Life and Disability Insurance

The City of Long Beach is soliciting proposals for life and disability insurance administration services for approximately 5,067 enrolled City employees across 13 product lines, with proposals due May 1, 2025, by 11:00 AM PST via LongBeachBuys.com under RFP HR-25-558. A local-vendor preference of up to 10 percentage points applies to businesses maintaining a principal place of business within City of Long Beach limits and holding a current City business license; an additional 5 points are available to vendors operating from a brick-and-mortar or non-residential location.

The scope encompasses Basic Life and AD&D, Additional Life, Voluntary Life, Spouse Life, Child Life, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability coverage with varying benefit structures across multiple labor union classifications. Bidders must support all 13 current products; failure to do so is disqualifying. Proposers must complete a Plan Design Deviations template documenting any proposed changes to current benefit structures. The incumbent carrier, The Standard, is currently overseen by benefits consultant Alliant. Proposers must demonstrate financial stability via audited financial statements or corporate annual reports, maintain HIPAA compliance, and meet claims processing performance guarantees: 95% approval within five business days for life claims and 92% approval within five business days for short-term disability claims. A $20,000 implementation allowance for transition support is required.

The 2024 total annual premium across all plans was approximately $2 million, with estimated monthly covered volume of $580 million. The contract term is three years with options to renew for two additional one-year periods, not to exceed five years total. Target contract execution is January 1, 2026. Evaluation criteria are Organizational Capacity and Experience (30%), Method of Approach (40%), Communication and Reporting (20%), and Reasonableness of Cost (10%). Questions were due April 3, 2025. Addendum No. 2, issued June 27, 2025, updates the proposal deadline to May 1, 2025, and clarifies that bids should reflect net-of-commission pricing. Failure to submit signed acknowledgment of Addendum 2 with the proposal may result in disqualification. Equal Benefits Ordinance certification is mandatory for contractors.