Harris County Purchasing. All presentations and/or meetings between Harris County and the vendor relating to this RFP shall be coordinated by Harris County Purchasing.

Selected vendors may be expected to make a presentation/product demonstration to an evaluation committee. Proposals, vendor presentations and product/service evaluations may develop into negotiating sessions with the vendor(s) as selected by the Evaluation Committee. Harris County expects to conduct negotiations with vendor’s representatives authorized to contractually obligate the vendor with an offer. If vendor is unable to agree to contract terms and conditions, Harris County reserves the right to terminate contract negotiations with that vendor and initiate negotiations with another vendor. In addition to a presentation, visits by the Evaluation Committee to representative vendor client sites may be conducted where the proposed solution can be demonstrated in a production environment.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Award shall be made to the responsible vendor whose proposal is determined to be the best evaluated offer resulting from negotiations and taking into consideration all aspects of proposal impact items and the following in order of relative importance:

a. Program Content (Section II) ……………………………………………..25% (i.e., responsiveness to the RFP’s requirements; vendor’s services; vendor’s ability to provide the services requested; vendor’s compliance with operational requirements; vendor’s program performance measures, evaluation, and monitoring procedures; and vendor’s treatment activation plan and time frames and dates.)

b. Credentials/Licensing of Staff (Section IV) .......................................................20% (i.e., vendor’s compliance with state and federal laws, including having the appropriate license(s) to provide sex offender treatment services in Texas.)

c. Pricing (Section III)..…………..……………..……..……………......…...........20%

d. Professional Qualifications and Experience (Section IV)..………………...15% (Qualifications and experience of vendor and its staff, with vendor possessing a minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience and demonstrated success in providing the services requested in this RFP {i.e., vendor’s experience with government entities of similar size to Harris County, experience working with the target client populations, references, and vendor’s reputation for integrity and professionalism}.)

e. Accessibility and Other Factors Such as Availability of Multiple Locations, Convenience of Hours or Locations to Target Populations (Sections II & IV) ……………………………………………………………...…………………..10% (Includes, but is not limited to, community and cultural diversity, bilingual, sign-language, LGBTQ, and interfaith diversity. Includes accessibility of location(s) by means of public transportation, and proposer’s ability to accept some referrals under other funding pools.)

f. Overall Quality of Vendor’s Proposal………………………………..5% (Includes, but is not limited to, the adequacy and extent of proposer’s financial resources and insurance coverage(s), and the manner in which the minimum requirements of this RFP are met and the extent to which the requirements are exceeded.)

g. Vendor’s Presentation……………..……..……………….……..……………...5% Vendor presentations will be scheduled with selected vendors after preliminary evaluation of the submitted proposals have been completed. The presentations will be live over a video stream via Microsoft Teams.

Submission of a proposal implies the vendor's acceptance of the evaluation criteria and vendor’s recognition that subjective judgments must be made by the Evaluation Committee.

AWARD

Harris County anticipates awarding to multiple vendors. However, Harris County reserves the right to award to a single vendor or to no vendors, if in the best interest of Harris County. Harris County reserves the right to review vendor facilities and/or mobile units for compliance prior to award.

This RFP does not obligate Harris County to the eventual purchase of any product/service described, implied or which may be proposed. Progress toward this end is solely at the discretion of Harris County and may be terminated at any time prior to execution of an agreement.

Award of this RFP is subject to availability of state funds as appropriated. If such funds become reduced or unavailable, any resulting agreement shall be subject to immediate modification, reduction or termination.

CERTIFICATE OF INTERESTED PARTIES (FORM 1295)

Texas law requires all parties who enter into any contract with the County which must be approved by Commissioners Court to disclose all interested parties. Form 1295 must be completed in its entirety at the following website: https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/filinginfo/1295/ prior to submitting your response.

Failure to do so may result in disqualification of your response. A copy of the form must be returned with response.

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

Vendor should submit any agreement for products/services which may be required by the vendor’s organization to enter into a contract with Harris County. The awarded vendor will be required to execute an agreement with Harris County which finalizes the terms and conditions set forth in vendor’s proposal, best and final offer, and any negotiations between vendor and Harris County.

https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/filinginfo/1295/

For HCCSCD, the awarded vendor will be required to execute an agreement substantively similar to the Sample Operations Agreement that is available in Bonfire. Vendors are not required to return the Sample Operations Agreement with their offers; however, vendor should include with its offer any proposed revisions that it has to the terms and conditions in the Sample Services Operations Agreement.

