Emergency Procurement S000000046 COVID-19 Testing Resources_Amended 9.29.21.pdf

STATE OF ARKANSAS

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSFORMATION AND SHARED SERVICES

OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT

501 Woodlane St., Ste. 220

Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1023

EMERGENCY PROCUREMENT

SOLICITATION DOCUMENT

SOLICITATION INFORMATION

Solicitation Number:

S000000046 Solicitation Issued:

September 22, 2021

Description: COVID-19 Testing Resources for K-12 Public Schools

Department: Arkansas Department of Health

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Submission Deadline Date:

September October 629, Time: 2:00 PM, Central Time

This is an emergency procurement with an expedited submission and evaluation process, as more fully explained in Section 1.2 of this solicitation document. ADH wants to begin evaluation of timely submissions on September 28October 7, 2021, to have a contract in place by or before October 1521, 2021. Submissions must be successfully delivered by or before the submission deadline to be considered timely.

TSS OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT CONTACT INFORMATION

TSS OSP Buyer: Brandi Schroeder Buyer’s Direct Phone Number: 501-682-4169

Email Address: Brandi.Schroeder@arkansas.gov TSS OSP’s Main Number: 501-324-9316

TSS OSP

Website:

https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/ mailto:Brandi.Schroeder@arkansas.gov https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/

SECTION 1 – GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS

• Do not provide responses to items in this section unless specifically and expressly required.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This solicitation document issued by the TSS Office of State Procurement (TSS OSP) on behalf of the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) to obtain pricing and a contract with a qualified vendor who will be expected to provide management and oversight of a comprehensive COVID-19 Testing Program for K-12 public schools throughout the State of Arkansas.

The scope of services to be provided by the Contractor who is selected through this Emergency Procurement will include, without limitation, onsite PCR Testing, Lab Pool testing, genomic sequencing for identifying COVID-19 variants, and twenty-four (24) turnaround time from specimen collection to results reporting. Any contract awarded will be awarded to the Prospective Contractor it determines to have submitted the proposal that is the most advantageous to the State.

Direct all questions, comments, or concerns you may have regarding this solicitation to TSS OSP, not the

ADH.

1.2 BACKGROUND AND CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

ADH received federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Cooperative Agreement to support Kindergarten through 12th Grade (K-12) public schools to operate safely and effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ADH plans to utilize ELC Reopening Schools funds to directly support K-12 public school districts by:

• Providing funding to public school districts to augment salary and/or other costs associated with devoting staff time to performing COVID-19 duties, including but not limited to:

o Coordinating COVID-19 testing for students and staff.

o Reporting testing information to ADH, such as patient details for positive cases.

o Liaising with ADH.

• Soliciting, selecting, and implementing turn-key surveillance testing programs from contractors for K- 12 public school districts who wish to participate in a COVID-19 surveillance testing program.

The State currently has sixteen (16) education cooperatives that serve more than 260 K-12 public school districts. Some schools may be able to perform COVID-19 PCR Testing with their own staff, but most will likely require onsite PCR Testing from the Contractor.

In light of the urgent need and the nature of the threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly variants of COVID-19 that pose additional risk to minors, this Solicitation is being done as an Emergency Procurement rather than as a traditional request for proposals, invitation for sealed bids, or a request for qualifications. “Emergency Procurement” can be used where services must be initiated immediately because the delay involved in the customary procurement processes will endanger human life or health, State property, or the functional capability of a State agency. Because the COVID-19 outbreak endangers human life and health, the emergency presented is a “critical emergency” as that term is defined by Arkansas Code Annotated § 19-11-233(b)(2). To balance the need for urgency with the desire to foster market competition, the selection process for this procurement process, while competitive, will be sharply abbreviated to meet the exigent need.

The Contractor will be expected to: (1) provide fully equipped and trained personnel (“Collectors”) who physically travel to Testing Sites to perform collection of COVID-19 specimens; (2) provide quality assurance (QA) data specific to the COVID-19 testing workload; (3) provide ongoing reports to ADH; (4) utilize the designated ADH data systems; and (5) comply with all applicable State and federal laws.

Because the State will be relying on the selected Contractor to provide an efficacious COVID-19 Testing Program, which is essential to the ADH efforts to protect the public from COVID-19, the Evaluators will be looking for a Prospective Contractor with:

• Demonstrable capability to fully perform the contract requirements in all respects and with the integrity and reliability that will assure good faith performance; and

• The proposal that is the most advantageous for the State considering both the price and Evaluation Criteria set forth in the Solicitation.

