REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
FOR SERVICES RELATED TO THE
PERFORMANCE OF A DISPARITY STUDY
FOR THE
NORTHEAST OHIO REGIONAL SEWER DISTRICT’S
SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAM
September 2008
DEADLINE
Proposal Due Date: October 20, 2008 by 4:30 p.m. EST
Pre-Proposal Questions: Submit in writing to Katarina K. Waag, Assistant Director of Law, no later than October 10, 2008
Submit Proposals To: Katarina K. Waag
Assistant Director of Law
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
Department of Law
3900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
Submit: Submit one (1) printed original proposal and five (5) copies, plus one (1) copy on CD-ROM using MS Word document file format or Adobe Acrobat format.
FEE PROPOSAL ON COST SUMMARY FORM SHALL BE SUBMITTED IN A SEPARATE, CLEARLY LABELED AND SEALED ENVELOPE. DO NOT SUBMIT COST SUMMARY WITH PROPOSAL
RFP GUIDELINES
The RFP Guidelines section defines the: 1) selection process; 2) process for entering into an agreement; 3) schedule; 4) submission requirements; and 5) proposal format that will be utilized in submitting the proposal.
1) Selection Process
An Evaluation Team, described later in this RFP, will review and evaluate all properly submitted proposals that are received on or before the deadline date. Proposals will be evaluated based upon the following evaluation criteria:
· Proposal conforms to RFP requirements. Emphasis will be on whether the proposal demonstrates an understanding of the project scope and the District’s needs and requirements as specified in the RFP. The District will also evaluate the proposal presentation package for conciseness, organization and professional appearance.
· Required contract forms as specified in the RFP. The District will reject incomplete proposals.
· Prime and subconsultants' general experience and qualifications with performing Disparity Studies related to Small-, Minority-, and Women-owned Business Enterprise subcontracting programs.
· Project Management experience
· Project approach
· Technical competency and approach
· Project references
· Financial stability
· Project Manager’s overall project team qualifications
· Demonstrating that the Project Management Team has local presence. Does the Project Manager have a local office?
· Project Management Team’s organizational structure and background information
Short-listed finalists will be required to:
· Provide a presentation on how its Project Team, its organization, and its proposal best meets the District’s requirements and needs as specified in the RFP. The successful, short-listed Project Managers will receive further presentation details after the short-list has been established.
The District reserves the right to ask for additional information and clarification from or about any or all of the candidates and their team members.
Presentations will be evaluated based on the following evaluation criteria:
· Presentation quality and organization
· Project approach
· Technical approach
· Proposal demonstrates understanding of the District’s needs and requirements as stated in the RFP
· Fee proposal
The District reserves the right to require the selected candidate to make individual or entity substitutions on the proposed Project Management Team, to create the best qualified Project Management Team as deemed in the best interest of the District.
2) Process for Entering into an Agreement
The selected Consultant will be offered the opportunity to enter into an Agreement with the District. The scope, terms and conditions of that Agreement shall be in substantial conformance with the District’s standard contract terms, conditions, and incorporating the specifications described in this RFP and the proposal submitted by the Consultant.
The Consultant must be prepared to immediately begin contract negotiations upon notification of the award. If the Consultant is not able to begin contract negotiations, the District will disqualify the selected Consultant and begin negotiations with another Consultant-candidate.
The District reserves the right to negotiate the contract to include any portion(s) of this project. The District also reserves the right to retain or not to retain the Consultant for additional services required to assist with the implementation of this project. Should the Consultant, for any reason, be unable to finalize the contract, the District reserves the right to enter into contract negotiations with another Consultant-candidate.
The District shall not be responsible for any costs incurred in relation to the preparation of the proposals, or regarding presentations and/or interviews. The District reserves the right to reject all proposals.
3) Schedule
The following is the proposed schedule of the major milestones in the RFP process. The District reserves the right to modify the schedule, as needed based on unforeseen events or organizational need.
1. September 24, 2008 RFP Posted to Internet and
mailed to potential consultants
2. October 10, 2008 Pre-Proposal Questions Deadline
3. October 20, 2008 Proposals due to the District by 4:30 p.m. EST
4. October 31, 2008 Notify short-listed Consultants and schedule presentations at the District
5. November 3-14, 2008 Presentations. Short-listed Consultants will be asked to present during this timeframe.
6. November 21, 2008 District will notify selected Consultant
7. November/December Contract negotiations
The District may make follow-up calls to the Consultant for clarifications and to schedule presentations at anytime during the evaluation period from October 21, 2008 through November 14, 2008. Any questions received from Consultants prior to the proposal submittal deadline will be answered and distributed to all Consultant-candidates. For the period bounded by the receipt of proposals until final notification, no additional questions will be entertained.
4) Contacts and RFP Submission Requirements
All questions regarding the content of this document should be received in writing no later than 4:30 p.m. EST on October 10, 2008 and should be directed to:
Katarina K. Waag
Assistant Director of Law
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
Department of Law
3900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
E-mail:
Phone: 216-881-6600 ext. 6828
The RFP is designed to elicit a comprehensive and detailed proposal from prospective consulting firms.
PROJECT MANAGERS submitting Proposals in response to and consistent with this Request for Proposal must submit one (1) printed original and five (5) copies plus one (1) copy on CD ROM using MS Word document format or Adobe Acrobat format.
While each proposal will be considered objectively, the District assumes no obligation to accept or take action on any proposal. The District assumes no liability for Consultants’ costs incurred in preparing or submitting a proposal in response to this RFP.
5) Proposal Format
The Consultant shall develop a written response to this RFP, structured to show a clear understanding of the Scope of Services. The following sections will provide the format that the RFP responses must follow to be considered in the evaluation process:
- Section 1 Management Letter
- Section 2 Consultant Background and Experience
- Section 3 Consultant Disparity Study Experience
- Section 4 Project Management Team Resumes
- Section 5 Management Summary
- Section 6 Work Plan and Timetable
- Section 7 Potential Conflicts of Interest
- Section 8 List any Subconsultants that will be utilized
- Appendices As deemed necessary by the Consultant
Required Submittals:
· Consultant’s Proposal
· Fee Proposal on Cost Summary Form - TO BE SUBMITTED IN A SEPARATE, SEALED ENVELOPE
· Vendor Information Form
· IRS Form W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification-This form can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf
All sections must be submitted in a Microsoft Word format or Adobe Acrobat format. The contents of each of these sections are described in more detail below. Contract Compliance Forms need to be provided with a signed original hard copy only sealed in an envelope.
The Proposal shall not exceed 50 pages, excluding resumes and required forms.
INTRODUCTION
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (the “District”) is a regional sewer district, a political subdivision of the State of Ohio under Chapter 6119 of the Ohio Revised Code. The District’s Board of Trustees has authorized the District to create a new, race- and gender-neutral Small Business Enterprise (“SBE”) Program beginning in January 2009, similar to programs recently established by the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners.
In 1989, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469 (1989), which established the legal standards that state and local entities must satisfy to justify establishing a preference program aimed at increasing female and minority participation in the local procurement process. Following Croson, from 1992 through 2008, the District had a Minority Business Enterprise (“MBE”) and Women Business Enterprise (“WBE”) Subcontracting Program under which subcontracting utilization goals were established for professional services and construction contracts. The subcontracting goals were typically set at 15% MBE and 5% WBE participation, based upon the findings of a disparity study conducted in 1992 by A.D. Jackson Consultants, Inc. A copy of the disparity study is included as Attachment A.
The purpose of this Request for Proposals is to enable the District to enter into a contract with a qualified law firm or consultant to advise District staff, coordinate a study team, supervise a disparity study, and produce a report that examines and analyzes the procurement policies and practices of the District and its prime contractors with regard to minority and female vendors of goods and services, professional services, and construction contracts.
The goal of the disparity study is to determine whether there exists a statistically significant disparity between the number of qualified minority and/or female-owned businesses that are willing and able to provide the goods and services sought by the District through its procurement process and the number of such businesses that have actually received contract awards from the District or received contracts from its prime contractors. The disparity study must supplement this statistical analysis with relevant and reliable anecdotal information.
The disparity study will also be used to determine if a legal predicate exists to support a Small Business Enterprise program that includes MBE/WBE set-aside goals, either as prime contractors or subcontractors, under the standards established in Croson. The Consultant will also be responsible for carefully analyzing the proposed Small Business Enterprise Program policies and procedures and recommending any revisions that are suggested by the study. A copy of the District’s Small Business Enterprise Program policies and procedures are included in Attachment B.
In all of the tasks listed below, the consultant shall work cooperatively with the District’s Contract Compliance Manager, Purchasing Manager, Department of Law, department directors, Board members, and other consultants hired in furtherance of the Small Business Enterprise Program.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
TASK 1. DISPARITY STUDY
This task shall consist of gathering and analyzing data relative to the prior five (5) year period necessary to perform a disparity study to determine whether and to the extent that MBEs and WBEs are actively and passively being subjected to discrimination in the District’s marketplace and by the District in the awarding of District contracts. The study must supplement a statistical analysis with relevant and reliable anecdotal information. The study will be used to determine if a legal predicate exists to support an SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE program that includes MBE/WBE subcontracting set-aside goals under Croson, and to recommend any revisions to the District’s Small Business Enterprise Program that are suggested by the study. A copy of the District’s former MBE/WBE policy and authorizing resolution are included as Attachment B.
The consultant shall provide the District with a detailed report outlining the proposed disparity study methodology based on the data available and the type of information necessary to defend the District in the event of legal challenges to its program. Such report shall be provided within thirty (30) days after receiving the District’s notice to proceed.
Services required under this task include:
· Identifying the District’s geographical marketplace.
· Classifying the types and categories of contracts entered into by the District (the “Contracting Areas”).
· Assessing the composition and demographics of commercial businesses located within the District’s marketplace in the relevant Contracting Areas.
· Assessing the availability of businesses within the District’s marketplace within the various Contracting Areas for the purpose of establishing SBE, MBE, and/or WBE participation goals.
TASK 2. DISPARITY STUDY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This task will focus on presenting the findings of the disparity study and submitting recommendations to the District to structure its Small Business Enterprise program so that it is both legally defensible and maximizes the use of SBEs, MBEs, and/or WBEs. The Consultant must be able to identify all relevant legal criteria that the District must satisfy to implement and maintain a race- or gender-conscious procurement program. The Consultant must also be able to demonstrate that it applied the data collected during the study to those legal criteria and advise the District as to whether there is adequate legal justification under Croson to include MBE/WBE subcontracting set-aside goals in its Small Business Enterprise program.
Services required under this task include:
· Providing a complete first draft of the disparity study within 150 days after receiving the District’s final comments on the selected methodology.
· Delivering a final draft of the disparity study within thirty (30) days after receiving the District’s comments on the first draft.
· Providing written certification that as of the study’s completion date, the study team has accounted for the legal criteria governing the inclusion of MBE/WBE subcontracting participation goals in the District’s Small Business Enterprise program.
· Preparing any additional written reports requested demonstrating the validity of the methods used to gather and analyze data, the manner in which the study was performed, and the findings and recommendations resulting from the disparity study.
· Making written and oral reports and attending meetings and work sessions with the District’s Board of Trustees, Executive Director, and department directors and staff, as directed.
· Preparing and delivering public testimony to the District’s Board of Trustees concerning the findings and conclusions in the final report.
· Identifying any race- and gender-neutral measures that would be effective in increasing MBE and WBE participation on District projects and to what degree the District can reach its goal through such measures.