RFP PSTC 2025-002.pdf

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

POLICE STANDARDS & TRAINING

Request for Proposals: In-Service Training

RFP 2025-PSTC-002 In Service

Table of Contents

SECTION 1 – Overview and Schedule

SECTION 2 – Requirements and Scope of Work

SECTION 3 - Contract Terms and Conditions

SECTION 4 – Request for Proposal Process

SECTION 5 – RFP Terms and Conditions

SECTION 6 – Evaluation of Proposals

SECTION 7 – Process for Submitting a Proposal

SECTION 8 – Proposal Content and Requirements

Appendix A – Form P-37

SECTION 1 – Overview and Schedule

A. Goal of this procurement/Business needs:

The New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council (“PSTC”) is an executive branch state agency that oversees and is the sole source of basic training, and the primary source of in-service training for all law enforcement officers in the State of New Hampshire.

PSTC is also the sole organization in the State of New Hampshire that oversees certification standards as well as reports of misconduct for all certified law enforcement officers.

The Council currently certifies almost 3,639 police officers, both full and part-time, employed by the state, counties, and municipalities, and trains or certifies almost 439 sworn employees of the Department of Corrections.

The overall goal of this RFP is to identify courses to be delivered in an in-service setting to

New Hampshire certifiable and/or currently certified officers.

PSTC is interested in courses applicable to in-service law enforcement and corrections officers, and requests course proposals in the following areas. Any training requests submitted outside the scope of this request for proposal may be considered as determined by NH PSTC .

• Field Training Officer

• Internal Affairs

• Interview and Interrogation

• Management and Leadership

• Crime Scene Investigations

• Mental Health o Dealing with Critical Incidents o De-escalation Techniques o Interacting with those suffering from mental illness:

▪ Specific need is a 16-hour course for new officers in the Full-Time

Academy

▪ Specific need is an 8-hour course for new officers in the Part-Time academy

▪ Specific need is a 16-hour course for new officers in the Full-Time

Corrections Academy

▪ Specific need is 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team Training o Officer Wellness/Officer Resiliency

The resulting contract will be Firm Fixed Price Proposals received in response to this Request for

Proposal (RFP) will be the basis for selecting contract instructors for the biennium running from

July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.

The following table provides a Schedule of Events for this RFP through contract finalization and approval. The Agency reserves the right to amend this Schedule at its sole discretion and at any time through a published Addendum.

EVENT DATE LOCAL

TIME

RFP Released (Advertisement) 03/14/2025 12:00 PM

Vendor Conference (if applicable) N/A N/A

Vendor Inquiry Period Ends 03/31/2025 4:00 PM

Final Agency Responses to Inquiries 04/04/2025 4:00 PM

Proposal Due 04/14/2025 4:00 PM

Estimate Timeframe for Oral Presentations and Interviews (if applicable)

N/A N/A

Estimated Notification of Selection 05/01/2025 4:00 PM

B. Description of Agency or Program issuing the Request for Proposals

In this RFP, “Agency” means the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training (PSTC) .

"Vendor" means a person or entity who offers products or services for sale. "Selected vendor" means the qualified bidder which has been identified by the Agency as having received the best score for its proposal according to the criteria set forth in this RFP.

C. Vendor Instructions

Interested vendors must read the entire RFP and submit the required documents in the manner specified in the RFP. Vendors are responsible for reviewing the most updated information related to this RFP before submitting proposals.

SECTION 2 – Requirements and Scope of Work

Contractors will be fully responsible for conducting classes; classroom management; taking daily attendance; turning in rosters to PSTC; handing out PSTC student evaluations; collecting evaluations and submitting them to PSTC; and conducting practical exercises and related class activities (except in the case of a videoconference class, on-site PSTC coordinators will assume location-specific duties).

