Appendix A- Administrative Information.docx

RFP SJAA 2024000248

APPENDIX A- ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Contents

General Information [Reserved]

Schedule of Activities This Schedule of Activities is for information and planning purposes only. Schedules for Activities listed as “Estimated” may be subject to change depending on the needs of the State. All times are considered in Mountain Time (MT), as adjusted for daylight savings.

(if applicable)

Send Inquiries to: kristine.contreraz@state.co.us

Sealed proposals must be submitted in the method described in Section 2.8 below

Colorado Vendor Self Service This solicitation is being published on the Colorado Vendor Self Service page (Colorado VSS) at www.colorado.gov/vss, so that Offerors who have an interest may submit a proposal in accordance with the terms of this solicitation.

Sole point of contact The Procurement Contact for this solicitation is:

Kristine Contreraz Contracts and Procurement Administrator Email: Kristine.contreraz@state.co.us Phone: (303) 894-7765

Because phone lines may not be consistently monitored, email is the preferred method of communication. The individual listed above is the sole point of contact for this solicitation. Initiating contact with anyone other than this individual may result in Offeror disqualification.

Pre-Proposal meeting - virtual The State will hold a pre-proposal meeting as indicated in the Schedule of Activities. This meeting will be held virtually. So that the State can plan for attendance, if an Offeror wishes to attend the pre-proposal meeting, please register for this webinar through this link, https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zSYOk8MxQqWRZs1Bpj_ebA must RSVP by March 06, 2024, and include the RFP SJAA 24-0248. You will receive an email confirmation containing information about joining the webinar.

oFFEROR inquiries Offerors may submit written inquiries via email concerning this solicitation to obtain clarifications. The State may not accept inquiries after the date and time indicated in the Schedule of Activities. Send all inquiries to the Procurement Contact identified in Section 1.4. Inquiries must be clearly marked with the RFP number and title. Where appropriate, inquiries should include references to any relevant Section/paragraph of the solicitation.

Responses to Offeror’s inquiries will be published collectively, as a modification on Colorado VSS. Offerors shall not rely on any verbal statements that alter any specification or other term or condition of the solicitation. Such changes are valid only if provided in writing by the Procurement Contact.

modifications and/or supplemental information to the solicitation Any modifications, amendments or supplemental information to the solicitation will be published on Colorado VSS. A modification notice will be published on Colorado VSS in the event that it becomes necessary to revise any part of this solicitation.

It is the Offeror’s sole responsibility to check Colorado VSS on a regular basis, prior to the proposal submission deadline, as this is the primary means for communicating any clarifications or changes to solicitation content, timeline and/or requirements.

Public Opening OF PROPOSALS - VIRTUAL This public proposal opening will be held virtually. So that the State can plan for attendance, if an Offeror wishes to attend the public proposal opening, please send an email to the Procurement Contact to RSVP at least one day prior to the date of the public proposal opening, and include the name and email for the person who will attend.

PRICING

Proposed pricing must remain firm during the initial term of the Contract, Price Proposals details can be found in Section 2.8 in the RFP Solicitation document.

Pricing must include any fees associated with the delivery of the goods or services, including, but not limited to, shipping and installation.

documents after award Prior to Contract execution, the awarded Offeror must provide the State with Proof of Good Standing with the Colorado Secretary of State and an insurance certificate documenting coverage according to Section 10 from Model Contract of Appendix B. Offerors do not need to submit these documents unless they are awarded this solicitation.

INCURRING COSTS

Offerors are solely responsible for all costs incurred as a result of responding to this solicitation, which may include, but is not limited to, meetings, presentations, or negotiations.

CONFIDENTIALITY OF solicitation PROCESS Following the proposal submission deadline, individuals/entities may request from the Procurement Contact a list of the names of the responding Offerors. All other information related to the solicitation process will remain confidential until award.

Following the Notice of Intent to Award, all Offeror proposals will be open to public inspection with the exception of information determined by the State to be a trade secret or confidential or proprietary. Reference §24-72-200.1 et seq., C.R.S., as amended, Colorado Open Records Act.

Solicitation CANCELLATION/REJECTION OF OFFEROR Proposal(S) In accordance with §24-103-301, C.R.S., and the related Procurement Rules, the State may cancel this solicitation, or any and all proposals may be rejected in whole or in part, without penalty, at any time before a Contract is executed, when it is in the best interest of the State. The reason and documentation supporting the decision to cancel the solicitation or reject proposal(s) shall remain confidential for the lesser of six months or until a Contract(s) is awarded by the State. Reference Procurement Rule R-24-101-401-05.

If the solicitation is cancelled after, proposals are received, the proposals that have been opened shall be retained in the procurement record, or if unopened, they will be disposed of, or returned to the Offerors upon request, at the Offerors’ expense.

