AMENDMENT ONE.pdf

State of South Carolina

Competitive Best Value Bid

AMENDMENT ONE

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400024748 04/12/2023

LISA ROLAND

803-898-0533 ROLANDLD@dhec.sc.gov

SC DHEC

Attn: Procurement Services Division 301 Gervais Street, 4th Floor Columbia SC 29201-3073

DESCRIPTION: Employee Engagement Survey Services USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: SC Dept of Health & Environmental Control

The Term "Offer" Means Your "Bid" or "Proposal". Your offer must be submitted in a sealed package. Solicitation Number & Opening Date must appear on package exterior. See "Submitting Your Paper Offer or Modification" provision.

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov (See Page 3)

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 05/02/2023 @ 2:30 PM ET (See "Deadline for Submission of Offer" provision) QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: DATE HAS PASSED (See "Questions From Offerors" provision) NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: *See Page 3* ONLINE PREFERRED - 1 COPY IF HARD COPY

CONFERENCE TYPE: PRE-BID CONFERENCE

DATE & TIME: DATE HAS PASSED

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions)

LOCATION: MS TEAMS (Virtual)

EMAIL THE BUYER FOR ACCESS

ROLANDLD@dhec.sc.gov

AWARD &

AMENDMENTS

Award will be posted on 05/17/2023. The award, this solicitation, any amendments, and any related notices will be posted at the following web address: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

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 thirty (30) 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 - PAPER ONLY (MAR. 2015)

SAP

SAP

http://www.procurement.sc.gov/ mailto:ROLANDLD@dhec.sc.gov

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) Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date

DISCOUNT FOR

PROMPT PAYMENT

(See "Discount for Prompt

Payment" clause)

10 Calendar Days (%) 20 Calendar Days (%) 30 Calendar Days (%) _____Calendar Days (%)

PREFERENCES - A NOTICE TO VENDORS (SEP. 2009): On June 16, 2009, the South Carolina General Assembly rewrote the law governing preferences available to in-state vendors, vendors using in-state subcontractors, and vendors selling in-state or US end products. This law appears in Section 11-35-1524 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. A summary of the new preferences is available at www.procurement.sc.gov/preferences .

**PREFERENCES ARE NOT APPLICABLE**

[§11-35-1524(E)(2)]

PREFERENCES - ADDRESS AND PHONE OF IN-STATE OFFICE: Please provide the address and phone number for your in-state office in the space provided below. An in-state office is necessary to claim either the Resident Vendor Preference (11-35-1524(C)(1)(i)&(ii)) or the Resident Contractor Preference (11-35-1524(C)(1)(iii)). Accordingly, you must provide this information to qualify for the preference. An in-state office is not required, but can be beneficial, if you are claiming the Resident Subcontractor Preference (11-35-1524(D)).

**PREFERENCES ARE NOT APPLICABLE**

[§11-35-1524(E)(2)]

____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 http://www.procurement.sc.gov/preferences

AMENDMENT ONE

Solicitation No. 5400024748

DESCRIPTION: Employee Engagement Survey Services

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JAN 2004)

(a) 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]

QUESTIONS FROM OFFERORS – AMENDMENT (JUN 2017)

This 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 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]

The following prospective offeror questions and agency responses are hereby incorporated into the solicitation.

VENDOR QUESTION 1: The scope of work is significant. Build a customizable employee engagement instrument, administer the survey, conduct the analysis, create and deliver workshops to improve the results. Is the maximum budget really $25,000 (page 6 under I. Scope of Solicitation) or is that a typo or standard boilerplate language?

STATE’S RESPONSE:

No. It is not a typo. The maximum for one year is $25,000 with the possibility of being extended based on funding availability. Please include in the scope of work what your team can provide for $25,000.

VENDOR QUESTION 2: The solicitation says that the actions takes after previous surveys have not created little noticeable results (page 18).

o What post-survey programs have been conducted?

o How has the most senior members of the ELT wholeheartedly embraced and endorsed the programs?

STATE’S RESPONSE:

The agency has been conducting employee engagement surveys with similar questions since 2016.

Based on employee feedback, several minor enhancements to the survey tool have been made across the years. However, while some areas have seen improvements others have remained stagnant. We would like assistance from the selected vendor to review the questions and look into if we can gain further details about areas of concern.

http://www.procurement.sc.gov/

Specifically, DHEC’s current employee engagement survey measures how employees feel the agency is doing in four primary areas of organization health: (1) Professional Growth, (2) Cultural Health/Values,

(3) Engagement in the Strategic Plan, and (4) Internal Communication Channel. Identified areas of improvement have included internal communications from senior leadership to staff and professional growth. Our goal is to review the overall survey tool and determine where updates can be made so that we can better evaluate our areas of improvement as well as our areas of strength.

Among recent programs and initiatives resulting from survey feedback, include:

• Conducting a cross-analysis of agency salaries for mission critical positions.

• Reviewing and submitting additional budget requests to the state Legislature to support salary increases for critical and underfunded positions.

• Deploying a cross-functional workgroup to assess and provide recommendations to leadership aimed at improving employee engagement.

• Launching ambassador campaigns to recognize DHEC employees and support requirement and retention efforts.

• Reviving our worksite wellness workgroup to encourage healthy employees in healthy workplaces.

• Launching new educational resources and training to better support employee mental health, efforts which have been recognized nationally.

• Offering greater virtual trainings and resources to help meet the current and future training and development needs of employees.

• Providing regular communications from leadership to staff about agency initiatives and decision-making.

• Holding regular town halls with the agency’s director and executive leaders to provide opportunities to share status updates and receive feedback from staff.

• Implementing an employee stay survey to better understand why employees stay at DHEC.

