CCO - SECTION A - GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.docx

MASSACHUSETTS BAY

TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

CONTACT CENTER OPERATIONS: THE MBTA CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTACT CENTER

RFR. No: 16-18

BD-18-1206-MBTA-MBTA-23984

MASSACHUSETTS BAY RFR. [No.] TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY Section C-III: Scope of Work

Section A: General Instructions to Bidders

General Instructions to Bidders Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to this Request for Responses (“RFR”) issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the “MBTA”), a body politic and corporate and a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, existing pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 161A (as amended), Bidders are invited to submit a Response for Contact Center Operations (“CCO”), a customer service center for The MBTA’s customer’s needs.

This Section A - General Instructions to Bidders (“ITB”) is provided to inform, assist, and direct Bidders’ preparation of a Response.

This RFR is published via COMMBUYS and all Bidder questions and requests for clarifications will be submitted only through COMMBUYS “Bid Q&A” directed to the MBTA’s Designated Representative identified in Section 2.6.1.

Bidder is advised that it is in competition with others.

definitions These definitions shall apply to the initially capitalized terms used throughout this RFR.

i. Acquisition Method shall mean the method of procuring a service, as defined by 801 CMR 21.02.

ii. Bidder shall mean an individual or organization proposing to enter into a Contract to provide a service to the MBTA.

iii. Contract shall mean the document executed by the MBTA and the Contractor, in form and substance as set forth in Sections C-I through C-IV.

iv. Contractor shall mean the entity with which the MBTA executes the Contract.

v. Contact Center Operations or CCO or Customer Call center or CCC shall mean a full-service customer contact center providing fare and service information, offering trip planning, taking complaints and handling all other customer inquiries.

vi. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority or MBTA shall mean the body politic and corporate and the political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts existing pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 161A (as amended).

vii. MBTA Service Area shall mean the geographic area to be considered serviced by MBTA service, to include all lines of service – Rapid Transit, Bus, Commuter Rail, Ferry and the RIDE

viii. Response shall mean the Technical Proposal and Price Proposal submitted by each Bidder to the MBTA in response to the RFR.

ix. Response Date shall mean the date established for submission of the Response as set forth in Section 2.2.

x. Reference Information Documents or RIDs shall mean those documents listed throughout the RFR materials that are not Contract documents and are provided solely for the purposes of disclosure.

xi. Request for Responses or RFR shall mean this document, including RIDs, enclosures, and appendices hereto, issued by the MBTA to solicit Responses from Bidders for the purpose of entering into a Contract.

xii. Current Provider shall mean the current provider of Contact Center services to MBTA

xiii. Work shall mean the provision of all requirements as set in Section C-III Scope of Work scope description The Customer Call Center Overview MBTA Customer Call Center provides travel directions, schedule and fare information, complaint resolution, and switchboard operations in one department. MBTA’s CCC is operated by its Current Provider since July 2017.

There are currently 15 customer support representatives and 3 customer support supervisors responsible for answering these calls, emails, web forms, letters and other inquiries. Current call hours are Monday-Friday: 6:30AM – 8:00PM, Saturday-Sunday: 8:00AM – 4:00PM, CCC takes calls in all languages. About 2.3% of calls are non-English.

In Calendar year 2017 (January 2017 – December 2017), there were 336,000 calls handled by the MBTA Call Center from its customers, with an average talk time of 1 minute, 54 seconds. The majority of calls are resolved quickly. ~83% of calls are inquiries related to schedules, services, trip planning/directions, fare policies, and Charlie Cards & Tickets (MBTA modes of travel passes). The MBTA also receives a small portion of calls as suggestions and commendations (~1%). The remaining calls, ~16%, are complaints which require notifications to be sent to various MBTA departments for resolution. MBTA Complaint Resolution Department is be solely focused on this activity.

MBTA received 23,823 emails in calendar year 2017. These are both emails and submissions generated via online forms. MBTA works to respond to these emails promptly.

FUNDING

The Contract will be funded using non-federal funds.

DURATION OF INSTRUCTIONS

This RFR shall remain in force until the execution of the Contract, or until modified or cancelled by the MBTA.

ACQUISITION METHODS

The Acquisition Method for this RFR is a fee-for-service.

NUMBER OF CONTRACT AWARDS

The target maximum number of Contract awards pursuant to this RFR is one. The MBTA reserves the right to award more, fewer, or no contracts if it is in its best interests to do so.

If, over the life of the Contract, the MBTA determines that additional providers may be added, these may be drawn from qualified Bidders that responded to this RFR but were not awarded Contracts. If necessary to meet the requirements of the MBTA, the RFR may be reopened to obtain additional Responses.

RESULTING CONTRACT USE

Contract(s) resulting from this RFR will be solely restricted to the MBTA’s use.