The State will assess initial responses based on Evaluation Criteria specified in Section 3 and will move forward to discussions (including discussion of price) with the six (6) highest ranked Prospective Contractors. Award will be made to the Prospective Contractor that shows itself to be capable of fully performing services required by the contract and that presents the proposal that is the most advantageous for the State considering both price and responses to evaluation criteria.

1.3 LIVE PROPOSAL OPENING

Use the information below to view the proposal opening online.

Zoom Meeting Link: https://arkansas-gov.zoom.us/j/82724286566?pwd=Y3FSYnI2d0lhL3FWd3VaQ0F4dU1hQT09 Meeting ID: 827 2428 6566 Meeting Password: 324113 Dial-In Information: 877 853 5257 US Toll-free 888 475 4499 US Toll-free

1.4 TYPE OF CONTRACT

A. As a result of this RFP, TSS OSP intends to award a contract to a single Contractor.

B. The anticipated starting date for any resulting contract is October 1521, 2021.

C. The initial term of a resulting contract will be for one (1) year. Upon mutual agreement by the Contractor and Department, the contract may be renewed by TSS OSP for up to six (6) additional one-year terms or portions thereof, not to exceed a total aggregate contract term of seven (7) consecutive years.

1.5 SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

A. For informational purposes, TSS OSP is providing a Solicitation Schedule; however, dates listed and noted with an asterisk (*) are anticipated dates only and are subject to change at the discretion of the State. All times listed are Central Time.

TABLE A: TENTATIVE SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

ACTIVITY DATE

Solicitation Release to Prospective Contractors September 22, 2021

Bidders Conference September 23, 2021 @ 1:00 pm

Response Submission Deadline September 29October 6, 2021 @

2 pm

Initial Proposal Evaluation* September October 730-October

18, 2021

Interviews* October 512, 2021

Final Proposal Evaluation* October 512, 2021

Discussions* October 8-1415-21, 2021

Award Contract* October 1521, 2021

1.6 BIDDERS CONFERENCE

A. TSS OSP will host a bidders conference to provide additional information and clarification regarding the RFP.

https://arkansas-gov.zoom.us/j/82724286566?pwd=Y3FSYnI2d0lhL3FWd3VaQ0F4dU1hQT09 https://arkansas-gov.zoom.us/j/82724286566?pwd=Y3FSYnI2d0lhL3FWd3VaQ0F4dU1hQT09

1. The conference will take place on the date and time listed in Section 1.4 Table A.

2. The conference is important for Prospective Contractors to understand the tasks a Prospective Contractor shall complete when submitting a proposal (“Submission Requirements”).

3. Further details about service Requirements under a resulting contract will not be provided during the bidders conference.

4. Prospective Contractors may attend the conference via Zoom.

Zoom Meeting Link: https://arkansas-gov.zoom.us/j/83276663100?pwd=aUFIY1JIK04wOG1IZTNObFQ0WmpuUT09 Meeting ID: 832 7666 3100 Meeting Password: 208072 Dial-In Information: 877 853 5257 US Toll-free 888 475 4499 US Toll-free

5. The bidders conference presentation will be posted to the Solicitation posting in ARBuy.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

A. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms defined in Arkansas Procurement Law have the same meaning herein.

B. “Business Days” refers to days Monday through Friday, during the hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Central Time, except for State holidays; see https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/uploads/Holidays_2021.pdf).

C. “COVID-19” means an infectious disease that is a predominantly respiratory illness that can affect other organs in the body. People with COVID-19 report a wide range of symptoms, ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. COVID-19 is spread through exposure to respiratory droplets carrying infectious virus.

D. “Lab Pooling” means combining the same type of specimen from several people to conduct one NAAT laboratory test on the combined pool of specimens to detect COVID-19 for the purpose of increasing speed of identifying positive cases in the pool.

E. “Minimally Invasive” means a method of obtaining a specimen that includes sampling anterior nares just inside the nose and saliva tests.

F. “Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests” or “NAAT” is a type of viral diagnostic test for COVID-19 that detects genetic material (nucleic acids).

G. “PCR Test” means a test for COVID-19 used to detect genetic material from a specific organism, such as a virus. The test detects the presence of a virus if you have the virus at the time of the test.

The test could also detect fragments of the virus even after you are no longer infected.

H. “Prospective Contractor” means a responsible offeror who submits a proposal in response to this solicitation.

I. “Requirement” means something required.

J. “Responsive Proposal” means a proposal submitted in response to this solicitation that conforms in all material respects to this RFP.

