12-Special Requirements - OCE.docx

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS/INSTRUCTIONS (CONTINUED)

VENDOR INSTRUCTIONS

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

· Vendors may submit electronically through Bonfire or via hardcopy to 1111 Fannin, 12th Floor, Houston, TX 77002 no later than the due date and time as stated on the Bonfire Opportunity.

· If submitting via hardcopy, 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–X below shall be submitted under Bonfire’s Requested Information section, which is the County’s preferred method for receiving all required documentation.

Section I: Transmittal Letter - 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 proposed methodology and approach to the project, including a description of your understanding of the project.

· Include a Project Plan and timeline consistent with meeting the project schedule and timeline provided in this RFP. Timeline should indicate dates of deliverables, vendor responsibilities, equipment and resources needed to meet County requirements.

· Provide the greatest amount of meaningful detail as possible to describe the proposed equipment, products, materials, services, and specific deliverables. Indicate if vendor can meet expectations and scope of services described in specifications, or if specifications can only be met under certain conditions or circumstances.

· Describe approach for completion of the strategic plan document, including methodology for developing a communication and workforce plan that aligns with County directives, requirements, safety concerns, values, and guiding principles.

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

Section III: Pricing Information – It is the intent of Harris County to enter into a fixed‑price, all‑inclusive fee pricing model. To ensure an accurate evaluation, the vendor shall upload a comprehensive description of its proposed pricing structure, including a detailed explanation of all costs corresponding to the unit prices and total prices listed in BidTable BT‑01CZ.

Download the excel BidTable BT-01CZ from the Requested Information section and follow the instructions provided. The completed BidTable shall be uploaded to Bonfire in Excel format under the section labeled “BidTable – Section III Pricing (BT-01CZ)”.

Section IV: Organizational Information/Qualifications

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

· Include copies of current license, accreditations, and credentials.

· Provide proof that demonstrates proven experience; quality staffing, industry leading quality control measures/standards, cost savings and all required elements of effective custodial services.

Section V: Legal Documents – Include any standard agreement(s) and/or contracts(s) associated with vendor’s response.

Section VI: Miscellaneous – State exceptions to any of the requirements in this RFP, if any. Company brochures, marketing materials, or any other information end or 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:

1. Firm Experience & Qualifications (Section IV)……………………………………………………………….[30]% Firm provides qualifications, competence, and experience of staff to be assigned to project. Firm demonstrates:

a. Understanding of scope of the Project.

i. Offeror must demonstrate their understanding of the service and propose an approach which will meet or exceed service needs and requirements.

ii. If including any subcontractor services in the proposal, please include detailed information on such subcontractor services and under what circumstances they will be utilized.

b. Ability to meet the qualifications and compliance requirements listed herein.

i. Offeror must provide at least five (5) years’ experience providing similar types of services and activities.

· Staff assignments with job descriptions and resumes for key management and staff that indicate an adequate level of education and experience to carry out the duties assigned.

c. Specialized experience or technical expertise in connection with the scope of services to be provided and complexity of the project, which includes a thorough description of other successful projects, that demonstrate the firm’s ability to carry out the scope of services similar to the one described in this RFP.

d. Knowledge of local building codes and Federal building alterations requirements (if applicable).

e. At least three (3) successful past performance in terms of cost control, conformance to contract requirements, quality of work, and compliance with performance schedules.

f. A clear understanding of, and ability to comply with, state and federal requirements as defined in this RFP by showing at least three (3) similar projects that utilized that requirement.

2. Firm Capacity & Resource (Section II and IV)…………………………………………………………………[25]% Firm demonstrates:

a. Capability to provide services in a timely manner.

b. Sufficient staffing size and capacity of the organization to perform the work within time limitations, taking into consideration the current and projected planned workload of the firm. Provide the availability of the staff assigned to this project.

c. Ability to perform requested services for similar projects of scope and scale by providing three recent examples of projects completed on budget and on time.

d. The last five (5) years of financial capacity and acceptable business practices.

