Commonwealth of Massachusetts DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Deval L. Patrick, Governor Aaron Gornstein, Undersecretary FOR

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1 1 23 Commonwealth of Massachusetts DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Deval L. Patrick, Governor Aaron Gornstein, Undersecretary REQUEST FOR RESPONSES (RFR) FOR WEB-BASED BID DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION AND WEB-BASED BIDDING SERVICES PLEASE NOTE: This Word document is one of many documents that together with the RFR attachments comprise the entire Solicitation published on COMMBUYS. A list of the attachments is on page 6 of this RFR. All respondents are responsible for reviewing and adhering to all information, forms and requirements found on all COMMBUYS tabs for the entire Solicitation. Reference Number: COMMBUYS Bid Number: Submission Deadline: Deadline for Written Questions: DHCD S BD OCDDE-OCD Friday, August 22, 2014 by 3:00PM Monday, August 11, 2014 by 3:00PM Date of RFR Release: Thursday, July 10, 2014 Contact Person: David McClave David.McClave@state.ma.us Fax: (617) Cambridge Street Boston, Massachusetts

2 1. BACKGROUND The Massachusetts Department of Housing & Community Development ( DHCD ) has oversight responsibilities, including funding for capital improvement projects, for state-aided public housing at approximately 240 local housing authorities ( LHAs ) across the Commonwealth. The portfolio includes approximately 43,000 units of housing in 7,000 buildings ranging from single-family houses to high-rise apartment buildings. In order keep this portfolio in good condition, DHCD assists the LHAs in producing approximately 250 publicly bid construction projects per year, ranging in size from $10,000 - $9,000,000, with the bulk of projects being in the $25,000 - $250,000 range. 2. PURPOSE The purpose of this RFR is to procure technology and professional services to all of DHCD and its constituent LHAs to better manage its bid document distribution and bidding services. DHCD believes that web-based bid document distribution (hereinafter referred to as hosting ) and web-based bidding (hereinafter referred to as e-bidding ) will provide many tangible benefits to itself and its constituent LHAs such as: A) Ease the burden imposed by having to conventionally conduct live bid openings for 250 construction projects per year; B) Provide bidders the opportunity to bid on multiple projects on the same day thereby increasing competition; and C) Lower the rate of bid protests and bid rejections due to incomplete bid submissions. DHCD is seeking to identify and procure the services of up to three Contractors who are well versed in Massachusetts public bidding requirements and have the ability to provide hosting and e-bidding services for construction projects subject to the bidding requirements of MGL c.149 sec.44a-j and MGL c.30 sec.39m. Note: This RFR may be utilized by entities regulated under MGL c. 30B if it is designated as a Statewide contract procurement by the Operational Services Division ( OSD ) or its designee. 3. DEFINITIONS CONTRACTOR: The entity who responds to this RFR and with whom the Department will enter into a contract pursuant to this RFR. (This entity is also referred to as Vendor. ) DEPARTMENT: The Department of Housing & Community Development (also referred to as DHCD ). DESIGNER: The Architect or Engineer hired by the LHA to design a construction project. GENERAL LAWS: The Massachusetts General Laws ( MGL ) as amended, including any rules, regulations and administrative procedures implementing said laws. LOCAL HOUSING AUTHORITY: (herein referred to as LHA ) the entity that owns and manages the property(ies) that are the subject of the construction projects noted above. PUBLICLY BID: Construction projects that are required to be bid pursuant to MGL c.149 sec.44a-j or MGL c.30 sec.39m. REQUEST FOR RESPONSES: (herein referred to as RFR ) this document which shall be attached to and deemed to be incorporated into the Standard Contract. Page 2 of 7

