Pre-prop Conf Q A - Responses

HEALTH AND LIFE INSURANCE

PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE

Solicitation No: S-BH200-11-R-0001

DATE: December 6, 2010 Companies Present:

· Sagicor/Capital Life Insurance –Olga Herrera

· RF & G Insurance Co. Ltd - Mirna Paul Others Present:

· Alan D. McCarthy, Contracting Officer

· Priscilla Chimal, HR Assistant

· Emily Gentle, Procurement Agent (Note Taker) Introduction and Welcome Remarks by Emily Gentle Brief guidance of proposal package by Emily Gentle Questions and Answers:

1. Is “26” noted in Section B-Part 1 & Part II Price a fixed number for the contract?

A. Yes. The number 26 reflects the number of bi-weekly pay periods per year.

2. Please explain Section B.3 and B.7-Retention Amounts?

A. Administrative retention is the cost to the insurance provider to process claims, etc. The administrative retention amount will remain unchanged when adjustments are made in accordance with "Price Adjustment Clause" (i.e. claims vs. premium). Please remember that the retention cost may include your overhead or any other administrative expenses. It will also include your profit. It is your cost of doing business and does not/not include the actual portion of the premium designated to fund claims paid to the health care provider or claimant. Based on the previous history and industry average all bidders must provide these amounts for base year and each option year as well as for each category of premium. They must be expressed in actual Belize dollar amounts and will not be adjusted for any reason.

3. Will the Embassy be able to provide ages and occupations for all staff being covered under the contract?

A. Please see the attached document.

4. The life benefit is 2x the salary, correct?

A. Yes. The life benefit is 2 (two) times the annual basic salary.

5. If bids are submitted with more than or less than the benefits requested, will it be considered?

A. The U.S. Government (USG) has very specific requirements and regulations that it must adhere to. As a rule, the USG cannot pay for benefits that are not authorized. Nor can the USG fail to include benefits that are required. So, while offers that include more or fewer benefits than listed in the solicitation may be considered, it is clearly to the bidder’s benefit to adhere as closely as possible to the described requirements.

6. In Section C.2.1.1, is the maximum payment of $250,000.00 a global amount?

A. The amount reflects the maximum amount to be paid for life insurance coverage. The standard calculation is for 2 (two) times the employee’s annual basic salary, and this amount is capped at $250,000. Reference to Exhibit A shows that no current employee’s salary would require the exercise of this cap.

7. How many contact companies would be needed to prove experience and past performance (Section L.4.3.2.1) A. A fixed number cannot be given. The bidder should list all contracts and subcontracts that his/ her company has held over the past three years for the same or similar work.

8. Can you please provide at least two years of applicable billing rates and effective dates for the entire period for which experience information applies, plus proposed or recently implemented renewal rates?

A. The Embassy does not believe that recent billing rates are relevant to any incoming proposals. Each bidder should submit their best offers based on their respective company’s ability to provide the requested service.

9. Can you please provide a description of plan of benefits applicable during experience period.

A. The current benefits plan is identical to the plan described in the solicitation package.

10. Please provide current census data (notmore than three monthsold). This should include country of citizenship, country where the employee works, gender, age, date of birth, Plan Code or medical coverage indicator, and dependent status.

A. Please see attached document. Most of the information will be provided in the attached document. Information that is not included cannot be provided.

11. Please provide documented experience information covering the last two years. This information should not be more than six months old. It should indicate whether the claims shown are funded on an incurred or paid basis and any available pooling information.

A. A claims history is being included with this response. Information not included within the scope of the claims history cannot be provided.

12. Please advise if there are any large claims covering the latest 12 months. Include prognosis or diagnosis of any large claims.

A. The claims history included as a part of this response as much detail as the Embassy is free to give.

13. What are the manual rate calculations for the proposed plan of benefits (needed only if there was a plan change)?

A. This information is not available.

14. Please clarify section C1.1.16 page 13 which request for optical benefit of $35.00 for examination. Do the embassy only requires eye exam? or does it requires exam, lenses(conventional and contact) and frames?

A. The Embassy will require eye examinations only.

15. On page 7 – “Part II Price – Group Life Insurance” Article B.6.1 BASE YEAR OF CONTRACT it states that the “Estimated Payroll (biweekly, in thousands – BZD)” is “$267,000.00 which if multiplied by 26 pay periods equals to BZD$6,942,000.00 annually. However, on the Census spreadsheet provided to us in Excel format, the total annual salary stated is “$3,539,383.00” which was confirmed in our conversation earlier this morning to be in Belize Dollars as well. Can you kindly clarify what the total annual Salary is?

A. The estimated payroll amount of BZD267, 000.00 provided is estimated at twice employees’ basic annual salary. Please refer to page 17, Section C.2.1

Contracting Officer’s comments.

Please pay close attention to the instructions on how to submit your offers outlined in Section L of the contract. They are very specific and require a detail-oriented approach. Missing information and/or insufficient documentation may result in delays and/or rejection of the proposals.

Remember that only benefits outlined in the contract will be considered. Any additional service or benefit will have to be removed.

Pricing must be done for base year and ALL option years. Although, I will do price-comparison based on all option years, it doesn’t mean that the USG plans to exercise any.

Please provide the list of your current clients and points of contact. This contract evaluation is comprehensive and your relationship with your clients is as important as your solvency and provided benefits.

The USG reserves the right to award the contract WITHOUT discussions, based solely on the information provided in your solicitations.

As the Contracting Officer I ab12/10/2010 4:18 PMide by the USG procurement and contracting laws. This contract format is the only binding document that I will sign with a potential bidder. I do realize though that as a commercial enterprise you might have your own forms of contractual documentation. They may contradict the terms and conditions of the contract provided by the USG. Since, this contract format is the only acceptable one to the USG, any other commercial document that you may want for the Embassy to sign may not be binding. I will consider, however, an inclusion of certain commercial type of documents as a supplement to this contract. This supplement will potentially serve as a reference.

In order to expedite the process, I would like for all the offerors to provide me with electronic copies of your proposals.

Thank you.

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12/23/2010 9:21 AM