EXPECTED CONTRACT DURATION

The maximum resulting contract duration is anticipated to be 5 years plus an initial transition period, as follows:

Note that the MBTA may exercise two separate option periods. Option Year 1 may be exercised during Year 4 of the contract. Option Year 2 may be exercised during Option Year 2 of the contract.

Note that Contractor must take over all operations by June 1, 2018.

BUSINESS PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES FOR THIRD PARTY CONTACT CENTER OPERATION

Until July 2017, MBTA Contact Center was operated in-house, by MBTA employees. In July 2017, the MBTA entered in a contract with a specialized 3rd party provider to provide Contact Center Operation to MBTA.

MBTA’s costs associated with operating a Contact Center and resolving customer complaints far exceeded the costs of comparable private sector operations. MBTA engaged the support of a specialized Contact Center provider which had the scale of operations and experience required to offer more cost-effective customer service. In this RFR, MBTA hopes that partnering with an industry leader to continue better serving MBTA riders and Massachusetts taxpayers through several improvements over MBTA operations:

1. Achieve Cost Savings: Industry partners helped MBTA achieve cost savings by utilizing existing Contact Center infrastructure to share the costs of overhead with a larger customer base, and utilize industry best practices to manage productivity. Industry also has greater flexibility to expand Contact Center hours and dynamically staff operations to meet customer demand. Scaling capacity to meet current and future needs is a key advantage of third party services.

2. Internal focus on complaint resolution: Instead of balancing complaint resolution with informational calls, MBTA internal staff has been able to focus their whole time and energy on ensuring that customers’ issues are being addressed, resolved, and do not become ongoing problems. MBTA will work closely with the Contact Center to ensure that all complaints are being properly communicated to the organization so that they may be addressed. MBTA hopes to continue improving overall accountability to its riders.

3. Improve access to information: A third party Contact Center will focus on improving first call resolution and efficiently deliver information to customers. Instead of balancing complaint resolution with improved call quality, a third party operator will be able to focus its efforts on improving the information provided to customers. The respondent will be expected to work closely with MBTA to continuously improve the quality of information.

Technology and customer experience: Third party Contact Centers may be able to provide technology more cost-effectively to customers because of their ability to spread out the cost of that technology between multiple clients. MBTA would like to benefit from this technology to better provide information to our customers. Previous MBTA investments in technology have been successful in implementing better call routing and providing accurate automated information to customers. MBTA is looking for vendors who are better positioned to manage future technological improvements. Technology will allow customer contact to occur on a variety of platforms (call, email, etc.), and in the future, third party partners could efficiently make changes to allow customers to contact MBTA on the best available platforms

CONTACT CENTER OPERATIONS

MBTA currently operates a Customer Call Center, through a 3rd party, which is responsible for offering trip planning, providing fare and service information, taking complaints, and handling all other customer questions. The Customer Call Center is located in Medford MA. The MBTA operates internally a department that is responsible for complaint resolution. The intent of this RFR is to seek third party providers for Contact Center services in order to maintain said status. Current processes performed by the Customer Communications Department and the Call Center are provided for reference in RID . MBTA urges Respondents to provide innovative solutions while meeting stated requirements.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS

PROCUREMENT METHOD

This RFR is issued pursuant to the following laws and regulations:

a) 801 CMR 21.00.

Bidder shall be responsible for making itself fully aware of, complying with, and in its Response addressing the impact of and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

RFR CALENDAR

Bidder is required to prepare and submit to MBTA electronically via COMMBUYS all required documents listed in Section B – Response Forms.

The MBTA anticipates carrying out the procurement process in accordance with the schedule noted in Table 2-1. All times are local Boston times unless otherwise indicated. The schedule is subject to modification at the sole discretion of the MBTA. Bidders will be notified of any change by an addendum to this RFR.

TABLE 2-1: RFR CALENDAR

rfr documents RFR Organization This RFR is comprised of the following sections, which shall be read as a single document:

In addition, Reference Information Documents (“RIDs”) are issued. The MBTA has provided the RIDs to Bidders solely for the purposes of disclosure, and does not represent, warrant, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the RIDs or the information contained in the RIDs.

Examination of RFR Each Bidder shall be solely responsible for examining, with appropriate care and diligence, the RFR, including RIDs and any addenda and material made available to Bidders by the MBTA, and for informing itself with respect to any and all conditions that may in any way affect the amount or nature of its Response, or the performance of the Contractor’s obligations under the Contract with the MBTA. Failure of the Bidder to so examine and inform itself shall be at its sole risk, and the MBTA will provide no relief for any error or omission.

