RFP 25_16 Solicitation Document.pdf

RFP 25-16 Employee Assistance Program Services (Annual Contract) | Page 2 Based on SCCPSS General RFP Template 4/4/2022

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP): 25-16

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SERVICES (ANNUAL CONTRACT)

I. INTRODUCTION

The Board of Public Education for the City of Savannah and the County of Chatham (the “District”), the body corporate responsible for public education in Chatham County, which is commonly known as the Savannah- Chatham County Public School System (“SCCPSS”), seeks sealed proposals as specified in this Request for Proposals (“RFP”) RFP 25-16 Employee Assistance Program Services (Annual Contract).

It is worth noting at the outset that the competitive sealed proposal (“RFP”) process differs from competitive sealed bidding in two important ways:

1) It permits discussions with competing Offerors and changes in their proposal, including price; and

2) It allows comparative judgmental evaluations to be made on various criteria (in addition to cost) for award of the contract.

Vendors who wish to be awarded a contract by the District to provide the goods and/or services requested by this RFP shall be referred to herein as the “Offeror(s)” or “Bidder(s).” To be considered for an award of a contract under this RFP, Offerors should carefully read this solicitation document, and all of the forms, product specifications, service requirements, contract documents, or other materials that may be attached hereto or referenced herein. This RFP and the associated documents identify the goods/and or services requested by the District, contain the instructions for preparing and submitting proposals, and outline the process by which the District will award a contract for those goods and/or services, if it decides to award a contract at all.

II. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THIS RFP

A. A “Cone of Silence” Applies to this RFP.

A “Cone of Silence” is imposed upon this RFP after advertising and terminates at the time the District awards a contract. Except as specifically set forth below, the Cone of Silence prohibits any communications in any form (whether written, oral, or electronic) by, or on behalf of, a prospective Offeror for this solicitation, including any persons affiliated with or in any way related to a prospective Offeror, with any District employee, any member of the elected Board of Education that serves as the District’s governing body, the Superintendent or her staff, and any other persons involved in evaluating the proposal, such as program managers or members of any selection committee. The Cone of Silence is intended to prohibit lobbying for, or against, a particular Offeror or Offerors and to prevent prospective Offerors from circumventing the process for selection set forth in this RFP.

The Cone of Silence does not apply to oral communications with the Director of Purchasing, or the Director of Purchasing’s designees, at pre-proposal conferences, site visits (as applicable), presentations before selection committees, contract negotiations with offerors selected for award, or at other times expressly allowed by this solicitation. Written communications expressly authorized by this solicitation, such as (1) the submission of the proposal itself, (2) requests for interpretation, requests for material substitutions, protests, or similar inquiries to the purchasing department, (3) documents circulated at oral presentations before selection committees, or (4) documents circulated in connection with contract negotiations with the offeror(s) selected for award are also permitted in communication with the Director of Purchasing or the Director of Purchasing’s designees. The Cone of Silence does not apply to presentations allowed by Board policy or to the Board of Education at a duly called public meeting.

In addition to any other penalties provided by law, violation of the Cone of Silence by any offeror may result in the rejection of the offeror’s response and disqualify the offeror from being awarded any contract as a result of this solicitation. Any person having personal knowledge of a violation of these provisions shall immediately report such violations to the District’s Purchasing Department.

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B. The Goods and/or Services Requested by the District.

The goods and/or services requested by the District in this RFP are described in more detail in “Attachment A- Goods and/or Services Requested, Format of Proposals, Evaluation Criteria for Award, and Contract Requirements,” which is incorporated into this RFP by this reference.

C. The Advertising Dates for this RFP.

This RFP is being advertised on the Purchasing Department page of the SCCPSS website, www.sccpss.com, from September 24, 2024, until the deadline for submitting proposals. This RFP is also being advertised on the Georgia Procurement Registry (“GPR”) from September 24, 2024, until the deadline for submitting proposals.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is also being advertised in the Savannah Morning News, the newspaper for legal notices in Chatham County, on the following dates:

September 24, 2024, and October 8, 2024

D. Pre-Proposal Conferences Held by the Purchasing Department.

No pre-proposal conference is scheduled for this RFP.

E. The Deadline for Submitting Proposals in Response to this RFP.

The deadline for submitting any proposals in response to this RFP, unless extended by the District, shall be:

2:00:00 p.m. (ET): on Thursday, October 24, 2024

Time is of the essence, and any proposal received on or after this deadline for submission will not be accepted. Offerors are responsible for ensuring that their proposals are timely received and stamped by Purchasing Department personnel. If an Offeror does not receive an email confirmation that its proposal has been received and registered between 9:00:00 a.m. (ET) and 5:00:00 p.m. (ET) on the day the proposal is sent or prior to the deadline for proposal submissions on the date proposal submissions are due, then the Offeror should email or call the Purchasing Department at (912) 395-5572 to confirm receipt. While SCCPSS will accept all proposals received by the purchasing@sccpss.com email account by 1:59:59:99 p.m.

