3-RFQ 26-1-14601 Vol 1 Instructions to Bidders.pdf

Agency for Community Transit Cafeteria Plan Administration Services No. 26-1-14601

Instructions to Bidders Page 1 of 5

VOLUME 1 INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDER

IB 1. Invitation The Agency for Community Transit (hereinafter “Owner”) is soliciting quotes from qualified organizations who wish to provide third party café administration services for the Owner’s two employee flexible benefits plans. Both plans are intended to qualify as a “Cafeteria Plan” within the meaning of Section 125(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. The selected organization (hereinafter “Contractor”) will provide timely administration and management of the two Plans.

IB 2. Reserved

IB 3. Procurement Schedule Bidders are advised that the Owner will make a good faith effort to adhere to the following schedule for this procurement.

Date Milestone

June 30, 2026 RFQ issued

July 9, 2026 Deadline for questions, 5:00 PM Central time

July 10, 2026 Anticipated issuance of addendum with answers to questions (if any)

July 21, 2026 Bid due date at 11:00 AM Central time

August 13,2026 Anticipated Board approval to award a contract

August 18, 2026 Anticipated contract award

The Owner shall be under no obligation to comply with the procurement schedule shown above, provided that all prospective proposers or other interested parties known to Owner shall be notified equally of changes made to this schedule within a reasonable time after such changes are made. In no event shall any proposer have any redress to Owner, be it financial or otherwise, in the event that the Owner alters this schedule in any way.

IB 4. Owner Procurement Representative The Owner's designated procurement representative for this RFQ is:

Name: Thomas White Title: Project Controls Specialist

IB 5. Pre-Bid Meeting/Teleconference A pre-bid meeting/teleconference will not be conducted. All communications and questions must be submitted through the Bonfire portal.

IB 6. Obtaining Bid Documents Bid documents may be obtained through the Owner’s Bonfire portal at mct-act.bonfirehub.com. Vendors must be registered in Bonfire to download the RFQ documents; registration is free at mct-act.bonfirehub.com.

IB 7. Duration of Bid Validity Bids submitted shall remain firm for a period of 90 calendar days from the final due date for bids.

IB 8. Funding Source Any contract resulting from this RFQ will be partially funded by Madison County Transit's operating assistance grant(s) with the State of Illinois Department of Transportation.

https://mct-act.bonfirehub.com/ https://mct-act.bonfirehub.com/

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IB 9. Basis of Contract Award Subject to the Owner's rights under "Consideration of Offers," contract award, if any, will be made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder found to be the most advantageous with price and other factors considered. Acceptance of any bid for contract award will be subject to approval by the Owner’s Board of Directors.

IB 10. Type and Term of Contract This contract will be a requirements fixed unit price contract. The contract will be effective upon contract execution for services beginning January 1, 2027, and shall expire after completion of all deliverables for plan year 2029. The option years will be automatic unless the Owner advises the Contractor of their intent not to renew no later than October 1st of the prevailing contract term. Any extension of the contract term beyond plan year 2031 will only be with written approval of both parties.

IB 11. Notices Any notice required under this contract shall be in writing, dated and signed by the party giving such notice or by a duly authorized representative of such party. Notices shall not be effective unless transmitted by any method that provides confirmation of transmission and delivery.

IB 12. Entire Contract This contract constitutes the complete and entire agreement between the Owner and Contractor and supersedes any prior representations, understandings, communications, commitments, agreements or proposals, oral or written, that are not incorporated as a part of the contract.

IB 13. Deadline for Questions Questions are due in accordance with the date and time listed in Section IB 3, Procurement Schedule.

Questions and other communications must be submitted through the Bonfire portal at mct-act.bonfirehub.com.

It is the responsibility of the prospective bidder to identify and address any additional requirements or information needed to submit a bid. No special consideration shall be given to any bidder because of the proposer’s failure to be knowledgeable of all requirements after the deadline. Responses to any questions shall be similarly furnished to all prospective bidders in the summary form of an addendum to this RFQ if the lack of such information could reasonably be considered prejudicial toward uninformed bidders.

IB 14. Amendments to this Solicitation Any or all changes, additions, or clarifications in connection with this solicitation shall be issued by the Owner in the form of written addenda posted in the project file at mct-act.bonfirehub.com. Bidder must acknowledge all addenda issued as part of its submittal. Oral comments, responses and/or representations shall not be binding upon the Owner. Any addenda will be made available to all known bidders and shall become part of any resulting contract agreement.