The submission of a Response shall be considered prima facie evidence that the Bidder has made the above-described examination and is satisfied as to the conditions to be encountered in performing the Work and as to the requirements of the Contract.

rfr compensation Bidder shall be responsible for all costs associated with the preparation and submission of its Response, clarification of the RFR or its Response, on-site visits, and additional technical services/testing prior to the Contract award.

commbuys This RFR will be launched and managed via COMMBUYS. Instructions for log-in and use of COMMBUYS are described in http://www.mass.gov/anf/docs/osd/forms/instructions-for-vendors-responding-to-bids.docx.

Bidders may also contact the COMMBUYS Helpdesk at COMMBUYS@state.ma.us or the COMMBUYS Helpline at 1-888-MA-STATE. The Helpline is staffed from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (Eastern Time), except on federal, state, and Suffolk county holidays.

It is the responsibility of Bidders to maintain an active registration in COMMBUYS and to keep current the email address of the Bidder’s Designated Representative and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the MBTA, including responses to Bidder questions. The MBTA and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a Bidder’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with Bidder’s computer, network, or internet service provider (“ISP”) cause email communications sent to or from Bidder and the MBTA to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering.

Bidder shall review and study all documents thoroughly and report any discrepancies, omissions, technical queries, or other clarifications via COMMBUYS.

Questions and clarification requests submitted by Bidder will, together with MBTA’s response be made available to all Bidders via COMMBUYS.

designated representatives for communications and other information MBTA’s Designated Representative Unless specifically stated otherwise in this ITB, Bidder must submit changes to Bidder’s designated representative (as per Section 2.6.2) and any other communications in writing to the MBTA’s Designated Representative via COMMBUYS. The MBTA’s Designated Representative is Hillary Hallberg,, HHallberg@mbta.com.

Identification of Bidder Designated Representative The Bidder’s Designated Representative to act on behalf of the Bidder relating to this procurement is the individual identified in COMMBUYS.

bidders’ conferences The MBTA reserves the right to hold one or more Bidders’ conferences with all Bidders at any time prior to the Response Date. Bidders’ conferences may be held either in person or by telephonic or electronic means. If held telephonically or electronically, the Bidders’ conference will permit interactive communication between all Bidders and the MBTA. The MBTA will provide written notice of any Bidders’ conference via COMMBUYS. If a Bidders’ conference is conducted by telephonic or electronic means, the notice will inform Bidders of the manner of the meeting.

Each Bidder, by submittal of its Response, acknowledges the opportunity to attend any Bidders’ conference, if held, was offered to all Bidders, and waives any right to challenge this procurement based on its attendance at, or failure to attend, a Bidders’ conference.

Each Bidder is encouraged to attend Bidders’ conferences, if held, with appropriate members of its proposed staff, and if requested by the MBTA, senior representatives of proposed team members identified by the MBTA.

Nothing stated at any Bidders’ conference or included in a written record or summary of a Bidders conference will modify this ITB or any other part of the RFR unless it is incorporated in an addendum issued pursuant to Section 2.9.

Questions and Answers Regarding the RFR Bidders shall review the RFR and any addenda issued by the MBTA prior to the Response Date, and request written clarification or interpretation of any perceived discrepancy, deficiency, ambiguity, error, or omission contained therein, or of any provision which the Bidder fails to understand or to which the Bidder is suggesting a change. Failure of the Bidder to so examine and inform itself shall be at its sole risk, and no relief for error or omission will be provided by the MBTA. Bidders shall submit, and the MBTA will respond to, questions and requests for written clarification in accordance with this Section 2.8.

Questions and clarification requests shall be minimized or aggregated to the extent possible. All questions and clarification requests shall be made by Bidder by pressing the “Bid Q&A” tab for the RFR in COMMBUYS. Such comments and questions may be submitted at any time prior to the applicable date specified in Section 2.2 or such later date as may be specified in any addendum and shall: (i) be sequentially numbered; (ii) identify the document (i.e., Section A, Section B, etc.); (iii) identify the relevant section number and page number (i.e., Section B, Section 2.0 page 3 of 26) or, if it is a general question, indicate so; and (iv) not identify the Bidder in the body of the question or contain proprietary or confidential information. Questions submitted in any other format or method than that described above will not be considered.

Responses to requests for clarification or questions will be provided in writing and issued by the MBTA’s Designated Representative via COMMBUYS. In addition, the MBTA reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, not answer all questions submitted by Bidders.

It is the Bidder’s responsibility to verify the MBTA’s receipt of questions and clarification requests.

RFR Addendum The MBTA reserves the right to issue addenda to the RFR after initial publication.

The MBTA will not be bound by, and Bidders should not rely on, any oral communications regarding the RFR. Use of any information gathered or received from other agencies or entities shall be at the Bidder’s own risk. Only information verified in writing by the MBTA will be considered reliable.

