19-0106-P-RP_Interpreter-Translator_for_Deaf_Services_Addendum_1.pdf

#19-0106-P-RP Interpreter Translator for Deaf Services

Procurement Services 29529 CR 561 Tavares FL 32778 (352) 253-6760 Fax: (352) 253-6761 http://lake.k12.fl.us

February 28, 2020

ADDENDUM NO. 1

RFP #19-0106-P-RP Interpreter Translator for Deaf Services

This addendum is being issued to address questions received, make revisions to the original solicitation document and release attachments. The answers are in noted in red font and underlined. The original RFP documents shall remain in full force and effect, except as modified herein, which shall take precedence over any contrary provisions in the prior documents.

The following are questions and answers regarding the above mentioned solicitation:

1. Can the district please clarify how needs for FTE vendor supplied contractors will be disseminated to awardees post award? When an Interpreter is needed to fill an immediate vacancy, contractors will be contacted in order of highest ranked Vendor(s). However, if the contractor does not have a provider immediately, the next highest ranked vendor will be contacted.

2. Can the district please provide a detailed explanation for how points will be awarded for the cost section of this solicitation (i.e. lowest bill rate receives maximum points, and next lowest vendor receives a prorated amount; lowest bill rate receives maximum points, and the next lowest vendor receives a predetermined amount of points)? Per the

Evaluation Criteria, the highest possible points for Cost of Services is 30 points.

Each committee member will independently score each proposal using the predetermined point system as noted in the evaluation criteria. Each Committee member’s proposal scores will be combined to reach the total number of composite points. The proposals with the highest overall composite points will be placed on a short-list.

3. How many vendors does the district expect to award a contract to for the services requested in this solicitation? A contract will be recommended for award to a “Pool” of qualified proposers as outlined in the RFP

4. Can the district please provide incumbent information and current bill rates for contracts in place for similar services? Active Contracts are posted on District Website https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/departments/chief-financial-officer/procurement/active-bidscontracts http://lake.k12.fl.us/

5. Can the district please provide the total amount of FTE contract, vendor supplied SLP’s utilized during the 2018-19 SY? This contract is for Interpreter/Translator Services for the Deaf not SLPs.

6. Can the district please describe the supplies and materials that contracted providers will have access to at the district? (Wifi, computer access, testing material, office supplies, etc.) The provider will be expected to be interpreting for the student. Supplies would be provided as needed for the interpreter to perform their role.

7. What travel between schools is expected for these providers? No, unless the interpreter is covering an event after school hours for a school event at a different school.

8. Will the district review other SPED service classifications if submitted with the vendor?

No

9. Can the district please provide the total amount of FTE contract, vendor supplied SLI’s utilized during the 2018-19 SY? There were (7) positions filled by contracted SLI in

2018-19

10. Is there an incumbent vendor for these services? Refer to Question #4

11. If so, what rates do they provide? Refer to Question #4

12. What has been the biggest challenge for fulfilling services under this contract, or if this is a new contract, are there any challenges that you anticipate? The biggest challenge is finding interpreters to cover when assigned interpreters are absent and finding interpreters for after-hours events.

13. What is the expected volume of this contract? This year we had (7) Interpreters, we expect a similar need next year.

14. Is there any historical data for Interpreter/Translator Services for the Deaf solicitation

Services? Refer to Question #4

15. Is this RFP open to out of state vendors? Yes

16. Is this a multiple source award contract? Refer to Question #3

17. Do you want me to submit the answers to the detailed questions in a Word document?

Proposals may be submitted in either as a Word or PDF document

18. How do you prefer that I separate the `tabbed` sections, since it is being uploaded and not printed? Per Table of Contents section page 8 of 20: Clearly outline and identify the material and responses by the tab and page number. Outline in sequential order the major areas of the responses, including enclosures. Tabs should be used to separate each tabbed section. All pages must be consecutively numbered and correspond to the table of contents.

19. Is there a previous proposal that was awarded or considered that I could view to emulate its template? Active Contracts are posted on District Website https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/departments/chief-financial-officer/procurement/active-bidscontracts

20. Would LCSB consider allowing agencies to invoice at a 2-hour minimum per request, as opposed to billing actual service time? If an event is scheduled for less than 2 hours, agencies may bill for a 2 hour minimum.

