S000000343 RFP Assessment Coordination Data Portal RFP REVISED.pdf

STATE OF ARKANSAS

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSFORMATION AND SHARED SERVICES

OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT

501 Woodlane St., Ste. 220

Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1023

REVISED REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

SOLICITATION DOCUMENT

Note: Updates to this RFP are designated by red font.

SOLICITATION INFORMATION

Solicitation Number: S000000343 Solicitation Issued: July 16, 2024

Description: Arkansas Assessment Data Coordination Portal

Department: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration – Revenue Services

SUBMISSION DEADLINE AND DELIVERY OF RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

Proposal Opening Date: August 9, 2024 Proposal Opening Time: 10:00 AM, Central Time

Proposal submissions for this Request for Proposal must be submitted through ARBuy, the State’s eProcurement system. It can be accessed at arbuy.arkansas.gov. Proposals received after the submission deadline may be rejected as untimely.

LIVE PROPOSAL OPENING INFORMATION

Teams Meeting Link: Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 237 030 355 613

Passcode: 6nPGT5

Call in (audio only):

+1 501-244-3310,,234899877# United States, Little Rock Phone conference ID: 234 899 877#

TSS OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT CONTACT INFORMATION

TSS OSP Procurement Specialist:

Austin McClane Procurement Specialist’s Direct Phone Number:

501-371-6156

Email Address: Austin.McClane@arkansas.gov TSS OSP’s Main Number: 501-324-9316

TSS OSP Website: transform.ar.gov/procurement/ https://arbuy.arkansas.gov/ https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZDE0NGNkMWItMTRlNS00YmViLTlmMTEtMmY1NTE1NGRiZTYz%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%225ec1d8f0-cb62-4000-b327-8e63b0547048%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2276b67dc6-870d-48b1-861f-b3cbdd49eeb2%22%7d tel:+15012443310,,234899877 mailto:Austin.McClane@arkansas.gov https://www.transform.ar.gov/procurement/

SECTION 1 – GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued by the TSS Office of State Procurement (TSS OSP) for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) Assessment Coordination Division (ACD) to obtain pricing and a contract for a ‘Real and Personal’ Property Data Portal.

Contract(s) will be awarded to the Prospective Contractor determined to have submitted the proposal that is the most advantageous to the State. Direct all questions, comments, or concerns regarding this solicitation to the TSS OSP, not the Department.

1.2 TYPE OF CONTRACT

A. As a result of this RFP, TSS OSP intends to award a contract to a single Contractor.

B. The anticipated starting date for any resulting contract is September 26, 2024, except that the actual contract start date may be adjusted unilaterally by the State for up to three (3) calendar months. By submitting a signed proposal in response to the RFP, the Prospective Contractor represents and warrants that it will honor its proposal as being held open as irrevocable for this period.

C. The initial term of a resulting contract will be for three (3) year. Upon mutual agreement by the Contractor and Department, the contract may be renewed by TSS OSP for up to four (4) additional one-year terms or portions thereof, not to exceed a total aggregate contract term of seven (7) consecutive years.

1.3 DEFINITION OF TERMS

A. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms defined in Arkansas Procurement Law have the same meaning herein.

B. “Business Personal Property” means all property not defined as real property used to run a business.

Generally, includes four categories (inventories, fixed assets, leasehold improvements, and intangibles.)

C. “CAMA” means Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal software which is a software package used by governmental agencies and assessing offices to establish real and personal property valuations for property tax purposes. It is composed of several applications that systemically value property. Often includes statistical analysis to assist the appraiser in determining the value of property for property taxation purposes.

D. “Customer” means the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

E. “Personal Property” means all property not defined as real property. For individuals this would primarily include vehicles.

F. “Personal Property Data” means part of or the complete dataset from the assessment record system at counties, as relates to the assessment of Personal Property and Business Personal Property.

G. “Prospective Contractor” means a responsible offeror who submits a proposal in response to this Solicitation.

H. The terms “Request for Proposal,” “RFP,” and “Solicitation” are used synonymously in this document.

I. “Real Property” means the interests, benefits, and rights inherent in the ownership of land plus anything permanently attached to the land or legally defined as immovable; the bundle of rights with which ownership of real estate is endowed.

J. “Real Property Data” means part of or the complete dataset from a property record card stored within a CAMA system by counties.

K. “Requirement” means a term, condition, provision, deliverable, Specification, or a combination thereof, that is obligated under the Solicitation, resulting contract, or both.

L. “Responsive Proposal” means a proposal submitted in response to this Solicitation that conforms in all material respects to this RFP.

M. “Security Incident” means any compromise of or impact to the services anticipated by this RFP, as defined in Arkansas statute § 10-4-429, subsection (a)(2).

N. “Shall” and “must” mean the imperative and are used to identify Requirements.

O. “Specification” means any technical or purchase description or other description of the physical or functional characteristics, or of the nature, of a commodity or service. “Specification” may include a description of any Requirement for inspecting, testing, or preparing a commodity or service for delivery.

P. “State” means the State of Arkansas. When the term “State” is used herein to reference any obligation of the State under a contract that results from this Solicitation, that obligation is limited to the Department using such a contract.