It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for any addenda and any Bid Q&A records related to this RFR. The MBTA and the Commonwealth accept no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit their Response based on an out-of-date RFR or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

The Bidder shall acknowledge in its Technical Proposal Cover Letter (see Enclosure 1) receipt of all addenda and question and answer responses. Failure to acknowledge such receipt may cause the Response to be deemed non-responsive and be rejected.

Rules of Contact Starting on the date the RFR is issued and ending on the earliest of (a) the award and execution of the Contract, (b) rejection of all Responses by the MBTA, or (c) cancellation of the procurement, the following rules of contact shall apply. These rules are designed to promote a fair and unbiased procurement process. Contact includes face-to-face, telephone, email, or formal written communication.

The specific rules of contact are as follows:

i. No Bidder, or any of its team members, may communicate with another Bidder or its team members with regard to this RFR or either team’s Response, except that subcontractors that are shared between two or more Bidder teams may communicate with their respective team members so long as those Bidders establish a protocol to ensure that the subcontractor will not act as a conduit of information between the teams. This prohibition does not apply to public discussions regarding the RFR at any MBTA sponsored Bidders’ conferences.

ii. No Bidder or representative thereof shall have any ex parte communications regarding the RFR, the Contract, or the procurement described herein with any member of the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (“FMCB”), the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (“MassDOT”) Board of Directors, or with any MassDOT or MBTA staff, advisors, contractors, or consultants involved with the procurement, except for communications expressly permitted by the RFR or except as approved in advance at the MBTA’s Designated Representative’s sole discretion. The foregoing restriction shall not, however, preclude or restrict communications with regard to matters unrelated to the RFR, Contract, or procurement or from participation in public meetings of the MBTA FMCB or MassDOT Board of Directors or any public or Bidder workshop related to this RFR.

iii. The Bidders shall not contact employees, representatives, and members of GCS regarding this RFR, the Contract, or the procurement - without prior authorization of MBTA.

iv. Any communications determined by the MBTA, in its sole discretion, to be improper may result in disqualification.

v. Any official information regarding this RFR will be disseminated from the MBTA’s Designated Representative via COMMBUYS.

vi. The MBTA will not be responsible for any oral exchange or any other information or exchange that occurs outside the official process specified herein.

Confidentiality/Public Information Act Disclosure Requests Disclosure Waiver Each Bidder, by submitting a Response to the MBTA in response to the RFR, consents to the disclosures described in this ITB, including this Section 2.11 and all other disclosures required by law, and expressly waives any right to contest, impede, prevent, or delay such disclosure, or to initiate any proceeding that may have the effect of impeding, preventing, or delaying such disclosure, under Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 66 (the Massachusetts Public Records Law or “Public Records Law”) or any other law relating to the confidentiality or disclosure of information. Under no circumstances will the MBTA be responsible or liable to a Bidder or any other party as a result of disclosing any such materials. Each Bidder hereby further agrees to assist the MBTA in complying with these disclosure requirements.

Public Disclosure of Response Documents After execution of the Contract, or in the event that the procurement is cancelled by the MBTA, the MBTA shall have the right to publicly disclose any and all portions of all the Responses. The MBTA will not disclose material deemed confidential by the MBTA in accordance with Section 2.11.3, unless otherwise required by law Disclosure Process for Requests Under the Public Records Law Responses will not be publicly opened or evaluated.

All written correspondence, exhibits, reports, printed material, photographs, tapes, electronic disks, and other graphic and visual aids submitted to the MBTA during this procurement process, including as part of the response to this RFR, become the property of the MBTA upon their receipt by the MBTA and will not be returned to the submitting parties. Except as provided in the Public Records Law, all materials submitted to the MBTA are subject to release as public records. Bidders shall familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Public Records Law. In no event shall the MBTA, or any of their agents, representatives, consultants, directors, officers, or employees, be liable to a Bidder or Bidder team member for the disclosure of all or a portion of a Response or related information submitted during this procurement.

If a Bidder has special concerns about information which it desires to make available to the MBTA but which it believes constitutes a trade secret, proprietary information, or other information excepted from disclosure, such responding Bidder shall specifically and conspicuously designate that information by placing “TRADE SECRET - PROPRIETARY” in the header or footer of each such page affected and by identifying such trade secret, proprietary information in the Technical Proposal Cover Letter (see Enclosure 1). Nothing contained in this provision shall modify or amend requirements and obligations imposed on the MBTA by the Public Records Law or other applicable law. The provisions of the Public Records Law or other laws shall control in the event of a conflict between the procedures described above and the applicable law.

