REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: PAYROLL SERVICES RFP Information Bid Title: Send Proposals To: Due Date & Time: Contact Information: Professional Payroll Services City of Southaven Department of Finance & Administration 8710 Northwest Drive Southaven, MS 38671 Phone: 662.393.5931 April 30, 2014 at 3:00pm Chris Wilson City Administrator/CAO Phone: 662.393.6939 Email: cwilson@southaven.com Table of Contents RFP Information At A Glance... 1 Table of Contents... 1 Specific Information Requested Within Proposal... 3 Scope of Work... 4 Processing Payroll Data:... 4 General Terms & Conditions... 5 Evaluation Criteria... 7 The City of Southaven (City) is requesting proposals from qualified firms with significant experience to assist the City with its payroll processing and other ancillary benefits management and human resource needs. The City of Southaven Department of Finance and Administration is the Project Representative and will oversee all aspects of the selection process prior to formal approval by the Southaven Mayor and Board of Alderman. The City expects to select and contract with one firm to provide either all or a selected group of the components described in this Request for Proposals (RFP). The City may choose not to select any firm to provide the Payroll Processing or may elect to reject all proposals. The City reserves the right to negotiate each proposal with multiple proposers and to add or delete services during the negotiation process. The City is an equal
opportunity employer, does not discriminate because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, age if the individual is 18 years of age or older, disability or any other factors protected by law. The firms responding to this RFP should be prepared to cooperate fully with the City, its staff and the Project Representative throughout the entire selection process. City of Southaven relevant payroll-related facts: 637- W-2s in 2012 and 616 - W-2s in 2013 Bi-weekly payroll for approximately 375 full-time employees and approximately 150 seasonal employees from April to October) Full-time, part-time, temporary staff, and seasonal staff along with elected officials, FLSA exempt, overtime eligible staff, and fire personnel Specific Information Requested Within Proposal
Explanation of Experiences: Please provide description of the services you have provided to governmental agencies, if any, and provide applicable references. Payroll Submittal Process: Provide detailed information regarding how payroll is submitted by our organization to the payroll company. Screen shots of the online system would be helpful. Also please include how training on this system is handled, and how questions are addressed during use. Fee Structure: Provide detailed information regarding the fee structure and how the fees are calculated. Specifically we will be looking for a breakdown of service fees, and whether and how the payroll company will collect, pay or interact with the federal taxes, unemployment insurance and workers compensation insurance. Any other fees that would be charged to the City should also be outlined. Pay Schedule: Provide the paycheck schedule. The City pays bi-weekly. If your system is different, please provide an explanation. Is there a cost for supplemental payroll and will the end of year W2 s be available to employees online or mailed? Benefit Payments: We intend that the City will pay 100% of the employee s health insurance, and employees are responsible for the additional dependent amounts as well as any dental or vision premiums. We are looking to evaluate full-service payroll company where the payroll company will manage the benefits for the company. Please provide a description of how the benefit payments are handled by your company, and specifically if the methods we currently employ (described above) would work with your system. If not, what accommodations we and you would make in order to allow us to continue to operate in a similar manner. Reporting of Payroll Numbers: Provide an explanation and samples of the types of reports that would be available to us as customers with your company. Detail how these reports are obtained (i.e. from a web-based portal, by requesting them from customer service, etc.). Provide an explanation of how the reports are created, and the customizability of them. Be sure to include whether reports can be exported into formats usable by other computer systems. Issue Resolution: Provide an explanation of how issues, concerns and disputes are resolved between the payroll company and client. Does the client have a single point of contact, and provide us with an expectation of how long we should assume it will take to receive a response to inquiries we make. References: Please provide at least three references, preferably other Cities if possible, that we may contact to gauge satisfaction with your service. Transition: If your company is selected, what is the transition process and timeline we can expect? Employer Insurance: Provide an explanation of employer insurance coverage provided to the client. Additional selling points or information: Please provide any other additional information that you feel would be helpful in our decision making process.