(ET) on October 24, 2024, offerors should not wait until the last minute to submit proposals. It shall not be sufficient to show that the Proposal was sent to email before the scheduled deadline. Any proposal not received by 1:59:59:99 p.m. (ET) on October 24, 2024, will be rejected.

This deadline may be extended for all prospective offerors within the discretion of the Director of the

Purchasing Department or her designee for any reason. A non-exclusive list of reasons why the deadline may be extended include: the issuance of addenda to this RFP or the associated specifications, a total absence of proposals, District closure due to inclement weather, etc. The Director of the Purchasing Department will either extend the deadline for all offerors or not all.

Offerors may withdraw proposals at any time up to the scheduled time for receipt of proposals.

Offerors may resubmit proposals provided it is prior to the scheduled time for receipt of proposals.

Proposals can only be modified after the submission deadline to the extent allowed by the District.

Care should be taken to ensure that information provided is accurate, complete, and consistent. Omission of any of the required information may subject the Offeror to disqualification. The District reserves the right to request information from Offerors. An Offeror’s failure to return requested information may result in the rejection of Offeror’s proposal as “non-responsive.”

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F. Procedure for Delivery and Submission of Proposals and Withdrawal of Proposals.

Offerors shall timely deliver Proposals by email to purchasing@sccpss.com. The proposal and all required forms shall be submitted as PDF documents attached to the email.

All fee proposals will be written as outlined on the fee proposal form provided herein and submitted as a separate PDF file labeled “RFP 25-16 Fee Proposal”. NO FEES OR SERVICE COSTS SHALL BE IDENTIFIED OR DISCUSSED WITHIN THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL DOCUMENT, OR DURING ANY FIRM

INTERVIEWS, IF CONDUCTED.

All emails transmitting proposals must contain the following information in the subject line in

Upper case: “PROPOSAL FROM [OFFEROR’S NAME], RFP NUMBER, RFP NAME, CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL

CLOSING DATE AND TIME.”

Please include with your proposal all documents requested by this solicitation, including, but not limited to, a copy of your firm’s current business license and certificate of insurance. Failure to include all of the information and/or documents requested by this solicitation could result in the Offerors’ submittal not being considered by the SCCPSS.

If a required form has a signature block for a notary, please sign that form in the presence of a notary and have the form notarized.

To withdraw a proposal prior to the scheduled deadline, please email purchasing@sccpss.com.

All withdrawal emails must contain the subject line “Withdrawal of Proposal by [Offeror’s Name]- Proposal Number-Proposal Name.” Proposals may not be withdrawn after the scheduled deadline for proposal submissions, except as allowed by law with the consent of the District.

Reasonable abbreviations of the Offeror’s Name and the RFP Name that clearly identify the offeror and the solicitation while reducing the length of the subject line of the email will be accepted. Whether an abbreviation is reasonable and clearly identifies the offeror and the solicitation shall be determined in the sole discretion of the District.

G. Receipt and Tabulation of Proposals.

Proposals and modifications shall be time-stamped by the Purchasing Department upon receipt and the PDF saved to a limited access computer file prior to the submission deadline where it will be kept confidential until proposal registration, unless sooner withdrawn by an Offeror as allowed by this solicitation. Proposals formally withdrawn prior to proposal registration will not be publicly opened or considered but may be maintained by the District for its record keeping purposes. After the deadline for proposal submissions, proposals will be publicly registered, and the proposal register will be posted publicly on the District’s website.

Proposals and modifications will then be shown only to Board agents having a legitimate interest in the solicitation, which may include outside consultants engaged by the District to participate in the proposal evaluation process. Only after award of the contract shall proposals be open to public inspection. If this RFP is cancelled before the award of a contract, the District will retain, but not make open to public inspection, copies of the proposals it received to help preserve the competitiveness of a future solicitation process for the same goods and services, until the District completes the purchase of the goods and/or services requested in this solicitation or decides not to purchase them at all in the near future.

H. Timely-filed, Signed Proposals Considered an Offer.

An Offeror’s timely-filed, signed proposal shall be considered an offer on the part of the offeror which may become a binding contract on the Offeror if accepted by the District at the conclusion of the proposal evaluation process. By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, Offeror agrees that proposal will remain open for acceptance by the District for at least ninety (90) days without any changes in terms or pricing.

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In event that the Offeror refuses to perform its promises made in its offer after acceptance by the District, the District may take such action as it deems appropriate to redress the offeror’s failure to perform, including legal action for damages or equitable relief, including specific performance, for the Offeror’s lack of required performance.

