Contract User Guide 4.22.2025.pdf

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Contract User Guide STATE OF WISCONSIN

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION

Division of Enterprise Operations

State Bureau of Procurement

Overview of the Contract

This contract includes a cost sheet that provides a maximum hourly rate for each job title and level listed.

State agencies and UW campuses interested in requesting services will need to complete an on-line Request for Service in the VMS System (dotStaff). The Request for Service will allow you to describe your needs, requirements, and your target billing rate. Once completed, Knowledge Services will review and follow-up if needed, after which the Request for Service will be sent to all active Supplier companies on the approved Supplier list.

Point of Contacts

Angela Jirsa - Knowledge Services Program Regional Director.

Email: AngelaJ@KnowledgeServices.com Phone: (Direct) 608-620-9254

Laura Bergum – DOA, Contract Manager Email: Laura.Bergum@Wisconsin.gov Phone: (Direct) 608-267-6922

Language Definitions o RFS – Request for Service o VMS – Vendor Managed Service o Contracted Personnel and Contractor are used throughout the document and have the same meaning o VMS Company and Knowledge Services are used throughout the document and have the same meaning

IT Vendor Managed Services - Staff Augmentation Contract # 505ENT-M21-SERVICESIT-01

Contract Overview Mandatory: Yes Cooperative: Yes (WI Municipalities may use this contract) P-Card: No Procurement Authority: Awarded as a result of RFP #28310-MH

Contract Term Initial Contract Term: February 15, 2021- June 30, 2023 Contract End Date: June 30, 2027 Renewal Term: Two(2), optional two(2) year renewal terms, if all renewals are exercised, the contract term ends June 30, 2027.

Please familiarize yourself with the contents of this User’s Guide before requesting services and check back frequently for any updates to the User’s Guide.

mailto:AngelaJ@KnowledgeServices.com mailto:Laura.Bergum@Wisconsin.gov

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Requisition Process for Hiring Managers

Accessing Knowledge Services VMS System (dotStaff):

Please contact Knowledge Services Program Account Manager and WIMSP@KnowledgeServices.com to obtain credentials and training on the use of the VMS System, or for questions relating to submitting Requests for Services.

Request for Service (RFS) Process:

1) Hiring Managers, Authorized Users, and Knowledge Services staff submit an order requisition.

2) A Section Chief, or another authorized party, will approve order requisition internally prior to a RFS posting submission to the VMS Company.

3) If certain groups (Security, HR, Facilities, etc.) need to be notified that Contracted Personnel whose services have been procured, the Authorized User must inform the VMS Company prior to submitting the RFS order requisition.

4) Hiring managers will determine the number of candidates a Supplier Company (Subcontractor) may propose in RFS responses. The standard number of candidates is 2 per Subcontractor.

5) Hiring managers will determine interview process.

6) The Supplier companies (Subcontractors) will generally have 5 business days to respond with qualified candidates and provide a competitive rate. Beginning on the sixth business day the contract user will be able to review candidates in the VMS System.

7) Hiring managers will have the choice to see all candidates submitted after the RFS is in “No Longer Accepting Resumes” status.

8) At the State and Authorized User’s discretion, Contracted Personnel selection approvals may be multi-level and/or non-uniform across entities (e.g., the hiring manager may not be the only approving party).

9) An initial replacement RFS (or similar request for Contracted Personnel replacement) will be submitted to the original Supplier Company (Subcontractor), unless the Authorized User reasonably justifies going to an immediate open and competitive RFS process instead (e.g., time is of the essence, a larger candidate pool is desired, etc.). The VMS Company can redistribute the RFS immediately at the Authorized User’s discretion or if the Subcontractor does not provide a suitable replacement per the hiring manager within the contractual time period allotted

*Note* While use of the VMS System automates the process of engaging the Subcontractors to submit qualified candidates, please keep in mind that the Procurement Manual bid policies still apply, i.e., the lowest cost responsible bidder receives the award. Justification for the chosen candidate, as well as the reasons why any candidate with a lower hourly not to exceed rate was not selected, must still be provided in dotStaff. Refer to PRO- 301 Competitive Solicitations.