PURCHASE ORDERS

Products and/or services must not be provided and invoices will not be paid without a purchase order, signed by the Harris County Purchasing Agent. Purchase orders will be written in annual increments when applicable. Once a purchase order is issued, the using department will contact vendor directly to place orders.

PERFORMANCE

Vendor agrees to use best efforts, but in no event less than commercially reasonable efforts, to provide the product(s) and/or service(s) subject to this RFP. Vendor shall furnish all supervision, labor, tools, equipment, permits, licenses, transportation, insurance, material, and supplies necessary to complete any scope of work or Purchase Order under this RFP. Vendor shall use skilled, trained personnel, who shall be supervised by vendor.

ALTERATION OF DOCUMENT

No alterations may be made to this document. Any alterations made may result in the proposal being deemed non-responsive and rejected. The terms and conditions contained within this RFP supersede all conflicting terms within any cooperative purchasing contracts associated with this purchase.

USAGE REPORTS

Harris County reserves the right to request, and receive at no additional cost, up to two (2) times during the contract period, a usage report detailing the products and/or services furnished to date under the contract(s) resulting from this RFP. The reports must be furnished no later than five (5) working days after written request and itemize all purchases to date by the Harris County department(s), description of each item purchased, including manufacturer, quantity of each item purchased, per unit and extended price of each item purchased, monthly invoice(s) information, and the total amount(s) and price(s) of all items purchased.

INVOICES

Vendor shall submit detailed, itemized invoices, once per month, for payment for services. Vendor shall be required to use the forms and procedures specified by the utilizing County departments.

Vendor shall provide sufficient data and backup documentation to enable vendor’s services to be verified.

Each invoice, at a minimum, shall include the services provided, client names and identifying information, and the applicable dates of service. No charges may be billed to the utilizing Harris County departments unless such costs are explicitly included in the agreement(s).

Invoices must be submitted to the specific Harris County department that utilized vendor’s services AND to Accounts Payable as noted below:

If emailed: vendorinvoices@hctx.net If mailed: Harris County Auditor’s Office, Attn: Accounts Payable, 1001 Preston Suite 800, Houston, Texas 77002.

mailto:vendorinvoices@hctx.net

For HCCSCD, by the seventh (7th) day of each month, vendor shall be obligated to submit one (1) electronic copy of a single, consolidated, written, itemized invoice for payment for all services provided to HCCSCD clients during the prior month to HCCSCD’s designees. Vendor’s consolidated monthly invoice documentation shall include a single-page summary invoice in pdf format that includes an aggregated total due for all services provided by vendor to all HCCSCD clients during the particular month, along with a single Excel spreadsheet containing vendor’s supporting invoice detail for all services provided by vendor to all HCCSCD clients during the particular month. Vendor’s supporting invoice detail contained in the single Excel spreadsheet submitted for each month shall include, at a minimum, the identities of all clients served, all clients’ System Person Numbers (SPNs) and tracer numbers, the dates of service for all clients, and a description of the services provided to all clients for each date of service. Vendor shall not submit per client or per date of service invoices to HCCSCD for its services. Vendor shall submit invoices with HCCSCD’s verification forms (samples are available for review in Bonfire), documenting each unit of service provided, with the client’s signature, and the date the unit of service was provided. HCCSCD has the right to request attendance records from the vendor to substantiate vendor’s invoice charges.

TOLL/PARKING FEES

Any and all tolls and parking fees incurred by the vendor during the term of this contract will be the responsibility of the vendor.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Vendor must disclose any financial interest held by a Harris County employee in vendor’s business. Vendor must also disclose an interest between vendor, vendor’s employees and any Harris County employees arising from relationships within the first Harris County employee:

• Owns ten percent (10%) or more of the voting stock or shares of vendor’s business.

• Owns either ten percent (10%) or more or $15,000 or more of the fair market value of vendor’s business; or

• Receives funds from vendor’s business that exceed ten percent (10%) of the Harris County employee’s gross income from the previous year.

Vendor must fully disclose the existence of any relationships as defined above in its response to this RFP.

Additionally, vendor must notify Harris County if the information provided in its response changes at any time.