COUNTY OF ALAMEDA
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL No. 900445
SPECIFICATIONS, TERMS & CONDITIONS
For
Workers’ Compensation Investigation Panel
NETWORKING/BIDDERS CONFERENCES
At
10:00 a.m.on
June 3, 2008
At
General Services Agency
1401 Lakeside Drive
Room 1107, 11th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612 / 2:00 p.m.
on
June 4, 2008
At
Dublin Public Library
200 Civic Plaza
Program Room
Dublin, CA 94568
For complete information regarding this project see RFP posted at http://www.acgov.org/jsp_app/gsa/purchasing/bid_content/contractopportunities.jsp or contact the person listed below. Thank you for your interest!
Contact Person: Dorian Makres, Contract Specialist II
Phone Number: 510-208-9605
Email Address:
RESPONSE DUE
By
2:00 p.m.
On
July 21, 2008
At
Alameda County, GSA-Purchasing
1401 Lakeside Drive, Suite 907
Oakland, CA 94612
1401 Lakeside Drive, SUITE 907, Oakland, California 94612
510 208 9600 FAX 510 208 9626 www.acgov.org/gsa
COUNTY OF ALAMEDA
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL No. 900445
SPECIFICATIONS, TERMS & CONDITIONS
for
Workers’ Compensation Investigation Panel
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 2 of 2
COUNTY OF ALAMEDA
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL No. 900445
SPECIFICATIONS, TERMS & CONDITIONS
For
Workers’ Compensation Investigation Panel
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 1 of 2
Page
I. ACRONYM AND TERM GLOSSARY 3
II. STATEMENT OF WORK
A. Intent 4
B. Scope 4
C. Background 4
D. Specific Requirements 5
E. Debarment and Suspension 7
F. Deliverables / Reports 7
III. INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS
G. County Contacts 8
H. Calendar of Events 9
I. Networking/Bidders Conference 9
J. Submittal of Bids 10
K. Response Format 12
L. Evaluation Criteria/Selection Committee 12
M. Contract Evaluation and Assessment 16
N. Notice of Award 16
O. Bid Protest / Appeals Process 17
IV. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
P. Term / Termination / Renewal 18
Q. Quantities 18
R. Pricing 18
S. Award 19
T. Method of Ordering 20
U. Invoicing 20
V. County Provisions 21
W. Online Contract Compliance Management System 24
X. Compliance Information and Records 25
Y. Account Manager/Support Staff 25
Z. General Requirements 26
ATTACHMENTS
Exhibit A – Acknowledgement
Exhibit B – Bid Form
Exhibit C – Insurance Requirements
Exhibit D1 – Current References
Exhibit D2 – Former References
Exhibit E – SLEB Certification Application Package
Exhibit F – Small and Local Business Subcontracting Information
Exhibit G – Request for Small and Local or Emerging Preference
Exhibit H – First Source Agreement
Exhibit I – Exceptions, Clarifications, Amendments
Exhibit J – Standard Agreement Contract Draft
Exhibit K – Intentionally Omitted
Exhibit L – RFP Vendor Bid List
Exhibit M – Response/Content Submittal; Completeness Check List
Exhibit N – Debarment and Suspension Certification
Specifications, Terms & Conditions
for Workers’ Compensation Investigation Panel
I. ACRONYM AND TERM GLOSSARY
AOE/COE / Shall mean Arising out Of Employment/Course Of EmploymentACERA / Shall refer to the Alameda County Employees Retirement Association
Bid / Shall mean the bidders’/contractors’ response to this Request
Bidder / Shall mean the specific person or entity responding to this RFP
Board / Shall refer to the County of Alameda Board of Supervisors
Cal/PERS / Shall refer to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System
CSAC-EIA / Shall refer to the California State Association of Counties - Excess Insurance Authority
CSC / Shall refer to County Selection Committee
Contractor / When capitalized, shall refer to selected bidder that is awarded a contract
County / When capitalized, shall refer to the County of Alameda
DA / Shall refer to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office
DCA / Shall refer to Department of Consumer Affairs
DOI / Shall refer to Date of Injury
FD1 / Shall refer to Fraudulent Claim Referral Form 1
GPS / Shall refer to Global Positioning Satellite
LC / L.C. / Shall refer to California Labor Code
Proposal / Shall mean bidder/contractor response to this RFP
Request for Proposal / Shall mean this document, which is the County of Alameda’s request for contractors’/bidders’ proposal to provide the services being solicited herein. Also referred herein as RFP
Response / Shall refer to bidder’s proposal or quotation submitted in reply to RFP
RFP / Request for Proposal
RFQ / Request for Quotation
SIU / Shall refer to Special Investigation Unit
Sub-rosa / Shall refer to confidential investigations
RMU / Shall refer to the Alameda County Risk Management Unit
SLEB / Shall refer to Small Local Emerging Business
State / Shall refer to State of California, its departments and/or agencies
TPA / Shall refer to the County’s retained Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administrator
WC / Shall refer to workers’ compensation
WCAB / Shall refer to the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board
II. STATEMENT OF WORK
A. INTENT
The County of Alameda (County) is seeking qualified and competent outside Workers’ Compensation investigators to provide investigation services for its self-insured workers compensation program. The County will contract with two or more Contractors and the selected Contractors will enter into a one (1) year service agreement with four (4) 1-year extensions by mutual agreement. Performance of contractors will be evaluated after each year.
