RFP 2017 1390 Addendum No

AC TRANSIT DISTRICT PURCHASING DEPARTMENT REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS NO. 2017-1390 TEMPORARY PERSONNEL SERVICES ADDENDUM NO...

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AC TRANSIT DISTRICT PURCHASING DEPARTMENT

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS NO. 2017-1390

TEMPORARY PERSONNEL SERVICES ADDENDUM NO. 1 The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (the “District”) issues this Addendum No. 1 to RFP-1390. Except as modified below, all other terms and conditions shall remain in effect. Strikethrough texts are words deleted from original RFP text and bold/italicized/underlined texts are changes to original RFP text. Amendments to Face Page NONE Amendments to the Proposal Requirements Section 3 – Proposed Timeline PROPOSAL STAGE RFP Issued Pre-Proposal Conference

DATE June 2, 2017 June 13, 2017

Deadline for written questions and requests for clarification First Addendum Proposal Due Contract Award

June 16, 2017 July 6, 2017 July 28, 2017 August September, 2017

Amendments to General Contractual Conditions: NONE (with the understanding that the District is amenable to reasonable contract modifications, as further discussed below). Amendments to the Contract Requirements (Sample Contract) NONE (with the same understanding). Answers to Questions Received 1.

Question: Can I get an idea of last year’s usage and expectation of this year’s usage.? Answer: This year was roughly $2 million spent on temporary employees, and next year will most likely be less, but most likely not less than $1 million.

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2.

Question: We are certified by Alameda County Transportation Commission as a local and small local business enterprise and Department of Services (DGS) has also certified our firm as a small business. Are these certifications acceptable to AC Transit to earn 5 points on this proposal? Answer: If the certification in question reflects a business address within the geographical boundaries of the Transit District, yes.

3.

Question: How can I go about acquiring a copy of the winning bid or contract from the previous Temporary Employment Services RFP? It will be a great resource, especially in making sure that we are able to take into account the historical pay rates. Answer: There were five proposals selected for contract award in connection with the District’s previous RFP (2013-1229) copies of these proposals (and/or the resulting contracts) will be made available upon request.

4.

Question: Is there any Incumbent on this contract? If Yes, How many vendors are currently supporting this contract? Answer: Yes, we are extending contracts with 2 incumbent firms: Robert Half International and Wollborg-Michelson.

5.

Question: What is the historical expenditures/volume for this contract? Answer: FY 2016 (July 2015 – June 2016) was roughly $1.6 million, FY 2017 was about $2 million.

6.

Question: Can you please share the budget approved for the work to be done as a part of this bid? Answer: The District can only speak to prior expenses. The District has some money allocated to temporary budget, but much less than expenditures. Some managers charge to project, which are a part of the budget, but not specifically budgeted for. This year’s expenditure was roughly $ 2 million.

7.

Question: Will this solicitation have multiple awards or single? Answer: Multiple awards.

8.

Question: What specific skills do AC Transit need tested. (i.e., Word, Excel, Powerpoint)? Some technical skills are soft skills so unable to do specific skill testing. Also at the IT/Engineering level what are the expectations for testing at this level or Sr. Level roles, Accounting, etc. Answer: The District is looking for Word, Excel, etc. for administrative positions. The District is aware that professional positions are difficult to 2

test, but would expect very extensive phone screening to ensure the candidates have the skills necessary. 9.

Question: What percentage of the temporary workforce is converted to AC Transit employee? Answer: We are a public agency, and temporary employees have to apply and compete in a recruitment process. This only happens if there is a vacancy.

10.

Question: How many temporary employees were converted to A. C. Transit’s payroll during the life of the contract? Answer: Unknown.

11.

Question: Will temporary employees pay union dues? Answer: No, the employees won’t. The District is asking the temporary agencies to pay for their dues as a part of their service to us.

12.

Question: Can a residence address qualify (as a Small Local Business Entity) if the owner’ lives within the AC Transit service area? Answer: If you are certified as a small business and the certification in question reflects an address for the business within the geographical boundaries of the Transit District, yes.

13.

