2627-01 RFI CS_Mediation.pdf

State of Florida

Department of Financial Services

Request for Information (RFI)

RFI No.: 2627-01 RFI CS

Mediation Services to Address Workload Increases Resulting from Natural and other Disasters

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITVE BID, PROPOSAL, OR REPLY AND NO

CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Division of Consumer Services (DCS) within the Department of Financial Services is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) as defined in section 287.012(22), Florida Statutes, exploring the feasibility of having a vendor maintain a pool of qualified professional mediators available to take on cases in excess of those that can be timely serviced by the DCS’s approved mediators. This is not a solicitation. An RFI is used as a fact-finding resource.

II. BACKGROUND

The DCS manages a mediation program that assigns eligible mediators to conduct conferences for residential property, commercial residential property, automobile, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) as referenced in the following Florida Statutes (F.S.) and Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.).

Residential: 627.7015 F.S., Rule 69J-166.031, F.A.C.

Commercial Residential: 627.7015 F.S., Rule 69J-166.002, F.A.C.

Auto: 627.745 F.S., Rule 69J-176.022. F.A.C.

CCRC: 651.123 F.S., Rule 69O-193.062, F.A.C.

III. GOAL

The DCS strives to provide prompt, effective service to Florida’s insurance consumers. The DCS is interested in ensuring that the Mediation program has sufficient capacity to meet any future demand for its services, particularly resulting from hurricanes or other natural disasters, to be prepared for any unexpected increase in mediation requests. For this purpose, the DCS is exploring the feasibility of having a vendor maintain a pool of qualified professional mediators available to take on cases in excess of those that can be timely serviced by the DCS’s approved mediators.

The DCS envisions a pool of qualified professional mediators that could be assigned cases when the workload exceeds what can reasonably and timely be handled by the process of DCS-assigned mediators. Such mediators would augment the capacity of the DCS’s non-adversarial mediation program to facilitate the effective, fair, and timely handling of insurance claims disputes that follow property damage caused by disasters. No State funds will be used for the augmented mediation capacity; rather, all costs will be paid on a per-case basis by insurance companies whose insureds utilize the DCS’s mediation program.

The DCS seeks information from vendors that would describe how vendors would propose to offer such services, the capacity of the vendor’s pool of mediators, proposed cost of such services, and any other information the responding vendor wishes the DCS to consider.

IV. PURPOSE OF AN RFI

Pursuant to Rule 60A-1.042of the Florida Administrative Code, an agency may request information from the business community by issuing a written RFI. Agencies may use a RFI to determine whether to competitively procure commodities or contractual services; which solicitation process to use for a particular need; or to determine general, special, and/or technical specifications to be included in a solicitation. A vendor’s response to an RFI is not an offer and shall not be used to justify a contract with that vendor without otherwise complying with chapter 287, Florida Statutes, and Rule 60A-1, F.A.C. Vendors submitting a response to an agency’s RFI are not prohibited from responding to any related subsequent solicitation.

Any future purchase of the services will be conducted in accordance with chapter 287, F.S. The Department may use response(s) to this RFI to prepare one (1) or more competitive solicitations and as the basis for any subsequent vendor meetings.

V. PROCUREMENT OFFICER

Becky Hale, Government Analyst II Department of Financial Services Email: DFSpurchasing@myfloridacfo.com

This contact person is the only authorized individual to respond to RFI comments and questions. If you contact any other individual within the Department, your response will be excluded from review.

VI. RFI PROCESS

Vendor responses to this RFI will be reviewed by the Department for informational purposes only and will not result in the award of a contract. The Department will review the responses to determine the feasibility of issuing a competitive solicitation. Any request for cost information is for budgetary purposes only. If necessary, the Department may ask to hold presentations with one (1) or more of the responding vendors. Responding to this RFI does not prevent a vendor from being eligible to contract with another agency pursuant to section 287.057(19)(c), F.S., and does not guarantee any respondent a contract.

VII. RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

Vendor responses should be organized in tabbed sections as indicated below. DO NOT

INCLUDE MARKETING LITERATURE AS PART OF YOUR RESPONSE.

VIII. RESPONSE FORMAT

1. Tab 1 – Introduction:

Provide a cover letter including the vendor’s primary point of contact for this RFI and their contact information (name, title, address, telephone number(s) and email address).

