Questions-Answers 22R0083.pdf

Group Life and Accidental Insurance

Embassy of the United States of America

Kathmandu, Nepal Solicitation 19GE5022R0083

Questions and Answers

Q1: Please provide a list of occupations for each employee. Ideally the information could be added to “Exhibit B Salary” document. The occupations are important not only for the life insurance pricing, but more so for the partial and total disability requirements in the program.

A1:

Summary of Position Types Numbers

Security staff with desk 21

Security staff without desk 253

Engineers and Facility Technicians with desk 14

Facility Technicians without desk 67

Drivers 56

Senior Assistants/ Assistants/ Coordinators/ Clerks 119

IT Technicians (Computer/AV/ Telccom) 16

Specialists 68

Health professionals 4

Laborers 19

Total 637

Above mentioned positions are total positions (including vacant positions).

Q2: The other request is for a 3 year claims report, and current rates. The request is in order of priority.

A2: Please find below last three years claims:

Year 2019 NRs.947,488.00 Year 2020 No claim Year 2021 NRs.4,517,588.00

Q3: Who is current provider?

A3: American Life Insurance Company (ALICO).

Q4: Please provide premiums for the last 5 years for every benefit separately– 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 & 2017

A4: Please find below premium (per 1,000 of salary) in NRs in each categories (Bi-weekly):

1. Base Year (November 01, 2016 to October 31, 2017) A. Basic Life: 3.80 B. Accidental Death & Dismemberment: 2.40 C. Partial and Total Disability Coverage: 4.80

2. First Option Year (November 01, 2017 to October 31, 2018) A. Basic Life: 4.15 B. Accidental Death & Dismemberment: 2.40 C. Partial and Total Disability Coverage: 4.80

3. Second Option Year (November 01, 2018 to October 31, 2019) A. Basic Life: 4.52 B. Accidental Death & Dismemberment: 2.40 C. Partial and Total Disability Coverage: 4.80

4. Third Option Year (November 01, 2019 to October 31, 2020) A. Basic Life: 4.92 B. Accidental Death & Dismemberment: 2.40 C. Partial and Total Disability Coverage: 4.80

5. Forth Option Year (November 01, 2020 to October 31, 2021) D. Basic Life: 4.92 E. Accidental Death & Dismemberment: 2.40 Partial and Total Disability Coverage: 4.80

Q5: Solicitation does not specify the time limit for settling life insurance claims. Could you please provide this information?

A5: Within 15 days

Q6: If previously insured, please provide for each insurance year 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 & 2017:

o total number of employees o claims paid / benefit

A6: Total number of employees

Year 2017 622 Year 2018 602 Year 2019 613 Year 2020 611 Year 2021 593 claims paid / benefit

Year 2017 No claim Year 2018 NRs.611,570.04

Year 2019 NRs.947,488.00 Year 2020 No claim Year 2021 NRs.4,517,588.00

Q7: Age category 61-65+ - please identify exactly ages of 61+ employees

A7: 2 Employees

Q8: What is the Retirement age for the covered staff?

A8: 60 years

Q9: Solicitation wording doesn’t’ request offeror to have license/certificate/-accreditation, which demonstrates that the offeror is licensed/certified/accredited or otherwise authorized by the Government of Nepal to provide life insurance within Nepal as the host country. A registered Life Insurance company from any country that possess all permits, licenses, and any other appointments required for the prosecution of work under this contract shouldn’t be disqualified for the technical reasons?

A9: See Solicitation Section V.4 Licenses and Local Laws.

Q10: Would 2 % tax based on James Zadroga Act be applicable to this solicitation?

A10: Yes 2% tax based on James Zadroga Act applicable to this solicitation.

Q11: Would DBA insurance be applicable to this solicitation?

A11: No

Q12: Would the Embassy accept proposals in USD or EURO?

A12: No, See Section III. D. as well as Section IV.E.

Q13: Would the Embassy pay the monthly invoices outside of Nepal in USD?

A13: No, See Section III. D. as well as Section IV.E.

Q14: Is this a mandatory plan, meaning Embassy / USG pays for all covered people, or voluntary, meaning employees have a % of co-pay

A14: Yes, it is mandatory, and the USG will pay 100% of the premium costs.

Q15: The amount of life insurance coverage for each employee is based upon the basic salary of the individual; We would like to ask for a full census containing ages, genders and the individual salaries

A15: Detail of employee census cannot be provided. We provided age and salary data.

Q16: What is projected annual increase of salaries?

A16: Annual increase of salaries cannot be projected.

Q17: Local law and Choice of law - The Contractor shall perform this contract in accordance with local laws, but this contract shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the substantive laws of the United States of America. Usually, law must be the situs of the policyholder.

A17: We adjusted section V.4 as follows:

V.4 Miscellaneous Contractor Requirements

General. A contract with the U.S. Government conveys no special privileges or immunities to the contractor. The contractor is an independent commercial concern and not a part of the U.S. mission. The contractor's employees are not U.S. Government employees. Registration of this contract with the local government, if required by law, will be the sole responsibility of the contractor, and any fees, taxes, or other duties shall be payable by the contractor without recourse to the Government of the amounts thereof.

Licenses and Local Laws. The Contractor shall possess all permits, licenses, and any other appointments required for the prosecution of work under this contract, all at no additional cost to the Government. The Contractor shall perform this contract in accordance with local laws.

Q18: There are two discrepancies to the ‘STATE’ salary data on the two eldest lives.

See below.

Column 1 is the age Column 2 is the local annual salary Column 3 should be USD value (RoE @ 124,20), but for the last two, you’ll see that the values in columns 2 & 3 are identical. Either they are the highest or the lowest paid employees !

A18: Both are dollar values. They are paid in dollar.

Q19: It would be advantageous for the Embassy to disclose gender statistics too.

A19: We cannot provide this information.

Q20: Is not clear what type of disability offerors’ are being asked to cover. Our assumption is that it is accident only capital sum benefits. Please confirm!

A20: All types of disability (natural, accidental and medical ) are covered.

Q21: Solicitation defines Total & Permanent Disability as being ‘A physical or mental impairment which precludes the individual from performing ordinary motor or bodily functions and which requires separation from employment. If the impairment is the result of a previous impairment, it shall be considered a continuation of the prior impairment. There is no reference to a waiting period. We’d typically look to apply 12 months. Please confirm or provide a clarification.

A21: There is no waiting period.

Q22: Solicitation references the Partial disability. It’s implied that it is from accident causes. No reference to benefits being a % of salary, so once again it would be lump sum. Please confirm!

A22: 25 times the monthly salary

Q23: As there is no separate definition for this within the tender, is it up to us to provide our offering

- dismemberment scale (loss of limbs / eyesight), again with a 12 month waiting period. Please confirm!

A23: There is no waiting period.