1.4 SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

For informational purposes, TSS OSP is providing a Solicitation Schedule; however, dates are anticipated dates only and are subject to change at the discretion of the State. All times are listed in Central Time.

TABLE A: TENTATIVE SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

ACTIVITY DATE

RFP Release to Prospective Contractors July 16, 2024

Deadline for Prospective Contractor Questions July 22, 2024

Answers to Questions Posted to ARBuy July 26, 2024

Proposal Due Date August 9, 2024 @ 10 am

Initial Proposal Evaluation August 12, 2024

Interviews August 21, 2024

Final Proposal Evaluation August 21, 2024

Discussions Kick Off Meeting August 28, 2024

Finalize Discussions September 11, 2024

Post Anticipation to Award September 12, 2024

Award Contract October 21, 2024

1.5 CLARIFICATION OF SOLICITATION

A. Submit questions requesting clarification of information contained in this Solicitation via the Solicitation posting in ARBuy by the date and time listed in Table A.

1. For each question submitted, Prospective Contractor should reference the specific Solicitation item number to which the question refers, as applicable.

2. Prospective Contractors’ written questions will be consolidated and responded to by the State as deemed appropriate. The State’s consolidated written response is anticipated to be posted to the Solicitation posting in ARBuy by the close of business on the date provided in Table A. If Prospective Contractor questions are unclear or non-substantive in nature, the State may request clarification of a question(s) or decline to answer.

B. The Prospective Contractor should notify the TSS OSP Procurement Specialist of any Requirements that precludes the Prospective Contractor from submitting a Responsive Proposal.

C. Prospective Contractors may contact the TSS OSP Procurement Specialist with non-substantive questions at any time prior to the proposal opening.

D. An oral statement by TSS OSP will not be part of any contract resulting from this Solicitation and may not reasonably be relied on by any Prospective Contractor as an aid to interpretation unless it is reduced to writing and expressly adopted by TSS OSP.

E. Only an addendum written and authorized by the State will modify the Solicitation.

1.6 RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

A. All proposal responses must be submitted through ARBuy, the State’s eProcurement system. The system can be accessed at arbuy.arkansas.gov.

1. Prospective Contractors must be registered in ARBuy to submit proposals responses.

B. Technical Proposal Packet

1. Prospective Contractors shall utilize the Technical Proposal Packet to submit their responses.

2. The following items are proposal Submission Requirements and must be submitted as part of a Prospective Contractor’s proposal response.

a. Signed Proposal Signature Page; signature may be ink or digital.

b. Technical Proposal response to the Information for Evaluation section included in the Technical Proposal Packet, which must be in the English language.

c. Completed Official Solicitation Price Sheet attached to the Solicitation in ARBuy.

i. Pricing must be proposed in U.S. dollars and cents.

ii. Quantities stated are estimates only and are not guaranteed. Prospective Contractor must submit unit price on the estimated quantity and unit of measure specified.

• The State may order more or less than the estimated quantity on term contracts, and the Contractor shall sell to the Department quantities ordered at no more than the submitted price.

iii. If pricing documents do not allow for accurate pricing, Prospective Contractor should notify the OSP Procurement Specialist at least seventy-two (72) hours before the proposal opening time.

iv. Prices must be firm offers and adjustments may be negotiated at the time of contract renewal.

• A request for a price increase must include supporting documentation demonstrating that the increase in contract price is based on an increased cost to the Contractor and that the proposed pricing is still competitive in the marketplace. The State has the right to approve or deny any request for a price adjustment.

v. Discount from list pricing is not acceptable unless requested elsewhere in the Solicitation.

vi. State or local sales taxes should not be included in the price. Trade discounts should be deducted from the unit price and the net price should be shown in the pricing response.

d. Recommended Options Form

i. The Recommended Options form included in the Technical Proposal Packet allows Prospective Contractors to identify any recommended options or optional service ideas that may benefit the State that were not included in the Requirements and the proposed system.

e. Copy of Prospective Contractor’s Equal Opportunity Policy

i. Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 19-11-104, OSP requires a Prospective Contractor bidding on a state contract to submit a copy of the Prospective Contractor’s Equal Opportunity (EO) Policy.

ii. Prospective Contractors not required by law to have an EO Policy must submit a written statement to that effect.

f. Proposed Subcontractors Form (see SRV-1, section 14)

3. The following items, which must be submitted prior to a contract award to the Prospective Contractor, may also be included with the Prospective Contractor’s proposal:

a. EO 98-04: Contract and Grant Disclosure Form (see SRV-1, section 11) https://arbuy.arkansas.gov/ https://www.transform.ar.gov/wp-content/uploads/Services-Contract-SRV-1-Fillable-Form-V.3.6.27.22.pdf https://www.transform.ar.gov/wp-content/uploads/Services-Contract-SRV-1-Fillable-Form-V.3.6.27.22.pdf

b. Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), if applicable

4. Prospective Contractors should not include any other documents or ancillary information, such as a cover letter or promotional/marketing information.

C. Redacted copy of the Technical Proposal Packet

1. One (1) redacted (marked Redacted) copy of the Prospective Contractor’s proposal response (see Proprietary Information), if applicable.

