Long Term and Short Term Disability Insurance

Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners is soliciting proposals through Request for Proposal No. 21-057-DP for fully insured group Long Term Disability (LTD) and Short Term Disability (STD) insurance coverage for approximately 4,600 employees of Palm Beach County, the Supervisor of Elections, and Palm Tran, Inc. The RFP, issued June 28, 2021, with proposals due July 28, 2021 at 4:00 p.m., seeks comprehensive disability insurance products with multiple benefit tiers including employer-paid core coverage, voluntary buy-up programs, and employee-paid voluntary plans. Proposers must provide fully insured coverage with guaranteed rates, preferably with multi-year rate guarantees of up to five years (minimum three years required), and may submit quotes for either LTD coverage only, STD coverage only, or both lines of coverage, with the possibility of awarding contracts to different carriers for each coverage type. The evaluation criteria are weighted as follows: Ability to Perform/Flexibility (10%), Conformity to Existing Plan Design and Benefits (35%), Carrier Financial Rating (15%), Price Proposal/Rate Guarantee (35%), and Business Location/Local Preference (5%). Key deliverables include sample policies, certificates of coverage, enrollment materials, evidence of insurability processing capabilities, toll-free customer support with online claims systems, employer access portals, self-billing options, and customized enrollment materials at no additional charge. The Selection Committee meeting is scheduled for August 11, 2021, with potential oral presentations on August 23, 2021, Notice of Intent to Award on August 25, 2021, and Board approval on October 19, 2021, with contract effectiveness January 1, 2022, for an initial twelve-month term with four optional one-year renewals.

No Affirmative Procurement Initiatives (API) participation is required for this procurement, though Small/Minority/Women Business Enterprise (S/M/WBE) utilization documentation is required if subcontractors are used. Current carriers include the Life Insurance Company of North America and New York Life Insurance Company, with existing claims experience data provided demonstrating paid LTD loss ratios ranging from 96.2 to 96.8 percent and STD paid loss ratios of 45.2 to 46.4 percent over recent experience periods. The incumbent rate structure shows current LTD composite rates of $.58, $.23, and $.45 per $100 of covered payroll for voluntary, core/basic, and upgrade plans respectively, with estimated eligible monthly payroll of approximately $20.5 million across all LTD plans, and current STD rates of $31.50 per enrolled employee per month covering approximately 1,396 eligible lives with estimated monthly eligible payroll of $6,569,845. The County uses PeopleSoft for benefits administration and requires proposers to integrate with existing electronic Evidence of Insurability processes and billing systems. All proposers must be registered in the County's Vendor Self Service (VSS) system and comply with E-Verify requirements, criminal history background checks, and drug-free workplace certification. The estimated annual premium value for this contract is approximately $574,048 for LTD ($47,837.31 monthly across 4,230 covered lives in June 2021) and $529,956 for STD ($44,163.00 monthly in June 2021).