Conference Information.pdf

CHARLES D. BAKER

Governor

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs One Ashburton Place, 5th Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02108

Tel: (617) 727-7750

Fax: (617) 727-9368 www.mass.gov/elders

KARYN E. POLITO

Lieutenant Governor

ALICE F. BONNER

Secretary

Elder Abuse Hotline Answering and Processing Services RFR

Bidder’s Conference

1. Introduction

Thank you for participating in the Bidder’s Conference regarding the RFR for

Elder Abuse Hotline Answering and Processing Services published by the Executive

Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA). This call will include a brief introduction to the RFR, a clarification on locating the solicitation within COMMBUYS, and a few additional points about the procurement process. We will then open up the call for questions from attendees.

As specified in the RFR, EOEA is soliciting Bidders for the acquisition of Call

Answering and Processing Services to receive and process calls for the EOEA Protective

Services Elder Abuse Hotline. The Elder Abuse Hotline is a critical aspect of the state

Elder Protective Services program, which is required by law to accept reports of elder abuse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The Elder Protective Services program includes 20 non-profit Protective Services (PS) Agencies across the

Commonwealth. Currently, Protective Services operates a distributed system in which reports are taken over the phone by intake staff at each Protective Service Agency for its designated geographic region during business hours. To enable the receipt of elder abuse reports 24 hours per day, a single statewide vendor takes reports during Non-Business

Hours. Once the reports are received, the information is entered by call center staff into an online database operated by EOEA from which the cases are distributed to an investigator in one of the 20 Protective Services Agencies.

The current contract for the Non-Business hours hotline is expiring at the end the state fiscal year, June 30, 2017 and EOEA seeks a replacement vendor for that service.

Additionally, EOEA is requesting bids for a model in which all reports would be received by a single vendor on a 24 hour a day basis. A properly designed centralized intake model would reduce confusion among individuals reporting abuse and ensure the provision of consistent and uniform service regardless of location. A centralized solution would replace the current distributed intake model in which 21 independent vendors (20

PS Agencies plus the overnight/weekend/holiday hotline) complete intakes for elder abuse reports. Sections 3.2 and 3.3 of the RFR include the specifications for the non-business hours operations and the 24 hour operation respectively. Bidders must respond to both section 3.2 and 3.3. EOEA intends to select a Bid for one of the two options on the basis of a best value analysis.

2. COMMBUYS

http://www.mass.gov/elders

Due to some technical difficulties in creating this solicitation in COMMBUYs, accessing the bid once you are logged into the system requires a few extra steps. First, you will notice that the solicitation in COMMBUYS notes that the bid opening date is

March 3, 2017. This has been amended and the official opening date of the bid (which is the last date to submit a response) is April 3, 2017 at 4:00pm. Bidders are able to submit bids in the system until that date and time.

Second, when you are logged into COMMBUYS you will not be able to search for the bid number using the advanced search features. Instead, you must access the open/rolling enrollment bid list and scroll through until you locate this bid. EOEA will attach a user guide that provides specific step by step instructions on accessing bids in this manner. If you have any problems, please contact the COMMBUYS helpdesk.

While this bid is listed as an open/rolling enrollment solicitation in COMMBUYS, it is not this type of bid and EOEA will not review any responses after the deadline specified in the RFR.

3. RFR Sections

Bidders should note that section 7.3 of the RFR allows Bidders to submit alternative proposals that may provide equivalent, better or more cost effective performance than achievable under the stated Bid specifications. However, alternative proposals will only be reviewed if they are included in addition to a bid that is responsive to the mandatory requirements noted in section 7.1. EOEA will not review any alternative proposals included in bids that are not responsive to the mandatory requirements.

Finally, Bidders should take note of Section XII of the Bidder response form, the

Certificate of Non-Collusion. To ensure a fair an open procurement process, collusion is not permitted and all Bidders must complete this section of the response form.

EOEA will post a response to questions from this Bidder’s conference on COMMBUYS.

We will now take any questions.