4-JG26-05-RFP TPA - Workers Compensation.doc

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Third Party Administrator – Worker’s Compensation Solicitation #: JG26-05-RFP

This Request for Proposals (RFP), having been determined to be the appropriate procurement method to provide the best value to the Granite School District (“GSD” or “District”). The RFP is designed to provide interested offerors with sufficient basic information to submit proposals meeting minimum requirements but is not intended to limit a proposal's content or exclude any relevant or essential data. Offerors are at liberty and are encouraged to expand upon the specifications to evidence service capability under any agreement. GSD will not be liable for any cost’s proposers may incur in the preparation or presentation of this proposal.

No contact is to be had with any district employees or Board of Education members during the RFP process through contract award regarding the RFP. Contact is to be made through the Purchasing Department only.

This RFP is issued in accordance with State of Utah Procurement Code, Utah Code Annotated (UCA) Chapter 63G-6a, and applicable Rules found in the Utah Administrative Code (UAC). If any provision of this RFP conflicts with the UCA or UAC, the UCA or UAC will take precedence.

I. PURPOSE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

The purpose of this Request for Proposal, hereinafter referred to as RFP, is to solicit sealed, competitive proposals from qualified firms to provide Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administration (“TPA”) for Granite School District’s self-insured workers’ compensation program. The firm hereinafter will be referred to as the Company and Granite School District as GSD.

II. BACKGROUND

GSD intends to contract with a well-established and fully qualified firm to provide TPA services for the District’s Workers’ Compensation program. District employees provide services in professional, classified, secretarial, labor, transportation, and other education-related capacities.

When injuries occur, GSD expects its TPA to treat District employees with respect and consideration, provide clear and essential information, answer employees’ questions, and provide the District with relevant, complete, thorough, timely, and accurate services and data.

The following is a summary of GSD’s most recent Workers’ Compensation Claims History. No guarantee of the actual service requirement is implied or expressed by this summary. Service requirements shall be determined by actual need.

Indemnity

Medical Only

III. PRIVATE

ISSUING OFFICE AND RFP REFERENCE NUMBERtc \l 1 "ISSUING OFFICE AND RFP REFERENCE NUMBER" The District’s Purchasing Department is the issuing office for this document and all subsequent addenda relating to it, on behalf of the Human Resources Department. The reference number for the transaction is Solicitation #: JG26-05-RFP. This number must be referred to on all proposals, correspondence, and documentation relating to the RFP.

NOTICE: Wherever the term bid, bidder, bidding or quote appears in this solicitation or reference is made to a bid, bidder, bidding, or quote, it shall be interpreted to mean offeror, as defined in 63G-6a-103(51), RFP, or Request for Proposals, as defined in 63G-6a-103(70) and the procurement shall be conducted subject to the provisions of 63G-6a-701-707.5

IV. PRIVATE

LENGTH OF CONTRACTtc \l 1 "LENGTH OF CONTRACT" The term of this contract will be for a period of one (1) year with the option to renew it on a year-to-year basis for up to five (5) years from starting date of the original contract. The contract will begin on February 1, 2026.

The District reserves the right to review contract(s) on a regular basis regarding performance and cost analysis and may negotiate price and service elements during the term of the contract.

V. PRIVATE

PRICE GUARANTEE PERIODtc \l 2 "PRICE GUARANTEE PERIOD" All pricing must be guaranteed for the initial term of the contract. Following the guarantee period, any request for price adjustment must be for an equal guarantee period and must be made at least 30 days prior to the effective date. Requests for price adjustment must include sufficient documentation supporting the request. Any adjustment or amendment to the contract will not be effective unless approved by the Director of Purchasing. Granite School District will be given the immediate benefit of any decrease in the market, or allowable discount.

VI. PRIVATE

STANDARD CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

tc \l 2 "STANDARD CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS" Any contract resulting from this RFP will include but not be limited to the District’s Standard Terms and Conditions (see Attachment A). Exceptions or additions to the District’s Standard Terms and Conditions are strongly discouraged.

Exceptions and additions to the Standard Terms and Conditions must be submitted with the proposal response. Exceptions, additions, service level agreements, etc. submitted after the date and time for receipt of proposals will not be considered. Website URLs, or information on website URLs must not be requested in the RFP document and must not be submitted with a proposal. URLs provided with a proposal may result in that proposal being rejected as non-responsive. URLs are also prohibited from any language included in the final contract document.