K. “Shall” and “Must” mean the imperative and are used to identify requirements.

L. “Specification” means any technical or purchase description or other description of the physical or functional characteristics, or of the nature, of a commodity or service. “Specification” may include a description of any requirement for inspecting, testing, or preparing a commodity or service for delivery.

M. “Testing Site” means an Arkansas K-12 public school location identified by ADH for PCR Testing.

https://arkansas-gov.zoom.us/j/83276663100?pwd=aUFIY1JIK04wOG1IZTNObFQ0WmpuUT09 https://arkansas-gov.zoom.us/j/83276663100?pwd=aUFIY1JIK04wOG1IZTNObFQ0WmpuUT09 https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/uploads/Holidays_2021.pdf

1.8 RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

A. All responses must be submitted through ARBuy, the State’s eProcurement system. The system can be accessed at https://arbuy.arkansas.gov.

B. Response Packet

1. Responses within the Information for Evaluation and Exceptions sections must not contain the Prospective Contractor’s name or any other identifiers, including without limitation names of staff members, projects, products, and addresses.

2. Prospective Contractors shall utilize the Response Packet to submit their responses.

3. The following items are proposal Submission Requirements and must be submitted as part of a Prospective Contractor’s response.

a. Signed Proposal Signature Page. Signature may be ink or digital. (See Response Packet.)

b. Proposal response to the Information for Evaluation section included in the Response Packet. Response must be in the English language.

c. Completed Pricing Response in the ARBuy line item pricing response on the Solicitation page. Quantities specified are estimates only for the sake of cost comparison and are subject to change. Quantities are not guaranteed.

i. Pricing must be completed for all line items and must be inclusive of all costs for the collection, transport, and testing, and reporting of COVID-19 samples as specified in the

RFP.

ii. Item 1 must be entered as the unit cost to analyze and report on each individual specimen via PCR Testing, including collection transport.

iii. Item 2 must be entered as the unit cost to analyze and report on each individual specimen via rapid antigen tests, including collection transport.

iv. Item 3 must be entered as the unit cost to analyze and report on each pooled sample at the Contractor’s lab, including collection transport.

v. Item 4 must be entered as the unit cost to provide onsite specimen collection per individual collected specimen, including Collector travel cost and collection transport.

vi. Pricing must be proposed in U.S. dollars and cents.

d. Proposed Subcontractors Form. The utilization of any proposed subcontractor is subject to approval by the Department.

e. Exceptions Form.

4. The following items, which must be submitted prior to a contract award to the Prospective Contractor, may also be included with the Prospective Contractor’s proposal:

a. EO 98-04: Contract and Grant Disclosure Form.

b. Copy of Prospective Contractor’s Equal Opportunity Policy.

5. DO NOT include any other documents or ancillary information, such as a cover letter or promotional/marketing information.

C. Redacted Copy of the Response Packet and Completed Pricing Response

1. One (1) redacted (marked “REDACTED”) copy of the Prospective Contractor’s proposal response (see Section 6 of the Solicitation Terms and Conditions referenced in Section 1.10.)

https://arbuy.arkansas.gov/

1.9 ACCEPTANCE OF REQUIREMENTS

A. Unless a Prospective Contractor expressly and conspicuously identifies any exception or exceptions to any of the Requirements in the Requirements Section(s) of this RFP by listing them on the Exceptions Form (see Response Packet), Prospective Contractor understands and agrees its submission of a proposal to represent that its response meets all such Requirements.

B. A Prospective Contractor’s response may be rejected if a Prospective Contractor takes exception to any Requirements in the Requirements Section(s) of this RFP.

C. Prospective Contractor should notify the TSS OSP buyer of any term, condition, etc., that precludes the Prospective Contractor from submitting a compliant, Responsive Proposal. Prospective Contractors should note that it is the responsibility of the Prospective Contractor to seek resolution of all such issues, including those relating to the terms and conditions of the contract, prior to the submission of a proposal.

D. Prospective Contractors may contact the TSS OSP buyer with non-substantive questions at any time prior to the proposal opening.

E. An oral statement by TSS OSP will not be part of any contract resulting from this Solicitation and may not reasonably be relied on by any Prospective Contractor as an aid to interpretation unless it is reduced to writing and expressly adopted by TSS OSP.

1.10 ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

A. This RFP incorporates all of the Solicitation Terms and Conditions located on the TSS OSP website here (Agencies – Forms and Reporting – Solicitation Templates):

https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/agencies/forms-and-reporting/.