Question: Will a formal testing procedure be required for professional level temporary workers? Answer: Only if it will provide value. The District is expecting testing for administrative positions.

14.

Question: With regard to Section (Page 8) of the RFP, where it is stated: “Describe how the District would be branded to potential candidates.” Do you want us to advertise the contract upon award? Please elaborate what information you want us to present under this section. Answer: No, the District would like to know how the temporary agency is going to sell AC Transit to candidates.

15.

Question: Please indicate how many awards the District intends to make. Answer: The District is looking at 5 or more awards possibly, depending on the RFP response.

16.

Question: How much did the District spend last year for the temp services to be covered by the envisioned contract? Answer: Please see the response to Question 5 above. 3

17.

Question: Can you please let us know how many vendors are currently engaged for these services? Also can you provide the names of the vendors providing similar services? Answer: See the previous response to Question 4.

18.

Question: Can you please confirm what the current markup and/or Rates charged by the vendors for similar services? Answer: This depends on the position and the candidates. Currently, the District does not provide this information.

19.

Question: Do you want us to present sample resumes of the candidates as a part of our response? Answer: If you think that it will provide support to your RFP, please do so.

20.

Question: Do you have a diversity goal? If so, what is it? Answer: The contracts to be awarded will not require the setting of any particular diversity goals.

21.

Question: With regard to the Reference Questionnaire, please clarify: do we need to give the reference of 2 clients and one bank under this section? Answer: No, the District would prefer 3 client references. No bank information is necessary.

22.

Question: Again, referring to the Reference Questionnaire, it says “Attach City, County, State Business License(s), Permit(s) copies to include dates and geographic areas of operation.” Please can you clarify what licenses are mandatory under this section? Answer: The District would like to ensure that you are an actual business. A business license from the State of California will suffice.

23.

Question: With regard to Form No. 2 (Price Proposal), there are several rows where no job positions are given in Form No. 2. Do you want us to provide additional positions that we can support in this section? Answer: If you have any other positions that would be relevant to the District, please include them.

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Question: Again, referring to the Price Proposal form: Do you want us to provide a range of the pay rates where it says “Hourly Rates –Low” and “Hourly Rates – High”? Answer: Yes, please provide your general range. The rate will differ based on experience and other factors of the candidate. 4

25.

Question: We assume no team/resource resumes are to be submitted as a part of the proposal. Please confirm. Answer: The District is looking for resumes because it would like to know that the account managers and recruiters that are working on the account are experienced. If you’d like to submit a team resume, please do so, but please be sure to highlight your team members’ experience.

26.

Question: Page 48, in Information Technology- Are these the only roles you would require vendor services for, or these are just few sample roles only. Answer: These are typical common roles that we need. The list is not comprehensive, but rather are sample roles.

27.

Question: Page 48, It would be great if District can share job description for each of required skill set. Answer: All of our job descriptions are on our website, under www.ACTransit.org>Careers>Job Specs.

28.

Question: Page 48 – What is the key technology environment at District? Answer: PeopleSoft (HR and Finance Modules) and Microsoft Office (Office 365) are our main enterprise software programs.

29.

Question: What was your last year’s expenditure with similar contract in Information technology category? Answer: Roughly $1 million for IT temporary workers.

30.

Question: How many vendors are in your current vendor pool? Can we ask details of same please ? Answer: Please see the response to Question 4 above.

31.

Question: What is the allocated budget for the year for Information technology category? Answer: The District doesn’t really have allocated budget, but estimated expenses are in the $500,000 range.

32.

Question: Regarding the Audit Requirements (Page 13), do we have to submit some financial documents as a part of a responsive proposal? Answer: If you believe this will provide value to your RFP, please do so.

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33.

Question: Page 19 says “Contractor shall provide the District with qualified personnel on an as-needed basis in a timely manner, usually within one to two business days of the District’s request.” a. Does this mean vendor has to meet the above stated timeline for providing resource to district? Answer: It would be an ideal timeline, especially if a firm has a pipeline of candidates. If a firm knows that that timeline is unrealistic, then they would need to provide information on when they believe that they can provide candidates. b. It’s not practical to meet the above stated timelines for providing quality resource/ services. The availability of resources depends on multiple factors like location, role, skill set etc. We request district to relax these timeline a bit for best vendor support. Answer: See the answer above. A firm needs to communicate well with AC Transit so that we have a realistic expectation.

