Request for Proposal - Brazeau County · Request for Proposal – Independent Benefits Broker...

Request for Proposal

Employee Benefits Plan – Broker/Consulting

Issued: July 19, 2017

Closing: 4 p.m. MST Friday, August 4, 2017

Reference No. HR17 001

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: July 19, 2017

PROJECT: Employee Benefits Plan – Broker/Consulting

CLOSING: Friday, August 4, 2017 at 4 p.m. MST

I/WE hereby, submit my/our proposal for the Consulting Services for Employee Group Benefits Plan

as described within the Request for Proposal document for the above, named services.

I/WE have carefully examined the documents and have a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the requirements and have submitted all relevant data.

I/WE agree, if selected, to provide services to the County in accordance with the terms,

conditions and specifications contained in the proposal document.

I/WE agree that the undersigned is/are authorized and empowered to sign and submit this proposal.

THE HIGHEST SCORING RESPONDEDNT, OR ANY PROPOSAL, MAY NOT NECESSARILY BE

ACCEPTED AND THE COUNTY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO AWARD ANY PORTION THEREOF.

STATE TERMS FOR PROMPT PAYMENT IF OTHER THAN NET 30 DAYS

Respondent Legal Name

Street Address City/Town Postal Code

Print Name & Title of Person Signing for Firm

E‐mail address Phone No. Fax No.

Signed at this day of , 2017

Signature of Person Signing for Firm

THIS FORM SHALL BEAR AN ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN SIGNATURE IN INK, BY AN OFFICER WITH

AUTHORITY TO BIND THE COMPANY AND BE SUBMITTED TO BE A VALID

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Request for Proposal – Independent Benefits Broker

Brazeau County (“County”) is soliciting proposals from qualified vendors (“Proponents”) to provide

independent benefits brokering and consulting services for our employee group benefits plans. The

objective is to choose a provider for a fixed term contract, to provide excellent service while working

with and advising the County on: benefits plans, options, designs, trends, performance and renewals,

and to broker the contracts with the benefits providers and financial institutions.

In order to receive consideration, the Proponent must meet the requirements outlined in this

document.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Interested parties are requested to submit responses electronically in PDF format to

[email protected] with the subject line “RFP Independent Benefits Broker”. Proposals via

facsimile will not be accepted. Please note that the County will not be held responsible for any

transmission problems or other errors that could occur.

Closing date: 4:00 p.m. MST on Friday, August 4, 2017

The County accepts no responsibility for any expenses incurred by the Proponent in the preparation and

presentation of a response to this request; such expenses are to be borne exclusively by the Proponent.

There will be no public opening for this RFP.

PROJECT MANAGER

Direct inquiries regarding this Request for Proposal to:

Brenda Christie

Director of Corporate Services

Brazeau County

Phone: 780‐542‐7777

Email: [email protected]

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Background

Brazeau County values people as its greatest asset and implements a variety of policies and practices to

manage, maximize, compensate and reward the contributions of the workforce, and to provide the most

optimal working environment suitable to our culture, values and operations.

The County employs a mix of non‐unionized and unionized staff. We employ up to 120 employees with

employee volumes that fluctuate both seasonally and operationally, and with various employee types,

including elected officials, full‐time, part‐time and seasonal. These variations in employee types, as well

as non‐union vs. union employee, means our plan requires variety in benefits entitlements. Additionally,

our employee demographics indicate a multi‐generational workforce with varying benefit needs and

financial concerns.

The County seeks to provide comprehensive employee benefits plans and services that are aligned with

our culture, values, and business strategies, and that ensure the County remains competitive in the

attraction and retention of the talented and dedicated people who successfully serve our community.

As such, Brazeau County requests proposal from qualified benefit consulting/brokerage firms for the

provision of consulting services for its employee group benefits plan.

The contract is a three‐year period from November 1, 2017 to October 31, 2020 with the option for a

two‐year extension at the discretion of the County.

Brazeau County has approximately 90 employees in receipt of benefits. Benefit coverage includes:

extended health, dental, life insurance, long term disability and accidental death and dismemberment

(AD & D). Details of our current plan are outlined in Schedule A.