Upon completion of the course, the contractor will submit to PSTC copies of the attendance roster;

student evaluations; any tests administered to students; one copy of any student workbook or handouts given to students; a copy and list of any videos shown; a copy of all PowerPoints; a copy of any visual aids; and an invoice based on the contract pricing. PSTC will pay by check within 30 days of receipt of the invoice. PSTC will only pay for the actual number of students who attended the course (unless the number falls below ten, in which case PSTC will pay the agreed-upon minimum course price).

Contractors are required to coordinate their course particulars, including arrival, location, etc., with the applicable PSTC coordinator, at least four weeks prior to the designated course dates. PSTC will assess enrollment for each course 15 business days prior to presentation, and if sufficient enrollment does not exist, the course will be canceled, with notice to the contractor no later than 10 business days prior to the presentation, without cost to PSTC.

Contractors will supply to PSTC, either by advance shipment at vendor's expense or by personal delivery prior to the opening of the course, all student instructional materials in sufficient quantity equal to the expected number of students plus one copy for PSTC archives. Cost proposals shall assume that all materials become the property of PSTC, and excess materials may or may not be returned to the contractor, at PSTC's option.

In addition, in the case of videoconference classes, contractors will be required to send ALL class materials, (including PowerPoint presentations and handouts) to the PSTC office in Concord no later than two weeks prior to the beginning of the class for distribution to the remote sites. PSTC

WILL NOT IN ANY CASE REPRODUCE MATERIALS FOR DISTRIBUTION TO

STUDENTS.

Contractors will not use any class for promoting personal business or development of additional contracts. Contractors will not use the PSTC name or logo in any advertising depicting their goods and services without written permission of the PSTC Director. However, contractors may reference previous classes at PSTC to other clients or potential clients.

Contractors agree not to employ PSTC employees or their families, Council members, or employees or officials of the State of New Hampshire, for training purposes.

Contractors agree to serve as independent contractors, for whom no federal income or state taxes will be deducted by PSTC, and for whom no retirement or other benefits will be provided by

PSTC. Any information required by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service relative to payments made under the contract will be disclosed to the IRS. Contractors and any subagents or employees will be acting in an independent capacity and not as employees or agents of the State of New

Hampshire or PSTC. No contract, nor any interest or claim thereunder, shall be assigned or transferred by contractors to any other party without prior written permission from the Director of

PSTC. Contractors agree to comply with all applicable state and federal regulations and laws.

PSTC reserves the right to withdraw a contract offer from any selected contractor who fails to provide PSTC with required paperwork, in the proper format, and in sufficient time to obtain the contract approvals needed at the State level.

FACILITY LOGISTICS

1. Unless otherwise noted, the courses will be held at the Arthur Kehas Law Enforcement

Training Facility and Campus, 17 Institute Drive, Concord, NH.

2. Generally, classes take place Monday through Friday, except State or National Holidays, and run from 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a 10-minute break during each hour of class.

3. Students will generally be certified law enforcement officers.

4. PSTC will furnish classroom facilities, including a computer, TVs, etc.

SECTION 3 - Contract Terms and Conditions

A. Non-Exclusive Contract

Any resulting Contract from this RFP will be a non-exclusive Contract. The Agency reserves the right, at its discretion, to retain other contractors to provide any of the services or deliverables identified in this RFP or make an award by item, part or portion of an item, group of items, or total

Proposal.

B. Award

If the Agency decides to award a contract as a result of this RFP process, any award is contingent upon approval of the contract by the Governor and Executive Council of the State of New

Hampshire and upon continued appropriation of funding for the contract.

C. Standard Contract Terms

The Agency will require the selected vendor to execute a contract using the Standard Terms and

Conditions of the State of New Hampshire (Form P-37) which is attached as Appendix A. In no event is a vendor to submit its own standard contract terms and conditions as a replacement for the

State’s terms in response to this solicitation.

The terms of this RFP and the selected vendor’s Proposal will be used to form the terms of any resulting contract. The resulting contract may incorporate some or all of the selected vendor’s

Proposal.

To the extent that a vendor believes that exceptions to the contract terms in Appendix A will be necessary for the vendor to enter into the contract, the vendor must note those issues during the

Vendor Inquiry Period, as further described Section 4B.

SECTION 4 – Request for Proposal Process

A. Agency Point of Contact/Restriction of Contact with Agency Employees

The sole point of contact for this RFP, from the RFP issue date until the approval of the resulting contract by the Governor and Executive Council is:

Lieutenant Christopher Lewis christopher.m.lewis@pst.nh.gov

From the date of release of this RFP until an award is made and announced regarding the selection of a vendor, all communication with personnel employed by or under contract with the Agency regarding this RFP is prohibited unless first approved by the RFP Sole Point of Contact. Agency employees have been directed not to hold conferences and/or discussions concerning this RFP with any potential contractor during the selection process, unless otherwise authorized by the RFP Sole

Point of Contact. Vendors may be disqualified for violating this restriction on communications.

B. Vendor Inquiries

All inquiries concerning this RFP, including but not limited to, requests for clarifications, questions, any changes to the RFP, and any exceptions to the contract terms in Appendix A, including the Form P-37, shall be submitted via email to the Agency Point of Contact specified above. Inquiries must be received by the end of vendor inquiry period (see Schedule of Events herein).

The vendor must identify the RFP name and the number and include the vendor’s name, telephone number, and e-mail address.

The Agency will issue responses to properly submitted inquiries on or before the date specified in the Schedule of Events; however, this date is subject to change at the Agency’s discretion. The

Agency may consolidate and/or paraphrase questions for sufficiency and clarity. The Agency may, at its discretion, amend this RFP on its own initiative or in response to issues raised by inquiries, as it deems appropriate. In response to requested exceptions to P37, the Agency will review requested exceptions and accept, reject or note that it is open to negotiation of the proposed exception at its sole discretion. Questions about or requested exceptions to the RFP, Form P-

37 and/or any relevant attachments not raised during the inquiry period are waived. Oral statements, representations, clarifications, or modifications concerning the RFP shall not be binding upon the Agency. Official responses by the Agency will be made only in writing by the process described above. Vendors shall be responsible for reviewing the most updated information related to this RFP before submitting a proposal.

C. Vendor Conference (if applicable) - Not Applicable.

SECTION 5 – RFP Terms and Conditions

A. Debarment

Vendors who are ineligible to bid on proposals, bids or quotes issued by the Department of

Administrative Services, Division of Procurement and Support Services pursuant to the provisions of RSA 21-I:11-c shall not be considered eligible for an award under this RFP.

B. Proposal Preparation Cost

By submitting a proposal, a vendor agrees that in no event shall the Agency be either responsible for or held liable for any costs incurred by a vendor in the preparation of or in connection with the

Proposal, or for work performed prior to the Effective Date of a resulting Contract.

C. Validity of Proposal

Proposals must be valid for one hundred and eighty (180) days following the deadline for submission of Proposals in Schedule of Events, or until the Effective Date of any resulting

Contract, whichever is later.

D. RFP Addendum

The Agency reserves the right to amend this RFP at its discretion, prior to the Proposal submission deadline. In the event of an addendum to this RFP, the Agency, at its sole discretion, may extend the Proposal submission deadline, as it deems appropriate.

E. Non-Collusion

The vendor’s signature on a Proposal submitted in response to this RFP guarantees that the prices, terms and conditions, and work quoted have been established without collusion with other Vendors and without effort to preclude the Agency from obtaining the best possible competitive Proposal.

F. Property of the Agency

All material received in response to this RFP shall become the property of the Agency and will not be returned to the vendor. Upon contract award, the Agency reserves the right to use any information presented in any Proposal.

G. Proposal Confidentiality

Unless necessary for the approval of a contract, the substance of a proposal must remain confidential until the Effective Date of any Contract resulting from this RFP. A vendor’s disclosure or distribution of Proposals other than to the Agency may be grounds for disqualification.