34.

Question: Who are the current vendors and what are their current markups? Answer: Please see the previous response to Question 4.

35.

Question: What is the estimated annual budget? Answer: Expenditures this year were $2 million.

36.

Question: Based on the pre proposal meeting, AC Transit is going to identify multitude number of agencies to be awarded the contract. As part of the Q&A, it was discussed that AC Transit openings will be provided to the awarded agencies without specific basis of delegations. a. Is it fair to assume that even if the agency is awarded the contract, that agency will still have to compete for the open positions based on the overall value of the candidate represented? Answer: Yes, value of the candidate and responsiveness of the firm will be important. b. After the awarding of the contract to multiple agencies. Will there be any preference to the awarded small business agencies against the bigger agencies when filling the open positions requested by AC Transit? Answer: No.

37.

Question: Has AC Transit identified the number of agencies that will be awarded the contract? 6

Answer: The District is hoping to award 5 or more based on the response to the RFP. There will be specialized ones and general firms. 38.

Question: How much funds did AC Transit appropriate for the last 3 years on temporary help? Answer: The District does not budget for temporary help. Our expenditures were roughly $3.5 million over the last three years.

39.

Question: Who are the current incumbent(s) and what are the total expenditures? Answer: Please see the previous response to Question 4.

40.

Question: Can you please provide the current markups for each category for each of the vendors now servicing AC Transit? Answer: That information is currently unavailable.

41.

Question: Regarding Section 1C (Page 11) Payrolling Mark-Up: a.

In the past two years, how many times has the District provided candidates to temporary staffing services for payrolling mark up? Answer: Roughly one in ten requests is a payrolling situation.

b.

What were the job classifications for those referred candidates? Answer: Some are administrative, some are professional. It depends on the need.

c. When the District provides candidates to temporary staffing services for payrolling mark up, does it always select the service with the lowest payrolling mark-up rate, or will the district select a temporary staffing vendor for payrolling of referred candidates using some other criteria besides cost of markup? Answer: It usually is based on pricing of payroll mark up and whether the firm has provided good service to AC Transit in the past. d. The RFP states that no effort or resources of the temporary staffing service need to be utilized to search and present the candidates for the District. But will the District require that the temporary staffing service conduct reference checks and and/or a background checks on these referred candidates? Answer: Yes, temporary services firms will need to perform background checks and reference checks.

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42.

Question: [Page 23 of RFP (Item 6, Payrolling): This paragraph states, “If the District is providing a candidate to the Contractor for placement in a temporary position at the District, the Contractor shall provide a reduced markup.” a.

Does the District mandate the amount of the markup reduction for candidates provided by the District? If so, what is the reduction in markup?

Answer: The District is asking firms to provide a reduced mark up. b.

If the District does not mandate the amount of markup reduction for candidates provided by the District, should bidders propose a markup for payrolling in the Price Proposal Form? If so, should bidders create an additional column for payrolling mark-up?

Answer: Yes, please feel free to do so. 43.

Question: Regarding Page 11 of RFP (item 2(a), Hourly Rates): Please explain the significance of the hourly pay ranges bidders are to supply in the Price Proposal Form: a.

Will bidders receive a higher score in the Cost component of the evaluation if bidders submit pay ranges lower than other competing bidders? (For example, if two bidders propose identical markups but one of the bidders submits lower hourly pay ranges across the board, will the bidder with the lower hourly pay ranges receive a higher score in the Cost component of the criteria?) Answer: Yes; in the scenario described, the proposal reflecting lower hourly rates would receive a proportionally higher score on the cost component of the evaluation than the proposal reflecting higher hourly rates, notwithstanding the identical markup. Nevertheless, the markup remains relevant to the overall cost analysis.

b.

