Addendum-1-QA.pdf

July 30, 2026

Dear Sir/Madam:

Enclosed please find Addendum No. 1 to SEPTA’s RFP No. 26-00172-AHAC State Legislative Consulting Services

Addendum No. 1 must be acknowledged by signing the attached Acknowledgement sheet and including that sheet as part of your technical proposal.

The due date and time for technical proposals of Tuesday, August 11, 2026 by4:30 PM (est.) remains unchanged.

All inquirers pertaining to this request for proposal must be sent to Heather Casullo at hcasullo@septa.org or 215-580-7421.

Sincerely, Heather Casullo

Sr. Contract Administrator

Procurement, Supply Chain Management Dept.

mailto:hcasullo@septa.org

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7/30/2026

ADDENDUM ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SHEET

RFP No. 26-00172-AHAC State Legislative Consulting Services

The attached addendum to the Contract Documents is hereby part of the same and is incorporated in full as part of the Project. Proposer shall acknowledge Addendum No. 1 by signing and returning this Acknowledgement Sheet with the Technical Proposal.

FIRM NAME (typed or printed) ______________________________

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE _______________________________

TITLE _________________________________

NAME (typed or printed) ___________________________________

DATE_____________________

ADDENDUM NO. 1 INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:

1. Questions, answers and contract modification requests.

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State Legislative Consulting

RFP 26-00172-AHAC

Questions and Answers Contract Modification Requests

Q1. Section 19 — Infringement of Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights

Original Language -Infringement of Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights

Contractor/Consultant shall defend, indemnify and save harmless SEPTA, its Board Members, officers, agents, servants, workers, employees, subsidizers and indemnities from liability of any kind and will pay all costs and expenses, including consequential damages, for or on account of or existing from any infringement or violation or alleged violation of any patent, trademark and/or copyright or any right of any person, firm or corporation resulting from any act, omission or negligence on the part of Contractor/Consultant in performance of the Contract.

Change Requested Consultant requests the following language be added to the end of this section.

“Consultant shall not be obligated to indemnify SEPTA or any of its aforementioned affiliates for any infringement or violation or alleged violation of any patent, trademark and/or copyright resulting from any act, omission or negligence on the part of SEPTA or its affiliates.”

A1. Not accepted.

Q2. Section 23 – Indemnification

Consultant does not have concerns with the overall intent of the indemnification provision.

However, the current language would require consultant to indemnify SEPTA for certain third-party over-action claims. For example, if a consultant employee were injured in the course of performing the services, received workers' compensation benefits, and subsequently asserted a General Liability claim against SEPTA, the provision could obligate consultant to indemnify SEPTA. While this type of exposure is more commonly associated with construction projects, it remains a potential risk under the proposed language.

Original Language- Indemnification

“Contractor/Consultant, for itself and its employees, Board members, officers, agents, servants, workers, contractors/consultants, subconsultants/subcontractors, licensees

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and invitees , or any other person working on Contractor/Consultant’s behalf, hereby releases and agrees to be liable for and to defend, indemnify and save harmless SEPTA, even if SEPTA is negligent in whole or in part, for any claims made by an employee, Board member, officer, agent, workman or servant of the Contractor/Consultant’s or any other person working on Contractor/Consultant’s behalf, including claims for compensation or benefits payable to any extent by or for Contractor/Consultant under any workers’ or similar compensation acts or other employee benefit acts, and Contractor/Consultant expressly waives its statutory protection under §303, as amended, of The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, 77 P.S. §481 (b).”

Requested Change Delete Paragraph 3 of Section 23 Indemnification

A2. Not accepted.

Q3. Section 24.A – Evidence of Coverage-Certificate of Insurance

Original Language-Evidence of Coverage Simultaneously with the execution of the Agreement, the Contractor shall furnish Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) with CERTIFICATES OF INSURANCE and any other documents which SEPTA may require, such as copies of policies or endorsements, as evidence of compliance with these Insurance Requirements which are an integral part of the Contract. In the Description of Operations section of the Insurance Certificate please include RFP No. 26-00172-AHAC

Requested Change Consultant will provide Certificates of Insurance (COIs) as evidence of coverage but will not provide copies of its insurance policies.

A3. Remain as is except for the removal of the word policies.

Simultaneously with the execution of the Agreement, the Contractor shall furnish Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) with CERTIFICATES OF INSURANCE and any other documents which SEPTA may require, such as copies of policies or endorsements, as evidence of compliance with these Insurance Requirements which are an integral part of the Contract. In the Description of Operations section of the Insurance Certificate please include RFP No. 26-00172-AHAC

Q4. Section 24.B.2 – Notice of Cancellation

Original Language-Notice of Cancellation All policies shall provide for not less than (10) days or more than thirty (30) days written notice to SEPTA before cancellation by the Company issuing the insurance. If such notice is not provided within the basic terms of the policy, it shall be provided by endorsement or notation on the Certificate.

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Requested Change SEPTA requires all policies to provide 30 days' notice of cancellation. Consultant General Liability, Automobile Liability, Workers' Compensation, and Umbrella policies provide the requested 30 days' notice. However, Professional Liability insurers will not endorse policies to provide notice of cancellation to third parties, and consultant Professional Liability policy is non-cancellable by the insurer except for non-payment of premium. Similarly, consultant Cyber Liability policy does not include a third-party notice of cancellation provision because it is also written on a non-cancellable basis (except for non-payment of premium).

Accordingly, consultant requests that this provision be amended to apply only to those coverages that provide 30 days' notice of cancellation.

A4. Consultant responsibility to inform SEPTA of cancellation.

Q5. Section 24.D – Contractual Liability

Original Language CONTRACTUAL LIABLITY (HOLD HARMLESS) COVERAGE

Policy shall be written or endorsed to include coverage for the liability assumed by the terms of the Contract and the Indemnification Agreement. Certificate or policy will state that the coverage applies to the Contract described as: State Legislative Consulting Services.

Statement Professional liability policies typically exclude liability assumed under contract, except to the extent liability would have attached in the absence of the contract. While consultant Professional Liability policy does not contain a specific contractual liability exclusion, liability assumed under contract beyond the provision of professional services is typically not covered under a professional liability policy.

A5. To be discussed with the awarded proposer.

Q6. Section 24.E – Waiver of Liability for Premiums

Original Language -WAIVER OF LIABILITY FOR PREMIUMS All policies wherein the parties designated in Paragraph C. above are included as additional insureds shall contain a Waiver of Liability for the payment of premiums covering those additional Insureds.

Statement This provision does not apply to Professional Liability coverage, as the Additional Insured language is not applicable to Professional Liability insurance.

A6. Accepted as an exception for professional liability.

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Q7. Section 24.F – Self-Insured Retention Language

Original Language -SELF-INSURANCE RETENTION LANGUAGE Self-Insurance Retention (SIR) is limited to $50,000 or less, subject to SEPTA’s approval.

All self-insured retention must be declared to SEPTA.

Statement:

SEPTA limits the maximum self-insured retention to $50,000. Consultant Cyber Liability policy has a $200,000 retention and requests that SEPTA approve or increase the maximum permitted retention to $200,000.

A7. Language to remain as is.

Q8. Section 24.G.3 — Professional Liability/Errors & Omissions:

Original Language PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY/ERRORS AND OMMISIONS Applicable if a Prime contractor or applicable subcontractors will perform or retain others to perform professional services in connection with the work, including engineering, architectural, testing, environmental assessment or remediation, design-build, or construction management services. Coverage shall include any error, omission, or wrongful act on the part of the insured covering losses caused by Professional work that arise from the operations described under the scope of services of this Contract.

Coverage shall be sufficiently broad to respond to the duties and obligations as is undertaken by the person/vendor in this agreement and shall include, but not be limited to, claims involving infringement of intellectual property, copyright, trademark, invasion of privacy violations, information theft, release of confidential information, extortion, and network security. The policy shall provide coverage for breach response costs, regulatory fines and penalties, and credit monitoring expenses with limits sufficient to respond to these obligations. If such coverage is secured on a “claims made” basis, extended reporting coverage shall be secured for a minimum of five (5) years following the completion of Prime contractor or Sub-Contractor’s work.

Per Claim $3,000,000 Aggregate Limit $3,000,000

If such coverage is secured on a “claims made” basis, extended reporting coverage shall be secured for a minimum of five (5) years following the completion of Prime contractor or Sub- Contractor’s work.

Statement

a. Certain Professional Liability requirements appear tailored to engineering, architectural, or similar professional services rather than the lobbying services contemplated under this contract. In particular, the requirement that Professional Liability coverage "shall

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include, but not be limited to, claims involving infringement of intellectual property, copyright, trademark, invasion of privacy violations, information theft, release of confidential information, extortion and network security" includes several risks that would not be covered under consultant Professional Liability policy and are more appropriately covered under its Cyber Liability policy. consultant requests that these requirements be revised accordingly.

b. SEPTA requires that, if coverage is secured on a claims-made basis, an extended reporting period be maintained for a minimum of five (5) years following completion of the work. consultant requests that this requirement be deleted, as there is no need to secure an extended reporting period so long as consultant continues to renew its Professional Liability insurance coverage.

A8. Removal of provisions for this section that are duplicative with coverage provisions under Cyber will be discussed with winning proposer and potentially removed. Additionally, the language for part b. - the following language will be added “Policy must be maintained OR extended reporting period must be maintained” to achieve the result.

Q9. Section 24.G.6 – Umbrella/Excess Liability Insurance

Original Language -UMBRELLA/EXCESS LIABILITY INSURANCE

a. Occurrence Limit: $1,000,000

b. Annual Aggregate Limit (where applicable): $1,000,000

c. Policy to apply excess of the Commercial General Liability (following form Per

Project Aggregate Limit), Commercial Automobile Liability and Employer’s Liability Coverages and “drop-down” for defense and indemnity in the event of exhaustion of the underlying insurance, to the extent such insurance is used to satisfy the above-noted requirements.

d. Additional Insureds

The policy shall be written or endorsed to include as additional Insureds those parties or persons designated and apply on a Primary/Non-Contributory basis.

Statement/Request:

SEPTA requires that it be named as an Additional Insured on applicable policies.

consultant policies provide Additional Insured coverage on a blanket basis rather than by scheduling SEPTA specifically. Consultant requests confirmation that blanket Additional Insured wording is acceptable in lieu of naming SEPTA as an Additional Insured.

A9. Confirmed.

Q10. Section 24.H – Payment of SEPTA Claims Original Language -PAYMENT OF SEPTA CLAIMS

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Contractor shall require its insurance carrier(s) to make checks in payment of SEPTA claims payable directly to SEPTA.

Statement / Request Professional Liability insurance carriers will not make claim payments payable directly to SEPTA. consultant requests that this requirement be revised with respect to Professional Liability coverage.

A10. Acceptable with language to be discussed with the awarded proposer.

Q11. Clarification

Specifically, SEPTA acknowledges and agrees to the following: first, to avoid any insurance issues, any indemnification obligations referenced within section 23 or otherwise within the RFP materials shall only arise from third party claims relating to Proposer's negligence, errors, or omissions, subject to SEPTA providing prompt written notice. Further, with regards to any reference to disputes or release, Proposer and SEPTA agree to provide prompt written notice of any disputes or disagreements and to mutually work to resolve such disputes. Nothing contained herein shall limit Proposer's legal rights and obligations with such disputes, nor prejudice the rights of Proposer's Professional Liability insurer to subrogate under our policy. Second, regarding section 24 Insurance, Proposer's primary professional liability insurer is not rated by AM Best but has a Fitch rating of "A" (strong, stable outlook). Additional insured status is only available on Proposer's General Liability and Automobile policies. Proposer's insurers can provide 30 days' advance notice of any policy cancellation, and Proposer agrees to provide 30 days' advance notice of any material change. Proposer considers our insurance policies to be confidential, and so we do not release full copies of policies externally. We would be happy to provide SEPTA with other reasonable information not otherwise included in the COIs to be provided upon award. The self-insured retention under Proposer's Professional Liability policy is $1M per claim up to the annual aggregate of $2M, and $100,000 per claim thereafter. The amount is in line with those of other firms of comparable size and scope of practice. Third, regarding section 13, we wish to clarify that any reference to ownership of files or data shall exclude Proposer's own files and documents, including, for example, firm administrative materials, internal billing reports, and internal lawyers' work product such as drafts, notes, internal memoranda, and legal and factual research. Finally, Proposer has represented SEPTA over the years in various engagements, and any potential conflict issues were addressed throughout the duration of our relationship. If we are awarded work as a result of this response and any conflicts are discovered at that time, we will engage in discussions with SEPTA towards resolution.

A11. Fitch rating of "A" (strong, stable outlook is acceptable. See answer A3 regarding “policies”.

SIR language to remain as is.

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Original Language -Infringement of Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights