City of Dallas, Texas Request for Competitive Sealed Proposals (RFCSP) for IT COST ALLOCATION MODEL FOR IT SERVICES BHZ1410
PURPOSE The City of Dallas Communication and Information Services Department is seeking Proposals from qualified vendors to develop a cost allocation model for information technology (IT) services. The City is looking to have its existing cost allocation model updated in preparation for the FY 2015 Budget. The City’s current IT cost allocation model was last modified in 2010. SCOPE OF WORK The selected proposer will serve as an agent for the City and be responsible for reviewing and recommending to the City, with respect to the development of a cost model in relation to principles, a model for allocating IT costs to organizational entities. Proposer will develop a mathematical full cost allocation model in Microsoft Excel format, or other recommended and approved format, that will calculate amounts to be assessed to the various City departments. In addition, an allocation model/rate for grant activities is also requested. Proposer must certify that this allocation model/rate conforms to all State and Federal guidelines, including the OMB Circular A87 standards and applicable FAA Advisory Circulars. The full cost allocation model must also be able to provide the flexibility to be adjusted based on annual forecasts of future assessment amounts to provide IT services. CONFIDENTIALITY In accordance with state law, proposals shall be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing proposers and shall be kept secret and confidential during the negotiation process. It is the responsibility of the proposers to clearly mark and identify all portions of the proposal that contain trade secrets, confidential information and other proprietary information. Any information deemed confidential, shall be clearly noted as such on each page or pages. Efforts will be made to keep the marked information confidential; however, the City cannot guarantee it will not be compelled to disclose all or part of any public record under the Texas Open Record Act. 1
QUALIFICATION OF PROPOSERS Proposers should be in an established business providing such services as requested for five (5) years or more. If requested, proposer must provide references to provide proof of five (5) or more years in business.
PRICING Pricing provided in responses will be considered firm for the term of this contract from the date of the award.
COMMUNICATION In order to provide the customer service required, proposers must respond quickly and clearly, this is essential for the City. Vendors must answer written correspondence from the City within three (3) working days; vendors MUST have a company employee (no answering machine or service) answering the phone during normal business hours or provide either a cell or pager number. Phone messages left with personnel must be returned with two (2) hours.
Proposal All proposals shall be submitted in a sealed envelope clearly marked with BHZ1410 IT COST ALLOCATION MODEL FOR IT SERVICES
All proposals shall be received at the address below no later than 2:00 p.m. on the due date, May 21st, 2014. All Proposals shall be addressed to: RFCSP# BHZ1410 IT Cost Allocation Model for IT Services
Attn: Judy Levin-Simmons 1500 Marilla St., Suite 3FN Dallas, TX 75201 Any proposals received after 2:00 p.m. on the due date will be considered late and non-responsive and returned to the applicant unopened. The City reserves the right to reject any and/or all proposals or waive irregularities. All submittals shall include one complete, original proposal marked “ORIGINAL”, seven complete original copies of the original proposal, four electronic copy on a flash drive or CD marked with the proposal number and the submitting firm’s name, and other related documentation required by this RFCSP If the proposer does not ask questions or clarify any assumptions, the City will assume proposer(s) understand(s) the City’s requirements and that the proposer’s offering will meet those needs at the price stated.
Proposals should contain: Cover Letter Table of Contents 2
The name of the Proposer’s legal entity that will be providing service to the City A short description of the Proposer’s corporate structure, including the name of the parent company, if any, and affiliates doing business in Texas. Provide an organizational chart showing the structure to be used for this specific project and the roles and locations of each team member. Indicate if the firm or a sub consultant team member must hire additional personnel in order to complete this project in a timely manner? Provide a brief history of the firm including the number of years in the business of providing services similar to the requirements of this solicitation. Describe the firms experience and understanding of the requirements:
RFCSP Inquiries Prior to the pre-proposal conference and after the pre-proposal conference, all inquiries and requests for information regarding this RFCSP shall be submitted in writing to:
[email protected] All requests for information shall be submitted prior to the established RFCSP cutoff date and time. The cut off time for questions is the Friday April 25th. Requests for information will not be honored beyond the established timeframe to allow sufficient time for distribution of the requested information to proposers. Responses provided will be written and will be issued via Addendum. Addenda will be made available electronically on the City’s procurement website: www.bids.dallascityhall.org. No proposal negotiations, decisions or actions initiated by any proposers as a result of any verbal discussion with any City employee shall be binding upon the City of Dallas. Only proposers will be notified of any communications after the proposal closing. All inquiries shall be directed to the buyer assigned to this procurement. Inquiries are not to be directed to any consultant of the City or City staff member. Such action may disqualify proposers from further consideration of this RFCSP. During the initial review of the RFCSP and preparation of proposals, proposer(s) may discover certain errors, omissions or ambiguities. If this is the case, or if the meaning of any part of this RFCSP is unclear, proposer(s) shall submit written questions to the buyer in time to allow the City to answer the questions and distribute written responses to all proposers before the RFCSP due date and time. The Business Development and Procurement Services Department will make all necessary arrangements for direct contact with other City departments, if required. Pre-Proposal Meeting The City will hold a pre-proposal meeting for interested proposers concerning the specifications of this solicitation. The Pre-proposal conference will be at 10:00 A.M. on April 28th, 2014. The conference will be held in Conference room C located on L1FN at City Hall, 1500 Marilla Street, Dallas, Texas, 75201. Do not rely on oral instructions for clarifications, verbal agreements or representations are not binding on the City. The Office of Business Development and Procurement Services will issue the City of Dallas’ official position in writing. Proposers are encouraged to attend the pre-proposal meeting to discuss any questions with the user department’s representative(s). This will be the only contact between the proposer and the 3
department during the bidding process. After the pre-proposal meeting, all correspondence shall go through the buyer.