The District retains the right to refuse to negotiate on exceptions should the exceptions be excessive, not in the best interest of the District, negotiations could result in excessive costs to the district or could adversely impact existing time constraints.

If negotiations are required, contractor must provide all documents in MS Word format for redline editing. Contractor must provide the name, contact information, and access to the person(s) that will be directly involved in legal negotiations.

VII. PRIVATE

DETAILED SCOPE OF WORK

1. Provide complete administrative workers’ compensation claim services in accordance with applicable Labor Code laws and regulations, including but not limited to 24-hour reporting service access by injured employees, claims adjusting services, thorough and complete investigations for claims, utilization and bill reviews, contact with injured worker within twenty-four hours (one business day) of notice, further periodic contact with injured worker as needed, establishment of claim files within three (3) days of notice, full claim documentation in chronological order, reporting to GSD regarding non-cooperation of an employee, return of employees to work within the applicable State of Utah waiting period whenever possible and medically appropriate, and monitoring return to work and GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator regarding restrictions and release to work.

2. Determine eligibility for and authorize payments of medical, disability, and other allowable benefits in a timely manner. Provide mail, e-mail, or phone contact with all injured workers, the medical provider and GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator within three (3) working days of each claim. Close all files within sixty (60) days of last activity. Provide telephone, e-mail, or phone responses to employees and GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator’s inquiries with twenty-four (24) hours (one workday) of receipt.

3. Contact GSD’s Payroll Department on all indemnity claims and coordinate necessary information in a timely manner. Provide notice to GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator by phone or e-mail if a GSD employee goes from a “no lost time” status to a “lost time” status or returns to “lost time” status.

4. Check for e-mails from GSD, its designated Occupational Health Clinic(s), and other involved entities at least one time per every 1½ hours during the workday.

5. Make settlement recommendations to GSD, as appropriate, and act promptly on GSD’s adjudication instructions. GSD will give the TPA settlement authority on a claim-by-claim basis.

6. Develop and maintain adequate claim reserves. TPA shall automatically notify GSD of reserve changes/charges exceeding $10,000.

7. Maintain complete and organized claim files, including all information as required by the Utah Labor Commission. Claim files should be available for review by GSD at any time.

8. Coordinate with GSD’s designated Occupational Health Clinic(s) regarding on-site case management, coordination of patient referrals, return to work programs, needed interviews, safety and risk management meetings, copies of medical records for the file, release of medical information, and other necessary activities.

9. Coordinate vocational rehabilitation when necessary and pre-approved by GSD.

10. Make arrangements for and coordinate surveillance services as pre-approved by GSD on a case-by-case basis.

11. Coordinate investigations and litigation with attorneys approved by GSD and the Excess Workers’ Compensation Insurance Carrier.

12. Arrange for independent adjusters or other experts deemed necessary in the processing and management of claims, with approval of GSD.

13. Provide immediate notification to GSD of any adverse developments including but not limited to: surgeries, attorney letters, subpoenas, employee concerns, partial denial, and full denials.

14. Provide data and reports on a monthly basis including, but not limited to, the name of the injured employee, date of injury, extent of injury, amount paid to date for medical, indemnity, rehabilitation, and expense, amount in reserves for medical, indemnity, rehabilitation, and expense, cause of injury, description of accident, body part, and any other information required, to the GSD Workers’ Compensation Administrator.

15. Provide to GSD the following accounting information monthly: bank reconciliation statements, check registers and any other credit or expenditure report, un-cashed checks and voided checks, and other financial accounting information needed.

16. Coordinate monthly with GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator to discuss and review closed and open claims. Provide narrative or analytical reports of major litigated cases. Cooperate fully with directions given by the GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator on GSD’s behalf. Proactively search for claim trends and notify GSD as they appear.

17. Provide adequate and competent staffing to handle the claims load and assign one main contact person who can be contacted regarding claims handling issues and attend the monthly reviews. GSD reserves the right to approve staff assigned to service its account for the duration of the contract. Assign only staff to perform GSD’s work associated with this contract who have a minimum of five (5) years claims handling experience with self-insured workers’ compensation claims, including subrogation.