D. Prospective Contractors should not alter language in Solicitation document(s) or Official Proposal Price Sheet provided by the State.

E. Prospective Contractor’s proposals cannot be altered or amended after the proposal opening except as permitted by law or rule.

F. Prospective Contractors may submit multiple proposals.

https://www.section508.gov/sell/vpat/

SECTION 2 – REQUIREMENTS

2.1 BACKGROUND AND CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

ACD is working towards a more transparent and efficient audit process. Currently the auditing process is paper based, requiring frequent visits to counties Assessor offices to retrieve information, requires extensive data entry, printing of property cards and is inefficient. This service will be used to provide better more efficient audit and review processes and also allow us to repurpose data entry time to expanded audit by type and number. ACD will use the service weekly for audit purposes and on a by request basis for outside inquiries.

2.2 OBJECTIVE AND GOALS

ACD is seeking a stable online Data Portal that allows its staff, technical and non-technical, to easily search, query, and export county assessor data from any or all the seventy-five (75) Arkansas counties on demand.

2.3 PROSPECTIVE CONTRACTOR MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A. The Prospective Contractor shall have a minimum of five (5) years implementing projects of similar size and scope.

B. The Prospective Contractor shall have experience with Real and Personal Property data.

2.4 HOSTING

A. The Contractor shall propose a Contractor hosted system.

B. All servers and data associated with the Arkansas instance of the Contractor Hosted system must reside in the continental United States.

C. The Contractor shall perform all work on the proposed system from within the continental United States of America. The system must not be accessed from outside of the U.S.

D. The Contractor shall be responsible for the acquisition and operation of all hardware, software, and network support related to the hosting services being provided.

E. The Contractor shall develop and implement the system and all dependent hosted hardware in such a manner that allows for direct network communications with the Contractor’s system and the exchange of data via approved industry standard protocols for interfacing with other systems as deemed necessary.

F. The Contractor shall provision all environments.

G. The security controls employed within the system must meet or exceed requirements specified within this RFP and any other applicable regulatory requirements.

H. The Contractor shall provide configuration information, evidentiary documentation, or other information as is required in the event the State requires such information as to satisfy regulatory audit requirements in relation to the system.

I. The Contractor shall keep all hosting-related software current and up to date.

2.5 SYSTEM UPTIME AND PERFORMANCE

A. The Contractor shall provide a proposed system Uptime and Performance Plan during the Discussions

Phase.

B. Dedicated bandwidth will not be provided for the proposed system and the system must not negatively impact or interfere with services from other existing systems.

C. The system must be available 24 hours 7 days a week.

2.6 SYSTEM ACCESS

A. The Contractor shall provide user access to the system through a secure, web-based portal.

B. The system must provide a user-friendly administrative interface with automated workflows for common functions (common data queries, historical query listing, generated reports, etc.).

C. The system should stress consistency across all the different modules so that the business process is easy to learn and understand.

D. The system must be browser and operating system neutral for all user types.

E. The system must function accurately on common modern browsers such as, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari.

F. The system must not require additional browser plug-ins, add-ons, or helper applications.

G. The system must have a Responsive User Interface (RUI) and be accessible and function normally for all features from mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and chrome books. This must include, but is not limited to, iPhones, iPads, and Android based phones and tablets.

2.7 USER ROLES

A. The system must authenticate and assign the appropriate level of access to users based on the appropriate user roles.

B. System Administrators shall be able to create custom user roles with security parameters that define access.

C. The system must be able to assign controls for multiple users via workgroup/roles.

D. The system must allow access levels to be custom defined.

2.8 ARPDP REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall provide a secure web-based system that supports ACD’s objective to use the data provided from the portal for auditing, reporting, and analysis of Arkansas County information from all the seventy-five (75) Arkansas Counties.

B. The system must be able to provide Arkansas County information of all seventy-five (75) Arkansas counties on demand. This information must be downloadable from the portal in CSV format. Other formatting may be made available.

C. The system must be in full compliance with State and Federal legislative statutes in relation to ‘real property’ and ‘personal property’.

D. The system must receive updated Real Property information at minimum once a month, but weekly when available. Currently approximately 75% of Arkansas counties update their real property data on a monthly basis and the remaining 25% update weekly.

E. The system must receive updated Personal Property information at minimum once per year.

F. The system portal must be able to retrieve full county datasets individually, as a collection of county datasets, or as an entire statewide dataset.

G. The system must be able to retrieve property photos, improvement sketches, and other attachments as required.

H. The system must include all the ACD required set of search fields that will be fully comprehensive to search all the associated data fields and codes, ensuring desired querying and results for State. A complete list of the Data Fields required can be referenced at https://www.arkansasassessment.com/downloads/.

I. The Contractor shall provide ACD upon request up to seven (7) manual extracts per month from the Contractor’s database during the implementation period.