Opening of Proposals Proposals will be opened by the City at 2:00 p.m. the day following the due date so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing proposers. Proposer names will be publicly read. It is the responsibility of the proposer to clearly mark and identify all portions of the proposal, which, in the proposer’s opinion, contain trade secrets, confidential information and other proprietary information. All proposals are subject to the Texas Open Records Act process. Selection of Best Qualified Proposals An evaluation committee will review the proposals submitted by all proposers. On the basis of the evaluation criteria, the City will determine which proposal(s) are best qualified for the award of the contract. The City may at any time, investigate a proposer's ability to perform work. The City may ask for additional information about a company and its work on previous contracts. Proposers may choose not to submit such information in response to City of Dallas' request; however, if failure to submit such information does not clarify the City's questions concerning the ability to perform, the City may discontinue further consideration of a particular proposal. Please be aware that the City of Dallas may use sources of information not supplied by the proposer concerning the abilities to perform this work. Such sources may include current or past customers of the organization; current or past suppliers; articles from industry newsletters or other publications or from non-published sources made available to the City of Dallas. The City of Dallas or its representative reserves the right to cancel this agreement anytime if the services are deemed unsatisfactory. Discussion with Reasonably Qualified Proposals The City reserves the right to engage in discussions or conduct interviews, either oral or written, with the respondents determined by the evaluation criteria to be reasonably viable to being selected for award. If discussions or interviews are held, the buyer may request best and final offers. The request for best and final offers may include: Notice that this is the opportunity to submit written best and final offers. Notice of the date and time for submission of the best and final offer. Notice that if any modification is submitted, it shall be received by the date and time specified or it may not be considered. Following evaluation of the best and final offers, purchasing may select for negotiations the offer that is most advantageous to the Communication & Information Service Department, considering price or cost and the evaluation factors in the RFCSP. After the most advantageous proposer(s) has been identified, contract negotiations may commence. If at any time contract negotiation activities are judged to be ineffective, Purchasing will cease all activities with the respondent and begin contract negotiations with the next highest ranked respondent. This process may continue until either both the respondent and Business Development and Procurement Services executes a completed contract or Business Development and Procurement Services determines that no acceptable alternative proposal exists. 4
The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received or to award, without discussions or clarifications. Therefore, each proposal should contain the Respondent’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. Rejection or Acceptance of Proposals This RFCSP does not commit the City to award any contract. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive technicalities or irregularities, and to accept any proposal it deems to be in the best interest of the City. The City shall not be liable for any costs incurred by any company responding to this RFCSP. The City will require the recommended proposer to sign the necessary contract documents prepared by the City Attorney's Office. A sample contract is included as an attachment. Late & Withdrawn Proposals Proposals offered to the City after the time and date will not be accepted. Any proposal may be withdrawn prior to the scheduled due date. Confidentiality Respondents are advised that materials contained in proposals are subject to open records after the contract award, and may be viewed and copied by any member of the public, including news outlets and competitors. The Attorney General may make the final determination as to whether documents are releasable. Disqualification of Proposers Proposers may be disqualified for any of the following reasons, but not limited to: Reason to believe collusion exists among the proposers. The proposer is involved in any litigation against the City of Dallas. The proposer is in arrears on an existing contract or has failed to perform on a previous contract with the City of Dallas within the past five years. Method of Award The City reserves the right to award by the method deemed most advantageous to the City. The City will require the selected proposers(s) to execute a contract in substantially the same form as the sample attachment. The agreement will commence with the signing of contracts by the successful proposers and the City of Dallas. City staff may elect to request the awarded vendor provide a live demonstration of the system to ensure the desired end result is obtained.