2. Tab 2 – Requested Information and Responses:

Responses to this RFI should provide information describing how the vendor would propose to offer such services, the capacity of the vendor’s pool of mediators, proposed cost of such services, and any other information the responding vendor wishes the DCS to consider.

IX. RESPONSE SUBMISSION

Please submit an electronic copy of your response, via email, to the Procurement Officer identified in Section V. Responses should be received by the Department no later than the time and date noted in Section XIII, Timeline.

Responses must reference the RFI No.: 2627-01 RFI CS in the subject line of the email response submission.

mailto:DFSpurchasing@myfloridacfo.com

The vendor should include a redacted copy of the original response, if applicable. See Section XIV, below.

X. QUESTIONS AND ANSWER PERIOD

Questions regarding this RFI shall be submitted in writing via email to the Procurement Office identified in Section V by the date and time specified in Section XIII below or as amended by the Department. Questions will not be answered by telephone. The Department will post answers to questions received on the Vendor Information Portal (VIP) by the date and time specified in the timeline below.

XI. ADDENDA OR CHANGES TO THE RFI

The Department reserves the right to make changes to this RFI by posting addenda on the VIP.

It is the vendor’s responsibility to check for any posted addenda on the VIP.

XII. TIMELINE

The following timeline details the dates and times that tasks should be completed during this RFI process. This timeline will be strictly adhered to in all actions relative to this RFI. If the Department finds it necessary to update any of the dates and times, it will issue an addendum to the RFI. All times listed below are in Eastern Time (ET) in Tallahassee, Florida.

Timeline Event Date

Event Time Location

Release of RFI 9/18/2026 NA Posted on VIP Submission of Written Questions

10/1/2026 5:00 P.M. DFSPurchasing@myfloridacfo.com

Answers to Submitted Questions

10/15/2026 5:00 P.M. Posted to VIP

Responses due to the Procurement Officer

10/29/2026 5:00 PM DFSPurchasing@myfloridacfo.com

XIII. DISCLOSURE OF RESPONSE CONTENTS

All documentation submitted as a response to the RFI will become the exclusive property of the Department and will not be returned to the vendor. Responses received by the Department may be disclosed pursuant to a public records request.

XIV. CONFIDENTIAL RESPONSES MATERIALS AND REDACTED SUBMISSIONS

If your company considers any portion of the documents, data, or records submitted in response to this RFI to be trade secret, in order to preserve the confidentiality of the material, you must clearly mark the document as “Trade Secret” and simultaneously provide the Department with a separate, redacted copy with only the trade secret portions of the document redacted and a brief description of the grounds for claiming exemption from public disclosure, including the specific statutory citation for the exemption.

mailto:DFSPurchasing@myfloridacfo.com mailto:DFSPurchasing@myfloridacfo.com

In the event of a public records request, request for production, subpoena, or other demand for records, to which documents that are marked as “Trade Secret” are responsive, the Department will provide the redacted copy to the requestor. If a requestor asserts a right to the trade secret information, the Department will notify the vendor that such an assertion has been made prior to releasing the information (unless or otherwise prohibited by applicable law or court order).

It is the vendor’s responsibility to assert that the information in question is exempt from disclosure under chapter 119, F.S., or other applicable law. The vendor is responsible for defending its determination that the redacted portions of its documents, data, or records are trade secret.

By submitting a response to this RFI, the vendor agrees to protect, defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Department for any and all claims arising from or relating to the vendor’s determination that the redacted portions of its response are trade secret.

If the vendor fails to mark material as “Trade Secret” or fails to submit a redacted copy of information it claims is trade secret, the Department is authorized to produce, in their entirety, all documents, data, and records submitted to the Department in answer to a public records request, request for production, subpoena, or other demand for records without notice to the vendor.

XV. VENDOR COSTS

Vendors are responsible for all costs associated with the preparation, submission, and any potential meeting to discuss this RFI. The State of Florida, Department, or the Division will not be responsible for any vendor-related costs associated with responding to this RFI.

XVI. SPECIAL ACCOMMONDATIONS

Any person requiring special accommodation due to a disability should contact the Department’s Procurement Officer. Requests for accommodation for meetings must be made at least five (5) business days prior to the meeting. A person who is hearing or speech impaired can contact the Procurement Office by using the Florida Relay Services at (800) 955-8771

(TDD).