B. Any special terms and conditions included in this solicitation shall override the Solicitation Terms and Conditions.

C. Unless a Prospective Contractor expressly and conspicuously identifies any exception or exceptions to any of the terms in the Services Contract (SRV-1) Fillable Form by listing them on the Exceptions Form (see Response Packet), Prospective Contractor agrees and shall adhere to all terms if selected as the successful Contractor. Items identified as non-negotiable may only be modified if the legal requirement is satisfied and approved by the State. The Services Contract (SRV-1) Fillable Form can be viewed on the TSS OSP website here (Agencies – Services – Forms):

https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/agencies/services/.

D. A Prospective Contractor’s proposal may be rejected if a Prospective Contractor takes exception to any terms or conditions in the documents listed in 1.10.A and 1.10.C.

https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/agencies/forms-and-reporting/ https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/agencies/services/

SECTION 2 – REQUIREMENTS

• Do not provide responses to items in this section unless specifically and expressly required.

2.1 OBJECTIVES

ADH seeks to obtain a contract with a qualified vendor to provide COVID-19 testing services to K-12 students and staff in public schools in Arkansas.

The ultimate goal of the contract is to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within schools by identifying COVID-19 cases as quickly as possible. In order to meet that goal, the State expects the Contractor to provide onsite PCR Testing, Lab Pool testing, genomic sequencing for identifying COVID-19 variants, and twenty-four (24) turnaround time from specimen collection to results reporting.

2.2 PROSPECTIVE CONTRACTOR MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A. Prospective Contractors shall be Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certified laboratories.

B. Prospective Contractors shall have experience providing Minimally Invasive COVID-19 PCR Testing.

1. The State prefers Prospective Contractors have experience providing PCR Testing to students and staff in school settings.

C. Prospective Contractors shall be fully equipped and staffed to provide the required services immediately upon contract award.

2.3 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall implement a full-service program encompassing testing, reporting, and administration of COVID-19 PCR Testing for K-12 public schools in Arkansas immediately upon contract award and shall have a full contingent of COVID-19 testing personnel commensurate to the workload in place by October 1521, 2021.

B. The Contractor shall provide all services under a resulting contract in compliance with all Centers of Disease Control (CDC) ELC guidelines, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines, and applicable federal and State reporting requirements.

C. The Contractor shall perform screening testing for COVID-19 through Minimally Invasive PCR Testing for students and staff in K-12 public schools throughout the State of Arkansas.

1. The Contractor shall provide personnel to physically travel to Testing Sites to perform screenings and PCR Tests as requested by ADH. Some schools will have personnel onsite to perform testing, so the Contractor will not be required to physically travel to all schools.

D. The Contractor shall perform analysis on all individual specimen samples sent to their lab(s) by Testing Sites to assess the presence of COVID-19.

E. The Contractor shall perform Lab Pooling as requested by ADH. ADH prefers Lab Pooling over pooled sample testing performed at Testing Sites.

1. Should a pooled sample have a positive result, the Contractor shall perform separate retesting on all individual specimens within the pool.

F. ADH prefers the Contractor to be able to perform genomic sequencing/variant testing.

1. This is not a requirement under a resulting contract, but, if offered by the Prospective Contractor, details and pricing for these services should be in the Recommended Options sub-section of the Response Packet.

G. If using courier services, the Contractor shall utilize designated courier service to all Testing Sites.

H. Upon contract award, the Contractor shall sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). (See Attachment A: Business Associate Agreement.)

2.4 WEB-BASED PORTAL AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall host, maintain, and support an easy to navigate, user-friendly web-based portal for reporting and administration of the COVID-19 testing for K-12 public schools in Arkansas.

B. The web-based portal must support and include the following:

1. Custom URL that must be obtained by the Contractor and approved by ADH prior to portal go-live

2. Collection, access, retention, reporting, and maintenance of all user and COVID-19 testing data

3. Role-based user access

a. Users will be defined by ADH during Discussions; users are anticipated to include specified State personnel from ADH and Arkansas Department of Education, parents, and students

4. Workflows to support parental consents

5. Training and onboarding modules for all users

C. The web-based portal must allow for downloadable files in PDF, Word, and/or Excel content.

D. The Contractor shall post analysis results within the web-based portal on individual specimen and pooled samples within twenty-four (24) hours of obtaining specimen(s)/sample(s).

1. Analysis results must be accessible to the applicable users within that stated timeframe.

E. The Contractor shall report data to the ADH electronically, within twenty-four (24) hours of a result, via ADH’s Health Level 7 (HL7) electronic laboratory reporting mechanism.