18. Provide monthly data reports regarding number of injuries by type and site location (most recent month and rolling year), number of injuries by type and position classification (most recent month and rolling year), expenditure breakdowns (rolling year, including most recent month), annual trends and statistics, and other reports as needed or requested. A sample of current charts and graphs should be included and attached to the response to the RFP.

19. Negotiate with Provider Networks to obtain the lowest possible cost of all types of medical services and prescription drugs. Advise name of Provider Networks used and general description and costs of these programs.

20. Inform GSD immediately of any claim involving death, dismemberment, permanent disability or whenever the expected value of the claim is greater than 50% of GSD’s Excess Workers’ Compensation Self-Insured retention amount. When appropriate, direct status reports on applicable claims to the Excess Workers’ Compensation Insurance Carrier as required by policy provisions.

21. Pursue aggressively all subrogation recovery opportunities and assist in identifying and aggressively defending against fraudulent workers’ compensation claims.

22. Be in possession of a valid certificate to administer self-insured workers’ compensation claims and be licensed in the State of Utah.

23. Complete and submit (electronically file, when applicable) to GSD and the requesting agency in a timely manner the following reports and applications: any and all reports, forms, and documents as required by the Utah Labor Commission; OSHA 300, OSHA 300A logs for each location specified by GSD prior to February 1st deadline; all other OSHA required reports; Governmental Accounting Standards Board 10; all federal reports; National Council on Compensation Insurance filings and rankings; state self-insured renewal submissions; state self-insured tax preparation and submission; and any other reports, etc. required by law.

24. Provide experience modification worksheet from NCCI and safety factor to be used in calculation of self-insurance taxes prior to April 1st deadline.

25. Provide loss control services as requested by GSD, including site inspections and findings reports, loss data analysis and identification of problem exposures and trends, serious accident investigations including cause analysis, involvement on safety teams, assistance with development of safety programs, on-site safety training.

26. Provide on-line access of TPA’s electronic files, including necessary training and software, to GSD.

27. Develop an expectations sheet to be provided to GSD employees which includes contact requirements and information for GSD employees, TPA’s duties with respect to the injured employee, injured employee’s rights, critical information regarding the Workers’ Compensation program and process, and other important information for the injured GSD employee.

28. Allow access to GSD files and practices pertaining to its account for periodic audits at GSD’s request and expense.

VIII. MANDATORY MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Each proposal must meet these mandatory minimum requirements. Proposals that do not meet these requirements will be deemed non-responsive and will not be considered further.

1.

Utah Business License - Proposers must be registered to do business in Utah and hold all necessary licenses and certificates.

2. Proposer’s Dedicated Support Staff Location– Proposers support staff must be locally based, within the Salt Lake City area.

3.

Insurance Requirements - Proposers must meet all insurance requirements as outlined in the RFP section entitled “Insurance Requirements for Parties Contracting with Granite School District.”

4.

HIPAA compliance - For purposes of HIPAA, proposers must attest to Granite School District HIPAA actions and compliance in writing.

IX. INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

The Company, at its own cost, shall secure and maintain for the duration of the contract, including all renewal terms, the following minimum insurance coverage:

1.

Workers’ Compensation and employers’ liability insurance sufficient to cover all the Company’s employees pursuant to Utah law. The certificate and policy shall provide that coverage thereunder shall not be canceled or reduced without at least thirty (30) days prior written notice to GSD.

2.

Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions insurance coverage for claims that may arise from or in connection with the performance of the work hereunder by the contracting party, its representatives, or any employee(s) of at least one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence and in an annual aggregate. GSD shall be named as an additional named insured prior to execution of any contract which may arise hereunder. The certificate and policy shall provide that coverage thereunder shall not be canceled or reduced without at least thirty (30) days prior written notice to GSD. If Company carries a “Claims Made” policy, Company shall agree to purchase a tail before terminating insurance coverage, even if insurance is canceled after this agreement terminates. The terms and conditions of the tail shall be approved by GSD.

3.