If the MBTA receives a request for public disclosure of all or any portion of a Response or its related information that is designated as ”trade secret - proprietary,” the MBTA will endeavor to use reasonable efforts to notify the applicable Bidder of the request. The Bidder can assert, in writing and at its sole expense, a claimed exception under the Public Records Law or other applicable law, within the time period specified in the notice issued by the MBTA and allowed under the Public Records Law. The Bidder can choose to defend any action seeking release of the records it believes to be confidential information. The Bidder shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the MBTA and its agents and employees from any judgments awarded against the MBTA and its agents and employees in favor of the party requesting the records, including any and all costs connected with that defense. This indemnification survives the MBTA’s cancellation or termination of this procurement or award and subsequent execution of a Contract. In submitting a Response, the Bidder agrees that this indemnification survives as long as the trade secret, proprietary information is in the possession of the MBTA.

The MBTA shall not under any circumstance be responsible for securing a protective order or other relief enjoining the release of information marked “trade secret – proprietary” in any Response, nor shall the MBTA be in any way financially responsible for any costs associated with securing any such order or for any loss associated with the release of information marked “trade secret – proprietary” or otherwise.

Business Conduct All Responses submitted by a Bidder to the MBTA shall be made without collusion with any other Bidder(s) submitting a Response to this RFR.

Bidder shall not directly or indirectly, in relation to this RFR, give, promise, attempt to give, or approve or authorize the giving of anything of value, including by transferring all or part of the remuneration payable under any Contract, to:

vii. any person employed or representing the MBTA;

viii. any other person, including any public official;

ix. a political party or a labor union controlled by any governmental authority or political party; or

x. a charitable or other organization, or an officer, director, or employee thereof, or any person acting directly or indirectly on behalf of the same for the purpose of (i) securing any improper advantage for either Bidder or the MBTA; (ii) inducing or influencing a public official improperly to take any action or refrain from taking any action in order for either Bidder or the MBTA to obtain or retain business, or to secure the direction of business to either Bidder or the MBTA, or (iii) inducing or influencing a public official to use his or her influence with any governmental authority or public international organization for any such purpose.

Declining to Submit a Response In the event Bidder does not intend to submit a Response, it shall immediately notify MBTA in writing through COMMBUYS, clearly specifying the reason for such decision. The Bidder should immediately return all confidential information to the MBTA.

SUBMISSION OF RESPONSE

RFR Date See Section 2.2.

MBTA may in its sole discretion extend the RFR Date.

Response Submissions Responses shall be submitted via COMMBUYS.

Each Response shall be submitted in the following two parts:

xi. The Technical Proposal; and

xii. The Price Proposal.

The specific requirements for submission of the Technical Proposal are set forth in Section 4.3.2 below and Section B.

The specific requirements for submission of the Price Proposal are set forth in Section 4.3.3 below and Section B.

The “Technical Proposal Cover Letter” and the “Price Proposal Cover Letter” included in Section A, Enclosures 1 and 2 respectively, shall be suitably dated and signed by person(s) authorized to legally bind the Bidder ("Authorized Signatories"). If a Bidder is a team, whether or not legally formed, the Technical Proposal Cover Letter and Price Proposal Cover Letter shall each be signed by all parties to the Bidder so that the Response is legally binding upon each member of the Bidder.

Any interlineations, erasures or overwriting in the Response will only be valid if they are initialed by the Authorized Signatories.

Bidders shall submit Responses including all forms and schedules in Section B and shall not remove pages from the provided forms. The Technical Proposal and Price Proposal shall be completely separate documents. Financial and price information shall be included in the Price Proposal only.

Any Response which materially fails to meet the Response requirements of the RFR will be found non-responsive without further evaluation unless the evaluation team, 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 Response.

Power of Attorney Bidder shall enclose a power of attorney in its own form, duly signed by a legally authorized officer of the Bidder authorizing the Authorized Signatories to sign the Response and bind the Bidder to the Response during the period specified in Section 3.6.

Accuracy of Response The Response shall cover all of Bidder's obligations set forth in this RFR and all matters that may be necessary or required for the proper evaluation of the Response and performance of the Scope of Work.

In this respect, Bidder shall examine this RFR along with any and all addenda issued in entirety and is solely responsible for checking the adequacy and correctness of the same and obtaining all further information required to submit the Response. Bidder is also solely responsible for informing itself as to the extent and nature of the Scope of Work and the conditions under which the Contract will be performed. No claim on the grounds of lack of knowledge will be considered.

Acceptance of Response The Response constitutes a binding offer by Bidder to perform the Scope of Work on the terms of the Response and MBTA shall have the right to accept or reject such offer and/or any conditions proposed in full or in part. If the Response is accepted, Bidder shall conclude the Contract with MBTA, based on the RFR, any addenda, the Response and any agreed amendments thereto. Until the formal Contract is signed, Bidder has no authority to proceed with the Scope of Work or to incur any costs for which MBTA may be held liable. MBTA shall have no obligations towards Bidder until a formal contract has been entered into.

Validity of Response The Response is irrevocable, and shall remain valid and open for acceptance, for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days after the Response due date. MBTA reserves the right to extend the validity period and notify Bidders accordingly.

Incomplete Response If Bidder does not fully comply with this RFR, or if the Response is incomplete or vague, the Response may not be considered, unless the MBTA in its absolute discretion decides otherwise.

2.0 RESPONSE EVALUATION

Response Opening and Confidentiality All information received from each Bidder will be treated as confidential information and will not be distributed prior to Contract execution, other than for the purpose of evaluation of the Response.

Responsiveness Review Upon receipt, the Technical Proposals will be reviewed for responsiveness to the RFR requirements. The Technical Proposals will be reviewed for (i) deficiencies and minor informalities, irregularities, and apparent clerical mistakes which are unrelated to the substantive content of the Response; (ii) conformance to the RFR instructions regarding organization and format; and (iii) the responsiveness of the Bidder to the requirements set forth in this RFR. The MBTA may request Bidder clarification of any minor informalities, irregularities, and apparent clerical mistakes in accordance with Section 2.6.2., after which the MBTA may evaluate the Response, at the MBTA’s sole discretion.

Those Technical Proposals not responsive to this RFR may at the MBTA’s sole discretion be excluded from further consideration and the Bidder will be so advised.

After completion of the evaluation of the remaining Technical Proposals, the remaining Price Proposals will be reviewed for responsiveness to the RFR requirements. The Price Proposals will be reviewed for (i) deficiencies and minor informalities, irregularities, and apparent clerical mistakes which are unrelated to the substantive content of the Response; (ii) conformance to the RFR instructions regarding organization and format; and (iii) the responsiveness of the Bidder to the requirements set forth in this RFR. The MBTA may request Bidder clarification of any minor informalities, irregularities, and apparent clerical mistakes in accordance with Section 2.6.2, after which the MBTA may evaluate the Response, at the MBTA’s sole discretion.

Those Price Proposals not responsive to this RFR may at the MBTA’s sole discretion be excluded from further consideration and the Bidder will be so advised.

The MBTA may also exclude from consideration any Bidder whose Response contains a material misrepresentation.

Evaluation and Notification Based on the information provided in each Response, MBTA will perform Response evaluation and seek clarifications as necessary through requests for clarification or in meetings to be arranged at MBTA discretion. MBTA will evaluate Responses based on a combination of Pass/Fail Criteria, Technical Evaluation Criteria, and Price Evaluation Criteria. The process may, at the MBTA’s sole discretion, include requests for additional written information or clarification from any Bidder to assist in evaluation, include oral interviews, include a request for best and final offers (”BAFOs”), and include a negotiations phase with the selected Bidder.

Pass/Fail Evaluation Criteria Following the review of each Technical Proposal for responsiveness under Section 4.2, the Technical Proposals will be evaluated based on the Pass/Fail Evaluation Criteria identified below. Each Bidder must obtain a “pass” on all Pass/Fail Evaluation Criteria in order for its Response to be eligible for selection. The MBTA may request Bidder clarification on a Technical Proposal on any Pass/Fail Evaluation Criteria, after which MBTA may re-evaluate the Response, at MBTA’s sole discretion.

Technical Evaluation Criteria The Selection Committee will consider the following Technical Evaluation Criteria when evaluating the Technical Proposal. Each criterion will be evaluated considering all of the information included in the Technical Proposal related to the criterion, as well as other information gathered from references, presentations, and on-site visits.

The MBTA may at its own expense and upon reasonable notice, visit and inspect current operations of the Bidder and/or any proposed subcontractors, including the premises, facilities, equipment, personnel and other resources, and carry out related appraisals as part of the Response evaluation prior to entering into any Contract.

The Technical Evaluation Criteria are identified and detailed below:

· Bidder experience and performance

· Staffing and Organization

· Training

· Quality Assurance

· Technology, Infrastructure, Equipment, and Facility

· Safety

· Metrics, Reporting, and Analytics

· Language requirement, Business continuity and Accessibility compliance

· Transition approach and timeline

The Technical Evaluation Criteria will be rated using a numerical rating approach. This will be based on the following 1 through 5 scoring scale.

i. Score 5: The Bidder has presented and supported an approach that is considered to significantly exceed stated criteria in a way that is beneficial to the MBTA. This rating indicates a consistently outstanding level of quality, with very little or no risk that this Bidder would fail to meet the requirements of the solicitation. There are no weaknesses.

ii. Score 4: The Bidder has presented and supported an approach that is considered to meet the stated criteria. This rating indicates a generally better than acceptable quality, with little risk that this Bidder would fail to meet the requirements of the solicitation. Weaknesses, if any, are very minor and not material to the Response. Correction of the weaknesses would not be necessary before the Response would be considered further.

iii. Score 3: The Bidder has presented and supported an approach that is considered to possibly meet the stated criteria. This rating indicates a level of risk to the MBTA. Weaknesses exist but may be corrected through requests for clarification.

iv. Score 2: The Bidder has presented and supported an approach that fails to meet stated criteria and would pose a clear risk to the MBTA. The issues may be susceptible to correction through major and lengthy discussions. Such a response is considered marginal in terms of the basic content or amount of information provided for evaluation.

v. Score 1: The Bidder has presented and supported an approach that indicates significant weaknesses or unacceptable quality, or fails to include evidence that it is capable of providing the services requested. The Response fails to meet the stated criteria or lacks essential information. There is no reasonable likelihood of success; weaknesses are so major or extensive that a major revision to the Response would be necessary.

Each Bidder’s score on each of the criteria will be multiplied by the applicable weighting percentage, with the resulting total score scaled to 100 points. Thus, for example, a Bidder receiving a 5 on each criterion would receive a total Technical Evaluation score of 100, while a Bidder receiving a 4 on each criterion would receive a total Technical Evaluation score of 80.

Price Proposal Evaluation Criteria The Selection Committee will consider the following Price Evaluation Criteria when evaluating the Price Proposal.

Price Schedules

Requests for Clarification The MBTA may at any time issue one or more requests for clarification to the individual Bidders, requesting additional information or clarification from a Bidder, or may request a Bidder to verify or certify certain aspects of its Response, including its Technical Proposal or Price Proposal. Any requests for clarification shall be in writing to the Bidder’s Designated Representative. Proposers shall respond to any such requests for clarification within the time as specified by the MBTA in the request. The scope, length, and topics to be addressed in clarifications shall be prescribed by, and subject to the discretion of, the MBTA.

Upon receipt of requested clarifications and additional information as described above, if any, the Responses may be re-evaluated to factor in the clarifications and additional information.

Selection Bidder is advised that the MBTA shall not be bound to accept the Response containing the highest Technical Score or highest Price Proposal Score, nor shall it be bound to accept the Response with highest combined score. The selection will be made on a best value basis, evaluating cost along with other factors. In determining the best value, the Technical Proposal and Price Proposal will be considered both important.

In order to make a selection, the MBTA will determine whether the Responses are responsive and evaluate both the Pass/Fail Evaluation Criteria and Technical Evaluation Criteria, and assign an overall Technical Proposal Score. After the determination of the Technical Proposal Score, the MBTA will evaluate the Price Evaluation Criteria of the remaining Bidders and assign an overall Total Price Proposal Score. To determine the best value, the MBTA will then conduct a trade-off analysis determining whether the perceived benefits of the higher priced Response merit the additional cost.

The MBTA will not select any Bidder that receives a rating of fail on any Pass/Fail Evaluation Criteria or less than an average of 2 on any Technical Evaluation Criteria. The MBTA will not select any Bidder that the MBTA determines has submitted a non-responsive Technical or Price Proposal or to have submitted any pricing information that is not reasonable.

The MBTA reserves the right to accept or reject, at its sole discretion, any or all Responses in full or in part.

Successful Bidder The successful Bidder will be posted in COMMBUYS. All unsuccessful Bidders shall immediately return all confidential information to the MBTA.

3.0 PROTEST PROCEDURES

The MBTA’s protest procedure can be found at: http://bc.mbta.com/business_center/.

4.0 MBTA RESERVED RIGHTS

In connection with this RFR, the MBTA reserves to itself all rights (which rights shall be exercisable by the MBTA in its sole discretion) available to it under applicable laws, including without limitation, with or without cause and with or without notice, the right to:

i. Modify the RFR process in its sole discretion to address applicable law and/or the best interests of the MBTA.

ii. Develop the work to be performed under the Contract in any manner that it, in its sole discretion, deems necessary. If the MBTA is unable to negotiate a Contract to its satisfaction with a Bidder, it may negotiate with the Bidder with the next highest ranked proposal, terminate this RFR and pursue other developments or solicitations relating to the work to be performed under the Contract, or exercise such other rights under the provisions of Massachusetts law as it deems appropriate.

iii. Cancel this RFR in whole or in part at any time prior to the execution by the MBTA of a Contract, without incurring any cost, obligations, or liabilities.

iv. Issue a new request for responses after withdrawal of this RFR.

v. Not select any Bidder or cancel this procurement.

vi. Reject any and all submittals and Responses received at any time.

vii. Modify all dates set or projected in this RFR.

viii. Terminate evaluations of Responses received at any time.