21. Would LCSB consider allowing agencies to invoice for the originally scheduled timeframe of each request, regardless of whether the interpreter is released early? The

District will pay for hours served.

22. Would LCSB consider allowing a cancelled request to be billable if cancelled with less than 24 hours` notice, as opposed to 12 hours as stated in the RFP? No

23. Please clarify the Fingerprinting and Drug Testing requirements: Is fingerprinting and

Drug Testing performed by LCSB and paid for by the agency? If so, what is the turnaround time and cost per person? If the agency is responsible for completing

Fingerprinting and Drug Testing, please describe the minimum screening requirements.

The vendor is responsible of fingerprinting and drug testing requirement. The

Fingerprinting & Drug Testing requirements are located on District Website https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/departments/chief-of-staff/human-resources/vendors

24. In the case the agency has a qualified Interpreter available who does not have time to complete the required screening prior to the assignment, would LCSB prefer we do not fulfill the request? Interpreters must meet required qualifications prior to fulfilling a request.

25. What is the basis for determining which agency is selected for a particular request?

Agencies will be selected based in order of highest ranked Vendor(s). LCSB personnel will email a request for interpreting services to the Contractor’s scheduling department.

The CONTRACTOR will email confirmation of the request within 24 hours. If the

CONTRACTOR is unable to secure an Interpreter for services within two days after the request, the District shall proceed to contact other contractors for the purpose of providing interpreting services. The CONTRACTOR will be notified of this intention.

When an interpreter is needed to fill an immediate vacancy, contractors will be contacted in order of highest ranked Vendor(s), however, if the contractor does not have a provider immediately, the next vendor will be contacted.

https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/departments/chief-financial-officer/procurement/active-bidscontracts https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/departments/chief-financial-officer/procurement/active-bidscontracts

26. Is LCSB able to provide a breakdown or analysis in regards to usage per agency on the current contract, such as a percentage or # of hours billed by each agency?

2017-18 (5) interpreters full year, coverage for meetings provided by:

17-18 Interpretek $46,977.50

17-18 Deaf Talk $133,567.90

17-18 Community Rehab $35,127.44

2018-19 (5) interpreters full year, 2 half year, coverage for meetings provided by:

18-19 Interpretek $389,068.75

18-19 Community Rehab $ 3,971.18

18-19 American S/L $ 354.00

2019-20 (7) interpreters full year, coverage for meetings provided by:

19-20 Interpretek $275,467.50 (As of 2/1/2020)

27. What is the anticipated budget for this contract? $375,000

28. Who are the current vendors and what are their rates? Refer to Question #4

29. What were some of the issues with the current vendors in providing coverage? We appreciate the agencies who have people available when we call for both long and short-term positions. It is challenging to work with agencies who only want to fill long-term positions.

30. How many jobs were ongoing and how many were emergency requests? Our primary need is for full time interpreters. This year we had (7), we expect a similar need next year. We do not have data on the number of Emergency requests.

31. How many CDI hours were requested? How many were provided? All requests for full time interpreters were filled. We have (7) contracted Interpreters this year who work 35 hours per week. We do not keep data on the number of part-time requests, i.e. parent conferences, after school events, etc. However, our primary need is for full time Interpreters.

32. What is the preferred process for notification if we are modifying the specifications in

Exhibit A? (i.e. do changes and/or additions need to be highlighted?) {Procurement will Reply} The Specifications noted in Exhibit “A” of the Sample Agreement will be completed after contract award.

33. Last year, you issued a solicitation but after the evaluation of the responses, we were told that you decided to piggy-back from another contract. Which contract did you piggy-back from? The current contract for Bid #4283RP Interpreter/Translator

Services for the Deaf was originally awarded by LCS in August 2016. We did not utilize a Piggyback contract for these services.

34. Pg 4 ~ Evaluation. – They are usually open to the public, is that still the case? Can we attend? The evaluation meeting is open to the public for observation only. No comments or questions will be allowed.

