15-Special Requirements.pdf

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS/INSTRUCTIONS

The following requirements and instructions supersede General Requirements where applicable. The term “Harris County” and “County" is understood to include the Harris County Toll Road Authority (“Toll Road Authority” or

“HCTRA”).

VENDOR INSTRUCTIONS

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

• Preferred submission is via Bonfire.

• 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.

Section I: Transmittal Letter – The transmittal letter should include:

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

• Name, title, email, and telephone 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 your firm’s philosophy, approach(es) and preferred methods for meeting requirements and/or deliverables for services requested in the Specifications.

• Provide the greatest amount of meaningful detail possible to describe the proposed products/services. Indicate if vendor can meet the specifications, or if the specifications can be met only under certain conditions or circumstances. If vendor is not able to meet the specification, 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.

• Contingent Workforce Questionnaire – Download the excel template and follow the included instructions.

• Staffing and Resources information including, but not limited to, vendor’s:

o Recruitment process. Describe how vendor finds and retains talent, determines the talent’s fit for a position, and any other details about the recruitment process.

o Process for sourcing applicants for a contract position.

o Process to verify the candidate has the skills to be a successful fit.

o Process of measuring if the placement was successful.

o Subcontracted services. Include the scope of subcontracted services, descriptions of roles and level of involvement of subcontractor(s).

o Process of managing subcontractors.

o Process of managing performance issues and handling with staff resources.

o Professional development programs for its temporary staff.

• Service Plan information including, but not limited to, vendor’s:

o Interaction process with Harris County during the time services are performed.

o Efforts made to ensure the same temporary staff is retained until the assignment ends.

o Notification time given to Harris County before vendor removes temporary staff from an assignment.

o Plan of action taken when a placed resource leaves the vendor’s company prior to the completion of an assignment.

o Contract-to-Hire offerings and requirements.

o Technical and organizational security measures.

o Plan to address temporary staff that may not be an ideal fit for Harris County, how issues are resolved and the process to replace temporary staff if necessary.

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 – Download the BidTable(s) under the Requested Information section and follow the following instructions:

o BidTable (BT-16AO)

Vendors shall provide an all-inclusive Markup Percentage to be applied to the contingent worker’s base pay rate. This markup must cover all applicable costs including, but not limited to: profit, statutory payroll taxes such as Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA), workers’ compensation insurance, general liability insurance, administrative overhead, and all other indirect costs. No additional markups will be accepted.

In addition, vendors must provide a breakdown of the Markup Percentage in the designated Requested Information section.

o BidTable (BT-25RV) Vendors shall provide the initial year’s all-inclusive bill rate for each proposed position.

Section IV: Organizational Information/Qualifications/Experience

• Vendor’s history, background and principal officers.

• Company organization chart.

• Description of project/account management team organization; names and resumes of team members.

• Vendor demonstrates ability to meet the qualifications and compliance requirements listed in this RFP, including licenses/accreditations as applicable.

• Key differentiators and justifications as to why vendor is best qualified to provide the services requested in this RFP.

• Previous experience and qualifications for subcontractor.

• References – vendor shall provide a minimum of six (6) references from companies for whom vendor has provided similar goods/services in the past ten (10) years as demonstration of vendor's prior experience. References from clients of similar size and scope are preferred.

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 vendor deems appropriate to the RFP response may be included in this section.

Section VII: Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Documents

• Offeror shall include a M/WBE Utilization Plan found under the Required Information section of this RFP to meet the 26.60% goal established for this project by Harris County.

If the offeror is unable to meet the established 26.60% goal, the offeror must illustrate a good faith effort was fulfilled which will be evaluated by Harris County. If the M/WBE Utilization Plan or documentation of a good faith efforts is not submitted prior to the date and time set forth in this proposal, the Proposal will be considered non-responsive.

• Offeror shall complete and return the M/WBE Utilization Plan Commitment Form.

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, that meet all the requirements in the Contingent Workforce Questionnaire, will be examined by an evaluation committee consisting of various Harris County personnel.

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 will be coordinated by Harris County Purchasing. All presentations and/or meetings between Harris County and the vendor relating to this RFP will 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 vendors 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:

Phase One (1)

• Contingent Workforce Questionnaire………………………………………………….. [Pass/Fail] o Vendors who pass (meet all requirements in the questionnaire) will advance to Phase

Two.

