RFR_QTB_1202010.doc

REQUEST FOR RESPONSES (RFR)

TITLE: STATE EMPLOYEE COMMUTER BENEFITS 2009

RFR#: State_Employee_Commuter_Benefits_2009

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

REQUEST FOR RESPONSES (RFR)

STATE EMPLOYEE COMMUTER BENEFITS 2009

RFR#: State_Employee_Commuter_Benefits_2009 Procuring Department: Office of the Comptroller Address: One Ashburton Place 9th floor, Boston MA 02108

Telephone #: no phones calls are accepted

Fax #: 617-727-2555 (All inquiries or questions must be posted on www.comm-PASS.com Forum for this RFR.

Email Or Internet Address: Kevin.Mchugh@state.ma.us (All inquiries or questions must be posted on the Forum for this RFR.)

RFR File Name/Title: State Employee Commuter Benefits 2009 RFR File Number: State_Employee_Commuter_Benefits_2009 Procurement Team Leader/RFR Contact Person:

Kevin McHugh, Payroll Director Procurement Management Team (PMT)/Category: Professional Services

1. PURPOSE OF PROCUREMENT - PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT TEAM (PMT):

The Office of the Comptroller (CTR) seeks Responses from interested and qualified parties to administer the State Employee Commuter Benefits program, a qualified transportation fringe benefits (QTB) plan authorized by Internal Revenue Code Section 132. Qualified Contractors must be able to administer Transit and Parking and other qualified transportation benefits on a pretax payroll deduction or reimbursement basis and perform all program management and administration, including, but not limited to plan design, enrollment, claim processing and payment, reporting and communications, administration, reconciliation and full-service customer service. The selected Bidder must commit to have the program operational and up and running no later than early March 2010.

This procurement will be conducted in accordance with 801 CMR 21.00. Questions may be posted on the Forum for this procurement located on www.Comm-PASS.com with this RFR#: State Employee Commuter Benefits 2009.

2. PROCUREMENT CALENDAR

The following table outlines the anticipated procurement calendar for this RFR. The Office of the Comptroller (CTR) reserves the right to change the calendar as needed, provided that any changes will be posted on Comm-PASS. Bidders are responsible for routinely checking Comm-PASS for procurement calendar updates during the RFR process.

3. REQUEST FOR RESPONSE – REQUIRED RFR SPECIFICATIONS

It shall be the Bidder’s responsibility to read this entire document under “Forms and Terms” for this RFR on www.Comm-PASS.comm, review all referenced attachments, review any questions and answers posted in the Forum for this RFR and comply with all requirements. If a Bidder discovers an inconsistency, error or omission in this RFR, the Bidder should request a clarification by posting a questions on the forum established for this RFR on Comm-PASS. All of the required specifications and Forms for this RFR and the contract awarded under this RFR are identified under the “Forms & Terms” tab for this RFR as posted on Comm-PASS. Bidders are responsible for reviewing Comm-PASS for all the listed specifications and the required Forms that should be submitted with the RFR Response (in order to be considered for selection) or upon contract award and execution. Failure to submit the required Forms with the RFR Response, as specified, will be considered sufficient grounds for rejection of the Bidders Response.

4. SCOPE OF PROCUREMENT

The Bidder/Plan Administrator must demonstrate the ability to implement and administer the State Employee Commuter Benefits program, a qualified transportation fringe benefits (QTB) plan authorized by Internal Revenue Code Section 132 to all state agencies including the institutions of Higher Education such as the University of Massachusetts campuses with a total of approximately 130,000 eligible employees and have the Program operational and up and running no later than early March 2010. There are employees working in other large states and Washington, DC also eligible for QTB that the Commonwealth would want to be able to provide similar benefits. At a minimum, the Bidder/Plan Administrator must demonstrate the ability to have MBTA pass qualified transportation benefits operational first and then phase in additional transportation benefits to state employees to ensure little or no disruption of the current MBTA pass program.

The Office of the Comptroller (CTR) seeks responses from qualified firms to administer the State Employee Commuter Benefits program, a qualified transportation fringe benefits (QTB) plan authorized by Internal Revenue Code Section 132, at the lowest cost to Commonwealth employees.

This program does not include other cafeteria plan benefits such as Dependent Care Assistance (DCAP) or Health Care Spending Accounts which are currently administered through the Group Insurance. (See Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) and Health Care Spending Account (HCSA)).