3. Organization & Project Methodology (Section IV)…………………………………………………………….[25]% Firm sufficiently describes:

a. How the services will be provided and how they will be supported.

b. Firm’s organization, project manager identification, quality assurance program, safety record, and reporting capabilities as applicable.

c. The approach that the firm will take to achieve the required collaboration, scheduling, and coordination required for this project.

d. Firm’s philosophy, approach(es) and preferred methods for meeting requirements and/or deliverables of this Request for Proposals (RFP).

4. Pricing (Section III)………………………………………………………………………………………….[20]%

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

No award can be made until approved by Harris County Commissioners Court. 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.

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/whatsnew/elf_info_form1295.htm prior to submitting your response. Failure to do so may result in disqualification of your 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. The agreement is subject to review and amendment by the Harris County Attorney’s Office.

INVOICES

Vendor shall submit an invoice upon completion of each deliverable. Deliverables will be considered complete only upon written acceptance by Harris County. Each invoice shall include deliverable(s) completed and the price for each. Each invoice shall include deliverable(s) completed and the price for each. Invoice shall be submitted on a monthly basis for work performed during the previous month. All payment requests will be accompanied by applicable: weekly/monthly reports, backup tabulations, and copies of employee time sheets for hourly T&M (Time and Material) tasks. No charges may be billed to Harris County unless such costs are explicitly included in the agreement. Invoices will be sent to:

Harris County Auditor’s Office c/o Accounts Payable 1001 Preston, Suite 800 Houston, Texas 77002 Or emailed to: VENDORINVOICES@HCTX.NET

PURCHASE ORDER

Services and/or products 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 the vendor directly to place service orders.

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Notwithstanding any other requirements contained in the General Requirements section, the Potential Conflicts of Interest section specifically disqualifies any consultant, contractor and or any other entity who may have been a contributor to the creation of this RFP from proposing on this RFP and shall constitute a “prohibited proposal”.

TOLL/PARKING FEES

Any and all toll/parking FEES incurred by the vendor during the term of this contract will be the responsibility of the vendor.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

The rates quoted on the BidTable(s) must be all-inclusive. “All-inclusive” shall be constructed as costs incorporating all charges for labor, material, equipment, shipping, delivery, and any other cost incurred. No separate line-item rates or charges will be accepted. Quantities are estimates. Harris County may require more or less. In case of discrepancy between unit and total pricing, unit pricing governs.

The County may award to more than one (1) vendor as “Primary” and “Secondary” vendor. The “Secondary” vendor will be utilized due to time constraints, availability, etc.

Any contract resulting from this solicitation is non-exclusive and shall be awarded with the understanding and agreement that it is for the sole convenience of Harris County. Harris County is free to have multiple contracts for the awarded products and/or services and may initiate other procurement solicitations or procurement activity with other suppliers at any time, at Harris County’s sole discretion.

SUBCONTRACTOR

Should the awarded vendor use any subcontractor(s) to perform the physical services required under this contract and the total contract amount proposed exceeds $25,000, the vendor shall be required to obtain a payment bond for the total amount of the vendor’s proposal. The payment bond shall remain in effect for the entire initial term of the contract. For the purposes of this RFP, a subcontractor shall include anyone performing any Work or Services under the resulting contract not directly employed by vendor. Subcontractor includes but is not limited to, personnel provided by staffing agencies or other means, personnel in direct contractual relationship with vendor, or those being paid as 1099 personnel. Where appropriate, it shall also mean trade vendors.

By law, any subcontractor used on any Harris County contract/job must be paid by the awarded vendor. Any cost associated with the payment bond must be included in the costs associated with this contract. A new payment bond will be required each year the contract is renewed. Harris County will provide the appropriate bond documents to the awarded vendor to complete and submit prior to commencing any work.

Vendor may subcontract any part of these contracted services. However, the vendor shall be the party liable to Harris County for strict compliance with all contract specifications. Additionally, Harris County must approve in writing any and all subcontractors prior to the subcontractor providing any services. Vendor shall include a list of potential subcontractors with their proposal. If subcontractors will be utilized to fulfill any requirements of this RFP, then a payment bond for the full amount of the awarded contract will be required. Harris County will provide the bond documents to complete.