Commercial general liability insurance with GSD named as an additional insured, in the minimum amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence with a two million dollars ($2,000,000) general aggregate. The policy shall protect GSD, the Company, and any subcontractor from claims for damages for personal injury, including accidental death, and from claims for property damage that may arise from the Company’s operations under this agreement, whether performed by the Company itself, any subcontractor, or anyone directly or indirectly employed by either of them. Such insurance shall provide coverage for premises operations, acts of independent contractors, and completed operations. The certificate and policy shall provide that coverage thereunder shall not be canceled or reduced without at least thirty (30) days prior written notice to GSD.

4.

Commercial Blanket bond with a dishonesty sub-limit in the minimum amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), with GSD named as an additional insured. The certificate and policy shall provide that coverage thereunder shall not be canceled or reduced without at least thirty (30) days prior written notice to GSD.

All insurance coverage shall comply with the following additional terms and conditions:

1.

If any insurance coverage required herein is written on a “claims made” form rather than on an “occurrence” form, the policy shall (a) provide full prior acts coverage or have a retroactive date effective before the date of this Agreement, and (b) be maintained for a period of three (3) years following the end of the term of this Agreement or contain a comparable “extended discovery” clause for “tail coverage.”

2.

All policies of insurance provided shall be issued by insurance companies licensed to do business in the state of Utah and either (a) rated with an A- or better rating in the most current edition of Best’s Key Rating Guide–Property-Casualty United States or (b) listed in the United States Treasury Department’s current Listing of Approved Sureties (Department Circular 570), as amended.

3.

The company shall furnish certificates of insurance, acceptable to GSD, verifying the foregoing concurrent with the execution hereof and thereafter as required.

4.

In the event any work is subcontracted, the Company shall require its subcontractor, at its own cost, to secure and maintain all minimum insurance coverage required of the Company hereunder. The Company and all subcontractors performing work hereunder shall furnish certificates of insurance, acceptable to GSD, verifying the foregoing concurrent with the execution hereof and thereafter as required.

5.

In the event that government immunity limits are subsequently altered by legislation or judicial opinion, the Company shall be required to provide a new certificate of insurance within thirty (30) days of being notified thereof in writing by GSD, certifying coverage in compliance with the modified limits or, if no new limits are specified, in such an amount as may be acceptable to GSD.

X. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS AND COMPANY QUALIFICATIONS AND EXERIENCE

All proposals must contain responses to the following questions or requests for information:

Experience, Location, and Qualifications

1. Is your firm currently registered to do business in Utah and hold all necessary licenses and certificates? (Mandatory Minimum Requirement - MMR)

2. Are your support staff who will support this contract based in the Salt Lake City area? (MMR) How many support staff are locally based in the Salt Lake City area?

3. Does your firm meet all insurance requirements as outlined in the RFP section entitled “Insurance Requirements for Parties Contracting with Granite School District?” (MMR)

4. How many clients are in the public vs private sector (school district, city/county government vs. commercial employers)?

5. Does your firm attest to Granite School District HIPAA actions and compliance writings? (MMR)

6. Provide a list of 5 references similar to Granite School District, with over 3 years of experience. To be included in Tab 5 in the hard copy.

Data Processing

1. How do you propose to participate in claims reviews? Is there a charge? If so, how much and how often are they billed?

2. How do you propose to handle banking/funding arrangements? How will the checking account be handled (deposits, accounting, checks, check registers, transfers, etc.)?

3. What are the billing procedures, timing, and payment terms? How do you calculate charges to GSD?

4. How does your firm charge for outside investigation (i.e., per claim, per services rendered, hourly rate)?

5. Does your firm bill for miscellaneous costs such as postage, courier services, and long-distance telephone costs? It is expected that such charges would be part of the overhead of the firm and not charged separately?

6. What is the turnaround time for payment of medical bills from time of receipt? What is the procedure for obtaining late arriving medical bills, including timelines?

7. What is the reserving standard for medical and indemnity?

8. What are the recommended settlement authority thresholds?

9. What are the reserving adjustment standards?

10. What is the number of claim file audits conducted annually, by whom, and ratio per total claims?

11. What is the charge structure for PPO services? Percentage of savings, per line, or included in per claim charge?

12. What are the TPA’s savings results in the following areas: fee schedule, PPO hospital/physician networks, and hospital bill audits?