I. Non-Response by Prospective Offerors.

If an Offeror does not wish to submit a proposal in response to this RFP but would like to remain on the list of potential vendors for the District, please complete and return only the “No Proposal Statement Form” included with this RFP packet to purchasing@sccpss.com.

J. Form and Formatting of Proposals.

The form and formatting requirements for proposals requested by this RFP are described in “Attachment A- Goods and/or Services Requested, Format of Proposals, Evaluation Criteria for Award, and Contract Requirements” and in the attached Proposal Form.

K. Bid Bonds.

A bid bond IS NOT required with offeror’s proposal for this RFP.

L. Performance and Payment Bonds.

Payment and Performance bonds ARE NOT required for this RFP.

M. Offeror’s Essential Credentials and Business Structure to be considered a “Responsible Offeror.”

To even be considered for a possible award of a contract for the goods and/or services requested by this RFP, an Offeror must be deemed a “responsible” Offeror by the District’s Purchasing Department.

To be considered a “responsible” Offeror for the purpose of this RFP, an Offeror must be licensed and have the capacity to provide the goods and/or perform the services requested by this RFP and must be able to meet the minimum licensing, bonding, insurance, and contractual requirements of this RFP. The District reserves the right to request an Offeror provide additional information or documentation to demonstrate that it is a “responsible” Offeror. Failure to provide the requested additional information, in itself, will be sufficient grounds for the District to declare the Offeror to be not “responsible” for the purposes of this RFP.

If the goods and/or services provided by Offeror are a technology product (such as software) the

Offeror must demonstrate that its technology product complies with the District’s adopted accessibility standard and, if it fails to do so, then the Offeror may be disqualified as a non-responsive offeror. The District retains discretion to determine which Offerors meet the District’s adopted accessibility standard, so long as all Offerors are held to the same accessibility standard. In the event that no Offeror providing a technology product (such as software) offers a technology product that complies with all of the requirements of the District’s adopted accessibility standard, the District reserves the right to consider only those Offerors who standards that are close as possible to the District’s adopted accessibility standard.

To be considered a “responsible” Offeror, the Offeror’s majority (51%) ownership, whether public or private, must be held by citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States.

To be considered a “responsible” Offeror, the Offeror must attach to its proposal a copy of any and all business licenses needed for the Offeror to provide the requested goods and/or services, including any local business licenses needed to provide the good and/or services requested by this RFP in Chatham County.

If the Offeror is a corporation, a copy of a current Annual Corporate Registration issued by the State in which the Offeror is incorporated is required to demonstrate that the Offeror is a “responsible” Offeror.

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While any lawful form of business may be a “responsible” Offeror, if the Offeror is a partnership or joint venture, a copy of the contractual agreement between the partners or the participants in the joint venture must be provided with the Offeror’s proposal. The partnership or joint venture agreement must be adequate to its purpose of establishing a safe and well-structured good faith relationship between the participants, and must comply with all applicable laws, including Antitrust Laws. The agreement must include adequate provisions to address unforeseen events such as the demise of any one of the partners or joint venture companies, and the like. If the Offeror is a partnership or joint venture between two existing business entities, including, but not limited to, a corporation or LLC, then all partners should be routinely and on a daily basis in the business of providing services which are closely similar or identical to those Services solicited by this RFP. If the District determines that the form of the Offeror’s business, including a partnership or joint venture, was not created for a legitimate business purpose, could impair the Offeror’s performance in response to this solicitation, poses a liability to the District, or is otherwise not in the best interest of the District, then the District reserves the right to disqualify the Offeror and determine that it is not responsible.

If the Offeror is a joint venture, information and documentation must be provided to establish whether the joint venture is a business entity created for the purpose of functioning as the joint venture, or whether the joint venture is operated through the existing legal status of the venture partners. All information regarding the legal structure and reporting of income for tax purposes of the joint venture must be provided.

It is the District’s intent to only enter into a contract as a result of this RFP with a single Offeror. The District reserves the right to reject as “non-responsive” or “not responsible” any proposal that requests the District to enter into contracts with multiple Offerors.

N. Insurance, Warranty, Indemnity and Other Requirements for “Responsible” Offerors.

To be considered a “responsible” Offeror, each Offeror will be required to meet minimum insurance, warranty, indemnity and other requirements set forth in more detail in “Attachment A- Goods and/or Services Requested, Format of Proposals, Evaluation Criteria for Award, and Contract Requirements,” which is incorporated by this reference.

If the Offeror believes that additional insurance coverages other than those listed in Attachment A are required to ensure coverage for damages arising out of the performance of this contract, then Offeror should notify the District by the deadline for requests for interpretation and material substitution set forth below.