H. Public Disclosure

The information submitted in response to this RFP (including all materials submitted in connection with it, such as attachments, exhibits, addenda, and presentations), any resulting contract, and information provided during the contractual relationship may be subject to public disclosure under

Right-to-Know law, including RSA 91-A. In addition, in accordance with RSA 9-F:1, any contract entered into as a result of this RFP will be made accessible to the public online via the website

Transparent NH (http://www.nh.gov/transparentnh/).

Confidential, commercial or financial information may be exempt from public disclosure under

RSA 91-A:5, IV. If a vendor believes any information submitted in response to this RFP should be kept confidential, the vendor must specifically identify that information where it appears in the submission in a manner that draws attention to the designation and must mark/stamp each page of the materials that the vendor claims must be exempt from disclosure as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

Vendors must also provide a letter to the person listed as the point of contact for this RFP, identifying the specific page number and section of the information you consider to be confidential, commercial or financial and providing your rationale for each designation. Marking or designating an entire proposal, attachment or section as confidential shall neither be accepted nor honored by the State. Vendors must also provide a separate copy of the full and complete http://www.nh.gov/transparentnh/ document, fully redacting those portions and shall note on the applicable page or pages that the redacted portion or portions are “confidential.”

Submissions which do not conform to these instructions by failing to include a redacted copy (if necessary), by failing to include a letter specifying the rationale for each redaction, by failing to designate the redactions in the manner required by these instructions, or by including redactions which are contrary to these instructions or operative law may be rejected by the State as not conforming to the requirements of the proposal.

Pricing, which includes but is not limited to, the administrative costs and other performance guarantees in Proposals or any subsequently awarded contract shall be subject to public disclosure regardless of whether it is marked as confidential.

Notwithstanding a vendor’s designations, the State is obligated under the Right-to-Know law to conduct an independent analysis of the confidentiality of the information submitted in a proposal.

If a request is made to the State to view or receive copies of any portion of the proposal, the State shall first assess what information it is obligated to release. The State will then notify you that a request has been made, indicate what, if any, information the State has assessed is confidential and will not be released, and specify the planned release date of the remaining portions of the proposal.

To halt the release of information by the State, a vendor must initiate and provide to the State, prior to the date specified in the notice, a court action in the Superior Court of the State of New

Hampshire, at its sole expense, seeking to enjoin the release of the requested information.

By submitting a proposal, vendors acknowledge and agree that:

• The State may disclose any and all portions of the proposal or related materials which are not marked as confidential and/or which have not been specifically explained in the letter to the person identified as the point of contact for this RFP;

• The State is not obligated to comply with a vendor’s designations regarding confidentiality and must conduct an independent analysis to assess the confidentiality of the information submitted in your proposal; and

• The State may, unless otherwise prohibited by court order, release the information on the date specified in the notice described above without any liability to a vendor.

I. Electronic Posting of RFP Results and Resulting Contract

At the time of receipt of proposals, the Agency will post the number of responses received with no further information. No later than five (5) business days prior to submission of a contract to the

Department of Administrative Services, the Agency will post the ranks or scores of each responding vendor. In the event that the contract does not require Governor & Executive Council approval, the Agency will disclose the rank or score at least 5 business days before final approval of the contract.

Pursuant to RSA 91-A and RSA 9-F:1, the Secretary of State will post to the public any document submitted to G&C for approval, including contracts resulting from this RFP, and posts those documents on its website (https://sos.nh.gov/administration/miscellaneous/governor-executive-council/). By submitting a proposal, vendors acknowledge and agree that, in accordance with the above mentioned statutes and policies, (and regardless of whether any specific request is made to https://sos.nh.gov/administration/miscellaneous/governor-executive-council/ https://sos.nh.gov/administration/miscellaneous/governor-executive-council/ view any document relating to this RFP), any contract resulting from this RFP that is submitted to

G&C for approval will be made accessible to the public online.

J. Non-Commitment

Notwithstanding any other provision of this RFP, this RFP does not commit the Agency to award a contract. The Agency reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject any and all proposals, or any portions thereof, at any time; to cancel this RFP; and to solicit new proposals under a new acquisition process.