13. Do you require that the claim fee be structured the same for the entire life of the claim?

14. Define allocated expenses.

Services

1. What do you consider to be normal caseloads for your adjusters? How many adjusters are specifically designated to an account of GSD’s size?

2. Would you be willing to guarantee that caseloads would stay under certain amounts, and if so, what would those amounts be?

3. If the assigned adjuster is unavailable, what system do you have in place to meet the daily communication needs of GSD?

4. Describe the process for collecting information regarding an employee’s work-related injury, the filing time to the Labor Commission and communication to GSD’s Workers’ Compensation Administrator.

5. Do you offer 800 phone and/or on-line reporting? If so, what are the charges? What are the requirements?

6. How would your firm propose to handle a catastrophic event?

7. Can claims be reported 24/7? If so, explain the process.

8. Are adjusters available to go to accident scenes 24/7 in the event of an emergency? Is there an additional fee assessed for such service? If so, how much and how is it billed?

9. What medical cost containment services do you have in place?

10. What are the specific protocols for bill review procedures for medical, hospital, chiropractic, physical therapy, prescription, and other bills?

11. What are the excess reporting protocols? Who is responsible for reporting?

12. How often will GSD receive savings reports?

13. Provide a copy and review a sample loss run. If necessary, can they be custom designed to meet client needs?

14. Are you able and will you provide GSD with electronic access to loss information?

15. Are you able and will you provide GSD with access to ad hoc reports?

16. Is there an additional charge for creating ad hoc reports? How long does it take to obtain requested ad hoc reports?

17. Do you provide loss control visits as part of your program? If so, is there an additional fee? If so, how much?

18. Describe your expertise in ergonomics, environmental issues, pre-employment services, safety training and management?

19. What educational programs are available for GSD supervisors/employees? And at what cost?

Company Procedures

1. Do you offer managed care services? If so, what services are provided and by whom?

2. What are the provider’s performance claim standards?

3. What is the journal system requirement for adjusters, supervisors, and managers?

4. What are the litigation management process requirements (who, how used, what employer involvement)?

5. How are the adjusters and the claim coordination selected for the account?

6. What is the return call protocol?

7. Who is on the accounting team and what is their experience?

8. What is the minimum requirement for education and years of experience for adjusters/claim staff?

9. What is your requirement for maintaining closed claims on loss runs?

10. Who owns the electronic data at termination of the contract?

11. What is the requirement for site visit claim reviews by the adjudication staff?

12. What is your Medical only claim definition?

13. Describe how you would transition from GSD’s current TPA to your services as a TPA, including specific timelines, activities, personnel, needs, costs, charges etc.

14. Please provide a sample of your contract as a TPA.

15. What administrative procedures will need to be established before the effective date of the new contract?

16. What standard reports are available and what are the ad-hoc reporting capabilities of the information system?

17. Who owns the data and the claim files? What is your file retention requirement?

18. How do you document the claims saving history?

Compliance

1. Do you make all necessary excess insurer notifications? If so, how, when, and to whom?

2. What risk management information system do you use and what kind of remote access is available? What are the charges?

3. What are the requirements for Index Bureau Reporting?

XI. ANTICIPATED SOLICITATION TIMELINE

XII. QUESTIONS

All questions must be submitted through the Utah Public Procurement Place (aka “U3P” from Euna Solutions). Answers will be given via the U3P site.

XIII. PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT

All proposals must include a technical proposal and cost proposal. Formats for both documents follow:

A. Technical Proposal Format

Hard copies are to be tabbed by section.

Tab 1.

Letter of Transmittal. The letter of transmittal should include an introduction of the proposer's company, the name, address and telephone number of the person to be contacted along with others who are authorized to represent the company in dealing with this RFP, and an expression of the proposer's ability and desire to meet the requirements of this RFP. Any other information not appropriately contained in the proposal should also be included.

Tab 2. Executive Summary. An executive summary which briefly describes the proposer's approach and clearly indicates any options or alternatives must be included. It must also indicate any major requirements that cannot be met by the proposer. This summary should also highlight the major features of the proposal and identify any supporting information considered pertinent. In short, the reader should be able to determine the essence of the proposal and how well it meets the requirements by reading the executive summary.

Tab 3.