IB 15. Bidder’s Terms and Conditions Bidder imposed terms and conditions submitted with their bid which conflict with this solicitation are considered counter offers and, as such, may cause the bid to be rejected. Terms or conditions that a bidder would like to have considered by the Owner should be submitted according to the requirements of Section IB 13, Deadline for Questions. Requests that are acceptable to the Owner will made available to all prospective bidders.

IB 16. Execution of a Contract The Solicitation, Offer and Award Form, will serve as the bidder’s offer to furnish the items and/or services as described in this solicitation and will also serve as the Owner’s award document upon acceptance. Upon contract award, the Contractor shall provide the Owner with proof of insurance in accordance with the contract terms.

https://mct-act.bonfirehub.com/

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IB 17. Responsive and Responsible Bidder All bids received in accordance with the requirements stated in this solicitation shall be screened initially in order to confirm the responsiveness of the written bid, including minimum qualifications, if any.

A responsive bid complies with all material aspects of the solicitation, both as to the method and timeliness of submission, and as to the substance of any resulting contract. The Owner shall ensure that all offers received prior to the deadline stated in the solicitation contain all required forms, signatures, attachments, and other information as specified herein. Offers that do not comply with all material aspects of the solicitation will be rejected as non-responsive.

A responsible bidder is an individual, firm or team that exhibits adequate organization, financial condition, personnel qualifications, facilities, record of past performance, and other characteristics necessary to carry out work related to this solicitation with a high degree of quality and timeliness.

IB 18. Withdrawal of Bid The Bonfire portal permits an electronically submitted bid to be withdrawn prior to the final bid deadline.

After the bid deadline, no bid may be withdrawn for the period of time stated in Solicitation and Offer Form.

Negligence on the part of a bidder in preparing its bid shall not confer a right of withdrawal after the bid deadline.

IB 19. Organizational Conflict of Interest Unless specifically exempted from the conditions of this provision by the Owner, any Owner contractor, subcontractor, subsidiary, or other entity which is legally related and which develops or drafts specifications, requirements, statements of work, or solicitations, is excluded from competing for the directly ensuing procurement.

IB 20. Owner Tax Status The Owner is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes and is therefore exempt from the payment of Retailers' Occupation Tax, Service Occupation Tax (both state and local), Use Tax, and Service Use Tax. The Owner's Illinois tax exemption identification number is E99922355 (expires 02/01/2029).

IB 21. Law Governing Bidder shall recognize that all applicable Federal and State laws, including, but not limited to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act, certifications, municipal ordinances, and rules and regulations of all authorities having jurisdiction over the services to be provided shall apply to the Contract throughout, and they will be deemed to be included in the Contract the same as though herein written out in full. All matters of law pertaining to this Contract shall be governed by, and construed according to, the laws of the State of Illinois, excluding, however, choice of laws principles.

IB 22. Consideration of Offers The Owner shall not be obligated to award a contract solely on the basis of any response made to this solicitation, nor does the Owner intend to, nor will it be obligated to pay for the information solicited or obtained. The Owner maintains the right, but shall be under no obligation, to award a contract to the responsive and responsible bidder whose offer is deemed by the Owner to be most advantageous. The Owner reserves the right:

a) To reject any offer and to remove from mailing lists for future procurements the names of any firm or team engaging in collusive or other unlawful practices.

b) To award contract(s) without discussion based upon the initial offers.

c) To waive informalities and minor irregularities in bids received if it believes there is a sound documented business reason for doing so, and to request clarifications or responsibility information when doing so does not permit a Bidder to materially alter its bid or gain an unfair competitive advantage.

d) To reject any offer if, in the Owner's sole discretion, the offer is incomplete, the offer is not responsive to the requirements of this solicitation, the bidder does not meet the qualification

Instructions to Bidders Page 4 of 5 requirements set forth herein, if any, or it is otherwise determined to be in the best interest of the Owner to reject the offer.

e) To supplement, amend, substitute, or otherwise modify the terms of this solicitation at any time prior to the execution of a final contract.

f) To accept or reject any or all of the items in any offer and award a contract for the whole or only a part of any offer if the Owner determines, in its sole discretion, that it is in the Owner's best interest to do so.