K. Ethical Requirements

From the time this RFP is published until a contract is awarded, no vendor shall offer or give, directly or indirectly, any gift, expense reimbursement, or honorarium, as defined by RSA 15-B, to any elected official, public official, public employee, constitutional official, or family member of any such official or employee who will or has selected, evaluated, or awarded an RFP, or similar submission. Any vendor that violates RSA 21-G:38 shall be subject to prosecution for an offense under RSA 640:2. Any vendor who has been convicted of an offense based on conduct in violation of this section, which has not been annulled, or who is subject to a pending criminal charge for such an offense, shall be disqualified from bidding on the RFP, or similar request for submission and every such vendor shall be disqualified from bidding on any RFP or similar request for submission issued by any state agency. A vendor that was disqualified under this section because of a pending criminal charge which is subsequently dismissed, results in an acquittal, or is annulled, may notify the department of administrative services, which shall note that information on the list maintained on the state’s internal intranet system, except in the case of annulment, the information, shall be deleted from the list.

L. Challenges to Identification of Selected Vendor

Within 5 business days of the Agency’s posting of the rank or score on its website, vendors may, in accordance with RSA 21-G:37, request that the agency review its selection process. The request must be in writing and must specify all points on which the vendor believes the agency erred in its process and shall contain such argument in support of its position as the vendor seeks to present. In its request for review, a vendor shall not submit, and an agency will not accept nor consider, any substantive information that was not included in the original proposal. The agency will respond to the request within 5 business days of its receipt.

SECTION 6 – Evaluation of Proposals

A. Criteria for Evaluation and Scoring

The Agency will evaluate each responsive Proposal using a scoring scale of 100 points, which will be distributed as set forth in the table below.

CATEGORIES POINTS

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL with the following potential maximum scores for each

Technical Proposal category;

Price Proposal 20

Course Content 40

Quality of Quantity of Student Materials 15

Experience and Ability of Course Instructors 25

TOTAL MAXIMUM POINTS 100

The Agency will select a vendor based upon the criteria and standards contained in this RFP and from applying the weighting in this section. Oral interviews and reference checks, to the extent they are utilized by the Agency, will be used to refine and finalize scores.

If the Agency, decides to make an award based on these evaluations, the Agency will notify the selected vendor(s). Should the Agency be unable to reach agreement with the selected vendor(s) during Contract discussions, the Agency may then undertake Contract discussions with the next preferred vendor and so on, or the Agency may reject all proposals, cancel this RFP, or solicit new

Proposals under a new acquisition process.

B. Planned Evaluations Steps

The Agency plans to use the following process:

• Step 1. Initial screening to ensure that the Proposals are in compliance with submission requirements;

• Step 2. Preliminary evaluation of the Technical Proposals;

• Step 3. Final Scoring of Technical Proposals;

• Step 4. Price Proposals review;

• Step 5: Final Selection: Select the highest scoring vendor(s) and begin contract execution.

C. Step 1: Initial Screening

The Agency will conduct an initial screening to verify vendor compliance with the proposal submission requirements set forth in Sections 4 and 7. The Agency may waive or offer a limited opportunity to cure immaterial deviations from the RFP requirements if it is determined to be in the best interest of the State.

D. Step 2: Preliminary Technical Scoring of Proposals

The Agency will establish an evaluation team to review for compliance of the minimum requirements as set forth in Section 2. This evaluation team will then review the technical proposals and give a preliminary score to the technical proposals under the guidelines set forth in

Section 6. Should a vendor fail to achieve 70 Points in the preliminary technical scoring, it will receive no further consideration from the evaluation team and the vendor’s price proposal will be returned unopened. Price proposals will not be reviewed by the evaluation team during the preliminary technical review.

E. Step 3: Final Technical Scoring of Proposals

Following oral interviews, product demonstrations, reference checks (if appropriate) and/or review of written clarifications of proposals requested by the Agency, the evaluation team will determine a final score for each technical proposal.