NEWS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Offerors shall not issue any news releases, communications or announcements of any kind pertaining to this solicitation, without prior written approval by the State.

PROTESTED SOLICITATIONS AND AWARDS

An aggrieved party may file a protest concerning a material issue(s), at any phase of solicitation, including but not limited to, specifications, award or a disclosure of information marked confidential in the proposal. The protest shall be submitted to the Department of Regulatory Agencies Procurement Official within ten (10) business days after such aggrieved person knows, or should have known, of the facts giving rise thereto. Reference §24-109-102, C.R.S., as amended, and Procurement Rule R-24-109-102-01, et seq. Protests should be submitted in writing to the following:

Kristine.Contreraz@state.co.us offeror proposal information Proposal submission deadline See Section 1.2 Schedule of Activities.

General information for the proposal response Offerors are encouraged to review the solicitation and any related appendices and attachments in their entirety to assure understanding of and compliance with the requirements that may be included in these documents.

A proposal should be thorough, but not exhaustive, and it should address the requirements set forth in this solicitation and should provide sufficient details to allow the Evaluation Committee to determine whether the proposal demonstrates an understanding of the State’s requirements and contracting terms and conditions; the ability to meet the State’s needs, including the experience and resources necessary to carry out the work; and costs that are reasonable and consistent with the industry.

The Offeror’s proposal and all attachments shall Comply with the standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, (29 USC § 794). The Offeror may not have an opportunity to re-draft their proposal and attachments to make them accessible to persons with vision impairments after the proposal submission deadline and in the event that the Department has evaluator(s) serving on an Evaluation Committee requiring accessibility, the Department may disqualify an Offeror’s proposal from evaluation.

Timeliness of proposal submission Proposals received after the submission deadline shall not be opened and shall be rejected as a late proposal, unless otherwise permitted by the Procurement Official in accordance with Procurement Rule R-24-103-201-10.

Responsibility for ensuring that an Offeror’s proposal is received on time rests with the Offeror. Reasonably foreseeable problems inherent in the delivery of proposal are not extraordinary circumstances permitting acceptance of late proposals.

OFFEROR ACCEPTANCE OF Solicitation TERMS/OFFEROR Proposal CONTENT An Offeror’s proposal submitted in response to this solicitation shall constitute a binding offer. The signature of the Offeror shall indicate acknowledgment of this condition. Signature shall be that of a person legally authorized to execute contractual obligations. The proposal, including pricing, shall allow for a minimum of 180 calendar days for acceptance by the State, unless otherwise specified in this solicitation. Reference Procurement Rule R- 24-103-201-11(d).

The contents of the proposal of the awarded Offeror will become contractual obligations under the awarded Contract. Failure of the awarded Offeror to accept these obligations may result in cancellation of the award to that Offeror.

Certification of independent price determination By its signature on the cover page, the Offeror certifies that the prices and other terms in the proposal have been arrived at independently without any consultation, communication, agreement with, or knowledge of the contents of the proposal by any other competing Offerors. For purposes of this paragraph, "consultation, communication, agreement with, or knowledge" does not include knowledge of prices or terms gained through availability of established price lists or catalogues made available to the public by the competing Offerors. No attempt has been made or will be made by the Offeror to induce any other person or firm to submit or not to submit a proposal for restricting competition. Reference §6-4-101, C.R.S., et seq., (Colorado Antitrust Act of 1992) as amended.

Proposal RESPONSE MATERIAL OWNERSHIP All material submitted in response to this solicitation becomes the property of the State.

submission of confidential or proprietary information The State of Colorado is subject to the requirements of §24-72-200.1, C.R.S., et seq., Colorado Open Records Act.

An Offeror may submit, as a part of its proposal, a written request for classification of certain portions of the proposal as a trade secret or other confidential or proprietary information. Material for which the Offeror is requesting confidentiality shall be readily identifiable and separated from other portions of the proposal to facilitate public inspection of the non-confidential portion of the proposal. Commingling of confidential and non-confidential information is not acceptable. Neither price information nor any information that will be included in a resulting Contract will be considered confidential.

The Offeror must include the rationale for any request to classify portions as a trade secret or confidential or proprietary, including references to the authority that allows for such treatment.

In no event shall an entire proposal be classified as confidential. The Procurement Official or his or her designee shall determine if the information identified in the Offeror’s request is exempt from disclosure in accordance with §24-72-204, C.R.S., and shall inform the Offeror in writing of his or her determination. If the Offeror does not agree with the determination, the Offeror may protest the determination in accordance with article 109 of the Colorado Procurement Code and the terms of this solicitation. Reference Procurement Rule R-24-101-401-03.

