18-05. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS Medical Pharmacy Final.docx

Scottsdale Unified School District #48 Special Instructions to Offerors

7575 E. Main Street Scottsdale, AZ 85251 480-484-6151

RFP#: 26001

PROJECT: MEDICAL AND PHARMACY BENEFITS

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

1. District Representative

In accordance with A.A.C. R7-2-1042(A.1.s), and the “Uniform Instructions To Offerors,” the District Representative is Jeff Thomason, Director of Purchasing.

2. Questions

All questions related to this Solicitation shall be in writing and directed to Bonfire in the Bonfire Portal. Offerors shall not contact or ask questions of the school or department for which the requirement is being procured. All inquiries shall be made a minimum of 7 days prior to the specified opening date as directed on Front Page, Form 1. Any correspondence related to a solicitation shall refer to the appropriate solicitation number, page, and paragraph number. All questions will be responded to as soon as possible.

3. Contract Award

It is anticipated that a contract under this RFP will be awarded to be single awarded at a Governing Board meeting. However, the District reserves the right to award based on determination to be advantageous to the district.

4. Preparation of Proposals A. Electronic Documents: This solicitation document is provided in an electronic format. Any unidentified alteration or modification to any solicitation documents, to any attachments, exhibits, forms, charts or illustrations contained herein shall be null and void. In those instances where modifications are identified, the original document published by the District shall take precedence. As provided in the Uniform Instructions, Offerors are responsible for clearly identifying any and all changes or modifications to any solicitations document upon submission to the District.

B. Proposal Format: The proposal shall be submitted and formatted as outlined in the RFP. All proposals shall contain all descriptive literature, specifications, samples (if requested), references, etc.

C. Acknowledgement of Amendments: In accordance with A.A.C. R7-2-1042(A.1.b), Offeror shall acknowledge receipt of all amendments by signing the Acknowledgement and Non-Collusion Affidavit form of the RFP.

D. Offer and Acceptance: Offeror shall include a signed Offer and Acceptance Form. The Offer and Acceptance Form shall be signed with an original signature by the person signing the Offer and shall be submitted with the submitted bid no later than the Offer due date and time. Failure to return a signed Offer and Acceptance Form may result in rejection of the Offer.

E. Confidential Information: If a person believes that any portion of a proposal, bid, offer, specification, protest or correspondence contains information that should be withheld, then the Procurement Officer shall be so advised in writing (price is not confidential and will not be withheld). Such material shall be identified as confidential wherever it appears. The District, pursuant to R7-2-1016, shall review all requests for confidentiality and provide a written determination. The confidential section shall be placed in Confidential Proprietary Submittal Form (File 11) in Bonfire Electronic Procurement Portal). Should the District find in favor of the firm, any information contained in the Confidential Information envelope, will be viewable only by appropriate procurement staff and evaluators.

F. Attachments: Offerors should include the following attachment forms completed accurately according to the instructions contained within the form. Failure to follow instructions and completion of forms may result in rejection of the Offer. Offeror should review proposal package to ensure all required documentation has been submitted in accordance with the Special Instructions.

G. Offer Submission, Due Date and Time: It is the responsibility of the vendor to ensure that the proposal is submitted on the due date by the time required in the Bonfire Procurement Portal. Plan accordingly.

H. Non-collusion, Employment, and Services: By signing the Offer and Acceptance form or other official contract form, the Offeror certifies that:

1. The prices have been arrived at independently, without consultation, communication or Agreement, for the purpose of restricting competition, as to any matter relating to such prices with any other Offeror or with any competitor; the prices which have been quotes have not been nor will not be disclosed directly or indirectly to any other Offeror or to any competitor; nor attempt has been made or will be made to induce any person or firm to submit or not to submit, an Offer for the purpose of restricting competition. It did not engage in collusion or other anti-competitive practices in connection with the preparation or submission of its Proposal; and

2. It does not discriminate against any employee, applicant for employment or person to whom it provides services because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability, and that it complies with all applicable Federal, state, and local laws and executive orders regarding employment; and

3. By submission of this proposal, that neither it nor its principals are presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any Federal department or agency: and

4. By submission of this proposal, that no Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid by or on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a member of Congress in connection with the awarding of a Federal contract, the making of a Federal grant, the making of a Federal loan, the entering into a Cooperative Agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of a Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.