J. The system must be able to retrieve data from an imported list of Parcel IDs or other parcel identifying markers.

2.9 PURPOSE TABLE

A. The system must require users to select the purpose for accessing a record prior to viewing or downloading the record.

https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arkansasassessment.com%2Fdownloads%2F&data=05%7C02%7CAustin.McClane%40arkansas.gov%7C6676ea96a9274e3276cb08dc921011cf%7C5ec1d8f0cb624000b3278e63b0547048%7C0%7C0%7C638545844932055660%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=c0CjzEkD%2FDnfc2xK3lg721U%2FlWB6c1nEBt2h7%2FD%2F%2B%2F0%3D&reserved=0

B. Purposes must be determined by ACD and must include, but not be limited to:

1. Residential audit

2. Personal Property audit

3. Commercial audit

4. Ratio audit

5. Agri audit

6. Deed audit

7. Legislative Branch inquiry

8. Executive Branch inquiry

9. DFA Revenue inquiry

10. DFA Budget inquiry

11. DFA Administrative inquiry

C. The purpose table must be able to be updated as new areas/purposes are added or removed from the table.

2.10 REQUIRED FUTURE INTERFACES

A. The system must be compatible and able to execute an export of all available data types to a third-party system as specified by ACD.

B. DFA Office of Information Services (OIS) shall have the final authority in approving the format and authentication method of any future interfaces between DFA and the Contractor's system.

C. The Contractor should provide a proposed hourly rate(s) for the development of future interfaces on the Official Solicitation Price Sheet.

2.11 REPORTING & ONLINE DASHBOARD

A. The Contractor shall ensure the system provides a robust ad-hoc and pre-defined reporting functionality for

ACD use.

B. The Contractor shall ensure ACD has the ability to define new reports in the system and edit as needed without assistance or ongoing support from the Contractor.

C. The system must be able to export report data to a variety of formats such as:

1. Microsoft Excel

2. .csv

3. .txt

4. .pdf

D. If the Contractor’s proposed solution requires the use of a third-party reporting tool such as Crystal Reports, the costs of any and all required licenses to operate the reporting tool with the system must be included in the licensing cost proposed in the Official Solicitation Price Sheet.

E. The system must have the ability to batch print reports, allow advanced filtering, and set customized printouts.

F. The system must be capable of restricting reporting access by user roles.

G. The system must track all inquiries and data changes including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Date and time of inquiry/modification

2. Type of activity

3. Identification of the user

4. All fields inquired and/or modified

H. The system must provide a searchable log of every record viewed, including the above information.

I. Authorized State Admin Users shall have the ability to login and view the audit details online.

2.12 STAFFING

A. The Contractor shall provide a Staffing Plan during the Discussions phase.

B. The Contractor shall include in the Staffing Plan a Project Manager. The Project Manager shall have a minimum of two (2) years of project management experience working with the implementation of projects of similar size and scope to this RFP.

C. The Project Manager shall report to the State assigned project manager and manage the Contractor resources, produce project schedule/plan, status reports, attend meetings, and manage the software development life cycle.

D. DFA shall have the right to approve or reject proposed staff members prior to the finalization of the plan after Contract Award.

E. The Contractor shall include, in the Staffing Plan, a provision to address the vacancies of the Project Manager or other key personnel. In the event of the vacancy of a key person, the Contractor shall provide replacement candidates to DFA for review within fifteen (15) Calendar Days of the Contractor learning of the vacancy. DFA shall have the right to approve or reject proposed replacements if they do not meet the minimum requirements set forth in the RFP.

F. The Contractor shall replace key personnel upon request by DFA for justified reasons including but not limited to performance, behavior, and security.

G. The Contractor shall provide and maintain sufficient staffing resources to provide timely service for the life of the contract.

H. The Contractor shall not propose resources who are currently engaged full time on other contracts with the State. A single resource may not hold more than one full time position with the State.

2.13 IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING

The Contractor shall provide a proposed Implementation & Testing Plan during the Discussions phase.

2.14 TRAINING

A. The Contractor shall provide a proposed Training Plan during the Discussions phase.

B. All training must be provided sufficiently in advance to the “Go-Live” of the proposed System such that all Users required to be trained have had a sufficient amount of exposure to capably use the system.

C. The Contractor shall provide rollout training that includes:

1. ACD Administration

2. ACD managers and supervisors

3. DFA users designated by ACD administration.

2.15 MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

A. The Contractor shall provide a proposed Maintenance & Support Plan during the Discussions phase. The

Maintenance & Support Plan must, at minimum, meet the requirements set forth in this section of the RFP.

B. The Contractor shall be responsible for providing ongoing maintenance of the system for the life of the contract.

C. Customer support shall be available to DFA users, between Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Central Time, excluding State holidays.

D. The Contractor shall provide English speaking telephone support staff.

E. The provided Customer and Technical Support staff shall be properly trained and in sufficient quantities to support DFA users.

2.16 DATA SECURITY

A. The Contractor shall provide a proposed Data Security Plan during the Discussions phase.

B. The Contractor shall notify the customer of any Security Incident impacting the system within twenty-four

(24) hours of discovery.

C. The Contractor shall sign a Department approved Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to award of the contract.

2.17 DISASTER RECOVERY

A. The Contractor shall provide a proposed Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan during the

Discussions phase.