Will bidders be bound to the highest pay rates (for each classification) indicated in their Price Proposal Forms? Answer: A successful proposer would be bound by the contract it ultimately signs, which will likely contain a clause capping any annual increase in rates to the Consumer Price Index for all urban workers in the S.F. Bay Area.

c. This item of the RFP (on page 12) indicates that pay rates shall not exceed the hourly rate of District Employees performing similar job duties. So for each the hourly pay rate for District Employees that cannot be exceeded by temporary employees performing similar job duties? Answer: This refers to total compensation. An hourly rate of a District employee is high because of benefits, pension costs, paid time off, etc., 8

and so a temporary employee should not be higher than the total cost of a District employee on an hourly basis. d. Also, in the Pre-Proposal Conference, the District indicated that the hourly pay rate for District Employees did not include some of the valuable benefits provided to District Employees. Please clarify what that means and if/how this will affect the maximum pay rate for temporary employees under each classification? Answer: This means total compensation of District employees. District employees have benefits, pension, paid time off, etc., which drive their total hourly rate up. A temporary employee cannot make more on an hourly basis than a similarly situated District employee. Our total compensation rates are very generous, and so it would be difficult for a temporary employee to exceed them. e.

We want to understand the significance of CPI adjustments and how it will affect the amount we can pay our temporary employees. Please explain how the CPI adjustments affect pay rates for temporary staffing services. ) Does an adjustment in the CPI: (i) increase (or decrease) the upper pay range provided on a bidders Price Proposal Form, (ii) increase (or decrease) the hourly pay rate for regular District Employees that cannot be exceeded for temporary employees, and/or (iii) increase (or decrease) the hourly rate the District considers reasonable for a specific position when it submits a placement request to a temporary staffing services? Answer: Under the contracts that resulted from our last competitive solicitation (RFP 2013-1229), the contractor temp agency is permitted to increase rates “across the board” once annually (upon the anniversary of the original contract date) in accordance with the annual CPI for the S.F. Bay Area.

44.

Question: Regarding Page 22 of RFP (Item 2, Hourly Pay Rates): If a temporary staffing supplier submits a candidate that will require a higher pay rate than the hourly rate the District considers reasonable for a specific position, will the District still consider the candidate? Answer: The District would look at the candidate and determine if it would be feasible and within our regulations and contracts. We would then communicate our findings in this regard to the temporary agency.

45.

Question: Regarding Page 22 of RFP (Item 2, Hourly Pay Rates): In the two years, how frequently has the District selected candidates with an hourly base 9

pay rate that is higher than the pay rate the District submitted in its placement request? Answer: The District communicates with our firms on whether we think that the rate is commercially fair and reasonable, based on experience, etc. We provide a “ball park” range for firms to work with. If the firm has a candidate that commands a higher hourly rate that this range allows for, the firm would need to provide a justification (great qualifications, experience, etc). 46.

Question: Can you please provide more detail on the type and level of background check and credit check required by the District? a.

Regarding Page 38 of the RFP (Exhibit A, III., Policy Goals): This policy indicates that employees of the District will be subject to background checks via the Live Scan program administered by the California DOJ. Does the District wish that temporary employees provided by temporary staffing services be subjected to Live Scan checks, or would the District be satisfied if temporary employees working at the District underwent background checks administered by nongovernment providers such as Intelifi? Answer: Nongovernment providers will suffice.

b.

Regarding Page 35 of the RFP (Exhibit A, C. Background Check Review Committee): In the Pre-Proposal Conference, it was unclear which background check results (and which prior convictions) should be brought to the attention of the Senior Human Resources Administrator. Can the District please clarify the process for sharing results of background checks? Does the Background Check Review Committee ever get involved in evaluation of background checks for temporary employees? Answer: The temporary firm would need to notify HR if there is a job related offense on their background check. The committee would review the offense and make a determination.

c.

Page 9 of RFP (Item 8) asks about credit reports of employees. We understand per District Policy and California law that credit checks can be required only for job classifications meeting certain criteria. In order for us to be able to estimate the cost of credit checks and include those costs in our proposed markup(s), can the District please indicate which of the job classifications listed in the Price Proposal Form will require a credit check? Answer: The administrative regulation for background checks will have the specific classifications. It will be posted in July. In the meantime, on June 8, 2016, the Board approved the background investigations policy, which has a list of classifications that would be subject to credit and background checks.