O. O.C.G.A. § 13-10-91 and E-Verify Compliance Required for “Responsible” Offerors.

To be considered a “responsible” Offeror, all Offerors are required to comply with O.C.G.A. § 13-10-91, a Georgia statute that prohibits a public employer such as the District from entering into any contract with a contractor who fails to participate in the federal work authorization program E-Verify or fails to demonstrate that it is not required to participate in the E-Verify program. In order to be deemed a “responsible” Offeror eligible for this RFP, the Offeror must provide the affidavit(s) or other documentation required O.C.G.A. § 13-10-91. While the District provides sample O.C.G.A. § 13-10-91 affidavit forms in this RFP, Offerors are solely responsible for familiarizing themselves with their obligations under O.C.G.A. § 13-10-91 and making sure that they provide the District with the required documentation.

P. Local and/or Minority/Women Business Enterprise (LMWBE) Policies.

It is the policy of the District to maximize the utilization of qualified local, minority, and women owned business enterprises (“LMWBEs”) who provide professional services or who serve as prime contractors, subcontractors or suppliers as a part of the District’s facilities construction, maintenance and repair programs.

Prime contractors on district construction projects shall make and document good faith efforts to maximize the utilization of qualified LMWBEs as subcontractors and suppliers and provide proof of such efforts and contracts with and payments made to LMWBEs upon request. The District also promotes capacity building within the local construction community and encourages the use of partnerships, teaming and mentorships to provide LMWBEs with relevant and necessary experiences to grow their business.

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For the purposes of this policy, good faith efforts may include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) Placing qualified small and minority businesses and women's business enterprises on solicitation lists;

(2) Assuring that small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises are solicited whenever they are potential sources;

(3) Dividing total requirements, when economically feasible, into smaller tasks or quantities to permit maximum participation by small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises;

(4) Establishing delivery schedules, where the requirement permits, which encourage participation by small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises;

(5) Using the services and assistance, as appropriate, of such organizations as the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce;

(6) Requiring the prime contractor, if subcontracts are to be let, to take the affirmative steps listed in paragraphs (b)(1) through (5) of this section.

(7) Attend pre-solicitation meetings to inform LMWBEs of subcontracting opportunities.

(8) Advertise in general circulation media, trade association publications, and minority and women business enterprise media to provide notice of subcontracting opportunities.

(9) Communicate with the City of Savannah’s Office of Economic Development to identify available and qualified LMWBE firms.

(10) Review the District’s list of vendors indicating an interest in providing services to the District.

(11) Select portions of work for subcontracting in areas with established availability of LMWBE subcontractors.

(12) Solicit and negotiate with available and qualified LMWBEs for specific subcontracting opportunities.

(13) Assign substantive work to LMWBEs or LMWBE teaming partners.

See 2 C.F.R. §200.321; Board Policy FG.

For the purposes of this policy, a local business enterprise is defined as (1) having established a regular, physical place of business other than a job site office with at least one employee within the geographical boundaries of the Savannah, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) prior to the closing date on the solicitation (a post office box address will not satisfy this requirement); (2) having a current Business Tax Certificate and other licenses, certificates, or permits required by law to operate a business in that location; and

(3) performing a commercially useful function within the local office.

For the purposes of this policy, a Minority Business Enterprise is an independent, continuing venture that is at least 51% owned by a minority person or persons that meets the criteria for a Disadvantaged Business. A Disadvantaged Business is a small business which is owned, controlled and managed on a daily basis by a majority or persons, not limited to members of minority groups, who have been deprived of the opportunity to develop and maintain a competitive position in the economy because of social disadvantage. This includes, but is not limited to, persons who have experience social disadvantage because of their membership in the following groups:

1. African American: A person with origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa;

2. Hispanic American: A person with origins from Mexico, South America, Central America or the

Caribbean Basin, regardless of race; and

3. Asian American: A person with origins from the Indian subcontinent, countries of the Asian

Pacific region, and surrounding countries; and

4. American Indian: A person with origins from the indigenous people of North America.

For the purposes of this policy, a Women Business Enterprise is an independent, continuing venture that is at least 51% owned by one or more women. To qualify as an LMWBE, the owner must be a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States, be involved in daily business operations, and provide a commercially useful function. The ownership interest must be real and continuous and not created solely to meet the local/minority/women business or local/minority/women contractor good faith efforts.

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The District shall, through their program management and construction management providers, engage in efforts to communicate opportunities afforded by the District’s facilities construction, maintenance and repair programs to LMWBEs, including but not limited to:

Communicate opportunities associated with District facilities construction, maintenance and repair programs to the citizens of Chatham County.

Work with other local governments and relevant community organizations to provide technical assistance and guidance to LMWBEs;

Develop strategies to assist prime contractors in maximizing their utilization of LMWBEs;

Develop and provide informational sessions to educate LMWBEs in the requirements of the

District’s procurement process;

Provide notices as outlined above and maintain a list of vendors who have provided or are interested in providing services to the District, as outlined above.

