285-20250514081050 ICC.pdf

ITAWAMBA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

FULTON, MISSISSIPPI

ADVERTISEMENT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Itawamba Community College will receive sealed bids in the Business Office, 602 West Hill Street, Fulton, MS 38843 or electronic bids may be submitted through Central Bidding www.centralauctionhouse.com until 2:00 p.m., CST on June 26, 2025, at which time they will be publicly opened.

Benefit Plan Administrator

RFP #3494

Itawamba Community College 602 West Hill Street Fulton, MS 38843

RFP documents may be obtained from:

Human Resources Office

Itawamba Community College Fulton, Mississippi, 38843

Phone: 662.862.8460 Email: tcsenter@iccms.edu

OR

Central Bidding Website www.centralauctionhouse.com

A deposit is not required by either method to obtain RFP documents. Bid preparation will be in accordance with instructions to bidders in this bid document. Itawamba Community College reserves the right to waive irregularities and to reject any and all bids.

Schedule of Events May 27, 2025 First Advertisement June 3, 2025 Second Advertisement June 11, 2025 Q&A Session w/Vendors June 16, 2025 Last Date for Questions June 18, 2025 All Answers for Questions Will Be Provided June 26, 2025 Receive Proposals July 21-25, 2025 Proposal Presentations (if deemed necessary) July 28-August 8, 2025 Selection of Proposal August 11, 2025 Award to Successful Bidder

ICC reserves the right to alter the dates of selection and award as needed.

All questions and correspondence should be submitted in writing to tcsenter@iccms.edu with the subject line containing RFP 3494.

http://www.centralauctionhouse.com/ mailto:tcsenter@iccms.edu http://www.centralauctionhouse.com/ mailto:tcsenter@iccms.edu

Scope of Services Itawamba Community College (ICC) is requesting proposals for services outlined in “Exhibit A.”

Term of Contract The contract term will be for one (1) plan year with an option to extend for four (4) additional years in one-year increments (for a total of five (5) years). Renewal is subject to the availability of appropriate funds and satisfactory performance of the contracted vendor. ICC’s plan year is January 1-December 31.

Open enrollment is throughout the month of October. At the point of award, a transition and consultation period will begin and carry through December 31, 2025.

Submittal of Sealed Proposals All proposal responses must be submitted no later than 2:00 P.M. CDT, June 26, 2025. Itawamba Community College will not accept or consider any response received after this date. Sealed proposals must be submitted in one of the following ways:

Physical Submission: Includes (1) one complete signed hard copy and a nonreturnable flash drive of the proposal to:

BUSINESS OFFICE

ITAWAMBA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

602 WEST HILL STREET

FULTON, MS 38843

*Mark all envelopes with the Title of Proposal, “Benefits Plan Administrator” and the Proposal Number

(RFP 3494)

OR

Electronic Submission: Electronic submission can be provided to the college via Central Bidding at https://www.centralauctionhouse.com

The submitted proposal shall not be greater than 30 pages total.

Proposals submitted by any other method than described above will not be accepted. Proposals shall be firm for ninety days (90) days from the date of the bid opening. Deposit of a proposal into the mail or delivery to a different person or address does not constitute proposal submission unless the proposal is in fact received at the above address by the time stated. Proposals that are hand-delivered must be submitted to the above address by the foregoing date and time.

The parties submitting proposals are responsible for ensuring that they are delivered by the required time and assume all risks of delivery. Proposals and modification/corrections thereof, received after the closing time specified will not be considered. Any proposal received subsequent to the specified date and time will not be opened and will be returned to the prospective contractor unopened.

The college reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals and to waive any informalities in bidding.

Force Majeure Event: If the college is closed for any reason and prevents the opening of bids at the advertised date and time, all bids received shall be publicly opened on the next business day that the college shall be open and at the previously advertised time.

https://www.centralauctionhouse.com/

Proposal Make UP The Proposal Response Form “Exhibit C” must be completed and submitted with sealed proposals.

Proposals submitted without the Proposal Response Form will not be considered.

Proposals are to be submitted with appropriate certification signatures as indicated and include descriptions of the information requested throughout the document.

A company official with the authorization to bind the respondent to proposed products and services must sign the proposal response.

Receipt of completed proposal responses by ICC does not bind ICC in any way to subsequently enter into business with any of the respondents nor guarantee the bidder an interview with the evaluation committee.

Proposal specifications: Each prospective submitter shall provide a cover letter (which shall be no more than two (2) pages) with their proposal, and shall include, at a minimum, the company name, description of the firm, the legal company organization, primary contact name, phone numbers(s), physical address, and email address.

