RFP - Settlement Administrator_AGO-IFSD-2016-0715~1.docx

MASSACHUSETTS OFFICE OF THE

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Request for Proposals Settlement Administrator

AGO-IFSD-2016-0715

Release Date: [July 15], 2016

Response Due Date: [August 5], 2016 at 3:00 P.M.

Issued by:

Glenn Kaplan Assistant Attorney General Insurance and Financial Services Division Office of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108

SECTION I: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

A. Purpose of Procurement The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (“AGO”) seeks to retain a Settlement Trustee. The Settlement Trustee will be responsible for investing settlement funds received from defendants in accordance with the directives of the AGO, and will make disbursements from this fund and locate and communicate with consumers as required by the AGO. Consistent with certain settlement agreements, the AGO anticipates that the Settlement Trustee will be expected to perform the tasks described in section C for an award receipt list consisting of at least 2500 recipients.

B. Background The AGO often obtains disgorgement or restitution monies as part of settled or court ordered resolutions of its enforcement suits. Monies paid by defendants as part of these resolutions are directed as appropriate to victims of the defendants’ conduct. This involves keeping settlement funds secure in a federally insured account, contacting potential settlement beneficiaries, and writing checks for specific amounts of funds to eligible consumers. The AGO, in more recent settlements where the volume of checks has so required, has retained an administrator and/or settlement trustee to fulfill these functions. This RFP seeks to retain a settlement trustee to hold settlement funds and issue checks as directed by the AGO.

C. Program Requirements: Scope of Services The Settlement Trustee will implement a distribution program relating to the settlement proceeds. These distributions include payments to consumers and other related settlement implementation costs. The AGO will determine eligible consumers and the amount each consumer shall be awarded. The AGO will also provide each consumer’s last known mailing address. The Settlement Trustee is required to do the following:

· Update the address of each award receipt identified by the AGO using a National Change of Address Product;

· Print and send a one-page letter to each award recipient identified by the AGO;

· Conduct address searches for any letters returned as undeliverable and re-mail to any newly found address;

· Run skip tracing on addresses as requested by the AGO;

· Process any letters from recipients regarding settlement checks and settlement participation;

· Issue checks from the settlement account to settlement beneficiaries; and

· Mail these checks to their recipients (the Attorney General’s Office may elect to have certain checks provided directly to the AGO instead for further delivery).

Further, the Settlement Trustee will be required to provide information to the AGO upon request regarding the status (i.e., cashed, uncashed) of the checks. Finally, the Settlement Trustee will be required to place the trust funds into such secure investment vehicles as are directed by the AGO.

The award recipients will be issued and sent checks unless they explicitly notify the Settlement Trustee that they do not wish to participate in the settlement. The AGO will handle all phone queries from consumers notified of the settlement.

D. Qualifications The Settlement Trustee must demonstrate experience in successfully administering consumer restitution programs pursuant to Consent Judgments or similar court orders or settlements. The AGO is particularly interested in experience related to: (i) restitution programs carried out by State Attorneys General, the FTC, DOJ, or other governmental entities; (ii) restitution programs in cases involving force-placed insurance, student lending, or other consumer products or services; and (iii) restitution programs that required the Settlement Trustee to invest monies in accordance with the directives of a third party.

(a) A description of the services to be provided, which must include the services set forth in section C.

(b) A cost proposal stating how much the firm will charge to carry out these responsibilities. Responders should use the responsibilities outlined above as a baseline. Interested firms should provide a cost proposal for handling each recipient payment, when the tasks involved in handling a recipient payment include: (1) updating the address for the recipient using a National Change of Address Product: (2) printing and mailing to the recipient, if needed, a one-page letter in a form determined by the AGO: (3) conducting an additional address search for any letter returned as undeliverable and remailing that letter to the newly identified address: (4) running an additional skip trace procedure on an address as requested by the AGO: (5) opening, reviewing, and providing to the AGO any letters received from the recipient regarding settlement checks and settlement participation: (6) issuing a check from the settlement account to the recipient: and (7) mailing this check to the recipient (or mailing it to such address as the AGO directs). Such a cost proposal shall break out the costs for handling each recipient:

i) as part of a group of up to 25 recipients;

ii) as part of a group of up to 100 recipients;

iii) as part of a group of up to 250 recipients;

iv) as part of a group of up to 1,000 recipients.

The proposal shall also break out the cost for simply issuing a check to a recipient and mailing that check to an address provided by the AGO:

i) as part of a group of up to 25 recipients;

ii) as part of a group of up to 100 recipients;

iii) as part of a group of up to 250 recipients;

iv) as part of a group of up to 1,000 recipients.

(c) A description of personal data security protocols, including assurances that the firm can comply with M.G.L. c. 93H, M.G.L. c. 66A and associated regulations.

(d) A signed original of the three Commonwealth of Massachusetts documents listed below. These documents can be found within Agency Attachments section of this solicitation or under Key Resources at www.mass.gov/osd, related link OSD Forms.