CTR seeks to offer the most comprehensive, user-friendly, cost effective Commuter Benefits Program for employees providing pretax benefits up to the maximum limits authorized by the IRS under section 132. The Commuter Benefits Program must be able to provide MBTA passes (see: http://www.mbta.com/fares_and_passes/passes/) as well as authorized qualified transportation benefits for most modes of public transportation, available public and private vanpool providers, parking facility and parking at public transit locations, qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement, and other qualified transportation benefits authorized by section 132. The Program must enable employee-self service, have robust customer service support and be provided at minimal cost to the employee and no cost for ongoing maintenance of the Program to CTR or the Commonwealth.

Although this procurement does not include other cafeteria plan benefits, the PMT reserves the right to consider the addition of any value added services, including other types of cafeteria plan benefits offered by the Contractor under the value added section of the Response. In the event the same vendor is selected as provides the DCAP and HCSA program, the PMT will work with the Group Insurance Commission to determine any economies of scale that may be derived from collaboration of these programs.

5. NEGOTIATION OF TERMS DURING THE PERIOD OF THE CONTRACT

The PMT reserves the right to negotiate adjustments, prices, rates and other performance terms and conditions identified in the RFR or a Bidder's Response at any time during the period of the RFR and the Contract in order to achieve the best value for the Commonwealth and employees. This may include changing the entire program as originally bid if needed to meet the needs of the users and to provide the most cost effective and comprehensive commuter benefits program.

6. CURRENT PROGRAM INFORMATION

The section includes information relating to the CURRENT Employee Commuter Benefits programs. It is provided to assist the proposer in completing the RFR response document. For additional information on the programs, please review these related Web sites:

Current Qualified Transportation Benefits Program Overview

The Current Qualified Transportation program for Commonwealth of Massachusetts is limited in scope to just MBTA monthly passes and requires customizations to the Payroll system to administer. As part of the Upgrade of the Payroll System, the Commonwealth wishes to remove customizations and expand qualified transportation benefits to more employees outside of the metropolitan Boston area.

Program Administration

The Qualified Transportation program is authorized under Section 132 of the Internal Revenue Code implemented for Commonwealth of Massachusetts employees in 1998. The Commuter Benefits program offers State employees pre-tax deduction for qualified parking expenses or mass transit (MBTA) expenses. The program is a 100% employee-paid program and is not subsidized by the Commonwealth. The program currently offers direct-pay by certain employers to parking facilities or exclusions from the Fair Market Value of state owned parking facilities (with imputed income entered by payroll clerks for the value in excess of the exclusion amount), purchase and distribution of Mass Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) passes and tickets. Amounts necessary to purchase Monthly Passes or tickets in excess of the exclusion amount are deducted post tax to cover the full cost of the product. There are no fees to employees. In some specific departments, the MBTA passes are subsidized and the subsidy amount is part of the exemption calculation.

The Program is administered by CTR and agency payroll staff. Agency payroll staff are responsible for taking MBTA payroll deductions requested by employees, and ensuring delivery of the MBTA passes. CTR is responsible for administering the program with the MBTA. Qualified parking is arranged by department payroll, and has 2 programs; one where the employee deduction pays a specific garage/ parking facility or the department pays the parking and only the amount of the over the exclusion is added to the payroll system as imputed income.

Employee Eligibility and Participation

The current Commuter Benefits program is available to all full-time and part-time, classified and unclassified State and University employees.

Approximately 130,000 eligible employees located in 152 State agencies and 5 University of Massachusetts college campuses at locations throughout the state are currently eligible to enroll in the Commuter Benefits program. Some agencies do not have employees who use the benefit because they are located in areas where there is no MBTA service and parking is free. The Commonwealth also has eligible employees in several states and the District of Columbia who cannot access the current benefit. As of May 2009, there are 5,950 participants in the MBTA program and an unavailable number paying parking and bus transportation costs.

*Monthly average MBTA Only

Administrative Expenses Currently employees do not pay a fee to participate in the Program. Administrative expenses managing the passes, entering payroll deductions and handling questions are currently absorbed by the departments and CTR.

Payroll Deduction Processing

The Commonwealth has a centralized accounting system and also a centralized payroll system. The payroll system has two subparts:

· HR/CMS, which is a PeopleSoft platform, runs bi-weekly payrolls for the majority of state employees. HR/CMS uses a standard file layout for all vendors (see Appendix A for file layout specifications). The standard layout file is not modified to accommodate individual vendors. Data files created by HR/CMS are sent to a Web Server maintained by SFED (Secure File Electronic Delivery). Having an SFED account allows vendors to access password-protected data files from the Commonwealth. The majority of the state employees are on the HR/CMS system.

· The University of Massachusetts’ (UMass) five (5) campuses maintain a PeopleSoft platform (e*mpac) with the same technical specifications and standard file layout as HR/CMS.

Payroll Coordinators

For all Payroll and benefits services, the Payroll Coordinators are responsible for educating agency employees about the various benefits offered, walking them through the enrollment process and entering the participant’s benefit enrollment and deductions into their payroll system. The GIC manages all communications and materials regarding benefits, programs and procedure changes, utilizing over 650 agency-level GIC coordinators as first-line surrogates.

Communication and Enrollment

The current enrollment in the Commuter Benefits program is continuous. Enrollment is primarily via paper forms. Currently employees must submit a paper form by the 10th of the month for participation in the pass program for the next month. Enrollment may be for one month only or continuing indefinitely. Deductions are taken from the participants’ paychecks once a month. Following the monthly enrollment deadline, the department payroll enters salary reductions elected by employees.

Note: it is the intent of this RFR to solicit a Program Administrator that will handle the entire program, including a complete methodology for delivery of passes/benefits directly to employees.

The new payroll system upgrade will not include any customization for data files submitted to the MBTA. This customization will be replaced with a generic remittance file for payroll deductions. Therefore, the Administrator must consider all available options of how to accomplish this process.

Claims Processing and Reimbursement

The current process is direct employee pay based on payroll deductions. Insufficient deduction to cover the cost of the Transit product or parking facility results in no product being delivered/ updated. There are no claims authorizations for reimbursement since it is a direct pay in compliance with IRC Section 132 regulations.

CTR administers any MBTA replacement product for lost or stolen “Charlie Cards” and administers any refunds for deferrals in error. CTR provides participants with a biweekly transactional summary of deductions taken

CTR no longer will be able to provide the day to day customer service to manage the MBTA passes or any other QTB benefits and the HR/CMS will not have the customization to provide the detail deduction information to submit to the MBTA to supply the passes. The administrator and program selected must be familiar with the MBTA program and must be able to provide the most comprehensive, cost-effective and user-friendly options for employees, with the greatest pre-tax options and with the least administrative burdens on the Commonwealth and individual Department payroll administrators. It is expected that the administrator and the program will be full service providers with robust customer service and rapid response times.

7. ELIGIBLE ENTITIES

It is anticipated that state employees from all Commonwealth agencies, constitutional offices, the legislature, the judiciary, higher education institutions and other eligible entities as designated by CTR will be eligible to take advantage of the qualified transportation benefits provided under this contract. This program will be limited to eligible state employees within state agencies and not other public entities not on HR/CMS or e*mpac.

8. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A Bidder must meet the following minimum qualifications to be considered for this Contract. Bidders submitting Responses which fail to demonstrate these minimum qualifications will be rejected from further review. Bidders may subcontract with other individuals or firms to provide services under the Contract, but the Bidder will be fully responsible for performance and may not assign responsibility for any performance under this Contract.

8-1. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must demonstrate the ability to implement and administer the State Employee Commuter Benefits program, a qualified transportation fringe benefits (QTB) plan authorized by Internal Revenue Code Section 132 and have the Program operational and up and running no later than early March 2010. At a minimum, the Bidder/Plan Administrator must demonstrate the ability to have MBTA pass qualified transportation benefits operational first and then phase in additional transportation benefits to state employees to ensure little or no disruption of the current MBTA pass program.

8-2. Qualified Contractors must be able to administer Transit and Parking and other qualified transportation benefits to provide for the greatest pre-tax or tax exemption basis and at the least cost to employees, and perform all program management and administration, including, but not limited to plan design, enrollment, claim processing and payment, reporting and communications, administration, reconciliation and full-service participant service. The Bidder/Plan Administrator will be fully responsible for monitoring changes in state and federal tax laws, rulings and bulletins and advising CTR on relevant compliance issues.

8-3. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must demonstrate a minimum of five (5) years experience of Administering a state-of-the-art, industry standard, Qualified Transportation Commuter Benefits Program (fully in compliance with all state and federal laws and regulations including section 132(f) of the Internal Revenue Code) to other state or federal government or entities of similar size and similar diversified commuter needs in a large metropolitan area as well as statewide, which is funded solely by employee fees and is not subsidized in whole or in part by the employer. The ability to provide the benefits to employees residing in other states in metropolitan areas (such as Washington D.C.) is preferred.