The submitter must provide one (1) copy of their proposal. A representative who can legally bind the company to a commitment in the future must sign the letter. The proposal itself must be submitted on 8½ x 11 paper. Prospective respondents shall attach proof of registration with the Mississippi Secretary of State (to do business in the state) and the Mississippi Department of Insurance (licensed to do business in Mississippi). Finally, the response form found in “Exhibit C” of this request must be attached to the cover letter.

The submitted proposal shall not be greater than 30 pages total.

RFP Q&A Conference Call To facilitate the RFP process for vendors, ICC will hold one open session for vendor Q&A. This session, which is scheduled for June 11, 2025 at 2:00 p.m., will be a Zoom Call. Participation in the Zoom call is not mandatory to submit a proposal.

Interested parties who plan to participate in the call should email tcsenter@iccms.edu to receive the Zoom Call login information.

All questions and answers from the conference call will be made available in writing to all bidding vendors.

Submission of Questions All questions pertaining to this RFP must be submitted in writing via email to tcsenter@iccms.edu by 4:30 P.M. CDT on Monday, June 16, 2025. Questions submitted after this date and time will not be considered.

Responses by ICC to the questions submitted will be sent to all parties via email by 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.

Exhibit A

Scope of Work Benefits Plan Administrator RFP #3494

Itawamba Community College (ICC) is requesting proposals for a licensed agent to serve as its Benefits Plan Administrator. ICC’s intent is to have one benefits plan administrator who provides various voluntary insurance products and conducts the administration, including the compliance of the Section 125 Cafeteria plan. Current product offerings and participation is described later in this document.

ICC is a public entity that employs approximately 415 full-time employees. See “Exhibit B” for statistical/demographic employee data.

All proposal material submitted to ICC shall become the property of ICC. Expenses associated with the development and delivery of proposals shall be borne solely by respondents and shall not be chargeable to ICC. Any information provided in the proposal which shall be considered proprietary or confidential should be marked on said page in the footer section of the page as such or will be subject to potential public disclosure. If a page does not have proprietary or confidential markings in the footer section, the page will not be considered so and subject to potential public disclosure.

ICC reserves the right to request additional information including, but not limited to, evidence of financial ability to perform the requested services as ICC deems necessary to evaluate submitter’s proposal. If necessary, ICC may obtain information about the prospective proposer’s ability to meet requirements through an onsite review and/or in-person interview with presentation. An in-person interview may include questions by ICC staff and a presentation by the proposing party outlining their plan for performing the required services. Failure to provide such additional requests may result in rejection of submitter’s proposal.

ICC will consider all proposals for an initial one-year agreement beginning January 1, 2026 and shall have, in its own discretion, the option to extend this contact period on a year-to-year basis for a total of 5 years, with the mutual assent of the parties.

This agreement will include a transition and consultation period from the point of selection through December 31, 2025. During this time, the college will work with the successful bidder, to prepare for the initial year to include, but not limited to, implementation and execution of open enrollment and setting up administrative procedures.

ICC will evaluate the proposal responses to the eight areas of requested information listed at the end of this exhibit (Exhibit A). The Benefits Plan Administrator Evaluation Committee may, in their sole discretion, request that respondents present their proposals in person as noted above. If interviews are requested, the selection of bidders to interview will be at the sole discretion of the Benefits Plan Administrator Evaluation Committee. If requested, ICC will inform the applicable respondents of their assigned time to present to the Benefits Plan Administrator Evaluation Committee via email. ICC reserves the right to interview as many bidders needed to evaluate the proposals. All bidders may not be interviewed.

The final score will be determined according to the degree of compliance with the responsibilities and requirements in this request.

Each insurance product must be provided by an insurance company or companies licensed by the Mississippi Department of Insurance to do business in Mississippi.

Employees and their dependents that currently have coverage of the same type proposed by the successful bidder should have the option to be “rolled over” to the new product, guaranteed issue and no waiting period requirement. In addition, new enrollees and dependents that enroll in any of the proposed coverages during open enrollment 2025 will be guaranteed issue and no waiting period requirement. New hire employees and dependents should be guaranteed issue provided they enroll within thirty days of hire.

Current Policies The following products represent current offerings of ICC’s Cafeteria plan; therefore, the Benefits Plan Administrator is responsible for proposing the following supplemental insurance products, including, but not limited to:

Accident Basic Life ($10,000 policy for all full-time employees, employer paid) Cancer Critical Illness Dental Dependent Care Spending Account Disability Flexible Spending Account (FSA) with front loaded card Hospital Gap Vision Voluntary Term Life Whole Life

Some of these products may not be selected for the final offering at enrollment.