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d.

At what point in the hiring process will background and/or credit checks be performed by temporary staffing services? Industry standard is that the background checks be performed after the client (in this case, the District) has selected a candidate. Answer: Yes, the background checks are performed only after the candidate is selected by the District.

e. Can we propose a higher markup for job classifications where a credit check will be required? Answer: Yes, this is permissible. The credit check can be included in the hourly rate or it can be billed separately. f.

Since Page 39 of the RFP indicates that the cost of acquisition in a background screening is a valid expenditure of AC Transit funds, does the District want the charges for any background checks and/or credit checks billed on a separate invoice? The advantage to handling it this way is that the District only pays for the actual costs incurred. If we roll it into our markup, we will need to guess how many checks will be run and what the cost of each check will be. (They could vary by person depending upon where a candidate lived and worked in the last seven years, whether the candidate had a name change due to marriage or divorce, and so on.)

Answer: It is preferable, but not mandatory, that the charges for any background and/or credit checks are invoiced separately from regular services provided. 47.

Question: Page 11 of RFP (item 1(g)) states, “The proposer must also agree to cover AFSCME union dues on behalf of assigned personnel.” In order for us to include the cost of AFSCME dues in our markup, we ask that the District please indicate: a.

Which job classifications listed in the Price Proposal Form require payment of AFSCME dues by the temporary staffing service? Answer: All job classifications are listed on our website. The majority of positions are unionized.

b.

What is the cost of union dues for temporary employees assigned to those job classifications? Answer: Roughly $60 per month.

c.

Are union dues the same monthly amount for all employees within those classifications, or does the cost of dues vary by pay rate or by some other factor? Answer: Union dues are the same for all employees. 11

d.

What is the period of time a temporary employee can work at the district before dues must be paid? Answer: If any assigned resource works any day in the month, the entire month will need to be paid for.

e.

In the past two years, what is the average assignment Duration of temporary employees of the District who worked in job classifications where the temporary staffing service would be required to cover AFSCME dues and how many total employees did have union dues paid on their behalf and for what duration of time were the dues paid on average? Answer: 3-6 months.

48. Question: Can we propose a higher mark-up on union positions in order to cover the expected cost of dues? Answer: Yes, if that is how you want to cover those costs. It is roughly $60 a month, which means $3 per working day. 49. Question: Can you please provide a list of locations besides 1600 Franklin Street where AC Transit has used temporary staff in the past? Which locations require the most temporary staff? Answer: Most temp jobs are at our Franklin Street address, however, here are all our addresses: G.O. GENERAL OFFICE 1600 Franklin Street Oakland, California 94612 D2 EMERYVILLE DIVISION 1177 47th Street Emeryville, California 94608 D3 RICHMOND-DIVISION 2016 MacDonald Avenue Richmond, California 94801 D4 EAST OAKLAND 1100 Seminary Avenue Oakland, California 94621 D6 HAYWARD DIVISION 1758 Sabre Street Hayward, California 94545

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CMF CENTRAL MAINTENANCE FACILITY 10626 East 14th Street Oakland, California 94603 TEC TRAINING & EDUCATION CENTER 20234 Mack Street Hayward, California 94545 TRANSBAY TERMINAL First & Mission Street San Francisco, California 94105

50.

Question: Can AC Transit provide the dollars expended for temporary personnel over the last two 12-month periods broken down by job classification and by temporary service provider? Answer: The District can only provide the total expenditure, which is roughly $3.5 million over the last 2 years.

51.

Question: What is the average (approximate) duration of assignments? Answer: 3-6 months.

52.

Question: What are the challenges of the current contract? Answer: Lack of structure in the contracts. We’d like some solid guidelines on providing temporary candidates and providing service to the District.

53.

Question: Are there peak periods when AC Transit utilizes temporary personnel most? Answer: No; there are no distinct “peak periods”. The volume is steady throughout the year.

54.