5. Evaluation and Award Basis

Representatives of the District will evaluate the proposals and rank them from the most likely to the one least likely to meet the requirements outlined in the RFP. In addition to interviews, the District reserves the option to call for and enter discussions with the firms considered most likely to meet the requirements for the purpose of negotiations, on pricing and/or other portions of the proposal, if considered by the District to be in the best interest of the District.

Additionally, SUSD#48 reserves the right to use a ranking system (the Heisman scoring method) for determining the final ranking of proposals. Each evaluator shall calculate their total assigned points for each proposal, applying a ranking of 1 to their highest score, a 2 to the next highest score, and so forth. Each proposal shall have a final calculated rank determined by averaging each applied individual evaluator rank.

Per A.A.C. R7-2-1042(A)(1)(h) evaluation criteria are listed below in their relative order of importance (Specific weighing may be used, but will not be required):

Evaluation Criteria (1000 Points).

1. Price – 325 points/32.5%: Cost is a significant factor however; it is not the only factor. The award will not be based on price alone, nor will it be based solely upon the lowest fees submitted. Price of services and multi-year rate guarantees and cost containment strategies to control emerging cost trends will be considered. Overall cost to the plan and its participants on a multi-year basis, including an ability to reprice based on current market conditions.

2. Firm Experience, Expertise & Qualifications – 300 Points/30%: Organizational strength, stability and other qualifications that enable the offering firm to provide the District with the requested services for the required period of time, provide appropriate staffing, necessary resources and show a history of demonstrated competence. Consideration of qualifications will include additional best value services and expertise offered that exceeds the requirements outlined in this RFP. Experience with large public schools.

3. Responsiveness – 275 points/27.5%: The ability of the Offeror to understand the Scope of Work, in meeting the requirements of the RFP and in accepting the terms and conditions of this solicitation that will become the governing document of this contract will be considered. Innovative programs designed to reduce cost exposure to the plan and members without compromising clinical efficacy will be considered.

4. Method of Approach: 100 points/10%: Administrative, Member, Account Service Capabilities (that are not limited to services already included), Responsiveness and Flexibility. Clinical support to the Trust. Strength of provider/pharmacy networks. The offering firm’s unique programming will be considered as well.

During the selection process, all prospective companies are cautioned not to contact School Board Members or Selection Committee Members or attempt to persuade or promote through other channels. Committee members will read, review, and evaluate the proposals based on the evaluation criteria. A point formula system will be used to evaluate the offers. The District may call for interviews to clarify information received in the proposal. Firms may be asked to host a site visit and/or interview with the Selection Committee, they may also be asked to revise or modify their proposals following the receipt of other information. However, offering firms are cautioned that the District may proceed with an award, based on information received in the original proposal and subsequent interviews (if held) without calling for additional discussions or best and final offers.

District shall consider the following in determining offeror’s responsibility as well as the responsiveness of proposals submitted in response to the solicitation. Offerors may not be considered responsible if they have been debarred from the practice of their profession that would otherwise be necessary in the provision of goods and services under any resulting contract. Offerors may not be considered responsible if they have had a contract with the District, within the last three-years, that was terminated for cause, due to breach or similar failure to comply with the terms of any such contract. Offerors may also not be considered responsible if there is factual evidence of their frequent and reoccurring failure to satisfy the terms of their agreements and contractual relationships, both with the District or other government entities. Factual evidence shall consist of any documented vendor performance reports, customer complaints and/or negative references.

Proposals may not be considered responsive if they are not submitted in the requested format; if they include significant exceptions to any requirements, terms or conditions that render the proposal unacceptable; or do not contain sufficient contents with which to evaluate the proposal, e.g., bonds, method of approach, key personnel, references, prices or pricing, other requested information.