The District may, from time to time, audit vendor contracts with and payments to LWMBE contractors and subcontractors and may require that proof of such contracts and payments be provided to the District.

All Offerors must read, complete and return all of the LMWBE forms attached to this RFP.

Q. The District’s Reservation of Rights to Cancel this RFP, to Amend the RFP Process, to Disqualify

Offerors, and to Waive Irregularities and Technicalities.

The District, in the discretion of the Purchasing Director, the Chief Financial Officer, the Superintendent, or the District’s governing body, the elected School Board, may cancel this RFP at any time before the District awards a contract to any Offeror(s). The District may decline to purchase the goods and/or services solicited in this RFP at all, or it may decide to purchase some or all of the same goods and/or services through a similar or different procurement process.

The District, in the discretion of the Purchasing Director, the Chief Financial Officer, the Superintendent, or the District’s governing body, the elected School Board, reserves the right to amend this RFP and all attachments in any way and at any time (without cancelling it in its entirety) before the deadline for the submission of proposals.

Any addenda amending this RFP will be made available to all Offerors on the District’s website. As stated above, the submission deadline will be extended at least seventy-two (72) hours if any addenda are issued less than seventy-two (72) hours before the submission deadline.

The District further reserves the right to amend this RFP in any way after the deadline for the submission of proposals (without cancelling the RFP in its entirety), except the District will not amend the original proposal formatting or submission requirements or the criteria for determining whether the Offeror is a “responsive” or “responsible” Offeror. Non-exclusive example of such an amendment to this RFP may be the addition of an inadvertent omission from the project specifications.

The District further reserves the right to redo any stage of this RFP (without cancelling it in its entirety) if the

District, in the discretion of the Purchasing Director, the Chief Financial Officer, the Superintendent, or the District’s governing body, the elected School Board, has concerns that a stage of the RFP should be redone to eliminate any question of whether it was conducted properly.

The District reserves the right to reject any and all proposals submitted in response to this RFP, and to waive any irregularities or technicalities in proposals received whenever such rejection or waiver is in the best interest of the District.

The District has the right to disqualify a proposal of any Offeror on the basis that the proposal is

“nonresponsive,” or the Offeror is “not responsible.”

A proposal shall be deemed “nonresponsive” if it fails to include all of the information or documents required by this RFP. Accordingly, Offerors should carefully review this solicitation to determine all of the forms and additional documentation, such as business licenses and insurance certificates, which will

RFP 25-16 Employee Assistance Program Services (Annual Contract) | Page 9 be required for submission. A checklist of forms and additional documentation to be submitted with this proposal is attached as Solicitation Form 1. Not only should the checklist form be completed, but items checked should also actually be provided. Forms with signature blocks should signed, and forms with notary blocks should be signed in the presence of a notary and notarized.

An Offeror shall be deemed “not responsible” if the District determines that the Offeror fails to meet the minimal requirements to be eligible for consideration, including but not limited to, a lack of capacity to do the work or provide the services requested, a lack of proper insurance, the lack of a valid business license, failure to satisfy e-Verify requirements, negative past performance ratings on District projects, being disqualified from working for the District because of poor performance on a prior project, a litigation history unsatisfactory to the District, or some other reason that gives the District reason to question the responsibility or reliability of the Offeror.

The District will also evaluate whether the Offeror’s workload will allow the offeror to complete this project within the established time, quality, or cost, or to comply with the offeror’s contract obligations. In evaluating the offeror’s workload, the District may consider whether the offeror has submitted proposals on other District projects and whether the award of multiple projects to the offeror may impair the offeror’s ability to complete this project within the established time, quality, or cost, or to comply with the offeror’s contract obligations or otherwise pose a risk to the District.

The District reserves the right to request an Offeror to provide additional information in response to any concern that an Offeror may not be a “responsible” Offeror. Failure to provide the requested additional information, in itself, will be sufficient grounds for the District to declare the Offeror to be not “responsible” for the purposes of this RFP.

Offerors represent that, to the best of their knowledge, all information that they submit to the District in response to this RFP, whether through a proposal or otherwise, is true and correct. If the District determines that information submitted by the Offeror is incorrect, the District may disqualify a proposal as “non-responsive.” If the District determines that an Offeror intentionally misrepresented information submitted in response to the RFP, the District may disqualify the Offeror on the basis that it is “not responsible” for this solicitation and in future solicitations.

R. Evaluation and Award of Contract.

A contract with the District, if one is awarded at all, for the goods and/or services requested in this RFP will be awarded by means of the award process described in in “Attachment A - Goods and/or Services Requested, Format of Proposals, Evaluation Criteria for Award, and Contract Requirements.”

