7-RFQ V1 Instructions to Bidders.pdf

Agency for Community Transit ACT Media Buying Services No. 26-2-13304

Introduction and Bid Summary Page 1 of 5

VOLUME 1 INTRODUCTION AND BID SUMMARY

IP 1. Invitation The Agency for Community Transit, Inc. (hereinafter "the Owner") is seeking bids from qualified firms to provide recruitment media buying services for calendar year 2027. The purpose of this project is to increase employment applications through targeted, cost-effective recruitment advertising.

The selected Contractor shall collaborate with the Owner to develop, implement, monitor, and optimize recruitment media campaigns within a total project budget not to exceed $90,000, inclusive of media placements, contractor labor, and approved production expenses. Services include media strategy and planning, media buying and placement, campaign optimization, reporting and analytics, billing and reconciliation, and account management.

IP 2. Background The Owner is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation incorporated in the State of Illinois. The Owner provides the management and operation of all services for Madison County Mass Transit District (MCT), the public transit district serving Madison County, Illinois. As MCT’s operator, the Owner employs the workforce responsible for delivering and supporting those services across transportation operations, maintenance, facilities, administrative, professional, technical, and other organizational functions.

IP 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

October 28, 2026 RFQ issued

November 11, 2026 Deadline for questions, 5:00 PM Central time

November 13, 2026 Anticipated issuance of addendum with answers to questions (if any)

November 19, 2026 Bid due date at 2:00 PM Central time

December 10, 2026 Anticipated Board approval to award a contract

December 15, 2026 Anticipated contract award

The Owner shall be under no obligation to comply with the procurement schedule shown above, provided that all prospective bidders or other interested parties known to the 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 bidder have any redress to Owner, be it financial or otherwise, in the event that the Owner alters this schedule in any way.

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

Name: Thomas White Title: Project Control Specialist

IP 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.

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IP 6. Obtaining Bid Documents Request for Quotes (RFQ) documents may be obtained through the Owner’s Bonfire portal at mct-act.bonfirehub.com. Bidders must be registered in Bonfire to download the RFQ documents; registration is free at mct-act.bonfirehub.com.

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

IP 8. Funding Source Any contract resulting from this RFQ will be through the Owner’s local funding.

IP 9. Basis of Contract Award Subject to the Owner's rights under IP 20, Consideration of Offers, contract award, if any, will be made to the responsive and responsible bidder whose bid is determined to provide the best overall value to the Owner, in accordance with Volume 3, Evaluation and Selection Procedures. Contract award shall be subject to approval by the Owner's Board of Directors.

IP 10. Type and Term of Contract The Contract shall be a not-to-exceed firm fixed unit price contract. The service period shall be from contract execution date through December 31, 2027, or until all obligations are met, whichever occurs first.

IP 11. Deadline for Questions Questions are due in accordance with the date and time listed in Section IP 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 bidder’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.

IP 12. 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.

IP 13. Confidentiality of Bids Bids will not be publicly opened. All bids and evaluations will be kept strictly confidential throughout the evaluation, negotiation, and selection process, except as otherwise required by applicable law. Only members of the Evaluation Committee and other Owner officials, employees, and agents having a legitimate interest shall be provided with access to bids and evaluation results during the evaluation and selection process, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

IP 14. Evaluation Committee Bids will be reviewed and evaluated by an Evaluation Committee designated by the Owner. The Evaluation Committee will evaluate each responsive bid in accordance with the evaluation criteria and scoring methodology established in this RFQ. The Committee may request clarification or additional information from bidders as necessary. Following completion of the evaluation process, the Committee will make the selection of the bidder, if any, that may be recommended for contract award.

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IP 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 IP 11, Deadline for Questions. Requests that are acceptable to the Owner will made available to all prospective bidder.

IP 16. Execution of a Contract The Solicitation, Offer and Award Form shall serve as the bidder’s offer to provide the items and/or services as described in this solicitation and as the Owner’s award document upon acceptance. Upon request and before commencement of services, the Contractor shall provide proof of insurance in accordance with the Contract requirements.

IP 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.

IP 18. 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.

IP 19. Owner’s Tax Status The Owner is organized and operating exclusively for charitable purposes and is therefore exempt from the payment of Retailer’s 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 2/01/2029).

IP 20. 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 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

Introduction and Bid Summary 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 bid 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 evaluate offers based on unit prices which will govern over extended prices.

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

IP 21. 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 his 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.

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

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IP 22. Law Governing The Contractor shall recognize that all applicable Federal and State laws, including, but not limited to 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.

IP 23. Freedom of Information (FOIA) Access to the Owner’s records is governed by the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1). The Contractor acknowledges that the Owner is subject to the requirements of FOIA and shall assist and cooperate with Madison County Mass Transit District and the Owner to comply with its information disclosure obligations. The Contractor shall not charge Madison County Mass Transit District or the Owner for reasonable costs associated with freedom of information requests.

IP 24. Single Bid Response If only one bid is received in response to this RFQ and it is found by the Owner to be acceptable, a price or cost analysis, or both, possibly including an audit, may be performed by or for the Owner. The bidder has agreed to such analysis by submitting a bid in response to this RFQ.

IP 25. 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.

IP 26. Owner Treatment of Proprietary/Confidential Information 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, software, 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