B. The Contractor shall include the following in the final plan(s):

1. Plan Objectives

2. What situations and conditions are covered by the Plan

3. Technical considerations

4. System failover plans

5. Plan Testing strategy

6. Roles and responsibilities of Contractor staff

7. How and when to notify the Contract Monitor

8. Recovery procedures

9. Procedures for deactivating the Disaster Recovery Plan

C. Contractor shall provide to DFA the results of Contractor performed disaster recovery as the results are available in accordance with the testing strategy of the Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan.

2.18 NEW TECHNOLOGY

A. The State is interested in obtaining an option for emerging or future technology related to the system.

B. Throughout the term of this contract the State shall have the right to add or remove any services or commodities offered by the Contractor under the scope of this contract. These services may be existing optional services as offered in the Contractor’s proposal, or they may be newly created services based on improving technology or complying with Federal or State mandates which fall under the scope of work.

C. Pricing for any of these services, which are not already submitted on the Official Price Sheet, must be negotiated if/when they are added; must be consistent with current contract pricing for similar services; and must be agreed upon in writing between DFA and the Contractor prior to implementation of the service.

2.19 DATA OWNERSHIP AND END OF CONTRACT TRANSITION

A. The State shall retain sole ownership, right, title, and interest to all data created and stored by DFA under a resulting contract, excluding intellectual property and exclusions governed by applicable State and Federal laws.

B. At the end of the contract and after confirmed transfer of 100% of the State-owned data, deliverables, and products the Contractor has created, developed, produced, and managed while performing the

Rev 5/2024 services outlined in this RFP back to the State or their designee, the Contractor shall destroy all copies of the State-owned data the Contractor possesses.

C. The Contractor shall ensure all data received as part of the Contract is used solely for the purpose of this contract and not shared, reused, or disseminated to any other party or entity without the express written consent of the DFA designated representative or as otherwise required under applicable State and Federal laws.

D. Upon termination or expiration, should any subsequent contract for this or similar services be awarded to a provider other than the Contractor, the Contractor shall, to the greatest extent possible and reasonable, cooperate with the DFA in initiating a smooth and orderly transition to the next contractor.

2.20 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

A. State law requires that qualifying contracts for services include Performance Standards for measuring the overall quality of services that a Contractor shall provide.

B. The State may be open to negotiations of Performance Standards prior to contract award, prior to the commencement of services, or at times throughout the contract duration.

C. Performance Standards shall not be amended unless they are agreed to in writing and signed by the parties.

D. Failure to meet the minimum Performance Standards as specified may result in the assessment of damages.

E. In the event a Performance Standard is not met, the Contractor will have the opportunity to defend or respond to the insufficiency. The State has the right to waive damages if it determines there were extenuating factors beyond the control of the Contractor that hindered the performance of services. In these instances, the State has final determination of the performance acceptability.

F. Should any compensation be owed to the Department due to the assessment of damages, Contractor shall follow the direction of the Department regarding the required compensation process.

SECTION 3 – SELECTION

3.1 SELECTION PROCESS

A. TSS OSP will review each Technical Proposal Packet to verify Submission Requirements have been met. Technical Proposal Packets that do not meet Submission Requirements will be rejected and will not be evaluated.

1. The State may conduct cost checks based on the cost submitted by each Prospective Contractor on the completed pricing response.

a. Prospective Contractors submitting Responsive Proposals with a proposed cost that falls twenty-five percent (25%) or more from the average submitted cost may be asked to justify their submitted cost.

b. Should TSS OSP request clarification and/or additional information regarding cost, Prospective Contractors shall provide clarification and/or additional information as specified by the request.

B. A Department-appointed Evaluation Committee will evaluate and score Responsive Proposals.

Evaluation will be based on Prospective Contractor’s response to the Information for Evaluation section included in the Technical Proposal Packet and the pricing submitted by the Prospective Contractor.

1. Cost information will be provided to the members of the Evaluation Committee (Evaluators) to allow them to determine which proposal(s) is the most advantageous to the State.

2. Evaluators will individually review and evaluate proposals and complete an Individual Score Worksheet for each proposal. Individual scoring for each Evaluation Criteria will be based on the scoring description in Table B: Scoring Table.

TABLE B: SCORING TABLE

SCORE DESCRIPTION

The response provides metrics clearly establishing that the Prospective Contractor is reliable and capable of fully performing the required services.

The response provides metrics suggesting that the Prospective Contractor’s level of performance may be acceptable, but it does not clearly establish that the Prospective Contractor is reliable and capable of fully performing the required services.

The response provides metrics clearly establishing that the Prospective Contractor is unreliable and incapable of fully performing the required services.

3. After initial individual evaluations are complete, the Evaluators will meet to discuss their individual scores. At the initial consensus meeting, each Evaluator will be afforded an opportunity to discuss his or her score for each evaluation criteria.

4. After Evaluators have had an opportunity to discuss their individual scores with the committee, the Evaluators will be given the opportunity to change their initial individual scores, if they feel that is appropriate.

5. The final individual scores of the Evaluators will be recorded on the Consensus Scoresheets and averaged to determine the group or consensus score and rank for each proposal.