1. Electronic feed between the Contractor and ADH will be maintained for the duration of the contract, possibly longer.

F. The Contractor shall report all outbreaks of diseases on the mandatory reportable disease list (including COVD-19) and all unusual outbreaks/clusters immediately to ADH.

G. All analysis reports must include, at minimum, the following data:

1. Patient information

a. First and last name

b. First and last name of parent/guardian, if minor

c. Patient title (i.e. faculty or student)

d. Date of birth

e. Street address

f. City and county of residence

g. School and school district

2. Testing information

a. Specimen collection date

b. Test result date

c. Test result

H. The web-based portal must be browser and operating system neutral for all user types and function accurately on common modern browsers including, but not limited to Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

I. The web-based portal must be accessible and function as designed from mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and chrome books. This must include, but is not limited to include, iPhones, iPads, and Android based phones and tablets.

J. The web-based portal must not require additional browser plug-ins, add-ons, or helper applications.

K. The web-based portal must provide user management functionality based on industry best practices that includes, at minimum, processes for user authentication, access management, role-based security architecture, security rules and restrictions, capacity for users to change their password at any time, and the capability to retrieve forgotten username and/or password information.

L. The web-based portal must allow various user roles and access as defined by ADH.

M. The Contractor shall submit a Data Security Plan and Disaster Recovery Plan for ADH review and approval within thirty (30) calendar days after contract award that must outline the process of reporting security violations, security breaches, or any attempts to gain access to the web-based portal.

N. The web-based portal must meet NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards for disaster recovery and contingency planning.

O. The Contractor shall provide additional result communications to the student, staff, school, parents, and ADH as directed by ADH.

2.5 ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall provide dedicated administrative support to facilitate regulatory reporting.

B. The Contractor shall provide weekly Quality Assurance (QA) reports to ADH that run from Sunday through Saturday.

1. Report must include, at minimum, the following information:

a. Testing turnaround times

b. Number of overall tests conducted

c. Number of tests conducted by school district

d. Other relevant measures as determined and established by the ADH

2. The Contractor shall submit weekly QA reports by 2:00 PM Central Time the Monday directly following the reporting period.

C. The Contractor shall provide customer service and technical support via email and/or toll-free telephone to users on Business Days throughout the term(s) of a resulting contract.

1. Customer service and technical support staff shall be fluent English-speakers.

2.6 HOSTING, UPTIME & PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

A. All servers and data associated with the Arkansas instance of the Contractor hosted web-based portal must reside in the continental United States (US).

B. The Contractor shall perform all work on the Platform from within the continental US. The system must not be accessed from outside of the US.

C. The Contractor shall be responsible for the acquisition and operation of all hardware, software, and network support related to the hosting services being provided.

D. The Contractor shall provision all environments including, at minimum, development, testing, and production. The Platform must be available 99.9% of the time each month, excluding scheduled down-times.

E. The Platform must have an internal response time of less than two seconds from receiving a request and sending a response back through the webserver 99.99% of the time.

F. The Contractor shall perform all maintenance on the web-based portal to keep it fully functioning and up to date, including patches, security enhancements, upgrades, updates, back-ups or other maintenance of server hardware or software on which the web-based portal is hosted.

1. The Contractor shall ensure that all updates and maintenance to the web-based portal will not compromise or negatively impact or interrupt any configurations or customizations made by the Contractor to the web-based portal.

G. Per ADH request, the Contractor shall provide a System Usage and Performance Report which shall include, at minimum, data related to the Requirements set forth in this subsection of the RFP. The System Usage and Performance Report must be provided to ADH’s designee in a format and within timeframes specified by ADH.

2.7 DATA OWNERSHIP AND END OF CONTRACT TRANSITION

A. The State shall retain sole ownership, right, title, and interest to all data stored in the web-based portal.

1. The Contractor shall maintain the source code with an escrow agent and list the State as an authorized recipient of the source code for instances in which the Contractor is unable to maintain the web-based portal. These instances include, but are not limited to, business failure, contract default, disaster recovery, or a different contractor continuing web-based portal services after the termination or expiration of the resulting contract. These conditions shall be specified in the escrow agent contract, and this contract must meet the approval of ADH prior to execution.

2. At the end of the contract the Contractor shall transfer 100% of State-owned data back to the State or to another Contractor at the request of the State.