In-State Mandatory RFS Requirement:

(Required for Agencies and UW Campuses) Out-of-State Contractors Memo was issued in June 2023 requiring agencies to first perform an RFS to identify in-state resources to fill their need. The intent of this RFS must be to engage Contractors to provide services within the state of Wisconsin. If the agency or UW Campus has conducted an unsuccessful in-state RFS, then the agency or UW Campus may proceed to conduct an RFS with a location not restricted to Wisconsin. The process used to review and approve Out-of-State Contractors will be established and managed by each agency.

November 2023, in addition to the Memo listed above, DOA issued a second memo that requires Hiring Managers to submit a completed DOA-3060 to DOADEOITVMScontract@Wisconsin.gov, within 5-7 business days of a contractors start date/new engagement date, who’s services are procured through the second, unrestricted location RFS. The contract manager will reach out to each agency or UW Campus if it is found a new contractor has started an engagement out of state and a DOA-3060 was not submitted.

mailto:WIMSP@KnowledgeServices.com mailto:DOADEOITVMScontract@Wisconsin.gov

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DOA-3060 is required for all contractor engagements that are re-bid for any reason and located out of the State. If a Contractor moves out of state during an engagement, the agency or UW Campus must determine the approval process and notify the Contract Manager, listed on Page 1, of the Contractors new City, State and Supplier.

Background Check & Drug Testing:

Agencies, UW Campuses, or Authorized Users, have the option to conduct their own background check or ask VMS Company to conduct background checks on the candidate. Authorized Users are responsible for facilitating and paying for drug testing if required.

VMS Company utilizes HireRight for requested background checks and drug testing, these options are available for Authorized Users:

5 Panel Drug Test (eCOC) - 3.0:

• Drug Test

• Managed Adjudication 3.0

Standard 3.0

• Criminal Felony & Misdemeanor

• Federal Criminal

• Managed Adjudication 3.0

• National Sex Offender Registry

• SSN Trance

• SSN Validation

• Widescreen Plus National Criminal Search

Standard + Drug 3.0

• Criminal Felony & Misdemeanor

• Drug Testing

• Federal Criminal

• Managed Adjudication 3.0

• National Sex Offender Registry

• SSN Trance

• SSN Validation

• Widescreen Plus National Criminal Search

Please follow agency or UW Campus rules and procedures for background checks.

Candidate Rejection Reasons:

After reviewing the candidates submitted by the Supplier Companies (Subcontractors) and conducting any interviews, the agency’s Hiring Manager must select one of the following rejection reasons in dotStaff when rejecting a candidate. This information will be used to provide feedback to Subcontractors, to monitor Subcontractor performance in providing qualified candidates and will be used during the DOA audit process of agencies’ procurement procedures.

This step also ensures that competitive bidding requirements are being met. Failure to complete this could result in non-compliance with Wisconsin’s Procurement Manual policy on competitive solicitations. (PRO-301 State Procurement Manual)

Rejection Reasons:

• Another Bid was Accepted

• By MSP – Qualifications

• By MSP – Rate

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• Project Bid does not meet requirements (SOW Only)

• Duplicate Candidate

• Missing/Incomplete Submission Information

• Position Cancelled

• Prohibited Submission

• Another bid was Accepted

• By Manager - Qualifications

• By Manager - Rate

• Resources no longer Available

• No Call/No Show to Interview

• Interviewed, Not Selected

• Onboarding Compliance issues

• Resource is no longer available

• Resource has declined the offer

• Rescinded offer

Minority Business Enterprise Preference:

Contract users should also review the State’s Minority Business Policy (PRO-606) as some contractors on this contract are MBEs.

Agency and UW Campus Business Rules

Requesting A Business Case Exception (BCE) From This Mandatory Use Contract

(Previously referred to as Waivers)

State agencies are required to purchase IT services from this mandatory contract unless a business case exception is obtained prior to placing an order. If the agency or UW Campus feels this contract cannot meet their needs or has attempted unsuccessfully to find resources using the RFS process and would like to request a business case exception, they must submit written justification for the request to the DOA Contract Manager. If a business case exception is granted, it is a one-time exception and applies to this contract only. All other purchasing processes and requirements as defined in the Procurement Manual must be followed.

