Attachment-2.-Pre-Bid_-Pre-Proposal-Conference-Response-Form.pdf

This Pre-Bid/Pre-Proposal Conference Response Form pertains to the State of Maryland Department of Budget and Management's solicitation (BPM057552) for a cloud-based Billing and COBRA Administration System. The procurement seeks a turnkey Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to administer direct billing and COBRA services integrated with the State Personnel System (Workday). The scope requires processing approximately 923 monthly qualifying events, 1,530 monthly new hires, and 1,451 monthly terminations; managing approximately 650 initial COBRA notices, 650 18-month notices, 220 36-month notices, and 15 expiration notices monthly; and administering twelve qualified health plans across six insurance carriers. The system must serve approximately 78,000 active employees, 300 current COBRA participants, 1,850 COBRA-eligible former employees, approximately 3,000 direct-billing participants, and approximately 2,700 payroll-deduction participants transitioning on January 1, 2027. Virtual oral presentations are scheduled for August 24-25, 2026 by appointment, with proposals due August 28, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. EST. The contract term is ten years with no renewal options, with an anticipated commencement date of October 2026 and a requirement for full operational readiness within 120 days of contract start.

Pricing shall be firm fixed-price, fully-loaded Per Employee Per Month (PEPM) rates on a monthly arrears basis, plus one-time implementation fees, with rates remaining flat for the first five contract years. The procurement includes a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) subcontracting goal of 5 percent and a Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) participation goal of 2 percent. Bidders must demonstrate a minimum of ten years of direct billing and COBRA administration experience and provide three client references. The contractor must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including $1 million commercial general liability, $500,000 professional liability, $1 million crime insurance, and $5 million cyber security/data breach insurance, and must comply with HIPAA, the HITECH Act, Maryland's Personal Information Protection Act, and WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA accessibility standards. Disaster recovery and business continuity requirements mandate a geographically redundant backup site at least 100 miles from primary operations with a 24-hour recovery time objective and one-hour recovery point objective. A dedicated Account Service Representative at 100 percent full-time equivalent is required. Maryland's living wage requirements apply, and the State has filed a Small Business Reserve waiver encouraging small businesses to submit proposals as prime contractors at secondary competition level.