24-RFP-2025-009 Pre-Proposal Conference Presentation.pptx

RFP-2025-009

Countywide Vending Services Pre-Proposal Conference July 18, 2025

1:00 – 2:00 PM CST

Microsoft Teams

Good afternoon, Suppliers!

Welcome to the Pre-Proposal Conference for RFP-2025-014: CRC Correctional Staff Mental Health Services. My name is Tony MacLellan, and I am the RFP Administrator for this solicitation. Our meeting today will be high-level and will focus on the basics of working with the County, understanding this purchase request, how to submit proposals, and how the County will evaluate proposals and award the contract.

The session this afternoon is recorded and the County will post the recording to the Bonfire Portal following the conference. If you require CART captions, please click on the link in the webinar invitation. If you need additional help, please call us at 414-223-8100.

All attendees should be registered. The County must track all attendees and will post a list of attendees on the Bonfire Portal following the conference. If you are NOT registered and are accompanying someone registered, please be sure to register yourself OR email your registration information to me. My e-mail address is available in the Bonfire Portal and in the Information Summary Sheet of the RFP document. I will also provide it in the chat. My first name is Lael (L-A-E-L), which is a bit tough to pronounce, so I go by my middle name. My email uses my FIRST name, so please double check to ensure you have the correct email address so that I receive your communciations!

As a reminder, questions asked during the Pre-Proposal Conference may or may not be answered today. Whether or not you receive an answer, NO ANSWERS provided verbally today will change the terms of the solicitation. If you have a question that requires formal answer, please submit it following the Q&A process outlined in the RFP. We will discuss the Q&A later in the meeting.

We ask that you please mute your microphones and turn off your cameras unless you are asking a question at the end of the presentation. Please feel free to use the chat feature to ask your questions if you are concerned you may forget them.

Agenda

First, we will do a round of introductions of our County staff in attendance. Then I will present the timeline, the steps of the RFP process, and give a brief overview of the Bonfire Portal. The Joint Corrections team and I will explain the scope of work for the future contract and the Office of Economic Inclusion will talk to you about working with Targeted Business Enterprise, or TBE, firms. There is not a goal for the use of TBE firms in this solicitation, but bonus points are available.

We will take questions throughout the presentation, but recommend you reserve most questions until the end of the meeting. If you are like me and won’t remember your question between the time it occurs to you and the Q&A at the end of the meeting, please email or chat your questions to me so I can ensure we get to each of them.

County Introductions

Supplier Questions

Working with TBEs Office of Economic Inclusion

The Timeline & RFP Process Tony MacLellan

The Scope of Work Tony MacLellan

Introductions

Department of Administrative Services Procurement Division Office of Economic Inclusion (OEI)

Working with the Office of Economic Inclusion

TBE Bonus Points Working with a Prime Working with a TBE Subcontractor Expectations Who to Contact for Help

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Racial Equity Bonus Points

Achieving racial and health equity is our vision.

We expect our vendors to be partners in achieving the vision!

Although no TBE goal is established by this RFP, bonus points are available to Offerors who partner with TBEs.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

How to Receive Bonus Points Review Addendum 1: TBE Guidance Update.

Offerors can receive bonus points for the use of certified TBE firms and diverse non-certified firms as follows:

One hundred (100) points for the use of certified TBE firms, including self-performance by certified TBE Primes; and Fifty (50) points for the use of diverse non-certified firms with demonstrated diverse ownership or leadership.

To receive these points, Offerors must provide compelling evidence of diverse ownership and operations that advance the County’s vision of racial and health equity.

How to Receive Bonus Points To receive the bonus points, the Offeror must:

clearly describe in its Proposal and any submitted TBE forms the commercially useful function the proposed TBE firm(s) will perform;

explain how the function fulfills a requirement of the Scope of Work or supports the Services proposed; and demonstrate that the function the TBE firm will perform will be required for the duration of the contract term (for this RFP, up to five years).

Offerors who will utilize certified TBE partners and Offerors who are certified TBE firms are eligible to receive one hundred(100) bonus points.

How to Receive Bonus Points To receive the bonus points, Offerors must:

Clearly document the ownership and leadership structure, including race/ethnicity/gender of key personnel.

Demonstrate how these characteristics influence the firm’s decision-making, staffing, and service delivery.

Describe how their diversity directly supports the equity and inclusion goals of Milwaukee County.

Offerors who will utilize diverse non-certified firms, or firms which are majority-owned, led, or substantially staffed by individuals from historically underrepresented or marginalized groups (e.g., women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, veterans) are eligible to receive fifty (50) bonus points for demonstrated commitment to equity, even if they do not have TBE certification.

Scope & Requirements Minimum Qualifications Scope of Work Evaluation Criteria

Minimum Qualifications Demonstrate at least three (3) years of experience providing full-service Vending and unattended retail solutions to government or institutional clients (colleges and universities, hospitals, etc.) or clients comparable to Milwaukee County.

Provide at least three (3) references for whom the Offeror provides or provided similar services within the last three (3) years.

Comply with all requirements outlined in Section 6: Scope of Work and answer all questions and provide all requested information in Section 7: Proposal Content.