3 STANDARD CONTRACT: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Standard Contract Form, the Standard Terms and Conditions, the RFR, Contractor s response to the RFR, any negotiated terms and conditions, and all other documents incorporated by reference. 4. ACQUISITION METHOD TO BE USED FOR CONTRACT Fee-for-Service Outright Purchase Lease Rental Tax-Exempt Lease/Purchase (TELP) 5. SINGLE OR MULTIPLE CONTRACTORS FOR CONTRACT PERFORMANCE Single Contractor Multiple Contractors - 3 DHCD intends to enter into contracts with up to three (3) Contractors who offer the services described herein. DHCD reserves the right to re-open this procurement to add additional Contractors at any time during the term of the contract to meet the needs of the Department. 6. TOTAL ANTICIPATED DURATION OF CONTRACT The contract term will be for an initial period of three (3) years, with two (2) options to renew for one year each at the discretion of DHCD. 7. TOTAL ANTICIPATED EXPENDITURES FOR TOTAL ANTICIPATED DURATION OF CONTRACT DHCD expects to spend $1,250,000 over the anticipated five year length of this program. However, there is no guaranteed minimum for any one Contractor and DHCD makes no guarantee that any services will be requested from any Contractor as a result of this RFR. Contract(s) will have a maximum obligation amount. X Contract(s) will NOT have a maximum obligation amount (rate contract). Compensation will be subject to quotes by list of qualified contractors / vendors (maximum obligation or rate contract). Will Federal funds be used to fund any part of contract(s)? NO YES 8. SUPPLIER DIVERSITY PROGRAM ( SDP ) PARTICIPATION Massachusetts Executive Order 524 established a policy to promote the award of state contracts in a manner that develops and strengthens Minority and Women Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) that resulted in the Supplier Diversity Program ( SDP ) in Public Contracting. M/WBEs are strongly encouraged to submit responses to this RFR, either as prime vendors, joint venture partners or other type of business partnerships. Similarly, Executive Order 546 established the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise Program to encourage the participation of businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans in all areas of state procurement and contracting, thereby including them in the SDP. All bidders must follow the requirements set forth in this SDP section of this RFR. Bidders are required to develop creative initiatives to help foster new business relationships with M/WBEs and/or SDVOBEs within the primary industries affected by this RFR. Once an SDP commitment, expressed as a percentage of contract Page 3 of 7

4 revenues, is submitted, negotiated and approved, the agency will then monitor the contractor s performance, and use actual expenditures with SDO certified M/WBE contractors and the Center for Veterans Enterprise certified SDVOBEs to fulfill their own SDP expenditure benchmarks. M/WBE and SDVOBE participation must be incorporated into and monitored for all types of procurements regardless of size; however, submission of an SDP Plan is mandated only for large procurements over $150,000. The following SDP forms are required to be submitted by the deadlines noted below in order to meet the mandatory participation requirements of the SDP: SDP Plan Form #/Name Submitted By When Submitted SDP Plan Form #1 SDP Plan Commitment All Bidders With Bid Response SDP Plan Form #2 Declaration of SDP Partners SDP Plan Form #3 SDP Spending Report Newly Awarded Contractors Contractors Within 30 days of contract execution Within 45 days of the end of each quarter Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Resources: Resources available to assist Prime Bidders in finding potential Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Women Business Enterprises (WBE) partners can be found on the Supplier Diversity Program Webpage ( Resources available to assist Prime Bidders in finding potential Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise (SDVOBE) partners can be found on the Supplier Diversity Office Webpage ( The Supplier Diversity Program offers training on the SDP Plan requirements. The dates of upcoming trainings can be found on the OSD Training & Outreach Webpage. In addition, the SDP Webinar can be located on the Supplier Diversity Program Webpage ( Supplier Diversity Program Subcontracting Policies: Prior approval of the agency is required for any subcontracted service of the contract. Agencies may define required deliverables including, but not limited to, documentation necessary to verify subcontractor commitments and expenditures with Minority- or Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) and/or Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business Enterprises (SDVBEs) for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing compliance of subcontracting commitments made in a bidder s Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Plan. Contractors are responsible for the satisfactory performance and adequate oversight of their subcontractors. Reporting: Contractors are responsible for compliance with all other contract reporting requirements including, but not limited to, Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) and other contract reports, as required by this contract. 9. SCOPE OF SERVICES 9.1 Hosting The Department is looking for a vendor who has an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use hosting service / application, with preference for the following features: 1. Provides public access to bid documents at no cost; 2. Manages all aspects of bid document distribution as part of a one-time project fee. 3. Performs an administrative review of bid documents (including addenda) prior to posting and alerts DHCD and Designer of any clerical or administrative discrepancy(ies) or error(s). Page 4 of 7