Question: How many of the temporary employees used in the past year by the District received health insurance through from the temporary staffing companies servicing the District? Answer: Unknown, the District did not ask temporary agencies to provide that information.

55.

Question: Are there any other benefits offered to the temporary employees beside ACA compliant health insurance by the incumbent vendors. If so, what were they?

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Answer: Sick leave is mandated by City of Oakland. Other than that, no benefits are provided to temporary employees.

56.

Question: Page 30 of the RFP (Item A.2 and B.2) Will any temporary employees be asked to use District vehicles? Will they be asked to use their personal vehicles to carry out their job duties? If so, please describe which classifications will require driving. Answer: No, if temporary employees need to travel, they will need to use their own method of transportation. They would be reimbursed, and which the temporary firm would then bill back to the District. Currently, no classifications need driving.

57.

Question: Page 33 of RFP (Item 24, Indemnification): This indemnification clause requires Contractors to indemnify the district and its personnel from losses and expenses of every nature arising out of or in connection with Contractor’s work unless the loss or Damage was caused by the sole negligence or willful misconduct of the District. The language shifts all burden to the Contractor, even in situations where the District’s negligence was the primary cause (but not the sole cause) of the loss or expense. The industry standard provides that in the case of a finding of joint negligence, the Contractor is only liable to indemnify for that portion of the claim not imputed to the negligence of the District or the District’s employees. Would the District consider changing the language in its indemnification clause? Answer: Yes, without agreeing to any specific modifications in advance, the District remains amenable to commercially reasonable modifications to our standard indemnification language. Please include any proposed modifications to this clause (or any other provision in the RFP you may take exception to) in your proposal.

58.

Question: Regarding Section 2F 4.a.6 (Page 7); Resumes for Key Personnel Apart from the assigned AM and the alternate AM, may I know who you refer to as key personnel? Answer: Any recruiters or support personnel that may be working on our job requests.

59.

Question: Regarding Section 2F 4.a.7 (Page 7); References may also be from other organizations other than existing public agency clients however, Section 4B 1.b (Page 15) states that references should be from public agencies. Is it safe to assume that it is preferred if references are from public agencies? Answer: Yes; references are from public agencies are preferred.

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60.

Question: As mentioned during the conference, the $60/month AFSCME union dues are not for all categories. May I request a list of which categories require payment of these dues? Answer: Most classifications will be subject to the AFSCME union dues. All classifications are listed on our website, and the corresponding union affiliation appears there.

61.

Question: In the final selection process, how many IT staffing vendors will be shortlisted? It was mentioned that you previously lack vendors from the IT and Engineering categories? Answer: The District would like at least 2, possibly 3 IT staffing firms.

62.

Question: Some testing and screening types are not required for other categories. May I request for a list of specified types per category please? Answer: Administrative positions need Word, Excel, etc testing. Professional jobs will need good screening and phone interviews to ensure that the candidates have the experience and skills needed for the job.

63.

Question: On Page 30 of the RFP, it is stated that a $2M automobile liability is needed for a vendor to be considered responsive. Not all categories are required for this type of insurance. Will you provide a list of the categories requiring automobile liability insurance? Answer: We currently don’t have temporary employees travel, but if we do, they would need to provide their own transportation and file for reimbursement. The $2MM automobile liability insurance requirement for the temporary staff services firm itself is a standard term in most District contracts. If a proposing firm is unable to meet this requirement, the District would consider modifying or waiving the requirement if it would be commercially reasonable under the circumstances.

64.

Question: Are the current incumbent responses to past AC Transit RFP available for viewing immediately? Answer: There were five proposals selected for contract award in connection with the District’s previous RFP (2013-1229). Three of those contracts are no longer in effect. Copies of these proposals (and/or the resulting contracts) will be made available upon request.

65.

Question: Based on information of selecting possibly 5 suppliers, how will orders be distributed among the multiple vendors? Answer: Based on expertise, responsiveness and service level to the District.

66.

Question: What is the Payroll Service spend per year? 15

Answer: This information is currently unavailable. 67.

Question: What types of positions are typically under payroll service for AC Transit? Answer: Primarily administrative positions.

END OF ADDENDUM NO. 1

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