It is the intent of these specifications and terms and conditions to describe the required services to be provided by the successful bidder for the County’s workers’ compensation self-insured program.
B. SCOPE
The County administers its workers’ compensation claims through a Third Party Administrator (TPA). The County self-insures its workers’ compensation claims for the first $3,000,000 per incident. Excess insurance is purchased through the California State Association of Counties - Excess Insurance Authority (CSAC-EIA).
Investigation shall be handled by a panel of investigators in coordination with the County’s Risk Management Unit (RMU) and the TPA. Assignments will be done only where necessary and with written referral from the TPA describing the services needed and contact information. These services may consist of AOE/COE investigation, activity check, subrogation, surveillance/sub rosa and background checks. The County refers approximately two hundred and fifty (250) cases per year.
C. BACKGROUND
Approximately 9,200 full-time and part-time employees (including public safety employees) are covered by the County workers' compensation program in fiscal year (FY) 2007-08. Full-time employees and eligible part-time employees are members of the Alameda County Employees Retirement Association (ACERA), a 1937 Act retirement system. Fire Department employees are members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Cal/PERS).
Public safety personnel are afforded salary continuation benefits under Labor Code §4850. There are approximately 1,900 safety employees in the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Probation Department and Fire Department.
D. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
1. Vendor Services
Contractor shall provide all labor, material, and equipment required to perform all services under the workers’ compensation laws of the State of California. County-specific services shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
a. Contractor must posses a current private investigators license in accordance with the California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA).
b. Contractor shall be experienced in investigating workers’ compensation claims and be familiar with the California Labor Code, recent Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) and court decisions. While not required, the County desires investigators assigned to County cases to possess a minimum of 3 years of sworn law enforcement experience.
c. Contractor is expected to use the highest level of honor and integrity in accordance will all laws striving to avoid the appearance of unethical or compromising practices in relationships, actions or communications.
d. Contractor is expected to perform investigations in a timely manner and in accordance with the circumstances, rules of evidence, and laws of California.
e. The County and TPA anticipate the ultimate use of the Contractor’s product as evidence in legal proceedings, and, therefore, request that no action to be taken that would reflect inappropriately upon the County or its TPA.
f. Contractor shall not attempt to induce the employee to perform physical activities, commit any illegal acts, trespass on the employee’s property or attempt to secure confidential medical information without legal authorization from the employee.
g. Contractor shall not initiate any communication with represented employees without written instruction or authorization from the employee’s attorney or from the TPA.
h. Contractor shall not obtain audio recording of any interviews without the employee’s consent.
i. Contractor will not be paid for overnight stays without prior approval from the County and TPA.
j. Contractor performing activity checks or surveillance/sub rosa shall obtain a copy of the employee’s photo prior to the assignment. Information requested should include employee’s correct address, reported restrictions and injured body parts.
k. Contractor shall retain copies of recorded statements and/or surveillance / sub rosa tapes for 5 years and return to the County at contract termination.
2. Technology
a. Contractor shall have commonly available technology such as night-vision generation 3 lenses, a 24/7 real time Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system, video streaming, wireless video-recording systems and other technology to view subjects remotely.
b. Contractor should operate from fully-equipped surveillance vehicles, backed by state of the art camera and video technology to capture clear images both in the field and indoors.
c. The County and TPA should be able to view surveillance through video streaming.