Current Benefits Plans & Providers

Brazeau County currently provide benefits as outlined in the attached “Benefits‐at‐a‐Glance” documents

in Appendix C.

Plan providers are as follows:

RRP – Manulife (non‐union staff)

Group Life Insurance, Dependent Life Insurance, AD&D, Healthcare Spending Account, Extended

Healthcare, Dental, Long‐Term Disability, Global Medical Assistance, Optional Life Insurance,

Voluntary AD&D – Great West Life

Short‐Term Disability – self administered

Wellness Spending Account – self administered

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Current Plan Sizes

The number of employees enrolled in each plan is as follows:

Full Time Permanent Plan Members – 77

Seasonal Plan Members – 6

Elected Official Plan Members – 7

Terms and Conditions

Scope of Project

The County’s Independent Employee Benefits Plan Broker will focus on services to: provide support,

guidance and service to the County’s on‐staff plan administrators; provide insights into current and

future benefits trends, including consideration of a multi‐generational workforce; review the current

benefits plan; advise on overall costs and services of a comprehensive employee benefits program that

supports and meets the needs of our specific employee group; solicit industry quotes as required and

when authorized. All services and advice must be aimed at meeting the needs of the County over the

next decade, which may require both short and long term adjustments and strategies. The County is

required to comply with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act in Alberta. All

information collected and stored with regards to our employees, our business, our finances and our

benefits plans must comply with the FOIP Act.

In addition, the successful proponent will be required to meet the following service expectations of the

County:

Day to Day

Respond to voicemail and email requests within one business day. The response will

include an acknowledgement of the request with a resolution or an action plan to

resolve the request.

Single point of contact for all benefit and insurance issues.

Personalized service offered to staff and plan administrators.

Monitor Group Policies and ensure amendments are accurate and appropriate.

Quarterly

Mid‐year and third quarter experience reports to assist with budgeting.

Report on emerging trends, legislative updates and new products or services.

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Annually

On‐site visits to discuss the plan and strategize for the future.

Comprehensive renewal reporting delivered at least 30 days in advance.

Staff meeting to explain the plan to employees and answer their questions.

Member communications (new and existing staff)

Benefit Satisfaction Survey (online or paper‐based)

Negotiate Group Program insurance renewals with the Insurer, which includes extended

health, dental, life insurance, long‐term disability and AD&D.

Ad Hoc

Triennial (or more often if needed) tendering of the benefits plan to the insurance

market to ensure competitiveness of cost structure.

Relative Value Index to determine the value of Brazeau’s benefits plan compared to

peer group.

Funding recommendations – insured, refund accounting, administrative services only.

Brochures, communications and benefit booklets for distribution.

Proposal Submission Format and Checklist

1. Qualifications and Experience

Please complete and append

1.1 A description of the Proponent’s relevant experience and qualifications in delivering services

similar to those required in the Scope of Project.

1.2 A description of municipal and/or related public sector experience, including a description of

any specialized or unique skills, knowledge, services and/or programs the Proponent may offer.

1.3 A list of the benefits/insurance providers with which you currently broker employee group

benefit plans.

1.4 An overview of qualifications, licenses and memberships.

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2. Company Direction & Innovation

Please complete and append

2.1 Proponents are to provide a description of their five‐year roadmap for any planned changes to

service delivery, identifying any features, services, philosophies, strategies and functionalities

that will be added, modified and/or removed.

3. Proposal Requirements

Please limit responses to a maximum of 30 pages and 20MB in size. Responses are to consist of:

3.1 Cover page identifying:

3.1.1 Unique quotation number (HR17‐001)

3.1.2 Date issued

3.2 The completed Proposal Submission Form (failure to complete this form will disqualify proposal)

3.3 Cover letter indicating name, phone number and email address of primary Proponent contact

for the proposal

3.4 Detailed proposal addressing the Scope of Project in Section 1

3.5 Proponent’s Statement of Qualifications and Experience

3.6 Proponent’s Company Direction and Innovation

3.7 The completed Appendix A – Benefits Broker Service Proposal

3.8 The completed Appendix B – Benefits Broker Reference Form

4. Proposal Evaluation

4.1 Compliance

Proposals must be received prior to the closing time and date. Proposals will first be reviewed

for compliance with the criteria of this RFP; any Proposal not complying with the criteria may be

considered non‐compliant and not receive further consideration.

4.2 Evaluation Matrix

Proposals will be evaluated in terms of the response to the requirements of this Request for

Proposal using the following weighting:

Criteria Weight

Demonstrated expertise in performing the services outlined in the Scope of Work and Service Proposal

40

Cost 25

References 10

Qualifications and Experience 15

Value‐Added Services 10

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On‐site interviews may be conducted with short‐listed Proponents.

5. Planned Schedule

Please note that this schedule may be subject to change. Every effort will be made to notify all

involved parties of any changes to the schedule by written addendum.

RFP issued July 19, 2017

Final date for Question submittal July 31, 2017

Closing date for Submissions August 4, 2017

Proposal Selection & Award September 8, 2017

6. Submissions

6.1 Statutory Requirements

The Proponent acknowledges that any information or documents provided by it to Brazeau

County may be released pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and

Protection of Privacy Act. This acknowledgement shall not be construed as a waiver of any right

to object to the release of any information or documents.

The proponent should familiarize themselves with all provincial legislation and regulations,

County bylaws and policies or such other matters that may affect their proposal. All Brazeau

County bylaws and policies are available to view through our website at www.brazeau.ab.ca.

6.2 Questions

All questions regarding this RFP shall be directed to the project manager only, at least four

working days prior to the closing date (see Section 5 – Schedule). Enquires will be recorded and

may, at the County’s discretion, be distributed to all known Consultants participating in the RFP.

Proponents have the responsibility to notify the project manager of any ambiguity, error,

omission, oversight, contradiction or any item open to interpretation in this RFP, as discovered,

and to request instruction, a decision, or direction required in preparing their quotation. If

required, the County’s reply will be in the form of an addendum, a copy of which will be

provided to all known Proponents prior to the deadline for quotation submission.

6.3 Addenda

Addenda may be issued by the County up to four days prior to the stated deadline for

submissions. All addenda become part of the Request for Proposal and must be acknowledged

in the proponent’s response.

6.4 Proposal Amendments

Proponents may amend or withdraw their proposal prior to the closing date by submitting

written notice to the project manager. All proposals become irrevocable after the closing date.

The onus is on the Proponent to ensure timely receipt by the County of any modifications to

what has already been quoted.

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6.5 Closing Date Extension

The County may extend, by written addendum, the time for receiving responses.

6.6 Confidentiality of Evaluation

All aspects of each proposal will be kept strictly confidential. Proposals will be evaluated by

employees of the County only, and no detail of any proposal or evaluation will be disclosed

without the express written consent of the Proponent. Evaluation scores and rankings are

confidential and, apart from identifying the top‐ranked Proponent, no details of the proposal or

score or ranking of any Proponent will be released to any other Proponent.

6.7 RFP Acceptance and Rejection

Proposals received after the specified time on the closing date will be rejected. Responses that

do not meet a minimum level of quality against the above criteria will not be considered. The

County may disqualify responses that are incomplete. The lowest cost proposal will not

necessarily be the winning proposal.

The County reserves the right to:

Award the RFP, in part or in whole, to one or more proponents;

Accept or reject any or all proposals, and waive irregularities and informalities at its

discretion; and,

Withdraw the request for proposals.

By submitting a proposal, the Proponent waives any right to contest in any legal proceeding or

action the right of the County to award the project to whomever it chooses, in its sole

discretion, and for whatever reasons the County deems appropriate.

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Appendix A – Service Proposal

Proponents are required to complete this appendix and include it with their submission.

The Service Proposal Matrix below is organized into categories of functionality. The County will use

Proponent’s responses in this matrix to determine suitability of the solution proposed.

The Matrix consists of four columns; from left to right these are:

1. Item # – For reference purposes

2. Service Feature – Description of the service required by the Town

3. Response – Proponent’s response to the question, to be limited to one of the following four

single letter items in the Response column of the table below:

Response Meaning Definition

Y Yes This service is provided and included for the County at no

additional fee.

