3-Invitation and Requirements.pdf

INVITATION

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD invites your firm to submit a Response. If you are interested in submitting a Response, please adhere to the Project Details as outlined in Bonfire.

Vendors shall pay particular attention to all PROJECT DETAILS, IMPORTANT EVENTS, SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION, REQUESTED INFORMATION and MESSAGES indicated in Bonfire and should govern themselves accordingly.

In accepting Responses, The Harris Center reserves the right to reject any and all Responses, to waive formalities and reasonable irregularities in submitted documents, and to waive any requirements in order to take the action, which it deems to be in the best interest of The Harris Center, and is not obligated to accept the lowest response.

At the time and place established for receipt of the Responses, The Harris Center will only release the names of the Vendors that have responded to this solicitation. No other information will be released until after The Harris Center’s Evaluation Team has evaluated the Responses, and an award has been made and approved by Executive Staff and The Harris Center’s Board of Trustees.

We greatly appreciate your efforts and look forward to reviewing your submission.

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD

SECTION I – OVERVIEW

Background and Objectives

It shall be the Mission of The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, to transform the lives of people with behavioral health and IDD needs.

It shall be the Vision of The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, to empower people with behavioral health and IDD needs to improve their lives through an accessible, integrated and comprehensive recovery-oriented system of care.

The Eight Values of The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD are collaboration, compassion, excellence, integrity, leadership, quality, responsiveness and safety.

The Harris Center is the state-designated Local Mental Health Authority and Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) Authority serving Harris County, Texas. As the largest behavioral and developmental disability care center in Texas, The Harris Center provided care to over 96,000 people in fiscal year 2023 and has an annual budget of over $370 million.

As part of its mission to transform the lives of people with behavioral health and IDD needs in the third largest county in the United States, The Harris Center provides a full continuum of services at more than 85 different sites across Harris County. In addition, services are provided in more than 42 different languages as well as sign language in order to better serve what is one of the most diverse and multi-cultural communities in the nation.

By utilizing the unique expertise of its more than 2,600 employees, The Harris Center is committed to meeting the behavioral health and IDD needs of Harris County residents and giving them hope to live to their fullest potential.

The Harris Center is now a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). This accomplishment helps pursue our goal to become the most innovative health system in the country. Being a CCBHC enables The Harris Center to better provide a comprehensive range of mental health and substance use disorder services, and other person-centered care to vulnerable individuals.

As a key goal of our Agency’s Strategic Plan to continuously improve our care quality, we worked tirelessly to achieve Certification by the Commission On Accreditation Of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). This accreditation is official recognition that an organization is guided by internationally recognized service standards and best practices. The Harris Center received a 3-year accreditation from CARF International for all the programs surveyed.

SECTION II - GENERAL INFORMATION

A. Non-Discrimination Policy Statement

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD does not discriminate against any individual or Contractor with respect to his/her compensation, terms, conditions, or award of contract because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, or limit segregate, or classify candidates for award of contract in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual or company of business opportunities or otherwise adversely affect status as a Vendor because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or political affiliation

B. Immigration Reform and Control Act

The successful Vendor shall provide appropriate identification and employment eligibility documents and complete a W-9 form to meet requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

C. Guarantee/Award Procedure

It is anticipated that a recommendation for award for this will be made no more than ninety (90) days after the DUE DATE. All interested parties are required to guarantee their response as an irrevocable offer valid for One Hundred Twenty (120) days after the due date. The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD in its sole and absolute discretion shall have the right to award for any or all items/services listed in each solicitation , shall have the right to reject any and all Responses as it deems to be in its best interests, to waive formalities and reasonable irregularities in submitted documents, shall not be bound to accept the lowest Response and shall be allowed to accept the total of any one vendor.

D. Permits

Any and all permits as required by authorities having jurisdiction; local, state, county, and/or federal, are the total responsibility of the interested parties/Vendor and must be obtained prior to commencement of any work or service.

Any and all expense/cost related to obtaining required permits is the sole responsibility of the Vendor.

E. Payments

Vendor is to submit properly completed invoice(s) to the address specified in the contract. To ensure prompt payment, each invoice should indicate purchase order number, description of service provided, cost centers provided by the agency (if applicable), unit and total price, any discount terms and include vendor's name and return remittance address.

F. Price Adjustments

Vendor will be required to honor their Response prices for the term of the contract period.

G. Direct or Indirect Assignment

The successful vendor will not be permitted to directly or indirectly assign its rights and duties under the contract without express approval by The Harris Center.