Scope of Work Processing Payroll Data: Collecting time and attendance information from City personnel Performing file maintenance (setting up new employees, terminating departing employees, payroll data changes, etc.) Transmitting payroll data to the payroll service Processing benefit and/or garnishments remittances from payroll (i.e. retirement, insurance, etc.) Review payroll reports to ensure accuracy Ensure accuracy of W2s and address special tax items as necessary Processing the general ledger reports from the payroll service and converting the costs to the account/expenses system utilized by the City and delivered to the accounts for entering into our accounts Preparing in a timely manner all year-end payroll/tax processing reports
General Terms & Conditions Delivery of Proposals: City prefers all proposals be delivered through email, but may also be delivered by USPS, Fax or delivered directly to the contact information above. Method of Evaluation: The evaluation of proposals will be done by a committee. Each evaluator on the committee will independently score each proposal using the predetermined point system listed within this document. They will compile a total score for each proposal. Each evaluator will then individually rank each proposal based upon the total score they gave it. The proposal receiving the highest point score will be ranked 1, the second highest score will be ranked 2, and so on. After each evaluator completes this process, the facilitator of the evaluation process will ask each evaluator for the rank they gave each proposal. These numbers will be totaled for all evaluators to determine an overall ranking for each proposal. The highest ranked proposal (the one with the lowest rank number) will be recommended for award of the contract. The evaluation committee reserves the right to negotiate further terms and conditions, including price, with the highest ranked respondent. If the evaluation committee cannot reach a mutually beneficial agreement with the first selected respondent, the committee reserves the right to enter into negotiations with the next highest ranked respondent and continue this process until agreement is reached. Professional Liability: The successful bidder shall procure and maintain Professional Liability Insurance for the life of this contract/agreement, plus two years after completion. This insurance shall provide coverage against such liability resulting from this contract. The minimum limits of coverage shall be $1,000,000.00 with a deductible not to exceed $25,000. The deductible shall be the responsibility of the insured. Professional liability policies shall holds harmless the City and each officer, agent and employee of the City against all claims, against any of them, for personal injury or wrongful death or property damage arising out of the negligent performance of professional services or caused by an error, omission or negligent act of the awarded bidder or anyone employed by the awarded bidder. Non-Exclusive Agreement: This RFP does NOT establish an exclusive arrangement or employment between the City and vendor. The City reserves, but is not limited to, the following rights: The right to use others to perform work and services described in this RFP; The right to request proposals from other Vendors for work described in the RFP; The unrestricted right to bid any work or services described herein. Proposal Preparation Costs: The costs of developing proposals are entirely the responsibility of the vendor, and shall not be charged in any manner to the City. This includes, but is not limited to, the direct cost of vendor personnel assigned to prepare vendor s response to the RFP and any out-of-pocket expense (including, but not limited to, travel, accommodation, supplies) incurred by vendor in preparing the response to the RFP. Fiscal/Corporate Information: Vendors may request previous audits, financial or governance and policy information as needed in preparing their proposals. However, all of this information is readily available online at (City s website). All Board meeting minutes are also posted online and have copies of the monthly financial reports at (City s website). Requests can also be directed to the contact/information listed above. Solicitation of City Employees: The City expressly prohibits vendors from making any offer of employment, equivalent offer or any other offering of value to any employee or representative of the City. Taxes: Purchases are exempt from all federal excise and state sales taxes.
Inquiries / Information: Any questions by prospective bidders concerning requirements of this bid should be addressed to (Contact Person), contact information above. Contract Termination: The City s Board of Alderman reserves the right to terminate a vendor s contract without cause. The Mayor (or designee) will notify the vendor of the intent to terminate, in writing, at least (30) days prior to the effective date of the termination, and the contract will officially terminate at the end of the (30) day period.
Evaluation Criteria Evaluation Criteria: The following factors will be considered in ranking the proposals received: Explanation of Criteria Possible Points Understanding of task and proposed plan + 0 to 10 Experience & qualifications of firm Experience with governmental payroll s + 0 to 5 Experiences & qualifications of company/firm/personnel +0 to 15 Ability to meet the Scope of Work +0 to 8 (one point for each item identified within the Scope of Work) Services above and beyond Scope of Work +0 to 7 References +0 to 5 for each positive reference (max 20 points) Costs + 20 for lowest rate +15 for second lowest rate +10 for third lowest rate +0 all others Maximum of 85 Points possible