· Commonwealth Terms & Conditions;

· Form W9;

· Electronic Funds Transfer (on-line link).

In addition, the successful Bidder will be required to execute the Commonwealth Standard Contract and the Contractor Authorized Signatory List. Please review these forms in advance and be prepared to execute them.

Responses to this solicitation are due [August 5], 2016 at 3:00pm EST. Any proposal not meeting the deadline will not be considered. One original and three paper copies of your proposal, including any required forms, must be received by mail or delivered by hand in a sealed envelope (no electronic proposals or faxes accepted) to:

Glenn Kaplan Assistant Attorney General Office of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108.

The original is the official submission.

A courtesy electronic copy of the complete proposal should be emailed to katherine.hurley@state.ma.us in the form of a PDF document (no larger than 5 MB).

G. RFP Questions & Answers Questions regarding this RFP must be submitted by e-mail to katherine.hurley@state.ma.us no later than [July 25], 2016 by 4:00 p.m. EST. Answers to all questions received in accordance with this paragraph will be posted on the COMMBUYS website at the same location as the RFP posting no later than [July 29], 2016. Questions submitted after this deadline will not be considered. Phone calls from interested parties regarding this RFP will not be accepted.

H. Evaluation and Selection Process One or more representatives of the AGO will evaluate each response to this RFP. The Proposals will be evaluated to determine if they satisfy all submission requirements. Any Proposal that does not meet the mandatory submission requirements in E.1, will be considered non-responsive and will be disqualified without further evaluation. The AGO reserves the right to reject a Proposal for any reason. The AGO may, at its discretion, determine that non-compliance is insubstantial and can be corrected, in which case the AGO may allow the Bidder to make minor corrections or clarifications, apply appropriate penalties in the evaluation, or apply any combination of these remedies. The AGO will then evaluate the Proposals in their entirety in order to determine which Proposal constitutes the best overall Proposal and best value for the AGO.

Upon completion of the evaluation process, the AGO may meet with those firms whose proposals offer the best overall options for the AGO, in order to select the firm that will be awarded the contract. Once a successful Bidder has been notified of its selection, the AGO will begin negotiations to reach a contractual agreement.

I. Evaluation and Criteria for Proposal This is a best value procurement. The AGO contract award will be based on best value and may not necessarily be awarded to the Bidder with the lowest price.

Once the bid is deemed qualified in that it meets all the mandatory requirements of E.1, the responses to this RFP will be evaluated based on the Bidder’s ability to meet the requirements of this RFP. Scoring each bid, the AGO will use a point system in order to evaluate the bid against the requirements, using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance:

· The quality of the Proposal based on the requirements of the RFP;

· The cost effectiveness of the RFP response, including an evaluation of the reasonableness of the proposed rates, charges, and expenses;

· The competence, experience, and professional caliber of the proposed staff; and

· The evaluations furnished by the Bidder’s references, and by any other individuals contacted.

J. Anticipated Budget The maximum amount available for the Settlement Trustee project settlement is $[200,000.00.], although the AGO does not envision that the Settlement Trustee will be asked to handle sufficient settlement award recipients to reach this ceiling.

K. Acquisition Method Fee for Service.

L. Single or Multiple Vendor One organization will be selected for this project.

M. May other Departments contract under this RFP?

This RFP and all resulting contracts are for the sole use of the AGO.

N. Anticipated Duration The initial contract for services as described in this RFP is flexible. The AGO anticipates it will have an end date of July 1, 2018, although work under the RFP may conclude sooner. Also, the AGO, at its discretion, may offer the awarded firm additional contracts or renewals for similar services.

O. Environmental Response Submission Compliance In an effort to promote greater use of recycled and environmentally preferable products and minimize waste, all responses submitted should comply with the following guidelines:

· All copies should be printed double sided;

· All submittals and copies should be printed on recycled paper with a minimum post-consumer content of 30% or on tree-free paper (i.e., paper made from raw materials other than trees);

· Unless absolutely necessary, all responses and copies should minimize or eliminate use of non-recyclable or non re-usable materials such as plastic report covers, plastic dividers, vinyl sleeves and GBC binding. Three ringed binders, glued materials, paper clips and staples are acceptable; and

· Bidders should submit materials in a format which allows for easy removal and recycling of paper materials. Also, all are encouraged to use other products, which contain recycled content in their response documents. Such products may include, but are not limited to, folders, binders, paper clips, diskettes, envelopes, boxes, etc.

P. Standard Contract

The Commonwealth’s Terms and Conditions and the Commonwealth’s Standard Contract Form will become a part of the final contract and will take precedence over all other written agreements concerning this RFP. The Contractor and the AGO will mutually determine the final scope of work and all warranties that will be part of the final contract.