5 (a) Examples: review for existence and completeness of the newspaper advertisement; verification that the bid opening date is at least 14 days from the date the project was advertised; review bid documents to make sure all sections are present and that no pages are missing; 4. Maintains a list of all plan holders (i.e. - a person or firm who has paid for and received a set of bid documents (plans and specifications). A plan holder may be a contractor, sub-contractor, manufacturer, distributor, etc.); 5. Updates (online) the list of plan holders daily; 6. Prints and distributes hard copies of plans and specifications when requested (for an additional fee); 7. Ensures that an addendum is posted online the same day it is received by the Contractor. (If only hosting services are utilized, mails hard copies of addenda via United Parcel Service ( UPS ) to be received by plan holders at least two full working days prior to bid opening). 8. Notifies DHCD electronically prior to and after an addendum is posted; 9. If only hosting services are utilized, mails hard copy of sub-bid results via UPS to plan holders ensuring receipt at least two full working days prior to general bid opening). 10. Collects a refundable plan deposit for those plan holders who chose to receive hard copies of the plans and specifications (noted in #5 above), and refunds the plan deposit within 30 calendar days after the general bid opening to those plan holders who returned the bid documents in good condition. The Contractor s service shall identify (in writing) to DHCD all plan holders that did not return the plans. The unclaimed plan deposits become the property of DHCD and will be applied as a credit on the Contractor s invoice to DHCD; 11. Project information remains live on the web site for 60 calendar days after the general bid opening date. 9.2 Hosting & E-Bidding Combined The Department is looking for a vendor who has an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use hosting and e- bidding service/application, with preference for all services described in 9.1 above and with preference for the following additional features: 1. Provide statutory bid forms for completion on-line; 2. Electronic notification to DHCD when sub bidding and general bidding has closed; 3. Ability to electronically reject sub bids during sub bid review; 4. Ability to electronically mark the sub bid results official when review is completed; 5. Automatically generates a sub-bid tabulation listing bid information from low to high; 6. Automatically generates a general bid tabulation listing bid information from low to high. 9.3 Contract Form Generation from E-Bidding Data The Department is looking for a vendor who has the ability to transfer low bidder data from the vendor s e-bidding process and populate the pertinent information into the DHCD standard Owner- Contractor Agreement, Performance and Payment Bond Forms, thereby generating ready-toexecute contract documents to be sent electronically to the winning low bidder. 10. COMPENSATION Compensation will be in accordance with the schedule set forth in the Contractor s Pricing Form (Exhibit A). Page 5 of 7

6 11. SELECTION CRITERIA DHCD will rate the Contractors based on the following criteria: Criteria Maximum Points Ease of Use Input 30 (See Note 1 below) Ease of Use Output 30 (See Note 1 below) Pricing 15 (Exhibit A) Experience/Services 15 (Exhibit B + Exhibit C) References 10 (Exhibit D) Offers both Hosting and E-Bidding 10 (Exhibit A) Offers Contract Form Generation 10 (Exhibit E) Supplier Diversity 10 (SDP Plan Form #1) Registration in COMMBUYS 10 (See Note 2 below) Maximum Total 140 points Note 1: In order to adequately judge the ease of use of the Contractor s service/application/product, the Contractor must allow DHCD to set up a dummy/test project on the Contractor s website, bid the project, and receive the bid results, all at no cost to DHCD. The Contractor may supply DHCD with its standard tutorial materials (if any), but the Contractor will not participate in the dummy project beyond the extent to which the Contractor would participate in a real project. Ease of Use Input refers both to the experience of a Designer/LHA entering information for hosting and to the experience of a construction contractor entering information for e-bidding. Ease of Use Output refers both to the experience of a Designer/LHA receiving information from hosting and to the experience of DHCD receiving information from e-bidding. Note 2: In order for DHCD to award a contract to any vendor, that vendor MUST be registered in the Commonwealth s on-line procurement system as a seller. As part of the response package, all prospective vendors must provide proof of registration in COMMBUYS. 12. RESPONSE CONTENT All required RFR forms are incorporated by reference and published in the attachments section of the COMMBUYS solicitation page for Document Number DHCD2015-1S. The following list describes each form, and includes an action description for each. There are seven (9) items that MUST be returned as part of the response package, as noted in the following table. Document Description Contractor s Pricing Form (Exhibit A) Contractor s Experience Form (Exhibit B) Contractor s Services Form (Exhibit C) Contractor Information and References (Exhibit D) Massachusetts Substitute W-9 Form Consultant Contractor Mandatory Submission Form Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing SDP Plan Form #1 SDP Plan Commitment Vendor registration in COMMBUYS Standard Contract Form Commonwealth Terms & Conditions RFR Required Specifications Action Description Complete on-line registration and submit screen print of completed vendor registration with response package. FOR YOUR REVIEW. Execute only upon contract award. FOR YOUR REVIEW. Execute only upon contract award. IMPORTANT RFR TERMS. Please read. Page 6 of 7

7 One original and four (4) copies of the response package should be submitted to: Procurement Manager Department of Housing & Community Development 100 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor Boston, MA Response packages should be sealed and clearly marked DHCD S Web-Based Bid Document Distribution and Web-based Bidding Services RFR. Questions regarding this RFR must be submitted by by Monday, August 11, 2014 by 3:00PM to the contact person listed on the first page of this document. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Answers to all questions received by the deadline will be published on the solicitation s COMMBUYS webpage (on the Specifications tab) by 4:00PM on Thursday, August 14, RESPONSE DEADLINE No later than 3:00PM on Friday, August 22, Late responses will NOT be considered under any circumstances. 14. SELECTION PROCESS All responses will be submitted to and reviewed by DHCD. Responses will be evaluated based on selection criteria in Item 11 above. Page 7 of 7

DHCD RAA/LHA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY E-GOVERNMENT NETWORK

Commonwealth of Massachusetts DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Deval L. Patrick, Governor Timothy P. Murray, Lt. Governor Aaron Gornstein, Undersecretary DHCD RAA/LHA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY