Amendment 2.docx

SAP

State of South Carolina

Invitation for Bid Amendment 2

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400025121 6/13/2023

NAKENDRA PERRY

803-896-0022 nperry@mmo.sc.gov SFAA, Div. of Procurement Services 1201 Main Street, Ste 600 Columbia SC 29201-3734

DESCRIPTION: Third Party Financial Aid Services

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: State Board for Tech & Comprehensive Ed

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 06/19/2023 11:00:00 EST (See "Deadline for Submission of Offer" provision)

QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 05/30/2023 11:00:00 EST (See "Questions from Offerors" provision)

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: Submit one (1) original copy

CONFERENCE TYPE: Not Applicable

DATE & TIME:

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions) LOCATION: Not Applicable

You must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By signing, you agree to be bound by the terms of the Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of one hundred and twenty (120) calendar days after the Opening Date. (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

NAME OF OFFEROR

(Full legal name of business submitting the offer) Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with, the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf of Offeror.)

DATE SIGNED

TITLE

(Business title of person signing above)

STATE VENDOR NO.

(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at www.procurement.sc.gov )

PRINTED NAME

(Printed name of person signing above)

STATE OF INCORPORATION

(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.)

OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________

___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local)

COVER PAGE - ON-LINE ONLY (MAR. 2015)

SAP

SAP

PAGE TWO

(Return Page Two with Your Offer) HOME OFFICE ADDRESS (Address for offeror's home office / principal place of business)

NOTICE ADDRESS (Address to which all procurement and contract related notices should be sent.) (See "Notice" clause)

_________________________________________________ Area Code - Number - Extension Facsimile

_________________________________________________ E-mail Address

PAYMENT ADDRESS (Address to which payments will be sent.) (See "Payment" clause)

____Payment Address same as Home Office Address ____Payment Address same as Notice Address (check only one) ORDER ADDRESS (Address to which purchase orders will be sent) (See "Purchase Orders and "Contract Documents" clauses)

____Order Address same as Home Office Address ____Order Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS

Offerors acknowledges receipt of amendments by indicating amendment number and its date of issue. (See "Amendments to Solicitation" Provision)

DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See "Discount for Prompt Payment" clause)

PREFERENCES – DO NOT APPLY PER SC CONSOLIDATED PROCUREMENT CODE 11-35-1524, E (3)

PREFERENCES - DO NOT APPLY PER SC CONSOLIDATED PROCUREMENT CODE 11-35-1524, E (3)

____In-State Office Address same as Home Office Address ____In-State Office Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

PAGE TWO (SEP 2009)

End of PAGE TWO

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JAN 2004)

The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: www.procurement.sc.gov (b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation (1) by signing and returning the amendment, (2) by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two, (3) by letter, or (4) by submitting a bid that indicates in some way that the bidder received the amendment. (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged. [02-2A005-1]

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICIATION (JUN 2017)

The solicitation is amended as provided herein. Information or changes resulting from questions will be shown in a question-and-answer format. All questions received have been reprinted below. The “State’s response” should be read without reference to the questions. The questions are included solely to provide a cross-reference to the potential offeror that submitted the question. Questions do not form a part of the contract; the “state’s response” does. Any restatement of part or all of an existing provision of the solicitation in an answer does not modify the original provision except as follows: Underlined text is added to the original provision. Stricken text is deleted. [02-2A097-1]

Clarification to additional bidder’s questions:

Disclaimer: No additional questions will be received, or clarifications made due to time restraint of deadline approaching for bid submittals.

1. We are seeking clarification on volume of phone calls and emails for the state period. The question and answer below was provided by the state during the initial round:

Please clarify the scope of work, is SFAA-DPS looking to hire interim financial aid staff to assist Northeastern Technical College’s current staff or to completely outsource the whole Financial Aid office of Northeastern Technical College to a contractor?

State’s Response: NETC is outsourcing the financial aid packaging component. The provider will package student financial aid; communicate with students by email, letter, phone, etc., to complete packaging. The provider will be responsible for obtaining FAFSA’s from students, obtaining verification documents from students and packaging aid. Provider will be required to send staff to campus for any emergency issues that arise and need immediate attention.

To help us better understand NTC volume and service needs, can NTC clarify how many emails, phone calls, and volume of C-Flags identified in the prior year?