F. Step 4: Price Proposal Review

Price proposals will be reviewed upon completion of the final technical scoring of proposals. The vendor’s price proposal will be allocated a maximum potential score of 20 points. Vendors are advised that this is not a low bid award and that the scoring of the price proposal will be combined with the scoring of the technical proposal to determine the overall highest scoring vendor.

The following formula will be used to assign points for costs:

Vendor’s Price Score = (Lowest Proposed Price / Vendor’s Proposed Price) x Number of Points for Score

For the purpose of use of this formula, the lowest proposed price is defined as the lowest price proposed by a vendor who has scored above the minimum necessary for consideration on the

Technical Score.

G. No Best and Final Offer

The Proposal should be submitted initially on the most favorable terms which the vendor can offer.

There will be no best and final offer procedure.

H. Step 5: Final Selection

The Agency will conduct a final selection based on the final evaluation of the proposals or, if requested, as a result of the Best and Final Offer, and begin contract discussions with the selected vendor(s).

I. Rights of the Agency in Accepting and Evaluating Proposals

The Agency reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to:

• Make independent investigations in evaluating proposals;

• Request additional information to clarify elements of a proposal;

• Waive minor or immaterial deviations from the RFP and contract requirements, if determined to be in the best interest of the State;

• Omit any planned evaluation step if, in the Agency’s view, the step is not needed;

• Reject any and all proposals at any time; and

• Open contract discussions with the second highest scoring vendor and so on, if the Agency is unable to reach an agreement on contract terms with the higher scoring vendor(s).

SECTION 7 – Process for Submitting a Proposal

A. Proposal Submission, Deadline, and Location Instructions

Proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be received no later than the Proposal Due Date specified in the Schedule of Events, herein.

The Price proposal must be labeled clearly and submitted separately from the technical proposal.

Unless waived as a non-material deviation in accordance with Section 6, late submissions will not be accepted and will be returned to the vendors unopened. Delivery of the Proposals shall be at the vendor’s expense. The time of receipt shall be considered when a Proposal has been officially documented by the Agency, in accordance with its established policies, as having been received at the location designated below. The Agency accepts no responsibility for damaged, mislabeled, or undeliverable mailed or emailed proposals. Any damage that may occur due to shipping shall be the vendor’s responsibility.

Proposals must include one electronic copy of the Proposal with all Confidential Information fully redacted, as provided for in Section 5H of this RFP.

There will be no physical submissions for this RFP.

Electronic Proposals

Electronic Proposals must be addressed to:

TO: christopher.m.lewis@pst.nh.gov

CC: kimberly.b.stewart@pst.nh.gov

Subject line must include: RESPONSE TO RFP: RFP 2025-PSTC In Service

Electronic Submissions must be submitted using the following criteria:

a. Searchable PDF Format

b. Files must be less than 10MB in size.

Exception: If files are greater than 10MB in size, the vendor will be required to submit their proposal in parts. It is the vendors responsibility to ensure a complete proposal is submitted.

SECTION 8 – Proposal Content and Requirements

Proposals shall follow the below format and provide the required information set forth below:

1. Letter of transmittal.

2. Course syllabus, including a course outline, outcomes and objectives and time allotted to each subject.

3. List of training aids and materials to be used, as well as handouts or training materials to be provided to students.

4. The maximum number of students allowed to enroll in the class.

5. Cost Proposal. This must be separate from Technical Proposal. Pricing will be broken down as follows:

a) Price for a minimum class size of ten students;

b) Per student price for each student above the minimum class size (remember to include all costs in the per-student price such as handouts, notebooks, etc.).

6. Resumes of each person who will instruct, including any alternates, to include information regarding experience instructing proposed course. DO NOT INCLUDE PERSONAL

INFORMATION such as social security number, date of birth, home address unless the business address is the same as the home address.

7. Any special requirements needed from PSTC or students, such as prerequisites, safety precautions, breakout rooms, or audiovisual equipment. (PSTC will not provide copying or material production; these must include these in the cost proposal).

8. Any liability insurance maintained by the vendor that would indemnify the vendor and

PSTC.