ix. Exclude any potential Bidder from submitting any response to the RFR based on failure to comply with any requirements of those documents.

x. Suspend and terminate Contract negotiations at any time, elect not to commence Contract negotiations with any responding Bidder, and engage in negotiations with the Bidder with the next highest ranked proposal if negotiations are unsuccessful with the apparent successful Bidder.

xi. Issue addenda, supplements, and modifications to this RFR.

xii. Appoint an Evaluation Team to evaluate Responses, make recommendations to the MBTA FMCB and MassDOT Board of Directors, and seek the assistance of MBTA, MassDOT, and consultant technical experts in Response evaluations.

xiii. Require confirmation or clarification of information furnished by a Bidder, require revised or additional information from a Bidder concerning its Response, and require additional information to clarify the Response submitted in response to this RFR.

xiv. Conduct presentations with Bidders, identify a short-list of Bidders, and conduct on-site visits at Bidder facilities.

xv. Declare a competitive range, conduct discussions, and request Response revisions and best and final offers.

xvi. Seek or obtain data from any source that has the potential to improve the understanding and evaluation of the responses to this RFR.

xvii. Add or delete Bidder responsibilities from the information contained in this RFR.

xviii. Waive deficiencies in a Response, accept and review a non-conforming Response, or permit clarifications, revisions, or supplements to a Response.

xix. Negotiate with a Bidder without being bound by any provision in its Response, or choose to award and/or execute the Contract without negotiations.

xx. Disqualify any Bidder that changes its submittal without MBTA approval.

xxi. Disqualify any Bidder under this RFR for violating any rules or requirements of the procurement set forth in this RFR or in any other communication from MBTA.

xxii. Delay issuance of notice to proceed after execution of the Contract.

xxiii. Conduct all or any portion of the Scope of Work itself.

xxiv. Exercise any other right reserved or afforded to the MBTA under this RFR.

This RFR does not commit the MBTA to enter into a Contract or proceed with the procurement described herein. The MBTA assumes no obligations, responsibilities, and liabilities, fiscal or otherwise, to reimburse all or part of the costs incurred or alleged to have been incurred by parties considering a response to and/or responding to this RFR. All of such costs shall be borne solely by each Bidder.

In no event shall the MBTA be bound by, or liable for, any obligations with respect to the work to be performed under the Contract until such time (if at all) as the Contract, in form and substance satisfactory to the MBTA, has been executed and authorized by the MBTA and, then, only to the extent set forth therein; provided, however, that the foregoing disclaimer in this sentence shall not apply to the obligations of the MBTA to the Bidders during the procurement process, which obligations are expressly set forth in this RFR. In submitting a Response to the RFR, each Bidder is specifically acknowledging these disclaimers.

5.0 ENCLOSURES

See below.

Enclosure 1 – Technical Proposal Cover Letter (to be submitted on Bidder’s letterhead via COMMBUYS) To Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Attention: Procurement & Logistics Department 10 Park Plaza, Room 2810 Boston, MA 02116

RFR No: 16-18 RFR Description: CONTACT CENTER OPERATIONS Subject: Technical Proposal The undersigned (“Bidder”) having carefully examined and understood the documents included in the Request for Responses (“RFR”), hereby offers to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (“MBTA”) the “Technical Proposal” as contained in the following responses enclosed with this letter:

Technical Schedules

We confirm that our “Technical Proposal” is in exact compliance with the RFR with no exceptions to, or comments upon, the RFR documents We confirm receipt of the following addenda:

We confirm receipt of the following Bidder Q&A documents:

This “Technical Proposal” shall constitute a binding offer open for acceptance by the MBTA.

We confirm that this “Technical Proposal” has been prepared in compliance with the RFR and agree to conduct ourselves in accordance with the RFR.

We confirm the validity of the “Technical Proposal” being 180 days from the Response Date.

The undersigned are authorized to sign on behalf of and to bind ________________ (include Bidder’s name) to the provisions of this “Technical Proposal”.

Bidder (Bidder name):

Authorized Representative Name:

(BLOCK LETTERS)

Authorized Representative’s Signature:

Title:

Date:

Enclosure 2 – Price Proposal Cover Letter (to be submitted on Bidder’s letterhead via COMMBUYS) To Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Attention: Procurement & Logistics Department 10 Park Plaza, Room 2810 Boston, MA 02116

RFR No: 16-18 RFR Description: CONTACT CENTER OPERATIONS Subject: Price Proposal The undersigned (“Bidder”) having carefully examined and understood the documents included in the Request for Responses (“RFR”), hereby offers to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (“MBTA”) the “Price Proposal” as contained in the following responses enclosed with this letter:

Price Schedules

We confirm that our “Price Proposal” is in exact compliance with the RFR with no exceptions to, or comments upon, the RFR…