State’s Response:

Estimated Emails: 1200 (Since August 2022) Estimated Phone Calls: 4100 (Yearly) Estimated C-Flags: 40-45% Have C Codes

2. We are seeking clarification. The question and answer below were provided by the state during the initial round:

How many positions do you seek to fill? (e.g., How many FTEs or hours in a given week need to be fill?)

· For each position, do you want full-time (FT) or will full-time equivalency (FTE) suffice? In other words, if you are looking for a Financial Aid Officer to be backfilled for 40 full-time hours, will you accept 2 Financial Aid Officers that are 1 FTE (each working 20 hours per week)?

State’s Response: This is a contract for services; we will not be seeking to fill any positions. This will be a third-party service.

To help us better understand NTCs service needs, how many NTC financial aid staff members will be onsite and what roles and responsibilities will reside with the current staff for the new contract period? In addition, can NTC clarify if auto-packager or the SAP calculation established from baseline SIS to support the packaging and SAP functions?

State’s Response: 4 staff members (FA Director & 2 administrative specialists, 1 administrative grant specialists) - Current staff will award most state aid programs, VA, meet various reporting requirements, answer escalation calls and emails and handle incoming office traffic. NETC does have an auto-packager, however, some manual processes are down. SAP calculations are automated, but the timeframe suspensions are manually evaluated.

3. The original question was: “Can you clarify the insurance requirements? The insurance requirements found on page 27 states $1M CGL, $1M Auto, $1M Workers Comp. However, page 28, section e, says $5M per occurrence and $10M aggregate. “

State’s Response: There are three types of insurance: Commercial General Liability, or CGL, Automobile Liability; and Workers Compensation/Employer’s Liability. These insurance requirements are utilized due to the contractor performing substantial services on state property or within a state building.

However, indicated page 28 and (e) can be found on page 27. The $5,000,000 per occurrence limits define how much a policy will pay for any one incident or claim. The $10,000,000 aggregate limits define how much a policy will pay over the policy’s duration.”

The State’s response is unclear to us. The limits for Commercial General Liability, or CGL, Automobile Liability; and Workers Compensation/Employer’s Liability are listed in CONTRACTOR’S LIABILITY INSURANCE - GENERAL (FEB 2015) Section B-1, B-2 & B-3 respectfully, and each specifies a specific limit as follows:

(1) Commercial General Liability (CGL): Insurance Services Office (ISO) Form CG 00 01 12 07 covering CGL on an “occurrence” basis, including products- completed operations, personal and advertising injury, with limits no less than $1,000,000 per occurrence. If a general aggregate limit applies, the general aggregate limit shall be twice the required occurrence limit. This contract shall be considered to be an “insured contract” as defined in the policy.

(2) Auto Liability: ISO Form Number CA 00 01 covering any auto (Code 1), or if Contractor has no owned autos, hired, (Code 8) and non-owned autos (Code 9), with limits no less than $1,000,000 per accident for bodily injury and property damage.

(3) Worker’s Compensation: As required by the State of South Carolina, with Statutory Limits, and Employer’s Liability Insurance with limit of no less than $1,000,000 per accident for bodily injury or disease.

The clause listed on Page 28 (e) that states “Coverage shall have limits no less than five million ($5,000,000.00) dollars per occurrence and ten million ($10,000,000.00) dollars aggregate.” Is under the title CONTRACTOR’S LIABILITY INSURANCE – INFORMATION SECURITY AND PRIVACY (FEB 2015).

Therefore, is this an additional policy to the three policies that were indicated in the previous section? Or are you requiring the Commercial General Liability (CGL): Insurance to be $5,000,000/$10,000,000 and not the $1,000,000 as indicated. This is the clarification we seek.

State’s Response: We are requiring the insurance policies as requested within the original solicitation language.

ALL OTHER TERMS, CONDITIONS, BIDDING INSTRUCTIONS, AND SPECIFICATIONS REMAIN UNCHANGED. IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS OR IF ANY CONFUSION OR UNCERTAINTY ARISES AS A RESULT OF THIS AMENDMENT, IT IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OFFEROR TO CONTACT THE PROCUREMENT OFFICER FOR CLARIFICATION. CONTACT INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND IN THE TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THE COVER PAGE OF THIS AMENDMENT. REFERENCE THE “DUTY TO INQUIRE” CLAUSE IN THE ORIGINAL INVITATION FOR BID.

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