g) To reject the offer of any bidder that, in the Owner's sole judgment, has been delinquent or unfaithful in the performance of any contract with the Owner, is financially or technically incapable, or is otherwise deemed to not be a responsible bidder.

h) To waive any informality, defect, non-responsiveness and/or deviation from this solicitation that is not, in the Owner's sole judgment, material to the offer.

i) To permit or reject, at the Owner's sole discretion, amendments (including information inadvertently omitted), modifications, alterations, and/or corrections to offers by one or more of the bidders following bid submission.

j) To request additional or clarifying information.

k) To investigate the qualifications of any and all individuals and firms under consideration, to confirm any part of the information furnished in an offer, and to require further evidence of managerial, financial, or professional capabilities which are considered necessary for the successful performance of work described in this solicitation.

l) To cancel the procurement at any time during the process if it appears that the offers received are not suitable for any reason whatsoever.

m) To reject offers that are materially unbalanced, i.e., that contain high unit prices for some items and/or low unit prices for other items.

n) To evaluate offers based on unit prices which will govern over extended prices.

o) To award this contract to a single or multiple service providers deemed to best meet the Owner’s specifications and needs.

p) To award tie bids by drawing lots.

IB 23. Representations and Certifications By responding to this solicitation with a bid, the bidder certifies the following:

a) It has no direct or indirect pecuniary or proprietary interest, and that it shall not acquire any interest which conflicts in any manner or degree with the work required to be performed and/or provided under this contract, and that it shall not employ any person or agent having any such interest. In the event that the successful bidder, its agents, employees or representatives hereafter acquire such a conflict of interest, the successful bidder shall immediately disclose such interest to the Owner and immediately take action to eliminate the conflict or to withdraw from this contract, as the Owner may require.

b) No person or selling agency except bona fide employees or designated agents or representatives of bidder has been employed or retained to solicit or secure this contract with an understanding that a commission, percentage, brokerage, or contingent fee would be paid; and no gratuities in the form of entertainment, gifts or otherwise were offered or given by bidder or any of its agents, employees or representatives, to any official, member or employee of the Owner or other governmental agency with a view toward securing this contract or securing favorable treatment with respect to the awarding or amending, or the making of any determination with respect to the performance required under, a contract with the Owner.

c) The number and amount of other contracts and awards pending which the bidder is or will be obligated to perform, now and during the course of this project, will not interfere with or hinder the timely prosecution of work.

d) The bid price has been arrived at independently, without consultation, communications, or agreement for the purpose of restricting competition.

e) It has not offered any money or other valuable thing to any person to induce them not to bid on this project, or as recompense for not having bid on this project.

f) The bidder is properly organized and qualified to do business in the State of Illinois and has any and all approvals, registration, and licenses to do business in the State and with the Owner and that the person executing the bid on behalf of the bidder is the duly authorized representative of the bidder and has the requisite authority to do so.

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g) It acknowledges receipt of the RFQ documents directly from the Owner; other sources are invalid.

h) It has examined the bidding documents and It will accomplish the work in accordance with the contract.

i) It has read and understands the terms and conditions set forth in this solicitation and agrees to them with no exceptions.

IB 24. Protest Procedures Any protest initiated by a protesting party concerning procurement actions will be administered in accordance with the agency's Protest Procedures, which are available at www.mct.org/procurement.

IB 25. Owner Treatment of Proprietary/Confidential Information Access to Madison County Transit government records is governed by the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1). Except as otherwise required to be disclosed by applicable law, the Owner will exempt from disclosure proprietary information identified in the bid, subject to the Owner's determination and applicable law.

The Owner shall employ sound business practices no less diligent than those used for the Owner's own confidential information to protect the confidence of all licensed technology, documentation, drawings, schematics, manuals, data and other information and material provided by Bidders and the Contractor pursuant to the Contract that contain confidential commercial or financial information, trade secrets or proprietary information as defined in or pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act against disclosure of such information and material to third parties, except as permitted by the Contract. The bidder shall be responsible for ensuring that confidential commercial or financial information, trade secrets or proprietary information - with such determinations to be made by the Owner in its sole discretion - bears appropriate notices relating to its confidential character.

[End of document] http://www.mct.org/procurement