Any additional Offeror information, which may be part of the evaluation/negotiation process and for which an Offeror claims confidentiality, is subject to the same requirements and processes identified above.

proposal Submission instructions For this solicitation, proposals will not be accepted with an Online submission. Hard copy submissions ONLY and proposals must be delivered, in a “sealed”, i.e., … package, envelope, box, etc., with Offeror’s Name, RFP SJAA 2024000248, and Evaluation Oversight/Psychometric Services on the outside of the package, envelope, box, etc. Please note the following:

Submit all Proposals to:

Department of Regulatory Agencies Attention: Kristine Contreraz 1560 Broadway, Suite 110 Denver, CO 80202 Offerors should submit one (1) original hard copy plus one (1) electronic copy on an individual flash drive, in a universally accepted format such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft Office (MSWord) in addition to the required hard copy to facilitate evaluation and processing.

Do not include a copy of the State RFP, extensive artwork unusual printing or binding, or materials which do not enhance the utility of clarity of the Offeror’s Proposal. Documents should be double sided, and easy to copy/scan (no bound materials, clips, etc.). Paper should be with or extremely light paper and no dark backgrounds. Enhance electronic images for pages with poor image quality.

The solicitation submission application is only for proposal submission. All inquiries, questions, comments, or concerns should be submitted to the Procurement Contact via email and not through the solicitation submission application.

Modifications or withdrawal of Proposals An Offeror may modify or withdraw its proposal by written notice to the Procurement Contact prior to the established proposal submission deadline. Withdrawal of an Offeror’s proposal following the proposal submission deadline and prior to award, may be allowed, in the State’s discretion. Withdrawal of an Offeror’s proposal after award is not allowed. Reference Procurement Rules R-24-103-201-08 and R-24-103-201-09.

Mistakes and minor informalities in Offeror Proposals In certain circumstances, an Offeror may correct a mistake(s) in its proposal and/or the State may waive minor informalities. Reference Procurement Rule R-24-103-201-08.

modifications to state contract A draft Contract is included in Appendix B to this solicitation.

Offerors are instructed to review the attached draft Contract and submit any proposed modifications or redlines with their proposal. The decision to reject, accept, or further negotiate any requested changes will be at State’s discretion. If an Offeror normally seeks counsel on Contract terms, they are advised to do so before submitting a proposal in response to this solicitation.

In the event an Offerors requested modifications violate State law, regulation, or policy, or would otherwise not be justifiable as being in the best interest of the State, the State may make a determination that an Offeror’s proposal is no longer responsive and therefore ineligible for award.

conflicts of interest/ethics The Offeror must disclose in its proposal any potential or actual conflict of interest in connection with a response to this solicitation. A conflict of interest may include, but is not limited to, access to any non-public information by the Offeror regarding the solicitation or its subject matter.

The Offeror acknowledges that even the appearance of a conflict of interest may be harmful to the State’s interests. The Offeror shall disclose in its proposal whether there currently is, or potentially could be, the appearance of a conflict of interest regarding this solicitation, its staff, any proposed subcontractors or partners, or any related business with the State.

Requirements set forth in this Section are continuing requirements throughout the solicitation process and, for the awarded Offeror, the Contract term, including any extensions. Reference §24-18-201, C.R.S., et seq. (Proscribed Acts Related to Contracts and Claims); §24-50-507, C.R.S.(Conflict of Interest); §18-8-301, C.R.S., et seq. (Bribery and Corrupt Influence); §18-8-401, C.R.S., et seq. (Abuse of Public Office); §6-4-101, C.R.S., et seq., (Colorado Antitrust Act of 1992); §24-109-105, C.R.S .(Debarment and Suspension); and Procurement Rule R-24-101-107-01 (Ethics).

Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB).

SDVOSB Offerors must submit documentation of certification issued through the U.S. Department of veteran’s affairs in their proposal. §24-103-905 C.R.S. sets a SDVOSB goal of at least 3% of all contracts by dollar value be awarded to SDVOSBs who must be incorporated or organized in Colorado or they must maintain a place of business or have an office in Colorado and must be officially registered and verified as a SDVOSB by the Center for Verification and Evaluation within the United States department of veteran’s affairs. See www.vip.vetbiz.va.gov

PERFORMANCE OUTSIDE OF COLORADO

Awarded Offeror, per Section 24-102-206, C.R.S., prior to contracting shall disclose in a written statement whether it anticipates performing or subcontracting any services under the contract, where such subcontracted services will be performed under the contract, including any subcontracts, and whether any subcontracted services under the contract or any subcontracts are anticipated to be performed outside the United States or the state. If the prospective vendor anticipates services under the contract or any subcontracts will be performed outside the United States or the state, the vendor shall provide in its written statement a provision setting forth why it is necessary or advantageous to go outside the United States or the state to perform the contract or any subcontracts.