INVITATION TO NEGOTIATE

No. 06-06

Clerk & Comptroller,Palm BeachCounty

is seeking

Repliesfor:

Payroll/ERP System

Date issued/available for distribution September 8, 2006

Vendor shall submit one (1) unbound and manually signed hard-copyoriginal, ten (10) bound, hard-copycopies of the signed and complete reply including application functionality checklist,and one (1) electronic copy of the reply(Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word format)and functionality checklist (Microsoft Excel format)via CD or jump drive, to be received in the Offices of the Clerk & Comptroller, Palm BeachCountyby the deadline stated in Section 1.13.

See Section 1.14 for Mailing Instructions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1 - GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1Issuing Office

1.2Non-Mandatory Vendor Conference

1.3Background on Palm Beach County

1.4Functions of Clerk’s Office

1.5Project Background

1.6Purpose of the ITN

1.7Scope of Work/Services

1.8Separate ITN for Implementation Services

1.9Current Environment

1.10Current Technology Environment

1.11Period of Contract

1.12Qualification of Vendors

1.13Timetable

1.14Reply Submission

1.15Contact Person

1.16Additional Information/Amendment(s)

SECTION 2 - GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

2.1Reply Guarantee

2.2Modified Replies

2.3Withdrawal of Replies

2.4Late Replies, Late Modifications

2.5Right to Reject Replies

2.6ITN Postponement/Cancellation

2.7Costs Incurred by Vendors

2.8Proprietary/Confidential Information

2.9Retention of Vendor Information

2.10Negotiations

2.11Rights of Appeal

2.12Rules; Regulations; Licensing Requirements

2.13Exceptions to the ITN

2.14Review of Replies

2.15Evaluation Process

2.16Evaluation Criteria

2.17Vendor Contract Negotiations

2.18Award of Contract

2.19Standard Contract Provisions (Attachment 1)

2.20Commencement of Work

2.21Insurance Requirements

2.22Indemnification

2.23Authorized Signature

2.24Performance Bond/Letter of Credit/Liquidated Damages

SECTION 3 - REPLY REQUIREMENTS

3.1Letter of Transmittal

3.2Executive Summary

3.3Scope of Work/Services

3.4Company Background

3.5Computing Environment

3.6Database Software

3.7Third-Party Products/Services

3.8Licenses

3.9Maintenance Program

3.10Client References

3.11Vendor Contract Requirements

3.12Financial/Business Stability

3.13Other Terms and Conditions

3.14Sample Licensing and Maintenance Agreement

3.15Cost Reply

3.16Application Functionality Checklist

3.17Reply Certification Information

3.18Business Information

SECTION 4 - ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1 – Sample Standard Contract Provisions

Attachment 2 – Policy for Accepting Letters of Credit

Attachment 3 – Right to Protest

Attachment 4 – Palm Beach County BCC Organizational Chart

Attachment 5 – Clerk & Comptroller, Palm Beach County Organizational Chart

Attachment 6 – Principal Officials of Palm Beach County

SECTION 5 - APPENDICIES

Appendix A – Detailed Vendor Evaluation Criteria Matrix

Appendix B – Application Functionality Checklist

Appendix C – References

Appendix D – Cost Reply

Appendix E – Reply Certification

Appendix F – Business Information

Appendix G – Glossary of Acronyms and Terms

SECTION 1 - GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1Issuing Office

This Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) is issued by the Office of the Clerk & Comptroller, Palm BeachCounty,hereinafter referred to as “Clerk”. The Clerk is an independent constitutional officer elected pursuant to Article V of the Florida Constitution. All communications to the Clerk regarding this ITN must be done through the Clerk’s Office via email. See Section 1.15, entitled Contact Person. All vendors interested in responding to this ITN are required to provide a current email address to the Project Manager as set forth in Section 1.14. All Clerk information regarding this ITN will be posted on the Clerk’s website at Vendors are advised and instructed that they are responsible for, and deemed to have knowledge of, all information posted on the website.

Any person or business organization that submits a response to this ITN will be referred to as acontractor, proposer, orvendor. A response to this ITN will be referred to as a reply. For convenience, a glossary of acronyms and terms pertaining to this ITN can be found in Appendix G.

