Questions Presented by the Bidders of FARM Bid Responses.docx

This document contains questions and responses from bidders regarding Bid #134463, a Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) request for quotation (RFQ) for Financial Assessment and Risk Monitoring (FARM) advisory support services. The RFQ seeks a qualified independent external auditor or financial consulting firm to provide supplemental financial assessment and advisory support services throughout the Department's Financial Assessment and Risk Monitoring regulatory cycles as defined in 610 CMR 13.00 et seq. The bid responses were due October 28, 2026, and services will be delivered on an as-needed basis at various intervals throughout the Department's regulatory compliance activities. The DHE anticipates that multiple schools will require review under Deliverable 1, with the Department retaining the right to request additional schools throughout the engagement period. All high-risk institutional financial examinations (IHE) reviews should aim to be completed by December 1, 2026, with the DHE providing collected institutional data upon contract award to enable the vendor to begin work.

The DHE will provide the awarded bidder with documentation gathered by the Financial Assessment and Risk Management team, including audited and unaudited financial statements, letters of credit, projected cash flow statements, and projected endowment information based on institutional submissions. The bidder must deliver detailed written evaluations of each high-risk FARM IHE with sufficient analysis to reach sound conclusions about an institution's financial viability under the 18-month rule. The engagement represents a reperformance of established financial metrics rather than a request for new approaches. A Supplier Diversity Plan Form is required as part of bid submission, and Massachusetts Small Business Purchasing Program and Supplier Diversity Program provisions apply to this procurement. The CommBuys bid designation is BD-27-1088-RGT01-RGT01-134463, and standard Commonwealth of Massachusetts terms and contract forms apply unless specifically modified by DHE.