Examples of Business Case exceptions:

• The agency or UW Campus conducted an RFS through the contract and was unable to find qualified candidates.

The agency or UW Campus must include in their BCE the RFS #.

• The agency or UW Campus will require a fixed bid amount or payment based on completed and approved deliverables. If requested, a BCE will be granted because this contract can only be used for billing based on hours worked.

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Continued Appropriateness (CA) forms

Use of this contract requires that a CBA be completed for engagements with annual expenditure in excess of $50,000 and submitted to DOACBA@wisconsin.gov (See PRO-205 and the CBA Flowchart on VendorNet, which provide additional guidance on submission of CBAs and CAs). CBA Forms, DOA-3821A and DOA-3821B, must be submitted prior to the start of the engagement.

• For each new RFS, agencies should complete a CBA for a two-year initial term with plans to do a CA Form, DOA- 3819, for each renewal term, regardless of what year they started the CBA.

• If agencies submitted a CBA for all six years of the contract at the start of the contract in 2021; and the Job Title, Job Title Level or the Hourly Bill Rate (which are mentioned in the CBA Flowchart) didn’t change, then agencies do not need to submit a CA for each renewal term.

mailto:DOACBA@wisconsin.gov

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• If the Job Title, Job Title Level or the Hourly Rate change during the duration of the contract term, a new CBA will need to be submitted.

• If the Job Title, Job Title Level, Hourly Rate or Supplier Company will change, then agencies must submit a new RFS in dotStaff.

• Supplier Company changes do not require a new CBA be completed.

• If there is a need to renew the engagement, agencies must send the completed and approved CA Form to

DOACBA@wisconsin.gov at the time of renewal (the CBA Flowchart on VendorNet provides additional guidance).

High Risk IT (Request Procurement Authority, RPA)

Agencies Must go through the High-Risk IT Process for their Contracted Personnel PO’s if any of the below Items are triggered. If this process applies, the High-Risk approval should be completed prior to the PO being issued.

• Submitted PO or related project is estimated to be over $1 Million

• Failure to complete prior project with similar business outcomes

• Necessary to meet cybersecurity requirements

• Project is more than 12 months from start date to completion date

• Project has estimated cost over $250,000 and involved architecture that has not been previously implemented

• Project has estimated cost over $250,000 and the timeline or cost for the project has increased by more than

25%

High-Risk IT Request Template Spreadsheet can be found on the contract page of VendorNet, form (DOA-3730) can be found on VendorNet under forms. The High-Risk request must be submitted through the Procurement Request Portal (wi.gov).

Use of the Rate Card and Restriction of Hourly Rate Process:

This contract can only be used for Hourly engagements, it is strictly for hours worked in relation to the engagements time and rate selected for the job title. It shall not be used for Fixed Bid or payments based on Completion of Deliverables.

Training

Use of Training Rates:

Agencies may use a training rate if they feel this will assist them in acquiring the best talent at the lowest cost but feel the candidate may need time to become familiar with agency or UW Campus operations. In this situation the agency or UW Campus can indicate in the RFS that a training rate may be used initially (for 3-6 months as an example) and then the candidate could be increased to the rate bid by the contractor.

Contractor Training:

Agencies should not include Contracted Personnel in training programs or orientations offered to employees only.

Contracted Personnel should not be allowed to register for training programs designed for State employees and not offered to the public. Any training that is required during the engagement must be specified in the RFS Posting.

Agencies should not allow Contracted Personnel to be involved in mentoring or training new employees in general departmental procedures. Training on a new system the Contracted Personnel was engaged to build or modify should be a requirement in the RFS Posting and is specifically part of and spelled out in the RFS Posting.

mailto:DOACBA@wisconsin.gov https://rpa.wi.gov/account/login https://rpa.wi.gov/account/login

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Time Sheets

• Hiring managers can choose the appropriate time entry format (e.g., punch time, elapsed time, etc.).