By virtue of submitting a reply, vendors are acknowledging that the Clerk reserves the rights outlined herein:

1)The Clerk reserves the right to accept, reject in whole or in part, any and all offers or replies, to waive formalities or minor irregularities, to negotiate final costs and terms, and to accept or negotiate offers that are determined to be most advantageous to the Clerk, in the Clerk’s sole discretion.

2)This ITN process is for the benefit of the Clerk only, and is intended to provide the Clerk with competitive information to assist in selection. All decisions on compliance, evaluation, terms, and conditions shall be made solely at the Clerk’s discretion and made to favor the Clerk.

3)All materials submitted in response to this ITN become the property of the Clerk and will be a matter of public record subject to the provisions of Chapter 119, Florida Statutes.

4)The Clerk reserves the right to negotiate with selected vendorsaccording to the process and procedures outlined herein,and to unilaterally determine that negotiations are successful or unsuccessful, until the Clerk rejects all offers or replies and terminates the process, or until the Clerk negotiates successfully with a selected vendor and a contract is executed.

5)No vendor shall have ANY rights against the Clerk arising from any reply or from being selected as a vendor for negotiation.

6)The Clerk DOES NOT INTEND to be bound by the terms of any reply or offer. The Clerk DOES NOT INTEND that a contract be formed as a result of a replyor offer or as a result of a vendor being selected for negotiation.

7)No contract will be formed until there is a signed Contract executed by the Clerk detailing the terms and conditions of the completed negotiations.

8)The Clerk’s decisions are final, and all vendors responding to this ITN agree to be bound by the Clerk’s decisions.

9)A vendorwaives and relinquishes any claim, cause, action, or suit against the Clerk,Palm BeachCounty, thePalm BeachCountyBoard of CountyCommissioners,andall ofthe agents, employees, and elected officials of the Clerk and Palm BeachCounty, arising out of the administration, evaluation, scoring, selection,or negotiation of the ITN.

1.2Non-Mandatory Vendor Conference

All interested parties are invited to attend a Non-Mandatory Vendor Conference which will be held on the date, time, and location specified in the Timetable (Section 1.13). At this time, Clerk representatives will be available to answer questions relative to this ITN. While not mandatory, it is expected that a significant exchange of information will occur, and vendors are advised that they will be well served by attending. The purpose of the vendor conference is to provide interested vendors an opportunity to obtain clarification of the requirements of this ITN.

Vendors who wish to have specific questions, comments, requests, or clarifications addressed at the Vendor Conference should submit them in writing via email to the Contact Person identified in Section 1.15 at least five business days before the Vendor Conference. Vendors may raise additional written or oral questions at the conference concerning the ITN. Written questions must be legible, concise, and identify the vendor submitting the question.

Clerk will attempt to address all vendor questions at the Vendor Conference; however, in the event that an immediate response to a question cannot be provided, the Clerk reserves the right to defer the question and provide the response at a later date or not at all. Vendors are cautioned thatoral answers and discussions shall not be binding upon the Clerk.

1.3Background on Palm BeachCounty

Palm BeachCounty is Florida’s largest county in area, third in population, and ninth in density. Growth has been the major influencing factor in the last several years. Population has increased approximately 2% annually since 1990, compared to double and triple that rate in the 1980’s. Estimated population for FY 2006 is 1,299,000 and is expected to continue to increase by about 25,000 residents each year.

The Palm Beach County Board of CountyCommissioners, hereinafter referred to as “County” or “BCC”, is the legislative branch of Palm BeachCounty government. The Palm Beach County Charter and Chapter 125.01 of the Florida Statutes establish the specific duties and powers of the County. The Countyadopts ordinances (local laws) and resolutions to establish programs that protect and maintain the health, safety, and welfare of residents within Palm BeachCounty. The Countyconsiders major problems facing county government and guides the growth and development of the county consistent with the public interest. Some of the specific duties undertaken by the County include:

  • Provide fire protection and disaster relief services.
  • Provide for the construction and maintenance of county buildings, roads, and bridges.
  • Provide programs for housing, community redevelopment, slum clearance, conservation, flood and beach erosion control, and air pollution control.
  • Adopt and enforce building and housing codes and regulations.
  • Prepare, enforce, and periodically review the Comprehensive Plan for the development of the unincorporated area of the county.
  • Provide cultural and recreational facilities and programs.