3. Fraud
a. Contractor shall support the County’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU) in compliance with DOI (Department of Insurance) requirements upon request.
b. Upon request, Contractor shall evaluate claim files for suspicious activity, make recommendations for further investigation, and coordinate the referral of suspected fraudulent claims to prosecuting agencies. A copy of the Fraudulent Claim Referral Form 1 (FD1) should be sent to the County RMU and its TPA when fraud is suspected.
c. Upon request the Contractor shall be responsible for packaging cases referred to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (DA) for fraud prosecution. The packaged cases shall be in a format acceptable by the local DA.
d. Contractor shall provide training for the County on fraud related matters and assist the TPA and County departments to identify triggers for reporting potentially fraudulent claims to the SIU and to the DOI Fraud Division.
4. Audit
a. The County reserves the right to audit Contractor’s records related to any County case. The audit applies to all matters referred by or handled on behalf of the County.
b. The County reserves the right to seek reimbursement for services or costs for invoices inappropriately billed or paid at time of billing or after an audit.
E. DEBARMENT/SUSPENSION POLICY
In order to prohibit the procurement of any goods or services ultimately funded by Federal awards from debarred, suspended or otherwise excluded parties, each bidder will be screened at the time of RFP response to ensure bidder, its principle and their named subcontractors are not debarred, suspended or otherwise excluded by the United States Government in compliance with the requirements of 7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3016.35, 28 CFR 66.35, 29 CFR 97.35, 34 CFR 80.35, 45 CFR 92.35 and Executive Order 12549.
· The County will verify bidder, its principle and their named subcontractors are not on the Federal debarred, suspended or otherwise excluded list of vendors located at www.epls.gov; and
· Bidders are to complete a Debarment and Suspension Certification form, Exhibit N attached, certifying bidder, its principle and their named subcontractors are not debarred, suspended or otherwise excluded by the United States Government.
F. DELIVERABLE / REPORTS
1. Contractor shall acknowledge receipt of an assignment within 24 hours of receiving the referral either by electronic mail or mail to the TPA with a copy to the County.
2. Contractor shall send an investigation report within 14 days of receipt of assignment. The report shall be e-mailed in MS Word or PDF format to the TPA with a copy to the County. A hard copy with attachments, photos, recording or video should be sent by mail to the TPA only.
3. Contractor performing a field AOE/COE investigation shall obtain a photo of the employee and, if noted, a photo of the area where the injury occurred. The photos shall be attached to the contractors’ report.
4. Contractor shall obtain prior written authorization from the TPA, before performing additional services, if the cost of investigation is expected to go beyond the normal charges and/or over $1,500 per claimant.
5. Contractor shall summarize each investigation and give recommendations for further investigation, if any. Contractor shall not give an opinion regarding compensability.
6. Contractor shall maintain appropriate records of services provided and shall ensure the confidentiality of such files in accordance with the practices customary in the industry and required by the State.
III. INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS
G. COUNTY CONTRACTS
GSA-Purchasing is managing the competitive process for this project on behalf of the County. All contact during the competitive process is to be through the GSA-Purchasing Department only.
The evaluation phase of the competitive process shall begin upon receipt of sealed bids until a contract has been awarded. Bidders shall not contact or lobby evaluators during the evaluation process. Attempts by Bidder to contact evaluators may result in disqualification of bidder.
All questions regarding these specifications, terms and conditions are to be submitted in writing, preferably via e-mail by 2:00 p.m., May 31, 2008 to:
Dorian Makres, Contracts Specialist II
Alameda County, GSA-Purchasing
1401 Lakeside Drive, Suite 907
Oakland, CA 94612
E-Mail:
PHONE: 510-208-9605
FAX: 510-208-9626
The GSA Contracting Opportunities website will be the official notification posting place of all Requests for Interest, Proposals, Quotes and Addenda. Go to http://www.acgov.org/gsa/purchasing/bid_content/ContractOpportunities.jsp to view current contracting opportunities.
H. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Request Issued / May 12, 2008
Written Questions Due / May 31, 2008
Networking/Bidders Conference/Site Visit / June 3, 2008 @ 10:00am / AT: General Services Agency
1401 Lakeside Drive
Room 1107, 11th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Networking/Bidders Conference/Site Visit / June 4, 2008 @ 2:00pm / AT: Dublin Public Library
200 Civic Plaza
Program Room
Dublin, CA 94568
Addendum Issued / July 3, 2008
Response due / July 21, 2008
Evaluation Period / August 8-22, 2008
Vendor Interviews / August 21-22, 2008
Board Letter Issued / September 19, 2008
Board Award Date / October 7, 2008
Contract Start Date / January 1, 2009
Note: Award and start dates are approximate.