Depending on the nature of the goods and/or services the District may provide a sample of the contract it is willing to execute with a successful Offeror. If such a sample contract is attached, then the Offeror is deemed to have agreed that all of the terms contained therein will be acceptable by submitting a proposal. If the Offeror wants to propose materially different terms, then the Offeror should file a request for Material Substitution using the procedure outlined above before submitting its proposal.

For other goods and/or services, the District may ask Offerors to provide a proposed contract. The terms of that proposed contract will be evaluated as part of the selection process to determine whether the Offeror is “responsive” and “responsible.” The specifications for the goods and/or services requested by this RFP may also include specific contract terms outlined in “Attachment A - Goods and/or Services Requested, Format of Proposals, Evaluation Criteria for Award, and Contract Requirements” that should be included in any contract proposed by an Offeror.

By way of a non-exclusive example, the specifications may provide that the District will not agree to any contract provision requiring the District to indemnify any Offeror as such provisions are prohibited by District policy and state law. Conversely, there may be times when the District requires an Offeror to maintain certain levels of insurance, to honor certain warranties, or to provide indemnities to the District.

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S. Consideration of Offeror Past Performance.

Successful Offerors should be advised that they will be evaluated by the District over the duration of the contract period. Performance will be documented. Poor performance may result in the Offeror being disqualified on future RFPs or may result in the deduction of points from the Offeror on future District solicitations, whether they are other invitations to bid or requests for qualifications and requests for proposals. Good performance may result in the Offeror receiving additional points on future solicitations.

T. Public Information.

It is the policy of the District that at the conclusion of the selection process, the contents of all proposals will be placed in the public domain and be open to inspection by interested parties. Trade secrets or proprietary information that are recognized as such and are protected by law may be withheld, if clearly identified as such in the proposal. Failure to list all proprietary sections of the submitted proposal shall relieve the District from any responsibility should such information be viewed by the public, a competitor, or be in any way accidentally released.

If this RFP is cancelled before an award is made and in order to prevent Offerors from having an unfair advantage in future solicitations for the same goods or services, proposals will not be made available for public inspection until the District completes the purchase of the goods and/or services requested in this solicitation or decides not to purchase them at all in the near future.

U. Offeror Questions, Requests for Interpretations, Requests for Material Substitution of Products, Services or Contract Terms, and Issuance of Addenda.

If an Offeror should have any questions relating to an RFP, including but not limited to the interpretation of RFP language, the specifications for the goods and/or services requested and/or requests for the substitution of different materials, products, or services, the terms of sample contract provisions attached to this solicitation and/or requests to propose different contract, the preparation or submission of Proposals, or the evaluation and contract award process outlined in this RFP, the Offeror may deliver written requests for interpretation or requests for the substitution of products, services, or contract terms by email to the Purchasing Department’s designated email purchasing@sccpss.com. Email must contain the “PROPOSAL NUMBER, Proposal NAME, AND QUESTION SUBMITTAL” clearly marked in UPPER CASE in the subject line of the submitting email.

Emails without the “Proposal Number, Name and Questions Submittal” clearly identified in the subject line of the email may not be considered.

When reference is made in the specifications as to a particular manufacturer, type of process, brand name, or model number, such references are usually, but not always, made to designate minimum acceptable levels of quality and do not indicate a preference. In some instances, a particular manufacturer, type of process, or brand name is required.

In the event an Offeror would like to propose another manufacturer, process, brand name, model number, etc. other than those stated in the specifications for this RFP, the Offeror must provide complete technical information, specifications, manufacturer's name, model number and a complete list of deviations from stated specifications. The burden of proof for documenting that the proposed substitute is equal to the goods or services identified in the specifications rests with the Offeror. All determinations of the acceptability of the proposed substitute goods or services shall rest with the District staff and their decision shall be final.

Proposals on equipment must be on standard, new equipment of the latest model and in current production, unless otherwise specified. Used, reconditioned or refurbished equipment is not acceptable unless otherwise specified.

All regularly manufactured stock electrical items must bear the label of the Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.

Any obvious error or omission in specifications shall not inure to the benefit of the Offeror but shall put the Offeror on notice to inquire of or identify the same from the District.

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If the Offeror wishes to propose materially different terms than those requested by the District in

Attachment “A” or in any Sample Contract, then Offeror should request to propose different Contract terms by identifying the provisions it wishes to change or wishes to add.

All answers to questions for interpretation, requests for material substitution and requests for changes of contract terms shall be made by addenda to the RFP and shall be made available to all Offerors on the District’s website. While the District will also make a good faith effort to email any addenda to all Offerors who attended pre-proposal conferences, submitted requests for interpretations to the District, or otherwise communicated an interest to receive notice of addenda, the District’s failure to provide an Offeror with individualized notice of an addenda will not provide an Offeror with grounds to protest the implementation of this RFP. Offerors are ultimately responsible themselves for keeping track of addenda issued by the District before the deadline for submitting proposals in response to this RFP.

All requests for interpretation, substitution, or changes to contract terms, must be submitted to the Purchasing Department before 5:00:00 p.m. (ET) on October 14, 2024. The District shall not be required to answer any questions about this RFP submitted after 4:59:59:99 p.m. (ET) on this date.

The Purchasing Department will extend the deadline for submitting proposals for all Offerors by at least seventy-two (72) hours if it issues any addenda within seventy-two (72) hours before the scheduled proposal submission deadline.

The Purchasing Director, or her designee, in her discretion, may extend the deadline for submitting requests for interpretation for all Offerors if the deadline for submitting proposals is also extended.

V. Protests.

Any actual Offeror or bona fide prospective Offeror who is aggrieved in connection with this RFP may protest to the Purchasing Director by email to purchasing@sccpss.com. Please include “PROTEST- [OFFEROR NAME] PROPOSAL NUMBER, PROPOSAL NAME,” clearly marked in UPPER CASE in the subject line of the email. It is incumbent upon the Offeror to receive confirmation from the Purchasing Department that its protest has been received. Offerors who do not receive confirmation of the protest by email during normal business hours of 9:00:00 a.m. to 5:00:00 p.m. on the day the protest is sent should call the Purchasing Department to confirm receipt of the protest at (912) 395-5572.

By submitting a Proposal in response to this RFP without filing a protest observing the deadlines set forth below, the Offeror waives any objection to the content of this RFP (including any attachment or addenda) issued prior to as well as any objection to any procedure outlined therein. Protests filed after the deadline for submissions shall only concern the implementation of the RFP as applied to the Offeror or addenda issued after the submission date.

Any protest to the content of this RFP (including any attachment or addenda) as well as any objection to any procedure or evaluation criteria outlined therein shall be filed no later than five (5) business days prior to the deadline for submissions of proposals, unless the objection concerns an addendum issued fewer than five

(5) business days prior to the deadline for submissions of proposals, in which case, an objection may be filed to that addenda only at any time before the submission deadline.

Any protest filed after the submission deadline shall be submitted within five business (5) days after the action by the District on which the grievance is based, but in no case later than five business (5) days after the date of the District’s notice of intent to award a contract for the provision of goods and/or services requested in his RFP, which will be transmitted by email to all Offerors.

The District shall not intentionally withhold information that is stated in this RFP to be forthcoming at certain intervals, but failure of the District to notify an Offeror who might be aggrieved by the content of such notification shall not give rise to any claim or rights resulting from said failure. Only formal protests will be considered, and in order for a protest to be considered as formal, it must be presented in written form, and must

RFP 25-16 Employee Assistance Program Services (Annual Contract) | Page 12 contain a minimum of the following:

• A specific identification of the statutory or regulatory provision(s) that the District’s purchasing staff member or department is alleged to have violated,

• A specific description of each act alleged to have violated the statutory or regulatory provision(s) identified above,

• A precise statement of the relevant facts that include timelines and all involved parties, and

• An identification of the issue(s) that needs to be resolved that support the protest.

The letter of protest shall be taken under consideration by the Chief Financial Officer and/or the

Superintendent, who shall respond to the protesting Offeror within ten (10) business days of receipt of the letter of protest. The initial written response may explain that the Chief Financial Officer and/or the Superintendent need additional time to review the Protest. In any event, a final decision will be issued on the Protest by the Chief Financial Officer and/or the Superintendent before the execution of a final contract with the successful Offeror. This written decision shall be final and conclusive.

W. Offerors Not Entitled to Reimbursement for their Costs Associated with Submitting Proposals.

The District recognizes that participating in this RFP process, or any government procurement process, can be time consuming and expensive for Offerors. In participating in part of this process, Offerors acknowledge that their costs in participating in this process are the costs of attempting to do business with the District.

All Offerors or potential Offerors, including unsuccessful Offerors or Offerors or potential Offerors who file protests, agree that the District shall not be responsible for reimbursing the Offeror for any costs they may incur in connection with this RFP, including staff time, printing costs, attorneys’ fees, or expenses of litigation.

X. Gratuity Prohibition.

No Offeror shall offer any gratuities, favors, or anything of monetary value to any official, employee, or agent of the District for the purpose of influencing consideration of this solicitation.