• Supervisors of Contracted Personnel, or a proxy with the required permissions within the

State’s PeopleSoft system or Knowledge Services’ dotStaff system shall be the only authorized time sheet approvers.

• Time sheets should not be approved by timesheet approvers if committed spend is exceeded. VMS Company shall track all current spend levels against the committed spend and provide hiring managers with continual access to PO burndown reporting.

• Time sheets should not be approved if contractors work is not approved. The Hiring Manager shall inform the VMS Company of any issues with contractors resulting in non-approval of time sheets.

Purchase Order (PO) and Invoicing

Purchase Order In general, the following information is typically needed on a PO:

• Include the State contract number

• Hiring Manager

• Supplier Company Name

• Contracted Personnel Name

• Job Title

• Hourly Rate

• Hours on PO

• Start Date

• End Date

Purchase Order and contract dates should only run through 6/30/XXXX, unless any other agency-specific rules apply.

New Purchase Orders must be generated for each fiscal year, or in accordance with any agency-specific rules.

Invoicing Agencies must pay Knowledge Services’ invoices within 30 days of receipt of a properly submitted invoice. Any amounts past due must include the calculation of interest when payment is issued to Knowledge Services. A payment dispute filed with Knowledge Services will suspend the calculation of interest until the dispute is resolved.

Problem Resolution

Purchasing Entities should first attempt to resolve complaints, issues, or disputes informally with the VMS Company.

Use a Good Faith Dispute if the properly submitted invoice has errors, or complete DOA-3686: Complaint Report On Vendor/Contractor Performance

If the issue or dispute cannot be resolved, the issue may be elevated to the State Contract Manager, contact information listed on page 1.

Contracted Personnel Rate Change, Performance, Relationship Best Practices, Engagement Etiquette

Rate

• Agencies or UW Campus should not discuss pay rate increases or contract extensions with the Contracted

Personnel. Have Contracted Personnel contact employer (Supplier Company). The Supplier Company will then contact Knowledge Services.

o If Contracted Personnel is unable to negotiate an appropriate solution with their Supplier company, please have them contract Knowledge Services who will negotiate between the parties.

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• Even if the current Bill Rate is below the Maximum Hourly Rate, the bill rate cannot be increased on contract revision.

Performance

• Agencies or UW Campus should not communicate performance issues to Contracted Personnel. Contact

Knowledge Services, they will discuss performance issues with the Supplier Company (Subcontractor).

• Agencies or UW Campus should not communicate or participate in unplanned exit of Contracted Personnel.

Contact Knowledge Services to request an exit.

• Agencies or UW Campus should not give performance appraisals for Contracted Personnel or provide letters of recommendation. Respond to Knowledge Services’ survey regarding Contracted Personnel's performance or reach out to WIMSP@KnowledgeServices.com.

• Agencies or UW Campus should not give any rewards or recognitions to Contracted Personnel. Contact Knowledge Services. The Supplier Company (Subcontractor) may provide awards according to its policies.

• When Contracted Personnel Assignments end, hiring managers may complete an evaluation to close Contracted Personnel records.

Relationship

• Agencies or UW Campus should not include Contracted Personnel when celebrating milestones or team recognition events. Contact Knowledge Services. Knowledge Services will contact the Supplier Company (Subcontractor) to request appropriate recognition of Contracted Personnel.

• Agencies or UW Campus should not invite Contracted Personnel to staff meetings or any meetings that involve subjects intended for State of Wisconsin employees only.

• Contracted Personnel can be invited to departmental/staff meetings to talk about specific tasks they are working on.

• Agencies or UW Campus should not invite Contracted Personnel to any State of Wisconsin functions for employees (e.g., team building events, holiday parties or golf outings).

• Agencies or UW Campus should not discuss time off or vacation days. Direct Contracted Personnel to communicate any requests for time off with the Supplier Company (Subcontractor), who will then communicate requests through Knowledge Services.

• Agencies or UW Campus should not discuss full-time opportunities or provide coaching on recruiting process.

Direct Contracted Personnel to review/apply for positions on WISCJOBS.