Detailed Response. This section should constitute the major portion of the proposal and must contain at least the following information:

1. A complete narrative of the offeror's assessment of the work to be performed, the offeror’s ability and approach, and the resources necessary to fulfill the requirements. This should demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the desired overall performance expectations. Clearly indicate any options or alternatives proposed.

2. A specific point-by-point response, in the order listed, to each requirement in the RFP.

Tab 4. Exceptions. If you have any exceptions to this RFP and/or the attached standard contract terms and conditions, they must be included, specified and explained in this section.

Tab 5. References. The proposer shall submit a minimum of five (5) references. If possible, these should be of similar school districts or institutions including: The name of the school district, institution or company, phone number, business address, and the name and e-mail address of a contact person. Please also indicate whether each reference is self-funded/insured and, if so, for how long.

Tab 6. Protected Information. The Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), Utah Code Ann., Subsection 63-2-304, provides in part that:

the following records are protected if properly classified by a government entity:

(1) trade secrets as defined in Section 13-24-2 if the person submitting the trade secret has provided the governmental entity with the information specified in Section 63-2-308 (Business Confidentiality Claims);

(2) commercial information or non-individual financial information obtained from a person if:

(a) disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to result in unfair competitive injury to the person submitting the information or would impair the ability of the governmental entity to obtain necessary information in the future;

(b) the person submitting the information has a greater interest in prohibiting access than the public in obtaining access; and

(c) the person submitting the information has provided the governmental entity with the information specified in Section 63-2-308;

(6) records the disclosure of which would impair governmental procurement proceedings or give an unfair advantage to any person proposing to enter into a contract or agreement with a governmental entity, except that this Subsection (6) does not restrict the right of a person to see bids submitted to or by a governmental entity after bidding has closed;

GRAMA provides that trade secrets, commercial information or non-individual financial information may be protected by submitting a Claim of Business Confidentiality.

To protect information under a Claim of Business Confidentiality, the offeror must:

1. provide a written Claim of Business Confidentiality at the time the information (proposal) is provided to the district, and

2. include a concise statement of reasons supporting the claim of business confidentiality (Subsection 63-2-308(1)).

3. submit an electronic “redacted” (excluding protected information) copy of your proposal response. Copy must clearly be marked “Redacted Version.”

A Claim of Business Confidentiality may be appropriate for information such as client lists and non-public financial statements. Pricing and service elements may not be protected. An entire proposal may not be protected under a Claim of Business Confidentiality. The claim of business confidentiality must be submitted with your proposal on the form provided in the buyer’s attachments.

To ensure the information is protected, the Department of Purchasing asks the offeror to clearly identify in the Executive Summary and in the body of the proposal any specific information for which an offeror claims business confidentiality protection as "PROTECTED".

All materials submitted become the property of GSD. Materials may be evaluated by anyone designated by the school district as part of the proposal evaluation committee. Materials submitted may be returned only at the district’s option.

B. Cost Proposal Format

The proposal must be set forth in such a way that it will allow the merits of the proposal to be evaluated both independent of costs and in conjunction with applicable costs. Include all costs (itemized) set forth in the scope of services (all supervision, labor, materials, tools, equipment, supplies, services, insurance, transportation, and other requirements necessary to perform the work in accordance with this RFP), any other costs for additional services, and a listing of any discounts available. Charges not listed in the RFP response will not be allowed.

All prices and fees must be in U.S. dollars. The TPA’s proposed fees should be presented on both a per-claim basis and a flat annual charge. With respect to the per-claim proposal, the firm is encouraged to offer a “not to exceed” cap. The proposed fees should be given on both a “life of claim” and “life of contract” basis. The TPA also needs to discuss whether the above quoted fees would be locked in beyond one year in the event Granite School District would exercise its option to extend beyond one year and if there is no lock, how the fees would be established.

Also include, on a separate line item, cost for a 100% Performance or Payment Bond if required by the District.

It is the practice of GSD to regularly solicit commission and/or fee disclosure statements. Proposers may not directly or indirectly enter into any contract, agreement, or compensation arrangement that provides direct compensation to the proposer.

Please review the Best and Final Offers section below to ensure you properly submit your cost proposal.

XIV. PRIVATE

SUBMITTING YOUR PROPOSALtc \l 1 "SUBMITTING YOUR PROPOSAL" Proposals must be received by the posted due date and time. Proposals received after the deadline will be late and ineligible for consideration.