Phase Two (2)

• Staffing and Resources ............................................................................................................. 20%

• Qualifications and Experience ................................................................................................... 30%

• Service Plan ............................................................................................................................... 10%

• Pricing ....................................................................................................................................... 30% o The Lowest Average Markup will receive the highest marks.

After completion of the initial evaluation, only those proposers whose submissions are determined to be within the competitive range will be invited to participate in the next phase of the RFP process, which may include interviews, presentations, negotiations and/or a request for Best and Final Offers

(BAFO).

Presentations

• Interview/Presentation ............................................................................................................... 10% o Vendors will be asked to provide a thirty (30) minute presentation describing their experience, recruitment and account management process to fulfill the needs of this RFP. Questions will follow the presentation.

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

It is the intent of Harris County to award to multiple vendors to effectively meet the needs of Harris County.

Awards will be made to up to ten (10) vendors based on final evaluation scores. In the event of a tie at the final awarded vendor, all vendors with identical scores at that rank will be included in the award pool, even if this results in exceeding the ten-vendor limit. Awarded vendors will be utilized in a manner that best fills Harris County requirements. Harris County will contact the vendor of its choice based on type of assignment and other factors such as service desired, candidate qualifications and best value utilizing bill rates stated in vendor’s Best and Final Offer.

Vendor understands that Harris County reserves the right to fill any and/or all requirements for services on an as-needed basis and makes no guarantee as to contract usage. Harris County does not guarantee any particular volume or number of orders, revenue or profit to vendor for services related to this RFP.

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.

CONTRACT TRANSITION

In the event services end by either contract expiration or termination, it shall be incumbent upon the vendors to continue services, if requested by Harris County Purchasing, until new services can be completely operational. The vendor acknowledges its responsibility to cooperate fully with the replacement vendor and the County to ensure a smooth and timely transition to the replacement vendor. Such transitional period shall not extend more than one-hundred eighty (180) days beyond the expiration/termination date of the contract, or any extension thereof. The vendors shall be reimbursed for services during the transitional period at the rate in effect when the transitional period clause is invoked by the County. During any transition period, all other terms and conditions of the contract shall remain in full force and effect.

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.

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.

LICENSURE

Vendor shall provide, as part of its response, evidence of compliance with all governing requirements for licensure, registration and/or certification. Photocopies of relevant documents shall be sufficient for RFP submission, but Harris County reserves the right to require presentation of original licenses or certified copies thereof prior to the vendor’s beginning service. By the submission of a response to this RFP, Vendor warrants and represents to Harris County that they have and will maintain compliance with all governing regulations and laws, including Federal, State and Municipal.

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.

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.

https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/whatsnew/elf_info_form1295.htm

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.

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.

INVOICES

The vendor will provide Harris County with the appropriate MONTHLY invoices for services. Correct purchase order numbers must be noted on each invoice for services. Bill rates must be all-inclusive. “All-inclusive” shall be construed as costs incorporating all charges for labor, material, equipment, transportation, delivery and any other cost incurred. No separate line item rates or charges will be accepted.

Invoices submitted sixty (60) days after services were rendered will not be honored (this procedure will be strictly enforced). In addition to the daily time sheet or charge slip, vendor shall invoices for payment in the approved Harris County format indicating at a minimum: Name of the Harris County department that utilized vendor’s services, personnel’s name, title or classification, billing rate and total cost for personnel based on hours worked. The invoice should also include sub-totals by department, a total number of temporaries, total hours worked and a total billing amount. Invoices submitted in any other format will be rejected. Temporaries reporting to Harris County facilities are required to adhere to departmental and agency time reporting guidelines.

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

Failure to provide accurate invoices in a timely manner will result in vendor being placed on probation or contract suspension or termination. All vendors must submit a sample invoice and time slip with their RFP response. Harris County will review the documents and request changes as necessary to avoid potential invoicing problems. The vendor shall agree to make such changes prior to award of the contract.

PAYMENT CARD INDUSTRY COMPLIANCE

As a merchant accepting payment cards, the County is required to maintain compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). This requirement extends to all cardholder information and systems within the County’s control, including information and systems that may be accessed or managed by County contracted vendors.