6. Other agencies, consultants, and experts may also examine documents at the discretion of the Department.

C. Prospective Contractors submitting Responsive Proposals will be contacted by TSS OSP to schedule an interview.

1. Prospective Contractors shall attend the interview as scheduled by TSS OSP.

2. Evaluators will complete an Individual Score Worksheet for each interview. Evaluation will be based on Prospective Contractor’s responses to questions presented during the interview Individual scoring for each interview will be based on the Scoring Descriptions in 3.1.B.1.

3. During a final consensus meeting, after all interviews are complete, Evaluators will have the opportunity to discuss the interviews and change their individual interview scores on the Consensus Scoresheet, if they feel that is appropriate.

a. The final individual scores of the Evaluators will be recorded on the Consensus Scoresheets and averaged to determine the group or consensus score and rank for each proposal.

4. Should the State receive only one (1) Responsive Proposal, the State may forgo the interview portion of the evaluation if the proposal has received the Maximum Weighted Score Possible for the Experience, Solution, and Risk subsections.

a. In this scenario, the proposal would automatically receive the maximum weighted score possible for the interview subsection.

D. Should the State request clarification and/or additional information Prospective Contractors’ responses, Prospective Contractors shall provide clarification and/or additional information as specified by the State.

E. TSS OSP will submit responses and pricing received from the interviewed Perspective Contractors, along with the Evaluation Committee’s recommendation to the Department for review and approval to move into Discussions.

3.2 TECHNICAL PROPOSAL SCORE

A. The Information for Evaluation section has been divided into subsections.

1. Each subsection has been assigned a maximum point value of ten (10) points. The total point value for each subsection is reflected in the table below as the Maximum Raw Points Possible.

2. The Department has assigned Weighted Percentages to each subsection according to its significance.

INFORMATION FOR EVALUATION

SUBSECTIONS

MAXIMUM

RAW

POINTS

POSSIBLE

SUBSECTION’S

WEIGHTED

PERCENTAGE

* MAXIMUM

WEIGHTED

SCORE

POSSIBLE

Experience 10 30% 210

Solution 10 35% 245

Risk 10 15% 105

Interview 10 20% 140

Total Technical Score 40 100% 700

*Subsection’s Percentage Weight x Total Technical Maximum Weighted Score = Maximum Weighted Score Possible for the subsection.

B. The proposal’s weighted score for each subsection will be determined using the following formula:

(A/B)*C =D

A = Actual Raw Points received for subsection in evaluation

B = Maximum Raw Points possible for subsection

C = Maximum Weighted Score possible for subsection

D = Weighted Score received for subsection

C. The proposal’s weighted scores for subsections will be added to determine the Total Technical Score for the proposal.

D. Proposals that do not receive a minimum Total Technical Score of 300 will not be subject to further consideration in the Solicitation process. The pricing for proposals that do not receive a minimum Total Technical Score of 300 will not be scored.

3.3 COST SCORE

A. When scores are applied to pricing, the maximum amount of cost points will be given to the proposal with the lowest All-Inclusive Seven Year Total Cost as shown in Table One (1) on the completed Official Solicitation Price Sheet. (See Grand Total Score for maximum points possible for cost score.)

B. The amount of cost points given to the remaining proposals will be allocated by using the following formula:

(A/B)*C =D

A = Lowest estimated cost

B = Second (third, fourth, etc.) lowest estimated cost

C = Maximum Points for lowest estimated cost

D = Total price points received

3.4 GRAND TOTAL SCORE

The Technical Score and Cost Score will be added together to determine the Grand Total Score for the proposal. The State may move forward to Discussions with the Prospective Contractor determined reasonably susceptible of being selected for award.

MAXIMUM

POINTS

POSSIBLE

Technical Proposal 700

Cost 300

Maximum Possible Grand Total Score 1,000

3.5 EXPLANATION OF THE SUBSECTIONS OF THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

A. Experience

1. The Experience subsection included in the Technical Proposal Packet allows Prospective Contractors to differentiate themselves based on their experience, technical capability, and understanding of the State’s specific needs.

2. Prospective Contractors should identify expertise in the form of a claim and provide relevant experience to support each claim.

3. Prospective Contractors should use verifiable metrics (number of accounts, size of accounts, years of experience, customer satisfaction ratings) to support each claim.

B. Solution

1. The Solution subsection included in the Technical Proposal Packet allows Prospective Contractors to differentiate themselves based on their proposed solution and/or approach to solve the State’s specific needs.

2. Prospective Contractors should provide a high-level overview of the Prospective Contractor’s proposed solution and/or approach to services using the Requirements outlined in the RFP.

3. Proposed solutions should be non-technical and include the Prospective Contractor’s recommendations for meeting the objectives and Requirements of the RFP.

4. Additional service options and recommendations above and beyond those included in proposed solution should be included in the Recommended Options Form.