References should be from existing or previous municipal law enforcement and/or correctional agencies to which the Offeror provided similar Services.

Scope of Work

Section 6 of the RFP – pages 16-32

Timeline Timelines for any RFP are based on estimates. The County reserves the right to extend timelines as necessary to ensure fair, equitable, and transparent scoring processes for all Proposals.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

7-25-25

Offeror Questions Due

8-1-25

County Issues Formal Answers

8-8-25

Proposals Due

8-11-25 to 8-15-25

Preliminary Evaluations

8-18-25 to 8-29-25

Evaluation & Scoring

Week of Sept. 1

Shortlisted Offeror Interviews

9-15-25 (est.)

Notice of Intent to Award

9-15-25 to 9-18-25

Protest Period

9-19-25 to 10-31-25

Contract Negotiation

December 2025

Board Approval

January 2026

Service Start Date

The RFP Process

The Procurement Process

Communicating with the County

Scope & Requirements

Submitting a Proposal

Proposal Evaluations & Award

Using the RFP Documents as Tools & Guidance

The Procurement Process

Pre-Proposal Conference & Site Tours

Submissions and Preparing a Response

Evaluations, Criteria, and Scoring

Notice of Intent to Award

Contract Negotiations

Using the RFP Documents RFP Document – available in Word and PDF Section 4 (Operations and Background) Section 5 (Request) Section 6 (Scope of Work) Section 7 (Proposal Content) Sections 8 – 10 (Process and Responsibilities) Section 11 (Preparing & Submitting a Proposal) Section 12 (Evaluation Process) Section 13 (Award Process)

When drafting your Proposal, use the RFP documents and appendices to guide you. They’re provided as tools to help you succeed. The RFP document includes the information you need to understand the request (Section 4: Operations and Background and Section 5: Request), the required Scope of Work (Section 6: Scope of Work), your responsibilities (Section 8: Offeror Responsibilities), how to prepare and submit your proposal (Figure 12-3: Required Proposal Documents, Section 10: Preparing and Submitting a Proposal, Section 11: Proposal Content), and how we will evaluate your proposal (Section 12: The Evaluation Process and Section 13: The Award Process).

Figure 12-3 lists the required proposal documents you must submit. These documents are also listed in Bonfire under the section titled “Requested Information.”

The Appendices include additional important information. These documents are considered part of the solicitation and the obligations in them are legally binding. They are provided as Appendices to shorten the RFP document and make information easier to locate. Appendices A-C and PROC-1 provide information about the current program, scope of services, equipment specifications, and the County’s vision of equity and what it means for our suppliers. Exhibits A-C are legal documents which will become part of the contract by reference and should be carefully reviewed. Exhibits D-H are forms which must be filled out and submitted with the proposal.

Evaluation Criteria

Communicating with the County

Asking Questions Exceptions Formal Changes Restrictions

Asking Questions Questions should be asked using the Bonfire Portal during the Q&A period.

Only questions asked via the Portal will be formally answered by the County.

Only formal answers will change the terms of the RFP and the RFP requirements.

The County will not answer business or operational questions once the Q&A period closes. If you have technical issues or questions after the Q&A period closes, you may contact the RFP administrator directly by email.

Questions are answered on a rolling basis. A digest of answers will be published on the due date (August 8, 2025).

Requesting Exceptions If you are requesting exceptions to any of the solicitation’s terms or to the Scope of Work, you MUST present those exceptions in your Proposal response.

Please use Exhibit H: the Request for Exceptions Form, to make your request.

During preliminary evaluations, if your request is not accepted, the RFP Administrator will contact you to advise the County will not accept your exception and offer you the opportunity to rescind the exception and continue to participate in the solicitation process.

If you are unwilling or unable to rescind an unaccepted exception, your proposal will be considered non-responsive and you will be eliminated from consideration for award.

Formal Changes

Sometimes, a change to the RFP documentation is needed. A change may correct an error, resolve an omission or a conflict, make the RFP more accurate, or clarify how to propose or what to include in a proposal.

If you need a formal change to the RFP document, you must make the request in writing using the Bonfire Portal during the Q&A period.

The County will not consider formal changes outside the Q&A period unless there are exceptional circumstances and/or the formal change would be in the best interests of the County.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Communication Restrictions

During the solicitation process, Offerors should only communicate via the Bonfire Portal or by email with the RFP Administrator.

You may not:

Contact County staff or officials to discuss the RFP, RFP requirements, your Proposal, evaluations, or any other information related to the RFP or RFP process.

Discuss the open RFP with your current contact(s) at Milwaukee County.

The County expects current vendors to uphold the highest levels of ethical behavior during any RFP process.

Remember that even an appearance of bias, unfairness, or access to “insider information” is not acceptable, and conduct your communications accordingly.

If you have CURRENT business relationships with the County, you may continue to correspond with your contact(s) at the County for those contract(s) or relationship(s).

When in doubt, ask the RFP administrator. It is better to ask permission than beg forgiveness.

Using the Bonfire Portal Milwaukee County (bonfirehub.com)

Bonfire Vendor Support (gobonfire.com)

Vendor Registration and Submission [VIDEO] – Bonfire Vendor Support (gobonfire.com)

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