8-4. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must not allow the participant to obtain blank checks or negotiate checks against the employees’ account or otherwise obtain cash value or other conversion that would not qualify as authorized Commuter Benefits under the Program, or any other value other than the allowable transportation benefit under the program.

8-5. Bidder/Plan Administrator must demonstrate experience with and capability to manage the Massachusetts Online Corporate Pass Program on behalf of the Commonwealth. https://corporateprogram.mbta.com/WebUI/public/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fWebUI%2fDefault.aspx. and the ability to support payments to or reimbursements for Regional Transit Authorities, parking lots at public transit locations and public transit options.

8-6. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must agree to a robust Customer Service Program for both participants and agency payroll staff, and that the Customer service and call center(s) and employees are located in the United States and will remain in the United States for the duration of this contract including extensions. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must agree to deal directly with participants regarding commuter benefits, designate a claim processing team to manage enrollment, changes in status and benefit selection, resolution of disputes, reimbursements, reporting and reconciliations assuring that all transactions and activity are compliant with state and federal laws and regulations.

8-7. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must attest that it has no plans to dissolve these program offerings for the anticipated term of the resulting contract and agree that the fee structure will be locked in for the term of the initial contract, and notify CTR at least 60 days in advance of changes affecting participants and that no changes can be made to the scope of work without prior approval of the Commonwealth.

8-8. The Bidder/Plan Administrator shall develop and distribute all plan materials for the purpose of open enrollment and ongoing participation (subject to CTR review and approval of the style and content), and if the Commuter Benefit Program is administered through the Web and/or IVR or telephone, enrollment and ongoing participation media must be ADA compliant.

8-9. The Bidder/Plan Administrator shall use the Department codes and employee IDs provided by the Commonwealth. The Program may not use SSN as a unique identifier (employee id should be used), nor expect SSN on remittance forms or other non-tax related documents.

8-10. The Bidder/Plan Administrator will be a holder of Commonwealth personal data under MGL c. 66A and/or personal information under MGL c. 93H and that for purposes of this work effort, electronic personal data and personal information includes data provided by the eligible entity to the Bidder/Plan Administrator which may physically reside at a location owned and/or controlled by the Commonwealth or Bidder/Plan Administrator, and that the Bidder/Plan Administrator will be fully responsible for ensuring the highest physical and electronic security and privacy for all program data, records, forms, participant information, and data processing operations, including a comprehensive disaster recovery plan to ensure the integrity of data and no disruption of services or benefits.

8-11. The Bidder/Plan Administrator Contract Administrator will be required to work directly with CTR on all administrative matters and provide quarterly reports to CTR of all activity under the Program, any issues, delays, complaints, or other incidents, how resolved and how long the issue or incident took to resolve, and must agree to retain and make the transaction log and all transactions, transfers, all financial activity by employee and all details off benefits for all participant under the Program available to CTR and any fraud or audit investigation unit or the Office of the Attorney General, for six (6) years from the date of termination of the contract, or in lieu of retention, provide this data electronically at the closeout of the contract.

8-12. The Bidder/Plan Administrator must segregate and insure individual participant accounts, if processing employee funds, and bear all liability for any losses resulting from errors or omissions including fraud and abuse on the part of the Contractor or its representatives or subcontractors, and shall be fully responsible for all costs to make employees and the Commonwealth whole for any losses, errors, mistakes or other damages.

9. ACQUISITION METHOD TO BE USED FOR CONTRACT:

The Contract will be negotiated as a Rate Contract. It is anticipated that the cost of administering this Program and the coverage by reasonable user fees for employees seeking the qualified transportation benefits. If other value-added or additional related or cafeteria benefits services are offered by a Bidder, CTR will have the option of contracting for these services and negotiating associated rates or fees.

10. LIMITATION OF NUMBER OF BIDDERS SELECTED

CTR seeks one firm to perform the services under the Contract for the duration of the procurement. Multiple Responses from a Bidder are not permissible.

11. TOTAL ANTICIPATED DURATION OF CONTRACT:

The initial duration of the Contract is two (2) years or as determined appropriate by CTR to enable the Contractor to recoup costs under the Program. In addition to this initial period (which may not exceed 5 years without significant substantiation of necessity) CTR may exercise two (2) additional options to renew for one (1) year each. CTR reserves the right to negotiate any part of the RFR or contract, including the procurement and contract duration period, to ensure continued best value for the Commonwealth, availability of the Program for employees without a lapse, scope of performance and fees. The Contract may be extended to ensure no lapse in coverage and availability of the Program for employees during any Interim Contract period under a subsequent procurement.