3. At the end of the contract and after confirmed transfer of 100% of State-owned data, deliverables, and products the Contractor has created, developed, produced, and managed while performing the services outlined in this RFP back to the State or their designee, the Contractor shall destroy all copies of the State-owned data the Contractor possesses.

B. The Contractor shall ensure all data received as part of the Contract must be used solely for the purpose of this contract and not shared, reused, or disseminated to any other party or entity without the express written consent of the ADH designated representative.

C. Upon termination or expiration, should any subsequent contract for this or a similar web-based portal be awarded to a provider other than the Contractor, the Contractor shall, to the greatest extent possible and reasonable, cooperate with ADH in initiating a smooth and orderly transition to the next contractor.

2.8 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

A. State law requires that qualifying contracts for services include Performance Standards for measuring the overall quality of services that a Contractor shall provide.

B. The State may be open to negotiations of Performance Standards prior to contract award, prior to the commencement of services, or at times throughout the contract duration.

C. Performance Standards shall not be amended unless they are agreed to in writing and signed by the parties.

D. Failure to meet the minimum Performance Standards as specified will result in the assessment of damages.

E. In the event a Performance Standard is not met, the Contractor will have the opportunity to defend or respond to the insufficiency. The State has the right to waive damages if it determines there were extenuating factors beyond the control of the Contractor that hindered the performance of services. In these instances, the State has final determination of the performance acceptability.

F. Should any compensation be owed to the Department due to the assessment of damages, Contractor shall follow the direction of the Department regarding the required compensation process.

SECTION 3 – SELECTION

• Do not provide responses to items in this section.

3.1 SELECTION PROCESS

A. TSS OSP will review each timely Response Packet to verify submission Requirements have been met. Response Packets that do not meet submission Requirements will be rejected and will not be evaluated.

B. A Department-appointed Evaluation Committee will evaluate and score qualifying Responses.

Evaluation will be based on Prospective Contractor’s response to the Information for Evaluation section included in the Response Packet.

1. Members of the Evaluation Committee will individually review and evaluate proposals and complete an Individual Score Worksheet for each proposal. Individual scoring for each Evaluation Criteria will be based on the following Scoring Description.

SCORE DESCRIPTION

The response provides metrics clearly establishing that the Prospective Contractor is reliable and capable of fully performing the required services.

The response provides metrics suggesting that the Prospective Contractor’s level of performance may be acceptable, but it does not clearly establish that the Prospective Contractor is reliable and capable of fully performing the required services.

The response provides metrics clearly establishing that the Prospective Contractor is unreliable and incapable of fully performing the required services.

2. After initial individual evaluations are complete, the Evaluation Committee members will meet to discuss their individual ratings. At this consensus meeting, each member will be afforded an opportunity to discuss his or her rating for each evaluation criteria.

3. After Evaluation committee members have had an opportunity to discuss their individual scores with the committee, the individual Evaluation committee members will be given the opportunity to change their initial individual scores, if they feel that is appropriate.

4. The final individual scores of the Evaluation Committee members will be recorded on Pre- Interview Consensus Score Sheets and averaged to determine the group or consensus score and rank for each proposal.

5. Other agencies, consultants, and experts may also examine documents at the discretion of the Department.

3.2 RESPONSE SCORE

A. The Information for Evaluation section has been divided into sub-sections (see Section 3.7 for details about each sub-section).

1. Each sub-section has been assigned a maximum point value of ten (10) points. The total point value for each sub-section is reflected in the table below as the Maximum Raw Points Possible.

2. The Department has assigned Weighted Percentages to each sub-section according to its significance.

INFORMATION FOR EVALUATION

SUB-SECTIONS

MAXIMUM

RAW

POINTS

POSSIBLE

SUB-SECTION’S

WEIGHTED

PERCENTAGE

* MAXIMUM

WEIGHTED

SCORE

POSSIBLE

Experience 10 30% 210

Solution 10 30% 210

Risk 10 10% 70

Recommended Options 10 10% 70

Response Score 40 80% 560

Interview 10 20% 140

Total Response Score 50 100% 700

*Sub-Section’s Percentage Weight x Total Technical Maximum Weighted Score = Maximum Weighted Score Possible for the sub-section.

B. The proposal’s weighted score for each sub-section will be determined using the following formula:

(A/B)*C =D

A = Actual Raw Points received for sub-section in evaluation

B = Maximum Raw Points possible for sub-section

C = Maximum Weighted Score possible for sub-section

D = Weighted Score received for sub-section

C. The response’s weighted scores for the Experience, Solution, Risk, and Recommended Options sub-sections will be added to determine the Response Score for each response.