Determinations of non-responsibility and/or non-responsiveness shall be made in writing and shall set forth the basis for the determination. Proposals from offerors determined to be non-responsible or proposals determined to be non- responsive, may be set aside at the time of the determination without further evaluations. Offerors will be notified if their proposal is set aside for either of these reasons.

All Proposals shall be open for public inspection after award of contract, except to the extent the Offeror designates, and the District concurs, that trade secrets or other proprietary data contained in the Proposal documents remain confidential in accordance with A.A.C. R7-2-1006, R7-2-1016, and R7-2-1042(A.1.u).

In accordance with A.A.C. R7-2-1042(A.1.v) the District shall not consider partial offers for award of a contract under this RFP.

6. Evaluation Schedule

The proposals will be initially evaluated for conforming to the requirements of the RFP. The proposals with the highest ranking or scores may be interviewed and asked to provide demonstrations to determine the best interests of the District. The following schedule is tentative.

7. Acknowledgement of Amendments

In accordance with A.A.C. R7-2-1042(A.1.b), Offeror shall acknowledge receipt of all amendments by signing the Amendment Acknowledgement & Non-Collusion Affidavit Form Number 15 of the RFP.

8. Offeror Required Contract/Agreement-

If your firm will require the District to sign any form of contract/agreement, a copy of that contract/agreement shall be included with this Proposal. Contents and stipulations contained in the contract/agreement may be part of the evaluation criteria. The District reserves the right to accept or reject any or all parts of the agreement. Contract terms should not conflict with or supersede terms and conditions of the solicitation.

9. Authority

This solicitation as well as any resulting contract is issued under the authority of the Governing Board or designee. No alteration or any resulting contract may be made without the express written approval of the District in a form of an official contract amendment. Any attempt to alter any contract without such approval is a violation of the contract and the School District Procurement Rules. Any such action is subject to legal and contractual remedies available to the District inclusive of, but not limited to, contract cancellation, suspension and/or debarment of the contractor.

10. Integrity of Offer

By signing this Proposal, the Offeror affirms that the Offeror has not given, nor intends to give any time hereafter any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan gratuity, special discount, trip favor, or service to any employee of the District, or per A.A.C. R7-2-1042(A.1.l) Offeror has not engaged in collusion or anti-competitive practices in connection with the submitted Proposal. Failure to sign the Proposal, or signing it with a false statement, shall void the submitted Proposal or any resulting contract.

11. Deviations to Offer

Any deviation from the general terms and conditions or exceptions taken shall be described fully and appended to the Proposal form by signing & completing the Deviations and Exceptions (Form Number 14 in the Bonfire Procurement Portal) of the RFP. Exceptions must be signed by an authorized representative of the company. Such appendages shall be considered part of the Offerors formal Proposal. For the absence of any statements of deviation or exception, the Offer shall be accepted as in strict compliance with all terms and conditions.

12. Opening

Proposals received by the correct time and date will be opened and the name of each Offeror will be publicly available. Proposals will not be subject to public inspection until after contract award.

13. Clarifications

Upon receipt and opening of proposals submitted in response to this solicitation, the District may request oral or written clarifications, including demonstrations or questions and answers, for the sole purpose of information gathering or for eliminating minor informalities or correcting nonjudgmental mistakes in proposals. Clarifications shall not otherwise afford Offerors the opportunity to alter or change their proposal.

14. Discussions

In accordance with A.A.C. R7-2-1047, after the initial receipt of proposals, the District may conduct discussions with those offerors who submit proposals determined by the District to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award.

15. Best and Final Offers

If discussions are conducted pursuant to R7-2-1047, the District may issue a written request for best and final offers. If Offerors do not submit a notice of withdrawal or a best and final offer, the immediate previous.

offer will be construed as the best and final offer.

16. Data Security and Confidentiality Agreement

Scottsdale Unified School District requires all companies that offer software or online services to have an authorized company signatory complete and sign the Scottsdale Unified School District’s “Data Security and Confidentiality Agreement”. Posted as Exhibit A. Data Security and Confidentiality Agreement AWARDED vendor must complete the SUSD Data Security and Confidentiality, completely within 7 days of Award.

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