No work shall commence until the contract document(s) are signed; and proposer has provided necessary evidence of insurance as required.
In the event the parties cannot negotiate and execute a contract within the time specified, the City reserves the right to terminate negotiations with the selected proposers and commence negotiations with another proposer. 5
If selected to provide the services, responses to the proposal will be considered as part of the firm's contractual responsibilities.
Misrepresentation of the proposers’ ability to perform as stated in the proposal may result in cancellation of the contract award.
The City of Dallas reserves the right to withdraw or reduce the amount of an award, or to cancel the contract resulting from this procurement if adequate funding is not available.
The City of Dallas will require the Contractor to sign the necessary contract documents prepared by the City Attorney’s Office. Contract documents are not binding on City until approved by the City Attorney and executed by the City Manager or appointee.
Contract award will be subject to approval by the Dallas City Council. The City of Dallas will require the awarded vendor Contractor to sign the necessary contract documents prepared by the City Attorney’s Office prior to going to Council.
Proposers understands and agrees that if selected, it and persons designated by it to provide services in connection with a contract(s), is and shall be deemed to be an independent contractor of the City, responsible for its respective acts or omissions; and the City shall in no way be responsible for proposers actions. CITY’S RESPONSIBILITY For services performed, the City shall pay the successful proposers an amount not to exceed the successful proposal amount. CONTRACTOR’S RESPONSIBILITY A.
In order for a proposal to be considered for funding, proposers must comply with the requirements as specified, and provide requested information and attachments. B. Contractor will assume complete responsibility for all tasks detailed in the "Scope of Services." C. Any task not specifically detailed in the specified work program as the responsibility of the City will be the responsibility of the contractor. EVALUATION CRITERIA The City will conduct a comprehensive and impartial evaluation of all proposals received in response to the RFCSP. The City reserves the right to use any and all reasonable and relevant criteria in making its decision as to the best proposer. The City reserves the right to determine the overall qualifications under the RFCSP. A committee established for this purpose will evaluate all proposals. At the City’s option, proposers may be contacted and invited to an oral presentation before the evaluation committee during the proposal evaluation process. The evaluation committee will determine the responsiveness and acceptability of each proposal according to established criteria. The criteria for evaluation are:
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Cost
50%
Experience & Capability
30%
Methodology
20%
TOTAL
100%
. The evaluation is based upon the following criteria: 1. Cost Actual cost of services as identified in the proposal 2. Experience and Capabillity 2.1 Satisfactory company background and references as well as qualifications and experience. 2.2 Demonstrated successful experience on similar type of projects in organizations the size and complexity of the City of Dallas. 3. Methodology
Business Inclusion and Development The City encourages Proposers to consider utilization of subcontractors and to provide Minority Business Enterprise and Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) subcontractors with a full and fair opportunity to submit proposals to participate on this contract. Proposers are encouraged to use the suggested voluntary outreach efforts by contacting the Buyer to obtain the necessary forms and instructions. All proposers will complete and submit the Business Inclusion and Development (BID) forms attached to this RFCSP. The BID packet also include an overview of the City's program and participation goals established by the Dallas City Council. Help in preparing the forms may be obtained by contacting a member of the ResourceLink team:
Richard Carrizales 214-671-5010
[email protected]
Contract The successful vendor will be required to execute the form contract prepared and tailored for this particular program by the City Attorney's Office, which is attached and substantially represents the contract to be entered into. Unless and otherwise stated, the information requested concerning present or proposed operation is for evaluation purposes only and will not adversely impact proposals unless such information is omitted or differs materially from the specifications. The contract, by the City, may be terminated upon, not less than, 30 days’ notice to the successful vendor for convenience and for failure to satisfactorily perform the function for which the proposal is intended. Any contract award is not transferable or assignable without prior written approval by the City of Dallas. Insurance Requirements The awarded vendor must provide a certificate of insurance evidencing proof of insurance coverage listed in Attachment Insurance within 15 days of award. The City of Dallas will be provided a Waiver 7
of Subrogation waiving Rights of Recovery against City of Dallas on the Workers’ Compensation/Employers Liability policy. The City will be shown as the certificate holder. This insurance must stay in force for the duration of the contract. ERROR AND OMISSION Proposers shall not be allowed to take advantage of any error or omission in these specifications. The vendor is required to review these specifications carefully and notify the City Business Development & Procurement Services Department if errors are found. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION The City reserves the right to request additional information from individual proposers, or to request all proposers to submit supplemental materials in fulfillment of the content requirements of this RFCSP, or to meet additional information needs of the City.
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