3.3 COST SCORE

A. For pricing, the maximum amount of cost points will be given to the proposal with the lowest

Estimated Cost as shown on the completed Pricing Response. (See Total Score for maximum points possible for cost score.)

B. The amount of cost price points given to the remaining responses will be allocated by using the following formula:

(A/B)*C =D

A = Lowest Estimated Cost B = Second (third, fourth, etc.) Lowest Estimated Cost C = Maximum Points for Lowest Estimated Cost D = Total price points received

3.4 TOTAL SCORE

The Weighted Response Score and Cost Score will be added together to determine the Total Score for the proposal. The Total Score for each Prospective Contractor will be used to determine the ranking of the responses.

MAXIMUM

POINTS

POSSIBLE

Weighted Response Score 560

Cost 300

Maximum Possible Total Score 860

3.5 INTERVIEW PROCESS AND SCORE

A. Prospective Contractors with the top three (3) highest Total Scores after initial evaluation will each be contacted to schedule a mandatory interview with Evaluators to demonstrate their respective expertise in providing the required services.

1. The interview will allow Prospective Contractors to further demonstrate their experience in providing the services outlined in the RFP.

2. Prospective Contractors shall attend the interview as scheduled by TSS OSP.

B. Prospective Contractors will be provided a pre-determined set of interview questions and should expect to discuss all aspects, including pricing, of the Prospective Contractor’s proposal.

C. Prospective Contractors should identify one (1) Project Lead at the time of interview confirmation who shall attend the interview as part of the evaluation process.

D. The Evaluation Committee will interview and score each qualifying Prospective Contractor.

Evaluation will be based on Prospective Contractor’s response and follow up questions presented during the interview.

E. The Evaluation Committee members complete an Individual Score Worksheet for each interview.

Individual scoring for each interview will be based on the Scoring Descriptions in 3.1.B.1.

F. After all interviews are complete, the Evaluation Committee members will have the opportunity to discuss the interviews and change their individual interview scores on the Final Consensus Score Sheet, if they feel that is appropriate.

G. The final individual scores of the Evaluation Committee members will be recorded on the Final Consensus Score Sheets and averaged to determine the group or consensus score and rank for each interview.

H. The interview consensus score has been assigned a maximum point value of ten (10) points. The Weighted Percentage assigned to interview evaluation score is twenty percent (20%). (See Section 3.2.B.)

3.6 GRAND TOTAL SCORE

A. During the final consensus meeting, the Total Score and the Interview Score will be added together to determine the Grand Total Score for the responses.

Maximum

Points Possible

Total Score 860

Interview Score 140

Maximum Possible Grand Total Score 1000

B. Ranking of the Grand Total Scores will be provided to allow the Evaluation Committee to determine if moving forward with the highest-ranking Prospective Contractor is the most advantageous to the State.

C. Should the State request clarification and/or additional information regarding cost and/or Prospective Contractors’ responses, Prospective Contractors shall provide clarification and/or additional information as specified by the State.

D. TSS OSP will submit responses and pricing received from the interviewed Perspective Contractors, along with the Evaluation Committee’s recommendation to ADH for review and approval.

E. The State may move forward to Discussions with the Prospective Contractor determined reasonably susceptible of being selected for award.

3.7 EXPLANATION OF RESPONSE PACKET SUB-SECTIONS

A. Experience

1. The Experience sub-section included in the Response Packet allows Prospective Contractors to differentiate themselves based on their experience, organizational capacity, technical capability, and understanding of the State’s specific needs.

2. Prospective Contractors should identify expertise in the form of a claim and provide relevant experience to support each claim.

3. Prospective Contractors should use verifiable metrics (number of accounts, size of accounts, years of experience, customer satisfaction ratings) to support each claim.

B. Solution

1. The Solution sub-section included in the Response Packet allows Prospective Contractors to differentiate themselves based on their proposed approach to solve the State’s specific needs.

2. Prospective Contractors should provide a high-level overview of the Prospective Contractor’s proposed approach to services using the Requirements outlined in the RFP.

3. Proposed solutions should be non-technical and include the Prospective Contractor’s recommendations for meeting the objectives and Requirements of the RFP.

4. Additional service options and recommendations above and beyond those included in proposed solution should be included in the Recommended Options sub-section.