Provide your company’s access to comparable products not standardly offered by your company and provide any additional products you would recommend offering.

Evaluation Criteria Include in your proposal a response to the following. These responses should be clearly identifiable in your proposal:

1. Relevant Experience and References, Evaluation Criteria Weight of 10%: State your experience, in general, as a Benefits Plan Administrator and a Cafeteria Plan Administrator and list which entities within the State of Mississippi you currently provide services to. You may also provide any past entities you no longer serve should you feel they are relevant. You must furnish with the proposal a listing of at least three (3) references. Two (2) of the references should be current contracts or those awarded during the last three years. These references should be familiar with the proposer’s abilities in the areas involved with this request and consist of Federal, State or Local Government entities. The list shall include the name and telephone number of the reference. ICC will use these references to evaluate the prospective contractor’s ability to perform the services. Points may be deducted if ICC is not able to reach all three (3) references after reasonable attempts.

2. Open Enrollment Methods, Evaluation Criteria Weight of 15%: Describe your methods of conducting open enrollment and how you would enroll the College’s estimated 415 employees. Describe any technology you would use and provide two (2) references where you have similarly executed this type of service. The references may be the same as provided in question 1.

The College is interested in researching multiple avenues for employees to enroll in their insurance coverages, including but not limited to: face-to-face, electronically unassisted and electronically assisted.

3. Fees/Billing Invoice, Evaluation Criteria Weight of 35%: Provide a breakdown of all fees and expenses (if any) that will be billed to ICC as its Benefits Plan Administrator as well as the capability of having a “one invoice” method to submit to ICC. Also, describe your experience and/or ability in the consolidation, reconciliation and/or streamlining of monthly invoice processing from multiple vendors. Provide a sample of your invoice.

The College is interested in researching having one invoice for all coverages under the Plan Administrator’s umbrella, including one representative/system contact for when changes occur.

4. Educational Material and Servicing the Account, Evaluation Criteria Weight 15%: If selected, how will you educate the College’s employees on the benefits and services you will provide. Examples: having personnel available to make person-to-person presentations, conducting Q&A sessions, providing plan booklets, etc. This should relate to open enrollment, new hire onboarding and annual education. Describe and provide a sample of what the employee will receive once they have completed an enrollment with your company?

Lastly, describe the methods in which employees may submit, review and receive status updates on claims.

5. Consultant Period, Evaluation Criteria Weight of 15%: Provide a detailed plan of action and any other requirements needed for changing its coverage from its current status to one comprehensive plan. Include timelines and information/data that will be required for ICC to have one comprehensive plan up and fully functional. Provide your company’s ability and willingness to serve in the transition and consultation period at the point of bidder selection to December 31, 2025.

6. Confidential Information, Evaluation Criteria Weight of 5%: State your ability and guarantee to maintain confidentiality of agency information as well as employee information as is related to HIPAA law

7. Other, Evaluation Criteria Weight of 5%: Describe any services or benefits that have yet to be mentioned that your company will provide.

8. Assigned Agent, No Evaluation Weight Criteria Assigned: In addition to the questions above, state the name of the assigned agent to the College’s account that would serve as first point of contact for questions from employees or the employer, including filing claims.

Exhibit B

Itawamba Community College Statistical Data as of 3/28/2025

GENDER BREAKDOWN

Male – 169 Female – 246 Total Employees = 415 Full-time

AGE RANGE BREAKDOWN

AGE Male Female Age 30 and under 33 35 31 – 35 22 30 36 – 40 8 31 41 – 45 24 27 46 – 50 27 33 51 – 55 18 40 56 – 60 19 23 61 – 65 16 21 66 – 70 2 6 71 plus 0 0

VOLUNTARY PRODUCT PARTICIPATION (With No. of Participants)

Accident 136 Cancer 168 Critical Illness 101 Dental 259 Dependent Care 0 Flexible Spending Account (FSA) 59 Hospital Gap 80 Disability 283 Vision 258 Voluntary Term Life 59 Basic Life ($10,000) 413 Whole Life 94

Exhibit C

PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORM

By signing below, we hereby submit the attached proposal for the Benefits Plan Administrator for Itawamba Community College as outlined in this request. Furthermore, by signing this Proposal Response Form, we acknowledge and agree to be bound by terms included within this Request.

COMPANY NAME: ___________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS: __________________________________________________________________________

(Principal place of business)

AUTHORIZED RESPONDENT NAME: ___________________________________________________

SIGNATURE: _____________________________________________

TELEPHONE NUMBER:_________________________________________

EMAIL: __________________________________________________

DATE PREPARED: ________________________________________