C. Risk

1. The Risk subsection included in the Technical Proposal Packet allows Prospective Contractors to identify and prioritize major risks that they reasonably foresee could potentially prevent or impair the Prospective Contractor’s delivery of the solution as offered in the proposal or to otherwise fail to meet the State’s desired outcome, specifications, and performance standards, and how they will mitigate, manage, and/or minimize each risk listed.

a. Prospective Contractors should include sources, causes, or actions that are both within and beyond the control of the Prospective Contractors that they reasonably foresee may cause cost increases, delays, amendments, or dissatisfaction to the State.

b. Risks should be described in simple, clear, and non-technical terms.

c. Prospective Contractor should explain how the Prospective Contractor will mitigate, manage, and/or minimize each risk listed.

i. The Documented Performance cell should include details such as how many times any identified risk was previously mitigated and the impact on the Prospective Contractor’s performance in terms of time, cost, and client satisfaction.

D. Interview

1. The Interview will allow Prospective Contractors to further demonstrate their experience in providing the services outlined in the RFP.

a. Each Prospective Contractor meeting the Submission Requirements will be contacted by TSS OSP to schedule an interview. Prospective Contractors shall attend the interview as scheduled by TSS OSP.

b. Prospective Contractors shall identify one (1) Project Lead at the time of interview confirmation who shall attend the interview as part of the evaluation process.

c. The Evaluation Committee will interview the Prospective Contractor’s identified Project Lead using a pre-determined set of interview questions. Follow up questions may be asked based on responses given by the Project Lead.

3.6 DISCUSSIONS

A. The State will move forward into Discussions with the responsible Prospective Contractor(s) whose proposal(s) have been determined to be reasonably susceptible to being selected for award.

B. Discussions may be conducted with the highest-ranking Prospective Contractor based on the Grand Total Score for each proposal or with multiple Prospective Contractors reasonably susceptible of being awarded a contract.

C. Should the State choose to engage in Discussions with the highest-ranking Prospective Contractor, the Prospective Contractor invited to participate in Discussions shall provide all documents required during Discussions.

1. Should the Department determine, through the Discussions process, that the Prospective Contractor’s solution, approach, timelines, deliverables, expectations of the State, or a combination thereof make the Prospective Contractor no longer reasonably susceptible of being awarded a contract, the Department may abandon Discussions with that Prospective Contractor through a written justification to TSS OSP, and may proceed to additional rounds of Discussions with the next highest-ranking Prospective Contractor.

D. Should the State choose to engage in Discussions with multiple Prospective Contractors contemporaneously, each Prospective Contractor invited to participate in Discussions shall provide all documents required during Discussions.

1. Should a Prospective Contractor not provide the required documents within timeframes requested by TSS OSP or choose not to engage in the Discussions process, the Prospective Contractor’s proposal will be considered withdrawn and will not be subject to further consideration in the Solicitation process.

E. If Discussions necessitate material revisions of proposals, each responsible Prospective Contractor reasonably susceptible of being awarded a contract will be provided an opportunity to revise its proposal for the purpose of submitting a best and final offer.

F. During the Discussions Kick Off Meeting, the Prospective Contractor shall provide the following documents to the State:

1. A detailed scope of work clearly identifying the Prospective Contractor’s understanding, implementation, and performance of services required in this RFP, including all activities required by the Contractor and all activities expected by the State/Participating Entities

2. A Risk Management Plan intended to mitigate any risks, including but not necessarily limited to, the risks identified in the Risk Plan submitted in the Prospective Contractor’s Technical Proposal Packet

3. A proposed financial summary, including:

a. The completed pricing response and Recommended Options Form submitted in the Prospective Contractor’s Technical Proposal Packet

b. A proposed payment schedule

4. Proposed project management and reporting templates

G. During the Discussions Kick Off Meeting, the Prospective Contractor shall address questions and/or concerns the State may have to the satisfaction of the State.

H. During Discussions, the Prospective Contractor shall revise the discussions documents until agreement is made and the State has provided final approval.

1. The Prospective Contractor shall attend follow up Discussions meeting as determined necessary by the State. Reasonable effort will be made to accommodate scheduling conflicts.

I. During Discussions, the Prospective Contractor shall present a final draft of the Discussions documents to the State, including, at minimum:

1. A summary of all plans and scope of work developed during the discussions process and mutually agreed upon by the State and the Prospective Contractor

2. A detailed scope of work clearly identifying the Prospective Contractor’s implementation and performance of services required in this RFP, including all provisions negotiated and agreed upon by the State and the Prospective Contractor since the Discussions Kick Off Meeting

3. Description of deliverables in terms of simplified metrics

4. The Risk Management Plan

5. Project management and reporting templates

6. Financial summary, including:

a. The completed pricing response submitted in the Prospective Contractor’s Technical Proposal Packet

b. A list of agreed upon and accepted recommended options (with impact to price)

c. A payment schedule

d. Contact information for the Prospective Contractor’s key personnel

J. During Discussions, the Prospective Contractor shall present the final drafts of the items and shall summarize the coordination and planning completed during the discussion process.

K. Once approved by the State, final drafted documents will become part of the resulting contract.

L. The Prospective Contractor may determine which key personnel will attend the Discussions meetings.

3.7 ANTICIPATION TO AWARD

A. Once an anticipated Contractor has been determined, the anticipated award will be posted to the

Solicitation posting in ARBuy by the date and time listed in Table A.

1. It is the responsibility of Prospective Contractors to check the ARBuy website for the posting of an anticipated award.