Proposals must be received electronically through the Utah Public Procurement Place (U3P) and in hard copy. For this RFP one original and two identical copies of your proposal must be received at Granite School District Purchasing Department, 2500 S. State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115.

All submitted proposals will consist of a technical proposal and a cost proposal. For the electronic proposal submission you should attach two separate documents in U3P, a document titled “Technical Proposal” and a document titled “Cost Proposal”. For the hard copy these documents should be separate of each other. The cost proposal should be in a sealed envelope with the RFP number and the phase “Cost Proposal” clearly printed on the envelope.

Cost will be evaluated independently from the technical proposal, and as such, it is to be submitted separately from the technical proposal. Failure to submit the cost proposal separately may result in your proposal being determined non-responsive. Inclusion of any cost or pricing data within the technical proposal may also result in your proposal being determined non-responsive.

When submitting a proposal electronically through U3P, please allow sufficient time to complete the online forms and upload documents. The solicitation will end at the closing time listed in the RFP. If you are in the middle of uploading your proposal at the closing time, the system will stop the process and your proposal will not be received by the system.

Electronic proposals may require uploading of electronic attachments. U3P’s site will accept a wide variety of document types as attachments. However, the District is unable to view certain documents. Therefore, you MAY NOT submit documents that are embedded (zip files), movies, wmp, and mp3 files. All documents must be attached as separate files.

NOTICE: By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, offeror is acknowledging that the requirements, scope of work, and the evaluation process, outlined in the RFP are fair, equitable, not unduly restrictive, understood and agreed to. Any exceptions to the content of the RFP must be protested to the purchasing agent prior to the closing date and time for submission of the proposal.

XV. PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA

A committee will evaluate proposals against the following weighted criteria. Each area of the evaluation criteria must be addressed in detail in proposal. All proposals in response to this RFP will be evaluated in a manner consistent with the Utah Procurement Code, rules, policies and the evaluation criteria established in the RFP.

The award of the contract shall be based upon the following factors and are listed in order of importance of evaluation and weighted percentage.

1. Overall program design. Strategy in managing and enhancing GSD’s Workers’ Compensation program, including claims administration, medical management, case management, subrogation, reserving, settlement, litigation, file loads, vendor relationships, status reports, regulatory reports and compliance, risk management information systems, data management, environmental, safety and loss control training, other training, invoicing and payment procedures, etc.

Proposer’s services and any/all support functions and staff required to meet the criteria established in this RFP must be locally based (within the greater Salt Lake City area). 50%

2.

Cost. An itemized description of each cost and how costs will be determined for any/all aspects of the proposer’s services, especially network discounts. 30%

3.

References. Strength of references, quality and applicability of the feedback from references provided, preferably with a background similar to GSD. 20%

Understandability and comprehensiveness of information supplied in this RFP will affect the evaluation of the above criteria.

XVI. DISCUSSIONS WITH OFFERORS (ORAL PRESENTATION)

An oral presentation by an offeror to clarify a proposal may be required at the sole discretion of the District. However, the District may award a contract based on the initial proposals received without discussion with the Offeror. If oral presentations are required, they will be scheduled after the submission of proposals. Oral presentations will be made at the offerors expense.

XVII. BEST AND FINAL OFFERS

Vendors should offer their best offer in the original technical and cost proposals. The use of a Best and Final Offer process is regulated by Utah Code 63G-6a-707.5 and will only be used if:

a.

no single proposal adequately addresses all the specifications stated in the request for proposals;

b.

all proposals are unclear or deficient in one or more respects;

c.

all cost proposals exceed the identified budget or the procurement unit’s available funding; or d.

two or more proposals receive an identical evaluation score that is the highest score.

It is important to understand this so as not to anticipate that a best and final process will allow for a vendor to “sharpen their pencil” in a subsequent phase.

XVIII. AWARD OF CONTRACT

Award shall be made to the offeror whose proposal is the most advantageous to the District taking into consideration price and the other evaluation factors set forth in this request for proposals.

The District reserves the right to award the contract(s) to a technically qualified lower cost offeror(s) in the event the high scoring offer is determined to not be the best value offered to the District, based on a cost benefit analysis.