Attachment A-Scope of Services Investigative Services_Final_7.24.24~1.pdf

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

TRIAL COURT

OCM FISCAL-PROCUREMENT & STRATEGIC SOURCING | 2 Center Plaza 9th Floor, Boston, MA 02108

Attachment A – Scope of Services & Instructions

Alternate ID: TRC-25-OCML-003

COMMBUYS Document ID#: BD-25-TRC-1107-1107T-TRC01-105360

Background:

The Judicial Branch of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is comprised of three separate court systems - the Supreme Judicial Court, the Appeals Court, and the Trial Court.

The Trial Court is headed by a Court Administrator (“CA”) who, in conjunction with the Chief Justice of the Trial Court (“CJTC”), shares management duties.

The CA is primarily responsible for court administration and the CJTC is primarily responsible for judicial administration. Together the CA and CJTC manage and administer the Trial Court of Massachusetts and have direct supervisory authority over the Office of the Commissioner of Probation and the Office of the Jury Commissioner. The CA is also the statutory employer of the approximately 7,000 Trial Court employees who work in over 100 locations across Massachusetts.

Scope of Service:

The Massachusetts Trial Court seeks a qualified vendor off Statewide Contract FAC115 to conduct an in-depth forensic investigation into an incident that occurred at a Trial Court location. A law enforcement investigation background is strongly preferred, including having previously been employed as a detective, and/or a rank higher than patrolman, performing investigative work for a law enforcement organization (local, state, or federal) for at least seven (7) years.

The selected vendor’s forensic investigation, at a minimum, must consist of: (1) interviewing all involved Trial Court employees and other witnesses; (2) reviewing relevant documents, including but not limited to incident reports; (3) reviewing all available surveillance video; and (4) visiting the location, including observing camera placement for potential blind spots, and other relevant observations;

issuing a comprehensive confidential report. The vendor shall issue a final confidential report to the Trial Court’s General Counsel, which should include an exhaustive factual account of what occurred leading up to, during, and after the incident. Based on the factual findings the confidential investigative report must also identify any recommendations for best practices the Trial Court may want to implement.

The selected vendor, its investigators, employees and agents shall treat all information obtained during its forensic investigation, including its report as confidential information and may not disclose such information without the Trial Court’s General Counsel’s prior consent. All vendors shall acknowledge responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of the information in their bid responses.

Procurement Calendar

Procurement Step Due Date Time Bid Posted (Available) July 24, 2024 Bid Response Due (Bid Opening) August 5, 2024 3:00 PM EST Contract Start Date (estimated) August 15, 2024

Times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Savings (US), as displayed on the COMMBUYS system clock displayed to Bidders after logging in. If there is a conflict between the dates in this Procurement Calendar and dates in the Bid’s Header, the dates in the Bid’s Header on COMMBUYS shall prevail. Bidders are responsible for checking the Bid record, including Bid Q&A, on COMMBUYS for Procurement Calendar updates.

The Trial Court reserves the right to amend or delay any of the dates or times reflected above, as well as any other timeframes or deadlines referenced throughout this solicitation, if such a change is in the best interests of the Trial Court.

Budget

The investigative services will be rendered pursuant to a fee for services contract.

The Trial Court anticipates the investigation will take between forty-five (45) and fifty-five (55) hours.

Vendor must identify the hourly rate it will charge the Trial Court for investigative services, which will include time required to draft the report. The quoted hourly rate must be firm for the duration of the contract. The hourly rate must be all-inclusive of services, materials, transportation, mileage, and parking.

Selected vendor will submit monthly invoices in arrears for the services provided.

The invoice must include the date(s) of service, the hourly rate charged for the service, and a detailed explanation of the service provided. Invoices shall be reviewed subject to the same acceptance and rejection process as outlined for Deliverables later in this RFQ.

Contract Duration:

The anticipated duration of the resulting contract of this RFQ is four (4) months, plus one (1) three-month (3) extension if needed, for a total potential contract duration of seven (7) months. The optional renewal period may be activated and exercised at the sole discretion of the Trial Court.

Required Qualifications:

Investigator(s) must have an active Private Investigator’s License issued by the Massachusetts State Police.

Preferred Qualifications:

Investigator(s) must have previously been employed as a detective, and/or rank higher than patrolman, performing investigative work for a law enforcement organization (local, state, or federal) for at least seven (7) years.

Contract Management Considerations

Roles and Responsibilities

The Department’s Project Manager (the “Department PM”) is the department employee responsible for managing and administering the contract upon award.

The Department’s Project Manager will be the point of contact for the successful bidder and contractor concerning day-to-day operational matters and the performance of contractual duties. The Trial Court will designate the Project Manager(s) who will work with the Contractor regarding day-to-day operational matters.

The Procurement Coordinator is the point of contact for interested bidders during the procurement process. Bidders may contact the Procurement Coordinator if the bidder is having trouble accessing any required attachments electronically.

Bidders are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of the procuring department or any member of the evaluation committee regarding this bid except as specified in this bid, and no other department employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry regarding this bid during the active solicitation period.

Department Project Manager:

Daniel P. Sullivan, General Counsel

(617) 878-0210 Daniel.sullivan2@jud.state.ma.us

Procurement Coordinator:

Ellen Osborne-Smith 617-878-0280 Ellen.Osborne-Smith@jud.state.ma.us

The Contractor Project Manager (the “Contractor PM”) will (i) be responsible for administering the resulting SOW and the managing of the day-to-day operations under said SOW, (ii) serve as an interface between the Department PM and all Contractor personnel participating in this engagement; (iii) develop and maintain the Project Management Plan in consultation with the Department PM; (iv) facilitate regular communication with the Department PM, including [as necessary] status reports/updates, and review the project performance against the project plan and facilitate [as necessary] project status meetings for the duration of the engagement; (v) update the Project Management Plan on an [as necessary] basis and distribute it at [as necessary] meetings for the duration of the engagement; (vi) sign acceptance forms to acknowledge receipt; and (vii) be responsible for the management and deployment of Contractor personnel.

The PMs bear the primary responsibility for issue resolution. The PMs shall be responsible for coordinating a meeting with department and contractor leadership to review and resolve any issues, as needed.

Acceptance & Rejection Process

The Contractor PM will submit each deliverable or documentation of services rendered (“deliverable”) to the Department PM on or before the due date specified in the resulting contract. Department will review each deliverable and determine whether it has met in all material respects the criteria established in the contract.

Within ten (10) Business Days of receipt of each deliverable, the Department PM will notify the Contractor PM, in writing, of acceptance or rejection. A rejection will include a written description of the defects of the deliverable. If the Department PM does not respond with acceptance or rejection within ten (10) Business Days of receipt, the Contractor PM shall provide a reminder notice to the Department PM.

If Department PM fails to respond after the receipt of the reminder notice, Contractor must notify Department PM and the Parties must agree to a new deadline for acceptance or rejection of the deliverable. Upon receipt of rejection of a deliverable, Contractor will act diligently to correct the specified defects and deliver an updated version of the deliverable to the Department PM. Acceptance or rejection of the updated version of the deliverable will be subject to the process described in this paragraph. In no event will a deliverable be deemed accepted without affirmative written acceptance.

Following any acceptance of a deliverable which requires additional work to be entirely compliant with the pertinent specifications, and until the next delivery, Contractor will use reasonable efforts to provide a prompt correction or workaround.

Inquiries:

No phone calls regarding this BID will be accepted. If you have any questions, please send an email to _Ellen.Osborne-Smith@jud.state.ma.us specify the bid number _105360_ in the subject line. At the discretion of the Trial Court questions and responses will be posted to Q&A section of this bid.

Submission Requirements:

mailto:_Ellen.Osborne-Smith@jud.state.ma.us

Responses MUST be uploaded to COMMBUYS no later than the bid opening date and time: _AUGUST 5, 2024 at 3:00 PM. Responses not posted to COMMBUYS will not be considered for evaluation. Do not Email and/or mail responses to the department. BIDDERS IMPORTANT NOTE: When uploading your response on COMMBUYS please be sure to enter a $0 dollar amount and check off the “no charge”(Make sure “No Bid” is NOT selected) option, otherwise your upload will default to the No Bid option and the department will not be made aware of the upload. This step will ensure accuracy when the bid closes for review and the department awards the bid. Failure to follow this step may result in disqualification of your response due to the department not being properly notified of your response.

All Bidder proposals must be submitted via COMMBUYS by 3:00PM EST/EDT on AUGUST 5, 2024, and must include the following documents/attachments:

• Transmittal Letter, including:

• signed by individual authorized to bind company to all representations and commitments made in the response.

• confirmation of minimum quote duration of at least 90 days.

• confirm that that there is no pending litigation involving the Bidder, that may impair or interfere with the delivery of proposed goods or services.

• Technical Proposal, including:

• Resume of investigator(s) vendor anticipates using to provide the investigative services.

• Business References.

• *NO PRICING INFORMATION IN THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL*

• Pricing Proposal:

• Identify fixed hourly rate for investigative services per FAC115.

• Completed Mandatory Documents:

• Vendor Acknowledgement

• No Contact Policy

Technical Proposals and Pricing Proposals must be uploaded as two (2) separate documents. By submitting their proposal, the Bidder agrees to the terms of this bid.

The Bidder is to provide in its Pricing Proposal a complete breakdown of the costs, and manner of calculation (e.g., per hour), for all aspects of the tasks and services proposed by the Bidder in their Technical Proposal. Costs that are not specifically identified in the Bidder’s Pricing Proposal will not be compensated under any contract awarded pursuant to this RFQ.

Bidders must also submit three (3) business references illustrating examples in which the Bidder has provided similar products/services to governmental or judicial entities and/or organizations of comparable size within the last five (5) years. Bidder must provide the name and contact information for an individual employed by the customer. Bidders are encouraged to provide references of government organizations within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Bidders agree that the Trial Court may contact any individual(s) named as references hereunder.

Bidders should also be aware that if awarded, they may be required to review and execute the following documents as part of the resulting contract:

• Statewide Contract FAC115 SOW

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts Standard Contract Form

• Standard Contract Form Instructions and Contractor Certifications

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts Terms and Conditions or

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Terms and Conditions for Information Technology Contracts

• Verification of Taxation Reporting Information (W-9) – Massachusetts Substitute W-9 Form

• Electronic Funds Transfer Payment Signup Form

• Contract Authorized Signatory Listing (“CASL”) Form

Samples of these documents are attached to this bid. These documents are provided for review and reference only and are not to be completed and submitted as part of the RFP solicitation process.

To respond to this bid, please register on the COMMBUYS website. If you need assistance please contact the COMMBUYS helpdesk at:

COMMBUYS@state.ma.us or (888) 627-8283 or (617) 720-3197.

Evaluation Information:

Bidders must submit proposals that meet all the submission requirements of this bid. Only responsive proposals that meet the submission requirements will be evaluated, scored, and ranked by the evaluation committee. Additional information or clarifications may be requested by the committee for evaluation purposes.

Any submission which fails to meet the submission requirements will be found non-responsive and go without further review unless the evaluation committee, at its discretion, determines that the non-compliance is insubstantial and can be corrected. In these cases, the evaluation team may allow the Bidder to make minor corrections to the submission.

Evaluation scores will be used to rank Bidders and will determine which Bidders will proceed to subsequent stages of the evaluation and/or enter negotiations with the Trial Court to receive a contract award.

The proposals submitted in response to this bid will be evaluated based on the criteria listed below:

Evaluation Criterion Weight Notes Technical Proposal 50% Does vendor properly indicate ability to perform all tasks and services requested by this RFQ?

mailto:COMMBUYS@state.ma.us?Subject=COMMBUYS%20Question

Vendor Experience and References 30% Do vendor’s references and experience demonstrate ability to provide the services as requested by this RFQ?

Investigators with more years of experience as a detective, and/or rank higher than patrolman, performing investigative work for a law enforcement organization will be scored higher.

Cost as provided in the Pricing Proposal

20%

Lower hourly rates will be scored higher.

Pricing proposals will not be evaluated until after technical proposals are scored.

TOTAL: 100%