B. Anticipated awards will generally be posted for a period of fourteen (14) days prior to the issuance of a contract. These notices are anticipated awards only and are subject to protest.

C. A contract resulting from this Solicitation is subject to State review and approval processes prior to award, which may include Legislative review.

3.8 PROSPECTIVE CONTRACTOR ACCEPTANCE OF EVALUATION TECHNIQUE

The submission of a Technical Proposal Packet signifies the Prospective Contractor’s understanding and agreement that some subjective value judgments will be made during the evaluation and scoring of the technical proposals.

SECTION 4 – SOLICITATON TERMS AND CONDITIONS

4.1 ACCEPTANCE OF REQUIREMENTS

A. A Prospective Contractor's past performance with the State may be used to determine if the

Prospective Contractor is responsible (OSP Rule R8:19-11-229).

1. Proposals submitted by Prospective Contractors determined to be non-responsible will be rejected.

B. A single Prospective Contractor must be identified as the prime contractor.

1. The prime Contractor shall be responsible for the resulting contract and jointly and severally liable with any of its subcontractors, affiliates, or agents to the State for the performance thereof.

C. By submission of a proposal, the Prospective Contractor represents and warrants:

1. That the prices in the proposal have been arrived at independently, without any collusion with another competing Prospective Contractor.

a. Collusion violates Arkansas Procurement Law and can lead to suspension, debarment, and can be referred to the Attorney General’s officer for investigation and appropriate legal action (Arkansas Code Annotated § 19-11-240 and 19-11-245).

2. That the Prospective Contractor has not retained a person to solicit or secure the resulting contract upon an agreement or understanding for a commission, percentage, brokerage, or contingent fee, except for retention of bona fide employees or bona fide established commercial selling agencies maintained by the Prospective Contractor for the purpose of securing business.

D. Prospective Contractor should not discuss the Solicitation or proposal response, issue statements or comments, or provide interviews to public media during the Solicitation and award process.

E. Qualifications and services must meet or exceed the required Specifications as set forth in the Solicitation.

F. The State will not pay costs incurred in the preparation of a proposal.

4.2 GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

A. The Contractor must be registered as a vendor to receive payment and may register online by visiting https://www.ark.org/contractor/index.html and clicking the Start Here button.

B. The Prospective Contractor represents and warrants that, prior to being awarded any executed contract resulting from this solicitation, the Prospective Contractor has taken or shall take all actions necessary to receive payment from the State through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for the services and/or commodities to be provided under any such contract. This includes, without limitation, the following actions:

1. Signing documents authorizing the State to make EFT payments into a bank account designated by the Prospective Contractor.

2. Providing all information requested by the State to set up EFT payments, including either a voided check or a letter from their financial institution that contains the following information:

a. Account holder’s name

b. Account number

c. Routing number

d. Financial institution official’s contact information and signature

3. In the event the EFT information changes, the Contractor shall be responsible for providing the updated information to the State. No interest or late payment penalty will apply if payment is https://www.ark.org/contractor/index.html delayed because of the Contractor’s failure to initially provide or update information necessary for the State to make EFT payment.

C. Pursuant to Arkansas State Procurement Law, the Contractor shall certify that, unless they offer to provide the goods or services for at least twenty percent (20%) less than the lowest certifying Prospective Contractor:

1. They are not engaged in and shall not, during the aggregate term of the resulting contract, engage in a boycott of Israel (Arkansas Code Annotated § 25-1-503),

2. They are not engaged in and shall not, during the aggregate term of the resulting contract, engage in a boycott of an Energy, Fossil Fuel, Firearms, or Ammunition Industry (Arkansas Code Annotated § 25-1-1102).

D. Pursuant to Arkansas Procurement Law, the Contractor shall certify that the Contractor does not knowingly employ or contract with illegal immigrants and that the Contractor shall not knowingly employ or contract with illegal immigrants during the aggregate term of any contract with the State or any of its departments, institutions, or political subdivisions (Arkansas Code Annotated § 19-11-105).

E. Specifications, drawings, technical information, dies, cuts, negatives, positives, data, other such item furnished by the State to the Contractor, or a combination thereof hereunder or in contemplation hereof or developed by the Contractor for use hereunder shall:

1. Remain property of the State.

2. Be kept confidential as permitted or required by law.

3. Be used only as expressly authorized.

4. Be returned at the Contractor's expense to the F.O.B. destination point provided by the State, as requested by the State.

a. The Contractor shall properly identify items being returned.

F. The Contractor shall invoice the State as required by the Department and should not invoice the State in advance of delivery and acceptance of any goods or services (Arkansas Code Annotated § 19-4-1206).

1. The Contractor should invoice the agency by an itemized list of charges. The Department’s purchase order number and/or the contract number should be referenced on each invoice.

2. Payment will be made in accordance with applicable State of Arkansas accounting procedures upon acceptance of goods and services by the Department.

3. Payment will be made only after the Contractor has successfully satisfied the Department as to the reliability and effectiveness of the goods or services purchased as a whole.

G. The Contractor should be able to accept the State’s authorized VISA Procurement Card (p-card) as a method of payment.