A County contracted vendor may have access to confidential information, which may include customer credit card information, that may be accessed and utilized by the vendor to perform services under the terms of this Agreement and/or other agreements between the County and said vendor. The vendor acknowledges mailto:vendorinvoices@hctx.net that any such confidential information is the sole property of the County and the vendor agrees to protect and secure the information from unauthorized access, whether by the vendor’s employees or other parties.

The vendor agrees to comply with the PCI DSS in all vendor-owned systems, networks, and hosts which interface with County-owned systems. The vendor agrees that the processes it uses for developing and/or accessing systems that contain client confidential information will be PCI DSS compliant. The vendor agrees to promptly notify the County of any security breach or failure of a vendor-owned system that affects confidential information belonging to the County.

VENDOR PERFORMANCE

Vendor may be placed on probation, or the contract may be suspended or terminated by Harris County.

Circumstances resulting in probation, suspension or termination may include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following:

1. Failure to meet and maintain minimum quality or performance standards;

2. Failure to cure any deficiencies found as a result of tests or other analyses or performance of services;

3. Failure to follow Harris County procedures when accepting/filling work requests;

4. Failure to provide qualified personnel three (3) consecutive times;

5. Failure to maintain required insurance coverage;

6. Failure of personnel to have and maintain required licensure and certifications (if applicable);

7. Failure to provide accurate and timely invoices in the Harris County approved format;

8. Actions exposing Harris County, Harris County employees or other persons unnecessarily to a risk of harm.

9. Engaging in unprofessional conduct, or whose behavior fails to conform to the minimum standards of acceptable behavior for their area/profession will be cause for immediate contract termination.

Probation shall be for a three (3) to six (6) month period based on offense. Harris County may deem it appropriate to change the probation period to more or less time. Failure to satisfactorily cure any deficiency within that time may result in suspension of services or termination of contract. Under conditions of suspension/termination, the vendor shall not be entitled to damages or compensation beyond payment for goods and/or services already rendered through the end of the probation period and Harris County shall not be liable for any penalties, attorneys’ fees, costs, consequential or liquidated damages as a result of this action.

Vendor personnel must meet, on a continuing basis, all training and regulatory requirements appropriate to their duties. A professional appearance and demeanor, and a courteous attitude at all times are a must requirement for all personnel. The vendor must stress proper dress code, reliability, punctuality and work habits with regards to the needs of the using department. Vendor personnel must be informed of and comply with the possible prohibition on the use of cell phones in the building. Vendor personnel shall report promptly to assigned work areas.

Vendor personnel shall be subject to the continued acceptance of Harris County. Harris County reserves the right to reject any of vendor’s assigned personnel when it is the opinion of Harris County that the retention of that personnel is not in the best interest of Harris County, its employees, and/or visitors. Such rejection may be exercised with or without cause and without effect on the contract. Vendor is responsible for notifying the assigned personnel of the rejections after notification by Harris County representative.

Vendor personnel’s performance that exposes other people unnecessarily to a risk of harm, engages in unprofessional conduct, or fails to conform to the minimum standards of acceptable behavior for their area/profession may be designated as a “Do Not Return.”

Vendor agrees that any personnel identified by Harris County as "Do Not Return” may not work nor be dispatched to work at any Harris County facility. Personnel designated as “Do Not Return” may be dispatched to a Harris County facility only after Harris County removes the “Do Not Return” status in writing to vendor.

Violation by vendor may result in probation of service or suspension or termination of the contract.

USAGE REPORTS

Harris County reserves the right to request usage reports detailing the products and/or services provided during the term of this contract. The report will be available four (4) times per calendar year at no cost to Harris County. At a minimum, the report shall indicate usage by using department, personnel name, title or classification, billing rates, invoice and purchase order numbers and totals. The reports shall contain all required information, be totaled and grouped by using department.

WORKER’S COMPENSATION/RATING

It is the vendor’s responsibility to determine specific positions requiring different worker’s compensation ratings. Harris County will not assume the worker’s compensation responsibility; vendor shall determine ratings and respond with the appropriate billing rate. All pricing quoted on BidTable(s) shall include any additional charges. Federal withholding, Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), fees and all money matters handled between the vendor and its employees are not the responsibility of Harris County. Harris County is not responsible in any way for handling these matters beyond the terms of the contract resulting from this RFP and contractual obligation to pay the vendor.