Y. Certification of Independent Submission of Proposals.

By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, the Offeror must certify that:

1. The information in this proposal has been arrived at independently, without consultation, communication, or agreement, for the purpose of restricting competition with any other Offeror or with any competitor;

2. The information in this proposal has not been knowingly disclosed by the Offeror and will not knowingly be disclosed by the Offeror prior to the District’s final determination regarding this RFP, directly or indirectly to any other Offeror or to any competitor;

3. No attempt has been made or will be made by the Offeror to induce any other person or firm to submit or not to submit a proposal for the purpose of restricting competition; and,

4. In the event the Offeror is a partnership or joint venture, each party thereto certifies the above.

Z. Federal Requirements

The District receives a number of federal grants. Some of the District’s purchases may be made with federal grant dollars, which may impose additional requirements than state law. The District strives to have a procurement process that complies with Federal regulations and standards for acquisition of property or services required under a Federal award or subaward pursuant to 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.318 et. seq. Depending on the amount of a bid, offer, or resulting contract, additional federal grant requirements may apply, including, but not limited to, the additional requirements listed below. To the extent it is determined that a specific purchasing project must

RFP 25-16 Employee Assistance Program Services (Annual Contract) | Page 13 comply with additional federal requirements, Offerors and successful Offerors agree that they will comply with any such federal requirements.

1. DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION VERIFICATION (required by the District for all proposals)

The District shall solicit offers from, award contracts to, and consent to subcontracts with responsible vendors and/or principals only. The serious nature of debarment and suspension of a potential offeror under federal purchasing rules raises substantial questions about whether a vendor is sufficiently “responsible” to be awarded a contract by the District. Moreover, Federal regulations limit the District’s ability to enter contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded or ineligible for participation in Federal assistance programs or activities for projects involving federal funds. See 2 CFR 200.214. Accordingly, the District will consider whether offerors have been suspended or debarred by a federal entity in making awards under this RFP.

The Vendor certifies that the Vendor and/or any of its sub vendors or principals have not been debarred, suspended, or declared ineligible by any agency of the State of Georgia or any agency of the Federal government or as defined in the 2 CFR 200.213 which states “Non-federal entities are subject to the non-procurement debarment and suspension regulations implementing Executive Orders 12549 and 12689, 2 CFR part 180.

The Vendor will immediately notify the District if Vendor is debarred or placed on the Consolidated List of Debarred, Suspended, and Ineligible Vendors by a federal entity. See Solicitation Form 8.

By signing this agreement, the Vendor is testifying that they are not debarred, suspended, or has any ineligible or voluntary exclusions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture or any other Federal or State Agency. All responses will be verified. Debarment and Suspension (Executive Orders 12549 and 12689) - A contract award (see 2 CFR 180.220) must not be made to parties listed on the government-wide exclusions in the System for Award Management (SAM), in accordance with the OMB guidelines at 2 CFR 180 that implement Executive Orders 12549 (3 CFR part 1986 Comp., p. 189) and 12689 (3 CFR part 1989 Comp., p. 235), “Debarment and Suspension.” SAM Exclusions contains the names of parties debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded by agencies, as well as parties declared ineligible under statutory or regulatory authority other than Executive Order 12549.

2. LOBBYING DISCLOSURE CERTIFICATE (Required by the District for all proposals)

Per 2 CFR 200 Appendix II Section I - A Lobbying Certification and Disclosure must be completed for all proposals $100,000 and over. For consistency among solicitations, the District requires all Offerors to please complete Solicitation Form 9. Byrd Anti-Lobbying Amendment (31 U.S.C. 1352)

- Vendors that apply or bid for an award exceeding $100,000 must file the required certification.

Each tier certifies to the tier above that it will not and has not used Federal appropriated funds to pay any person or organization for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a member of Congress, officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a member of Congress in connection with obtaining any Federal contract, grant or any other award covered by 31 U.S.C. 1352. Each tier must also disclose any lobbying with non-Federal funds that takes place in connection with obtaining any Federal award. Such disclosures are forwarded from tier to tier up to the non-Federal award.

3. CONTRACT WORK HOURS/SAFETY STANDARDS ACT (for proposals over $100,000)

All contracts awarded by the non-Federal entity in excess of $100,000 that involve the employment of mechanics or laborers must include a provision for compliance with 40 U.S.C.

3702 and 3704, as supplemented by Department of Labor regulations (29 CFR Part 5). Under 40 U.S.C. 3702 of the Act, each vendor must be required to compute the wages of every mechanic and laborer on the basis of a standard work week of 40 hours. Work in excess of the standard work week is permissible provided that the worker is compensated at a rate of not less than one

RFP 25-16 Employee Assistance Program Services (Annual Contract) | Page 14 and a half times the basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in the work week.

The requirements of 40 U.S.C. 3704 are applicable to construction work and provide that no laborer or mechanic must be required to work in surroundings or under working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous or dangerous. These requirements do not apply to the purchases of supplies or materials or articles.

4. RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER A CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT

(Applicabl…