5-RFQ Sec1. Introduction.pdf

Agency for Community Transit 403(b) Employee Education Services No. 25-2-13601

SECTION 1. Introduction

1.1 Invitation

The Agency for Community Transit, Inc. (hereinafter "the Owner") is seeking offers from qualified registered broker-dealer and investment advisor firms with extensive experience in providing education and investment advice/assistance to 403(b) plan participants in accordance with current ERISA laws.

1.2 Separation of 403(b) Service Functions

The Owner’s 403(b) Plan service model intentionally separates responsibilities among multiple vendors to ensure transparency, avoid conflicts of interest, and promote fiduciary best practices. Accordingly, this solicitation pertains only to the services identified herein. The successful vendor shall not be permitted to provide, subcontract, or otherwise engage in activities that overlap with or duplicate the roles of other vendors performing separate 403(b) functions for the Owner.

The Owner reserves the right to maintain, select, and/or contract with separate entities for each of the following functional areas:

1. Third-Party Administration and Recordkeeping Services

2. Employee Education Services

3. Retirement Plan Consulting Services

Vendors should tailor their offers to the specific service scope defined in this solicitation and should not assume responsibility for, or propose bundled pricing that includes, services assigned to other vendors.

1.3 Procurement Schedule

Bidders are advised that the Owner shall make a good faith effort to adhere to the following schedule for this procurement:

Date Milestone

October 13, 2025 Solicitation Issued

October 20, 2025 Deadline for written questions due close of business

October 22, 2025 Addendum Issued, if any

October 29, 2025 Bid Deadline

November 14, 2025 Anticipated Contract Award

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

1.4 Owner’s Procurement Representative

Name: J’Vaughn Williams Title: Procurement Project Manager Phone number: (618) 797-4600 E-mail: mctbid@mct.org

1.5 Pre-Bid Meeting and Project Site Tours

None.

mailto:mctbid@mct.org

1.6 Type and Term of Contract

The contract will be for a base term of three (3) years beginning January 1, 2026, and ending on December 31, 2028, plus two 1-year options. The option years will be automatic unless the Agency advises the Contractor of their intent not to renew no less than 45 days prior to the expiration of the prevailing contract term. Any extension of the contract term beyond December 31, 2030, shall only be with written approval of both parties.

1.7 Basis of Contract Award

Contract award, if any, will be made to a single responsive and responsible bidder whose offer is determined to be the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) in accordance with the requirements and specifications set forth herein. Among those bidders determined to be technically acceptable, award will be made to the bidder offering the lowest total evaluated price, deemed to have the professional experience and capabilities which are necessary to perform the services as set forth herein and is otherwise determined to be in the best interest and value to the Owner. Contract award is subject to the approval of Owner’s Board of Directors and attorney review.

1.8 Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation will be conducted on a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) basis. Technical evaluation will be performed on a pass/fail determination of acceptability; no numeric scoring will be used.

Offers that fail to meet any minimum technical requirement will be deemed unacceptable and will not be considered for award. The Technical Response shall be evaluated to confirm that it adequately addresses the elements outlined in Section 2, Item 4 – Technical Response.

1.9 Questions and Approved Equal Request /Substitution Requests Questions should be submitted through Bonfire by the stated deadline. Any conflicts within the RFQ found after this deadline should be submitted as soon as possible.

It is the responsibility of the bidder/proposer to identify and address any additional requirements or information needed to submit a bid/proposal. No special consideration shall be given to any bidder or proposer, because of their failure to be knowledgeable of all the requirements after the deadline.

Responses to any questions shall be similarly furnished to all prospective bidders in the summary form of an addendum if the lack of such information could reasonably be considered prejudicial towards uninformed bidders.

1.10 Addenda to this Solicitation

Any or all changes, additions, or clarifications in connection with this RFQ shall be issued by the Owner in the form of written addenda posted at mct-act.bonfirehub.com. Bidder must acknowledge all addenda issued as part of their bid submittal on the Solicitation and Offer Form (Block 24). Oral comments, responses and/or representations shall not be binding upon the Owner.

1.11 Issuance of Notice to Proceed

A fully executed Solicitation, Offer and Award Form accompanied by an Owner purchase order will serve as the successful bidder’s notice-to-proceed.

1.12 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 considered non-responsive. Terms or conditions that a bidder would like to have considered by the Owner must be submitted by the date and time stated in block 11 of the Solicitation, Offer and Award Form. Requests that are acceptable to the Owner will made available to all prospective bidders.

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

1.13 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.

1.14 Responsive and Responsible

All bids or proposals 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.

To be considered a responsive bid, it must comply 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 will ensure that offers received contain all required forms, signatures, attachments, and other information as specified herein. Bids that do not comply with all material aspects of the solicitation will be rejected as non-responsive.

To be considered a responsible bidder, the individual, firm or team must exhibit 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.

1.15 Representations and Certifications

By responding to this solicitation with a bid or proposal, the bidder/proposer 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 or proposer 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 proposer 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 or proposer 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/proposal 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 or propose on this project, or as recompense for his not having bid or propose on this project.

f) The bidder/proposer 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/proposal on behalf of the bidder is the duly authorized representative of the bidder/proposer and has the requisite authority to do so.

g) It will accomplish the work in accordance with the contract.

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

i) It will comply with the requirements of 2 C.F.R. part 180, subpart C, as supplemented by 2 C.F.R.

part 1200, while this offer is valid and throughout the period of any contract that may arise from this offer.

1.16 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 or proposer 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 offers received if it believes there is a sound documented business reason for doing so, and to negotiate matters of contractor performance and other matters prior to awarding a contract.

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 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 previously 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/proposer.

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 or proposers following bid or proposal 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.

1.17 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.

http://www.mct.org/procurement