• Conducting agencywide focus groups to receive feedback from employees on agency-related retention and engagement efforts.

• Creating the “DHEC Leadership Team” consisting of approximately 200 emerging agency leaders with the goal of fostering an environment that promotes regular information and knowledge sharing, as well as leadership training and development.

• Developing a new, more viable and inclusive strategic planning process by revitalizing a shelfed plan and turning it into a living document with enhanced feedback loops and measurable strategies, goals and targets. A key focus area of the plan is investing in our workforce.

The agency’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and senior members are actively involved in employee engagement initiatives. This includes placing engagement as a priority within the Director’s office. Representatives from each ELT area are often included and engaged as part of relevant agency-wide initiatives. ELT areas also use survey information to help develop program-specific initiatives for their unique workforce needs.

VENDOR QUESTION 3: What is the organization’s turnover rate for the last few years? Are there hotspots where it is worse? Better?

STATE’S RESPONSE:

DHEC’s salary average and turnover data is available here:

https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/DHEC_Aug2021AvgSalTO.pdf.

https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/DHEC_Aug2021AvgSalTO.pdf

This report reflects all DHEC classifications and provides the most recent turnover rates for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and a 3-year average turnover rate. The report also provides a comparison of average salaries per classification at DHEC compared to the average salaries for the same classification within other South Carolina state government agencies. Based on FY 2021 data, a few key data points from this analysis include:

• 76% of DHEC employees are in classifications where the salary average is less than other state agencies in South Carolina.

• 31% of classifications used by DHEC have a 3-year average turnover rate greater than 15%.

• 23% of classifications used by DHEC have a 3-year average turnover rate greater than 20%.

• On average over the last 3 years approximately 475 full-time employees (FTEs) leave DHEC per year.

In addition to the cross-analysis provided, DHEC’s deputy areas of Environmental Affairs, Healthcare Quality, and Public Health have provided several examples impacting the agency’s ability to provide core services and compete with the private sector, as well as other public sectors. These examples can be found here:

https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/10.06.2021_SHaPE_SC_DHEC_Turnover_Information_Request.pd f.

Other relevant data can also be found here: https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/SHaPE-SC-Task-Force- Summary-Overview-and-Fast-Facts.pdf.

VENDOR QUESTION 4: How competitive with the private sectors are DHEC salaries? Are certain areas more or less above/below?

Please reference links and information above. You may also reference pages 19-27 of the SHaPE SC Task Force report for specifics about DHEC’s current capacity to compete with the public and private sectors: https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/SHaPE-SC-report.pdf.

VENDOR QUESTION 5: Can you elaborate on the desire for workshops and programs for managers?

o How many managers?

o How many programs?

o What about the ELT?

o What about the rest of the 3,400 employees

The desired workshops are for DHEC’s ELT and Leadership Team (DLT). There are 12 ELT members and approximately 200 DLT members. DLT includes employees who have been selected by the agency’s ELT as top leaders within the agency. DLT is comprised of the ELT and core, high-level management positions within the agency. Examples of members include leaders such as Bureau Chiefs/Directors, Office Directors, and direct reports to ELT members and Bureau Chiefs/Directors. Together, this group represents the agency's policy and thought leaders. It also serves to support the development of the next generation of DHEC's senior leaders. These leaders represent https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/10.06.2021_SHaPE_SC_DHEC_Turnover_Information_Request.pdf https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/10.06.2021_SHaPE_SC_DHEC_Turnover_Information_Request.pdf https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/SHaPE-SC-Task-Force-Summary-Overview-and-Fast-Facts.pdf https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/SHaPE-SC-Task-Force-Summary-Overview-and-Fast-Facts.pdf https://shapesouthcarolina.gov/files/SHaPE-SC-report.pdf four (4) core divisions (Environmental Affairs, Healthcare Quality, Public Health, Support Services), around 56 overarching bureaus/programs, and four (4) regions (Upstate, Midlands, Pee Dee, Lowcountry). The agency organizational chart is available here:

https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/CR-010075.pdf.

For our ELT we are seeking to provide insight into engagement across the agency and within their specific areas, including strengths, challenges, and areas of improvement. This can be done at the individual or group level. However, we would like to ensure that data is broken down so that ELT members can better understand and discuss any unique challenges facing their specific areas.

For our DLT (senior leaders and managers) we are seeking to provide insight into the results of the survey, areas for improvement and recommendations for implementing improvements. Our goal is to have a larger facilitated discussion to encourage education, promote leadership development, and identify any key actions.

For all employees, we will be sharing the survey report with them with the goal of working with the vendor to identify any in-house follow-up, communications and/or training needs related to the survey.

VENDOR QUESTION 6: Creating, administering, and analyzing a survey is easy. You can hire an outside organization to do all of it for you. The truly hard part, and most important, is what happens with the results. Can you share more about how DHEC leadership looks at and weighs the importance of the survey and the workshops. Most of the solicitation seems geared at the nuts and bolts of the survey rather than the workshops that might actually make a difference in the results.

We recognize the importance of not just taking actions based on the results of the survey, but continually communicating and following-up on the identified areas of improvement and agency decisions to promote a culture of continuous improvement. As part of this effort, we have many talented individuals on our team (including members of our management and staff) that can help support the hard work needed to make a difference. However, our focus right now is receiving an outside perspective on our current survey tool, supporting the data analysis of the survey (which currently falls on a team of one) and receiving recommendations from a third-party on key strategies and actions the agency can take to improve how we evaluate and improve employee engagement. Therefore, at this time, the evaluation, updating, and deployment of the survey as well as the facilitated discussion and workshops with our managers will be highly weighted, followed by actionable recommendations for improvement efforts.

https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/CR-010075.pdf