35. Is your need anticipated to grow, shrink or stay the same in the upcoming year? We anticipate the same.

36. Are you awarding this contract to multiple vendors? If so, how are you going to go about scheduling? Are you going to give the same opportunity to all vendors or are you going to have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice? Please explain Refer to Question #25

37. Pg 6 says “The District will only pay for the confirmed request time that the interpreter is with a student” Later on the same page, it says “In the event that a request is less than 2 hours, the District will only be billed for the requested services and not be held to a minimum requirement” Does this mean that the interpreter gets paid by the minute? Can you elaborate? Section to be amended (Refer to Revision section noted below)

38. Two-hour minimums are industry standard. A one hour minimum usually results in filing an appointment with a lesser-qualified interpreter and this also limits the number of interpreters that may want to be part of the contract as all ASL interpreters bill in 2-hour minimums for all assignments. Would you consider the 2 hr min? Refer to Question #20

39. Pg 7 ~ 2019-2020 CURRENT NEEDS. Is this referring to the needs that you expect to fulfill with this contract or in general including your own staff? These are our current needs. It is anticipated that we will have similar needs next year, but we will not know exact numbers until the summer.

40. How many contracted Interpreters work full-time during the current school year?

Refer to Question #26. How many contracted employees work part-time? We do not track the number of interpreters who work part time, however, the majority of our interpreters work full time.

41. What percentage of the contract is each vendor providing? Refer to Question #26

42. What has been the biggest challenge with your current provider? Refer to Question

#12

43. Pg 9 ~ Litigation and Sanctions – Are you going to give preference to vendors with no pending litigations? No preference will be given

44. Please provide the current hourly rate being offered by the primary provider(s) for sign language interpreting services. Refer to Question #4

45. What is the projected annual budget for this contract? Refer to Question #27

46. What was the amount spent on Sign Language services for the last FY? Refer to

Question #26

47. Are there certain schools designated to manage the needs of ESE students? Or requests will vary in schools throughout the county? Requests will vary throughout the District

48. Do you give any preference to companies located in the State of Florida? No Florida preference will be given

49. What percentage of the interpreting assignments are emergency requests? We do not have data to calculate this percentage and there can be great variability from year to year. Emergency requests are made when a scheduled interpreter gives last minute notice of for being out

50. Would you be willing to use Video Remote Interpreting for last minute assignments if coverage is guaranteed? Not as part of this contract

51. Does LCSB require specific badging for the county? Or is state badging/fingerprinting be acceptable for Interpreters on campus? The Fingerprinting & Badge Registration requirements are located on District Website at https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/departments/chief-of-staff/human-resources/vendors

52. Can we provide the current insurance certificate and a statement stating that LCSB will be listed as an “additional insured” within 24 hours of notification of award?

Upon contract award, the certificate of insurance naming LCSB as additional insured must be provided.

53. Who is/are your current providers for this service? Refer to Question #4

54. What are the hourly rates that you are currently paying for these services? Refer to

Question #4

55. We charge a two-hour minimum as all interpreters across the nation require a two-hour minimum for every interpreting request as it is a national standard as established by RID. We wanted to make sure that all requests would be subject to this standard.

Refer to Question #20

56. Would you honor a 48-hour cancellation policy? No

57. You mentioned you did not cover mileage, but would you provide travel time if you need to send one of our interpreters from one school location to another on the same day? This should rarely occur, but in the event it does, the travel time would be included as part of the work time

58. We bill for the entire time requested and/or a 2-hour minimum, whichever is greater, will you honor this policy? We will pay for actual time worked with a minimum of 2 hours

59. Does your full-day coverage include lunch time for billing, or would we be required to remove that time from the full-day`s billing? As per page 6 of the RFP, “Interpreter breaks and lunch are paid and shall be in accordance with student(s) schedule(s)”

60. Will we have one point of contact for the scheduling of needs? Or will each school be responsible for requesting services? It depends on the request. There is one point of contact for filling vacancies, and school contacts for substitute/short term needs

61. Are you pleased with the current agency provider(s) you are using? If you are not, what are the things that you are displeased with? We appreciate the agencies who have people available when we call for both long and short-term positions. It is challenging to work with agencies who only want to fill long-term positions.

62. How many staff interpreters do you already have? We have (7) contracted interpreters

63. How many schools will have Deaf needs this coming school year? This is unknown at this time. Each year the needs are different based on changes in student population

64. Do you require Trilingual Services (ASL/English/Spanish)? No

65. Will you need before school or after school coverage? That is a possibility

66. Will you need coverage for programs, ceremonies, sporting events, graduations, concerts, parent-teacher meetings/conferences? Yes

67. If you request coverage for plays, concerts or programs with scripts and music, we typically charge a training and review, and observation for these. Would you honor this policy as long as we maintained a reasonable amount of hours. No

68. We require teaming on certain situations in and out of the classroom, would you honor that policy? In limited circumstances, Yes

69. Do you require sign-in sheets/mechanisms at each location?

Yes. Each school has a computerized sign-in/out system. Contracted personnel must use this system

70. Do you have any Deaf employees at LCPS that requires our services? If so, please provide those details. We have one employee who occasionally needs an interpreter

71. Would you be acceptable to a tree planting ceremony sponsored by our organization if we become a provider? No, this is unrelated to the services we are seeking through this RFP

72. If we are selected as a provider, will you conduct a meeting prior to the start of the contract for us to meet those we will be working with throughout the coming school year and address any open items, questions or concerns? ESE department personnel will be available to support our agencies as needed.

73. Do you have any Deaf-Blind needs that need to be covered by a Tactile Interpreter?

If so, please provide the details on that. No

74. How many full-time slots will you require this coming school year from your agency provider? We will not know until the summer an exact number. We currently have

(7) contracted interpreters

75. How many part-time slots will you require this coming school year from your agency provider? Unknown

76. Will you be selecting one, two or three agency providers for this contract? Refer to

Question #3

77. If multiple agency providers are selected, how will you go about fairly sending out requests for services? Refer to Question #25

78. Last year after submitting solicitation responses, the county ended up piggy backing onto the existing contract, can we know why that decision was made vs. going with a new organization for coverage? Refer to Question # 33

79. If a student is a no-show, we will typically have our interpreter wait up to 30 minutes before releasing them. Would you honor that policy? Yes

80. Can our agency invoice the county for the badging costs incurred for the cost of securing interpreters who are badged to work at your schools? Refer to Question #51

81. We invoice weekly and require payment terms of Net 30. Would you abide by that policy? Invoices are submitted on a monthly basis

82. Would you accept shorter payment terms with a provision of a payment discount? No

PLEASE NOTE: The opening date has not changed. All bids are due prior to 2:00pm on Monday, March 9, 2020.

Solicitation Revisions: The following are revisions to the above mentioned solicitation:

(Page 6) of the RFP needs to be amended as follows:

In the event that a request is For services requested with a duration of less than 2 hours, the District will only be billed for the requested services and not be held to a contractor may invoice the District for 2 hours. requirement.

Scope of Services on Page 6

LCSB personnel will email a request for interpreting services to the Contractor’s scheduling department. The CONTRACTOR will email confirmation of the request within

24 hours. If the CONTRACTOR is unable to secure an Interpreter for services within two days after the request, the District shall proceed to contact other contractors for the purpose of providing interpreting services. The CONTRACTOR will be notified of this intention. When an interpreter is needed to fill an immediate vacancy, contractors will be contacted in order of overall rating per the rubric, however, if the contractor does not have a provider immediately, the next vendor will be contacted.

Acknowledgement of Addendum No. 1 by Respondent

The Respondent hereby will acknowledge receipt of the following Addendum on the designated area of the Proposal Acknowledgement Form.

The Acknowledgement of Addendum receipt will become an integral part of the solicitation document. In acknowledging receipt of this Addendum, the undersigned understands and accepts the foregoing solicitation changes and clarifications.

All other bid terms, conditions, and specifications as originally issued remain unchanged.

If you should have any questions regarding this addendum, please do not hesitate to contact

Regina Peeples at peeplesr@lake.k12.fl.us.

Sincerely, Regina Peeples, CPPB

Procurement & Contracting Manager