12. TOTAL ANTICIPATED EXPENDITURES FOR CONTRACT:

There is no total anticipated estimate of expenditures under this Contract since it is anticipated that costs are primarily funded through reasonable employee user fees.

13. PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

Selected Contractors will be subject to annual performance evaluations that may include contacting departments and other eligible entities regarding satisfaction with performance. Performance measurement evaluation results may be posted on Comm-PASS.

14. TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION FROM THE STATEWIDE CONTRACT:

The Contractor may be terminated or suspended from the Contract for poor performance, failure to perform in accordance with proposed performance criteria and standards, poor performance evaluations, breach of security protocols, security breaches of employee personal information, or other cause with two (2) weeks prior written notice by CTR. The Contractor may be terminated immediately for continued failure to perform after a reasonable opportunity to correct, or for fraud, theft or misuse of employee personal information or funds. The Contractor may be terminated from the Contract without cause with thirty (30) days prior written notice or other longer period as negotiated by CTR.

15. Bidders Forum for RFR Questions

Written questions related to the RFR must be posted on the Bidders Forum entitled “State_Employee_Commuter_Benefits_2009” that is established for this RFR on Comm-PASS (http://www.comm-pass.com). Bidders can search for the Forum under the Department “Office of the Comptroller”. All questions and answers will be available for public inspection. No emails or phone calls with questions will be accepted.

16. COMM-PASS

This RFR has been distributed electronically using the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Procurement Access and Solicitation System (Comm-PASS). Attachments that are referenced are incorporated by reference into the RFR and are available as separate files within the “Terms and Forms” tab and “Specifications” tab of the Comm-PASS Solicitation record. Operational Services Division (OSD) forms are also available at www.mass.gov/osd. While Comm-PASS offers optional, value-added, automated Comm-PASS Subscription Service on an annual-fee basis, all Bidders are solely responsible for obtaining and completing the required attachments that are identified in this RFR and for checking Comm-PASS for any addenda or modifications that are subsequently made to this RFR or attachments.

The Commonwealth and its subdivisions accept no liability for, and will provide no accommodation to, Bidders who fail to check for RFR amendments or updates, or the On-line Forum for this RFR 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 RFRs for which they intend to submit a Response in order to ensure that they have the most recent RFR files. Bidders may not alter (manually or electronically) the RFR language or any RFR component files. Modifications to the body of the RFR, specifications, terms and conditions, or which change the intent of this RFR are prohibited and may disqualify a Response.

Interested parties may access the Comm-PASS Vendor Information page at the address specified below:

http://www.comm-pass.com Questions specific to Comm-PASS should be made to the Comm-PASS Help Desk at: (617) 720-3197, ext. 297.

Comm-PASS Subscription Service

The Comm-PASS Subscription Service is sponsored by the Operational Services Division. This service offers a prospective Bidder a secure, web-based desktop that contains tools to track and manage postings including solicitation announcements, Request for Responses (RFRs), and Contracts that match the subscriber-designated set of categories and sub-categories on the Commonwealth’s Procurement Access and Solicitation Site (Comm-PASS).

Comm-PASS Basic Service will provide a subscriber with:

· Secure Web-based desktop within Enhanced Comm-PASS for document management.

· A customizable profile reflecting the Bidder’s product/service areas of interest.

· Refined commodity and service categories and sub-categories.

· Full-cycle, automated email alert whenever a solicitation of interest is posted or updated.

· Access to Online Bidder Forums to allow for virtual attendance and participation.

· Tools to submit bids electronically to an encrypted lock-box.

Every public purchasing entity within the borders of Massachusetts may post its solicitations on Comm-PASS at no charge. Comm-PASS has the potential to become the sole site for reviewing and responding electronically to public solicitations in Massachusetts. Fees for the Comm-PASS Subscription Service are based on costs to operate, maintain and develop the Comm-PASS system.

17. CONTENTS OF RESPONSE AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION

· The Written RFR Response should be submitted using the “RFR Response Template” posted on the “Forms & Terms” Tab of Comm-PASS. This Template is being used so that all Responses appear uniform and consistent for selection purposes and to enable posting on Comm-PASS once selection is completed.

· This WORD document should be used and may not be altered, reformatted or changed in any way or the Response will be subject to rejection.

· Bidders should enter, or copy and paste information into the spaces provided for each question.