C. Risk

1. The Risk sub-section included in the Response Packet allows Prospective Contractors to identify and prioritize major risks that they reasonably foresee could potentially prevent or impair the Prospective Contractor’s delivery of the solution as offered in the proposal or to otherwise fail to meet the State’s desired outcome, specifications, and performance standards, and how they will mitigate, manage, and/or minimize each risk listed.

a. Prospective Contractors should include sources, causes, or actions that are both within and beyond the control of the Prospective Contractors that they reasonably foresee may cause cost increases, delays, amendments, or dissatisfaction to the State.

b. Risks should be described in simple, clear, and non-technical terms.

c. Prospective Contractor should explain how the Prospective Contractor will mitigate, manage, and/or minimize each risk listed.

d. The Documented Performance cell should include details such as how many times any identified risk was previously mitigated and the impact on the Prospective Contractor’s performance in terms of time, cost, and client satisfaction.

D. Recommended Options

1. The Recommended Options sub-section included in the Response Packet allows Prospective Contractors to identify any recommended options or optional service ideas that may benefit the State that were not included in the proposed solution.

a. Where applicable, the Prospective Contractor should identify options or ideas have been successful in previous projects through verifiable performance information.

b. The Prospective Contractor should list the cost and time impact of its recommended options or optional service ideas and should include details and pricing for genomic sequencing/variant testing if offered as an option.

c. Cost and revenue impacts associated with the recommended options or optional service ideas must not be included in the completed Pricing Response.

3.8 DISCUSSIONS

A. As requested during Discussions, the Prospective Contractor shall provide the following documents to the State electronically:

1. A detailed scope of work clearly identifying the Prospective Contractor’s implementation and performance of services required in this RFP, including all clarifications and provisions negotiated and agreed upon by the State and the Prospective Contractor, including all activities required by the Contractor and all activities expected by the State/Participating Entities.

2. Description of deliverables and milestones in terms of simplified metrics.

3. Proposed Performance standard criteria, applicable metrics, and related damages.

4. A Risk Management Plan intended to mitigate any risks, including but not necessarily limited to, the risks identified in the Risk Plan submitted in the Prospective Contractor’s Response Packet.

5. A proposed financial summary, including:

a. The completed Pricing Response.

b. A proposed payment schedule.

c. A list of agreed upon and accepted recommended options (with impact to price) from the Recommended Options submitted in the Prospective Contractor’s Response Packet

6. Proposed Progress/Risk Report template

B. During Discussions, the Prospective Contractor shall address questions and/or concerns the State may have to the satisfaction of the State.

C. Once approved by the State, all final drafted documents will become part of the resulting contract.

D. The Prospective Contractor may determine which key personnel will attend the Final Discussions Meeting.

3.9 PROGRESS/RISK REPORT

A. During the term of the contract, the Contractor shall periodically submit a Progress/Risk Report

(PRR) to the State that tracks the Contractor’s progress and any deviations in providing services to the State.

1. The PRR must include, at minimum:

a. Milestone schedule of implementation activities.

b. Anticipated schedule and performance deviations, along with the date the deviation was identified, its likelihood of occurrence, the potential impact of the deviation, the Contractor’s response plan to address each deviation, if applicable.

c. Actual schedule and performance deviations, along with the date the deviation was identified, the progress of the Contractor’s response to each deviation, the potential impact of the deviation, and the Contractor’s anticipated and actual resolution dates, if applicable.

d. An updated Risk Management Plan.

e. Performance standard criteria and applicable metrics (and damages, if applicable).

2. Should a major deviation be identified that is anticipated to have a significant impact on the Contractor’s performance, the Contractor shall notify the State within one (1) hour of identification.

3. The PRR must be submitted via email to the State’s primary contact in a format and on a schedule agreed to by the Contractor and Department.

4. The PRR does not substitute for, or eliminate, other traditional reporting.

5. The State will provide a satisfaction rating to the Contractor for each deviation included on the

PRR.

3.10 BEST AND FINAL OFFER OPTION

A. If during Discussions (including interviews), the State determines material revisions of the Prospective

Contractors’ proposals are necessary, each Prospective Contractor determined to be reasonably susceptible of being award a contract may be provided an opportunity to revise its proposal for the purpose of submitting a best and final offer.

B. If a best and final offer is requested, the State will evaluate each proposal submitted in response to the request for a best and final offer in determining the proposal that is most advantageous to the State using the methods described within the best and final offer request.

3.11 PROSPECTIVE CONTRACTOR ACCEPTANCE OF EVALUATION TECHNIQUE

The submission of a Response Packet signifies the Prospective Contractor’s understanding and agreement that some subjective value judgments will be made during the evaluation and scoring of the Responses.