The County appoints the CountyAdministrator and assigns to the Administrator executive responsibilities and powers to implement its services. Under the direction of the CountyAdministrator, more than thirty departments and offices combine their efforts to provide county residents with needed services, information, and programs.

Constitutional Officers and the Judiciary are those County officials, other than the CountyCommissioners, who are elected by the voters. The Clerk & Comptroller, Property Appraiser, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, Public Defender, State Attorney, and Tax Collector are Constitutional Officers elected to serve four-year terms. Constitutional Officers establish the budgets for their offices, independent of the budget established for offices under the jurisdiction of the County; however, Constitutional Officers work in conjunction with CountyCommissioners in order to serve citizens of the county efficiently and cost-effectively.

1.4Functions of Clerk’s Office

As the third largest of the 67 Clerk’s offices in Florida, the Clerk serves a local population of over 1.2 million citizens. The Clerk’s nearly 800 employees perform more than 1,000 different functions and provide services from several locations and on the internet at The Florida Constitution establishes the Clerk & Comptroller as a public trustee, directly elected by the public to serve these major functions:

  1. as the county’s Chief Financial Officer and auditor,
  2. as the CountyRecorder and custodian of legal records,
  3. as the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the service and support center for the county’s court system, and
  4. as the Clerk to the Board of CountyCommissioners.

As the county’s Chief Financial Officer, the Clerk is the official “watchdog” of all county funds. In this function, the Clerk provides the necessary “checks and balances” on the county’s budget, revenue, and spending. The Clerk also invests and earns revenue on county funds to reduce the tax burden on the citizens of Palm BeachCounty. The county’s investment portfolio is more than $1.7 billion. The Clerk’s responsible administration of this function has made Palm BeachCounty one of only a handful of counties nationwide to earn a AAA bond rating.

As the CountyRecorder, the Clerk maintains and ensures the integrity of the Official Record Books of Palm Beach County dating back to 1909. Documents such as mortgages, deeds, liens, judgments, and marriage licenses are recorded and entered into a computer system that is available to the public.

As the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Clerk supports all of Palm BeachCounty’s criminal, civil, and juvenile courts by processing, recording, and filing documents such as lawsuits, traffic tickets, divorce agreements, wills, child support agreements, domestic violence petitions, and tenant evictions. The Clerk is responsible for safeguarding and protecting the integrity of all court records.

As the Clerk to the Palm Beach County Board of CountyCommissioners, the Clerk provides services to the Board such as preparing, maintaining, and making accessible the records of Palm Beach County Commission meetings and other government meetings. The Clerk also administers the Value Adjustment Board process.

1.5Project Background

The Clerk is responsible for administering the County’s payroll system, which is used by all County departments. The Clerk is also responsible for administering payroll for Clerk employees.

The County’s Integral payroll system was implemented 11 years ago. It uses mainframe technology, is costly to maintain, and is not user-friendly. By December 2008, the Countywill have migrated most other systems away from the mainframe.

The Clerk’s web-based ACS Banner HR/Finance system was implemented 10 years ago.

The Clerk is seeking an innovative, world-class Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that is designed to automate and integrate business processes, standardize common data and practices across the agency, provide uniform processes that are based on industry-recognized best business practices, leverage self-service to improve employee productivity and operational efficiency, meet audit and security compliance requirements, and eliminate need for mainframe support costs. With a modern ERP application, data would only need to be entered or updated once, reducing errors, time, and labor for reports, analysis, and planning. Ultimately, time and resources are shifted from inputting, organizing, and verifying data to innovation, problem solving, and direct service to customers.

1.6Purpose of the ITN

The County has an immediate need to retire its mainframe Integral payroll system. Thus, it is appropriate to implement a scalable Payroll/ERP solution to solve not only the County’s payroll needs, but also the needs of the Clerk’s HR, Benefits Administration, Payroll, and Finance departments.

As a first step towards implementation of a payroll system for the County and Clerk, and implementation of a ERP solution for the Clerk, the Clerk will select one software vendor with a product that addresses both the payroll needs of the County and Clerk and the ERP needs of the Clerk, that is scaleable, able to accommodate future needs, and that interfaces economically and efficiently with existing systems. A separate ITN or RFP may be issued to address software installation and implementation. This ITN is for software licenses and maintenance only.

The selected software vendor will offer a software maintenance cost reply for 5 years. The Clerk will give preference to replies that defer maintenance expenses until successful implementation of the software package. Clerk intends to negotiate the starting point of maintenance, as well as the effective date/purchase date of the contract for purchase of the software. Clerk prefers to delay the purchase and/or effective date of the software purchase for up to 6 months while the Clerk selects an implementation vendor. Clerk will give preference to replies that include a liquidated damage clause in the event vendor fails to timely deliver purchased software, as Clerk will contract with an implementation vendor in reliance on that delivery date.

There is no plan to purchase or implement a newCountyHRIS, Time and Attendance, HRMS (HR and Benefits Management), or AMS Advantage Finance system. These software systems are not in scope.

The Clerk is seeking replies from qualified software vendors. A qualified vendor is one with product that has been successfully implemented and utilized in organizations of comparable size and under comparable situations as those existing in Palm BeachCounty. The functionally rich, fully integrated ERP software application packagewill meet the following needs:

  • Replacement ofthe County’s existing mainframe Integral Payroll system.
  • Replacement ofthe Clerk’s existing ACS Banner HR, Benefits Administration, Payroll, and Finance systems.

1.7Scope of Work/Services

The following commodities and services are included in the scope of this ITN:

  1. Recommendation of Software Application Licenses to Purchase to Enable the FunctionalityDetailed within the Application Functionality Checklist Excel file. The sections include:
  2. Human Resources
  3. Absence Management
  4. Applicant Tracking
  5. Audit Tracking
  6. Certifications/Skills/Rewards Management
  7. Compensation/Classification
  8. Document Management
  9. Employee Data Management
  10. Form Management
  11. Learning Management
  12. Performance Evaluation
  13. Position Management
  14. Risk Management
  15. Self Service for Human Resources
  16. Standard Reports
  17. Volunteer Management
  18. Workforce Management
  19. Benefits
  20. Automated Open Enrollment
  21. Benefit Election and Administration
  22. COBRA Administration
  23. Deferred Compensation
  24. Exit Processing
  25. FMLA Administration
  26. FSA Administration
  27. HIPAA Certification
  28. Leave of Absence
  29. Self Service for Benefits (Active Employees and Retirees)
  30. Standard Reports
  31. Workers’ Compensation
  32. Payroll
  33. U.S. Payroll
  34. Self Service for Payroll
  35. Standard Reports
  36. Finance
  37. Budget Development and Management
  38. Expenditures and Disbursements
  39. Fixed Assets
  40. General Accounting
  41. Grant Accounting
  42. Investments/Cash Management
  43. Procurement
  44. Project Accounting
  45. Revenues & Receivables
  46. Self Service for Finance
  47. Standard Reports
  48. Information Technology
  49. Ad-hoc Reporting Tool
  50. Security Administration
  51. Standard Reports
  52. Workflow Administration

  1. Software Licensing Cost
  2. Provide details of one-time software licensing fees for the purchase of a perpetual license for unlimited concurrent users based on a population size of 8,000 to enable the functionality detailed within the Application Functionality Checklist Excel file. Provide replies for effective date of purchase, along with replies for liquidated damages in the event of failure to timely deliver product.
  3. Software Maintenance Cost for a Period of Five Years
  4. Provide details of five-year maintenance feesalong with replies for deferral of maintenance cost.

1.8Separate ITN for Implementation Services

At the conclusion of this ITN, after successful negotiation and finalization of a contract for an ERP software application package,the Clerk’s officeintends to issue a separate ITN for installation and implementation services for the selected ERP package.

Thisseparate ITNfor implementation services mayinclude project administration, software installation and certification, project team and end user training,system configuration and testing, interface design and development to relevant systems, and supplemental staffing services for successful implementation, through production cutover, of the ERP software procured under this ITN,and may include additional elements as determined at that time.

Qualified vendors, as defined in the Implementation Services ITNwill be invited to respond to the Implementation Services ITN by submitting a reply consistent with the terms and conditions set within the Implementation Services ITN. The Clerk reserves the unilateral right to decline to issue the proposed Implementation Services ITN and/or to modify the requirements for theImplementation Services ITN.

1.9Current Environment

For this ITN, the purchase of software licensing and maintenance based on a population size of 8,000 forthe following systems is in scope: the County’s mainframe Integral Payroll system andthe Clerk’s ACS Banner HR/Benefits/Payroll/Finance system.