Q. Ownership of Data Data created or collected from a third party on behalf of the AGO by the Contractor, as part of Contract performance, shall become the property of the AGO. Data provided to the Contractor by the AGO shall remain the property of the AGO. Contractors may not release or make use of such data except (i) to staff of the AGO, (ii) as provided by the Contract, or (iii) as authorized in writing by the Executive Bureau of the AGO.

Upon termination of the Contract, all data records are to be given to the AGO. The Contractor shall not retain any personal data that identifies specific individuals and shall return or destroy the same in accordance with M.G.L. c. 93I.

The Commonwealth’s Terms and Conditions and the Commonwealth’s Standard Contract Form will become a part of the final contract and will take precedence over all other written agreements concerning this procurement. The Contractor and the AGO will mutually determine the final scope of work and all warranties that will be part of the final contract.

R. Ownership of Responses to this RFP All documentation, materials, data, etc., submitted in response to this RFR shall become the property of the AGO and will not be returned to the Bidder. Bidders are cautioned that ideas, techniques, information, etc., submitted as part of the Bidder’s response may be used by AGO without separate payment to the Bidder. Bidders are notified that all responses submitted to this RFP are subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, §10.

S. Third Party Software For any Third Party software used as part of the Contract, the Contractor must warrant to the AGO that it has obtained all rights, grants, assignments, conveyances, licenses, permissions and authorizations necessary or incidental to any materials owned by third parties.

SECTION II: GENERAL INFORMATION

If this RFP has been distributed electronically using the COMMBUYS system, RFP attachments that are referenced are available as separate files within the Agency Attachments section. OSD Forms are also available at www.mass.gov/osd under the Related Links section. While COMMBUYS offers optional, value-added, automated COMMBUYS Subscription Service on an annual-fee basis, all Bidders are solely responsible for obtaining and completing the required attachments that are identified in this RFP and for checking COMMBUYS for any addenda or modifications that are subsequently made to this RFP or attachments. The Commonwealth and its subdivisions accept no liability for and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who fail to check for amended RFPs or any other procurement opportunities and subsequently submit inadequate or incorrect responses. Bidders are advised to check the Last Changed Date field on the Summary page or the Amendment History within the Other Information tab of RFPs for which they intend to submit a response in order to ensure that they have the most recent RFP files. Bidders may not alter (manually or electronically) the RFP language or any RFP component files. Modifications to the body of the RFP, specifications, terms and conditions, or which change the intent of this RFP are prohibited and may disqualify a response.

B. Bidder Communication Bidders are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of the Office of the Attorney General except as specified in this RFP. No other individual Commonwealth employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry concerning this RFP except as specified in this RFP. Bidders may contact the Contact Person for this RFP in the event this RFP is incomplete or the Bidder is having trouble obtaining any required attachments electronically through COMMBUYS.

C. Reasonable Accommodation Bidders with disabilities who seek reasonable accommodation, which may include the receipt of the RFP information in an alternative format, must communicate such requests in writing to the contact person no later than 4:00 p.m. EST on [July 21], 2016. Requests for accommodation will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. A Bidder requesting accommodation may be required to confirm his or her request in writing to the contact person. The request must state that it is based on a disability and specifically identify the accommodation desired. Although entities of the Commonwealth will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the requests of Bidders with disabilities, they reserve the right to reject unreasonable requests.

D. Public Records This RFP and all responses thereto, including the winning proposal, shall become public records as of the date that the contract referenced herein is awarded.

Prior approval from the AGO is required for any subcontracted service of the contract. Contractors are responsible for the satisfactory performance and adequate oversight of its subcontractors. Subcontractors are required to meet the same state and federal financial and program reporting requirements and are held to the same reimbursable cost standards as contractors.

H. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) All Bidders responding to this RFP must agree to participate in the Commonwealth Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) program for receiving payments from the Commonwealth for services, which the AGO may, but is not required to, utilize under various contracts in which it is engaged, unless the Bidder can provide compelling proof that it would be unduly burdensome. EFT is a benefit to both contractors and the Commonwealth because it ensures fast, safe and reliable payment directly to contractors and saves both parties the cost of processing checks. Contractors are able to track and verify payments made electronically through the Comptroller’s VendorWeb system. A link to the EFT application can be found on the OSD Forms page (www.mass.gov/osd). Additional information about EFT is available on the VendorWeb site (www.mass.gov/osc, click on MASSfinance).

The successful Bidder, upon notification of contract award, will be required to enroll in EFT as a contract requirement by completing and submitting the Authorization for Electronic Funds Payment Form to this department for review, approval and forwarding to the Office of the Comptroller. If the Bidder is already enrolled in the program, it may so indicate in its response. Because the Authorization for Electronic Funds Payment Form contains banking information, this form, and all information contained on this form, shall not be considered a public record and shall not be subject to public disclosure through a public records request.

I. Protection for Personal Information All Bidders responding to this RFP must demonstrate the capacity to protect personal information in the manner provided for in 940 CMR 27.00 and 201 CMR 17.03.