Engagement Etiquette

• Agencies or UW Campus should not issue name plates, business cards, or credit cards to Contracted Personnel.

If name plates and or business cards are required, they must be supplied by the Supplier Company (Subcontractor) and must clearly identify that the Contracted Personnel is an employee of Supplier Company, not the State of Wisconsin.

• Contracted Personnel will not be allowed to have access to any State P-Card and will not be allowed to use them for any transactions.

• If possible, Contracted Personnel emails should not display an agency or UW Campus logo. Any signature block information set up in the email system(s) should identify the Contracted Personnel as someone working for the Supplier Company (Subcontractor).

• Contracted Personnel may be allowed to work across agencies, departments, projects, etc. VMS Company will work with the State and Authorized Users to determine how to designate any appropriate project or task codes.

• Agencies or UW Campus should not change Assignment of Contracted Personnel without first contacting Knowledge Services. Knowledge Services will have Supplier Company (Subcontractor) inform Contracted Personnel of potential changes and determine if there is interest. Inform Knowledge Services of any changes in Contracted Personnel's position requirements and/or information (i.e., sponsor name, department number, location, etc.).

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• Agencies or UW Campus should not allow Contracted Personnel to originate, or approve any purchase orders, timecards, or payments to vendors.

• Contracted Personnel should not be requested to “perform other duties as assigned” once their tasks for the engagement are completed. If they have completed their Assignment they should be removed. If they are waiting on something to complete their Assignment they should be sent home until the deliverables they need are ready. They should not be used to fill in on work not indicated on the RFS. If the Hiring manager has set hours or specific times that the contracted personnel is expected to work this should be clearly defined in their engagement. This includes providing details about days the contracted personnel are not expected to work due to office closures or other reasons that the contracted personnel is not eligible for paid time (i.e., downtime when waiting on something to complete their Assignment or unable to work due to equipment/network issues).

Supplier, Contracted Personnel & Agency/UW Requirements Before, During, and After an Engagement

When a Contracted Personnel Can Start

These steps must be completed prior to Contracted Personnel reporting for engagement.

• Agency or UW Campus must document interviews and select rejection reasons for other candidates not chosen.

• Agency or UW Campus must provide Knowledge Services with a Purchase Order and Contracted Personnel

Employee ID number.

• Purchase Order number must be sent to Knowledge Services so they can issue the Contracted Personnel

Agreement (Attachment C of the State Contract) for the candidate. Contracted Personnel agreement must be approved at least 3 business days prior to Contracted Personnel beginning engagement.

• If Supplier Company does not confirm the approved Engagement Request at least 3 business days prior to start of engagement, there may be delays in processing Contracted Personnel timesheets.

• The Supplier Company (Subcontractor) will not allow Contracted Personnel to start without receiving an approved Contract from Knowledge Services. Hours worked prior to an authorized Contract being received cannot be billed and shall not be paid to Supplier Companies (Subcontractors).

• Agency or UW Campus will need to provide first day details, where to report and what to expect, to Knowledge Services

Contracted Personnel Expenses

Travel Rates for Contracted Personnel should corelate with the States PocketTravelGuide.pdf

Contractors must be set up with an expense project in dotStaff, receipts will be submitted to the expense report. Once Hiring Manager approves the receipts in dotStaff, expense will be invoiced to the agency or UW Campus for payment.

New Supplier Companies Requesting to Be Added to The Approved Supplier List

VMS Company will make recommendations to the State as far as the addition of new Supplier Companies to the approved Supplier List, provided that the State has not prohibited the Supplier Company from providing services to the State due to debarment or outstanding tax liabilities. Supplier Companies interested in being added to the approved Supplier List must contact the VMS Company at WIMSP@KnowledgeServices.com.

Requested Letters

If US Immigrations Office (USCIS) letters or H1B Visa end-client letters are requested for contracted personnel, forward request to VMS Company.

If contracted personnel should request an employment verification letter, direct them to work with their Supplier Company and VMS Company.

https://dpm.wi.gov/Documents/BCER/Compensation/PocketTravelGuide.pdf