· Bidders may not refer to outside attachments for key information related to answering the questions unless the Attachment is one of the Required Attachments for the RFR Response.

· Each item should be addressed specifically by entering information in the required space. If an item is inapplicable, the Response should indicate "N/A" or “Not applicable” or other appropriate explanation.

· Bidders are responsible for reviewing the “Forms & Terms” tab under this RFR in Comm-PASS for all the listed specifications and the required Forms that should be submitted with the RFR Response (in order to be considered for selection) or upon contract award and execution. Failure to submit the required Forms with the RFR Response, as specified, will be considered sufficient grounds for rejection of the Bidders Response.

Fax or electronic responses are not acceptable

18. EVALUATION OF RESPONSES AND BIDDER SELECTION

CTR has organized a Procurement Management Team (PMT) to review all Responses. Responses will be reviewed against the requirements established in the RFR. Examples of evaluation criteria that will be used to determine the suitability of the Response are as follows:

Evaluation criteria

Responses will be evaluated based upon the proven ability of the proposer to satisfy the requirements in an efficient, cost-effective manner, taking into account quality of service with minimal tolerance for error. Responses will be scored using the following criteria:

Criteria

Points

Qualifications of Bidder and Personnel /Small, Minority and Women Business Enterprises

30%

Quality of Work Plan to Meet Required Needs of Commonwealth and Quality of Services Proposed

35%

Cost

35%

Total

100.00%

Oral Presentation/Interview, References, Best and Final Offer

FINAL SELECTION

1. Qualifications of Bidder and Personnel and Small, Minority and Women Business Enterprises

Responses that include the participation of certified small, minority, and women business enterprises is encouraged. Bidders that commit to purchasing specified services or goods from SOMWBA certified small, minority, and women business enterprises may be considered when scoring a Bidder under qualifications. A directory of certified enterprises can be found at http://www.somwba.state.ma.us.

2. Quality of Work Plan to Meet Required Needs of Commonwealth

3. Costs of Services (reasonableness of costs to employees and other identified costs)

4. Oral Presentation/Interview/References Bidders who meet both the mandatory and the prescreening requirements may be invited to appear before the PMT to make an oral presentation. This opportunity affords the Bidders the chance to highlight important areas of the Response and to clarify any ambiguity in the written document. The Oral Presentation/Interview will be used as a basis for selection and negotiation of terms of the Contract. Bidders must be willing to have authorized representatives who can legally bind the Bidder present at the interview. Final Selection may be based solely on the Final Interview with key representatives, the Contract Manager, Administrator IT Liaison and Primary Commuter Benefits Program Coordinator and will not be based solely upon total points from Phases I-III. The PMT may make any reference checks or other credit or financial checks as deemed appropriate to determine the Bidder’s qualifications, stability and ability to operate the Program.

Evaluation Process

The PMT will evaluate the responses in six phases:

Phase I:

Log all Responses, reviewing mandatory information and form described in RFR.

Phase II:

Prescreen the Responses, tabulating the results of this review. The tabulation will gauge if Responses meet the minimum required qualifications and specifications sections of the RFR.

Phase III:

The PMT will evaluate the Responses based upon the Best Value presented for both the qualifications, specifications and costs. Bidders will be ranked to determine which Responses provide the best fit for the RFR needs. This ranking is considered only a preliminary ranking and is not binding upon the PMT. This ranking is designed only to determine the top candidates to be offered an Interview. For this section, Bidders will score higher points based upon their demonstrating:

· a willingness to create a long term partnership with the Commonwealth,

· their understanding of the state government environment, and

· their competitiveness in pricing.

Phase IV:

Based upon the results of the ranking, the PMT will determine how many Bidders will be offered an opportunity for an Interview. Interviews should be attended by key personnel who will assigned to the project and individuals authorized to answers questions about the offered services and who are authorized to negotiate the terms of the Response. Bidders will be asked if they would submit a Best and Final offer or if they want to negotiate the Best and Final offer as part of the interview.

Phase V:

Offer a Best and Final offer, if warranted.

Phase VI:

Based upon the results of the Interview, Reference checks and the Best and Final offer (if any) the PMT will re-rank the Bidders and recommend their selection to the Comptroller. The Comptroller will review the recommendation and may meet with the PMT regarding any questions prior to making the final decision for selection, which shall be final. Bidder may be disqualified from any evaluation or award if it is discovered that the Bidder, or any key personnel proposed, has Commonwealth, or violated rules or statutes applicable to public bidding in the Commonwealth.

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