SECTION III – STIPULATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

A. Modification or Withdrawal of Submissions

Any Submissions may be modified or withdrawn prior to the deadline, provided such modification or withdrawal is submitted prior to the deadline. Any modification received after the deadline shall be deemed late and will not be considered.

B. Offer and Acceptance Period

All Responses must be an irrevocable offer valid for one hundred twenty (120) days after the Solicitation opening date.

C. Late Request

Any Responses received after the stated deadline shall be deemed late and will not be considered. All times listed in the Solicitation are Central Standard Time (CST).

D. Irregularities in Request

Except as otherwise stated in this Request for Solicitation, evaluation of all responses will be based solely upon information contained in the Vendor's response to this Solicitation. The Harris Center shall not be held responsible for errors, omissions or oversights in any Vendor's response to this Solicitation. The Harris Center may waive technical irregularities, which do not alter the price or quality of the services.

The Harris Center shall have the right to reject Responses containing a statement, representation, warranty or certification which is determined by The Harris Center and its counsel to be materially false, incorrect, misleading or incomplete. Additionally, any errors, omissions, or oversights of a material nature may constitute grounds for rejection of any Response.

The inability of a Vendor to provide one or more of the required components or specified features or capabilities required by this Solicitation does not, in and of itself, preclude acceptance by The Harris Center of the Response. All responses will be evaluated as a whole in the best interests of The Harris Center.

E. Oral or Web Presentations

Any Vendor that submits a response to this request may be required to make an oral presentation or a web presentation for further clarification upon The Harris Center’s request.

F. Amendments

If it becomes necessary to revise any part of this Solicitation package or if additional information is necessary to clarify any provision, the revision and/or additional information will be provided to each Vendor via Bonfire .

G. Availability

After opening, each Response, except those portions for which a Vendor has included a written request for confidentially (e.g., proprietary information), shall be open to public inspection.

H. Retention of Responses

All Responses considered by The Harris Center shall become the property of The Harris Center and shall not be returned.

I. Incurred Expenses

The Harris Center shall not be responsible for expenses incurred by a Vendor in the preparation and submission of a Response. This provision also includes any costs involved in providing an oral presentation of the Response.

J. Locations

The Harris Center has various locations throughout Harris County.

K. Subcontractors

All provisions and/or stipulations within this Solicitation also apply to any authorized subcontractors.

L. Pricing

Each Vendor shall provide Pricing responses through Bonfire. Pricing responses provided shall be in the format requested in Bonfire.

M. Licensure

The Vendors shall submit, with their Response, a copy of any license(s), certification(s), registration(s), etc. as required by authorities having jurisdiction; local, state, county, and/or federal for the Vendors to operate.

N. Service Requirements

Work shall be completed in a coordinated manner that will be the least disruptive to the owner’s ongoing operation.

O. Conflict of Interest Provision

The conflict of interest provision is applicable, in that contractors who develop or draft specifications, requirements, statements of work and/or Solicitations for procurement shall be excluded from bidding or submitting a response to compete for the award of such procurement.

P. Texas Public Information Act

All information contained in the solicitation packet is subject to the Texas Public Information Act (the Act), located in the Texas Government Code, Chapter 552. Any member of the public, including the news media and competitors, may submit an open records request for the information contained in the solicitation packet. Subject to the Act, Proposers may protect trade secret and confidential information from public release. All information the proposer believes to be confidential, a trade secret or proprietary information must clearly mark such information in boldface type and include the word “CONFIDENTIAL”, “PROPRIETARY” or “TRADE SECRET” at the top of every applicable page. Proposers should consult with their legal counsel regarding disclosure issues and take the appropriate precautions to safeguard trade secrets, proprietary information or other confidential documents.

Offerors are cautioned that once a response to a solicitation is opened, all information contained therein will be available to the PUBLIC unless the information is excepted from the requirements of Government Code Section 552 pertaining to Open Records.

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD cannot guarantee that it will not be compelled to disclose all or part of any proposal/RFP, since the information deemed to be confidential by the Proposer may not be considered confidential under Texas law or pursuant to a court order. In the event The Harris Center receives a request for portions or all of a response packet marked “confidential’, “trade secret” or “proprietary”, then The Harris Center will forward the request to the office of the Texas Attorney General. The Harris Center will notify the proposer whose response is subject to the request. The Harris Center for Mental Health & IDD will assume no obligation for asserting legal arguments on behalf of the Proposer. Proposers are solely responsible for submitting a brief and the documents in issue to the Texas Attorney General. At all times, The Harris Center will comply with the provisions of the Texas Public Information Act as required by State law. The Harris Center must comply with the decision of the Attorney General, including decisions to release information marked “CONFIDENTIAL”, “TRADE SECRET” or

“PROPRIETARY”.