P Pending This service is not a current service feature provided by our

firm, but is something we can provide at no additional charge.

E Extra

This service can be provided at an additional cost. Please

provide an explanation in the “Explanation/Clarification”

column along with the number of hours and cost for the

modification. These costs are also to be included in the Pricing

Form

N No This service is not supported and/or is not provided as part of

this proposal.

4. Explanation/Clarification – Use this column to describe how you will meet this service. Please

include examples of your presentation materials, strategies, or documents where appropriate

and number the examples with the corresponding Item number. If you need to add any

comments to further clarify your response, please do so in this column. This column is also to be

used for requested information that may not fall into the “yes, pending, extra, or no” criteria.

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Service Proposal Item Service Feature Response

(Y/P/E/N) Explanation/Clarification and samples of work where applicable

1.

Describe the intervals and process for plan reviews and any costs to the County associated with those reviews. Include a description of your process to complete a comparative benefits survey.

2.

Describe your process for the strategic review of the benefit plan including what you would recommend considering and what analysis you would complete.

3.

Describe the reports and analytics that will be provided to our organization on a regular ongoing basis and any fees or costs associated with them.

4.

Describe your process for and any costs to the County associated with the solicitation of industry quotes.

5.

Describe the ideal intervals and costs to the County for meetings with the County’s benefits administrators.

6.

Describe any actual and potential costs to the County for assistance with annual budgeting activities.

7.

Outline the level of research, professional advice and guidance you can provide for specific topics as required throughout the year.

8.

Outline your process for plan member engagement and any costs to the County for this service.

9. Describe any limits that may exist for the number and

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frequency of onsite meetings, and the pricing (if any) for additional meetings above the limits.

10.

Describe your plan member education services and any costs associated with those services.

11.

Describe plan member communications provided and any pricing associated with those communications.

12.

Describe how you communicate changes with the HR team and/or plan members.

13. Describe your process for resolution of issues and errors with employee claims.

14.

Describe the details of your fee structure. Please include details on fee for service or commission including the rates and what period they are guaranteed for.

15. What information do you provide for the annual renewal process?

16. What is your firm’s renewal philosophy?

17. How are annual renewal negotiations handled?

18.

Explain your firm’s ability to monitor regulatory and legislative developments that impact Brazeau County’s benefit plans.

19. Where do you feel our organization is most exposed to risk and why?

20. What additional services does your firm provide that your competitors may not?

21. What can you tell us about your firm and its culture?

22. What steps is your firm taking to be a market leader?

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23. What advantages will Brazeau County have by working with your firm?

24.

Describe the key characteristics of your firm that distinguishes it from the marketplace.

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RFP Employee Benefits Plan Broker

Appendix B – Reference Form

Proponents are required to complete this form, providing at least three (3) references from municipal

government clients who currently use the services of your brokerage firm. If you do not have 3

municipal government clients, references should be from clients with the most similar organization type

(e.g., other levels of government, not‐for‐profits, etc.) and plans similar to ours.

Reference 1:

Organization Name:

Address:

Contact Name:

Contact phone number:

Contact email:

Date service agreement began:

Description or scope of services provided (e.g., RRSP, Extended Health Care, LTD, etc.):

Reference 2:

Organization Name:

Address:

Contact Name:


Contact email:



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RFP Employee Benefits Plan Broker

Reference 3:

Organization Name:

Address:

Contact Name:


Contact email:



Reference 4 (Optional):

Organization Name:

Address:

Contact Name:


Contact email:



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Appendix C ‐ Full Time Benefits At‐A‐Glance

Extended Health Care Provider: Great West Life

Premium 100% Employer‐paid; no annual deductible

Prescription drugs 100%reimbursement; drug card

All other expenses 100% coverage, unless otherwise specified

Out‐of‐country emergency medical Unlimited

Out‐of‐country non‐emergency $3,000/calendar year

Hospital Semi‐private room

Private day nursing $5,000/calendar year

Paramedicals $500/practitioner/year (massage therapist, chiropractor, naturopath, osteopath, speech therapist/podiatrist)

Psychologist/social worker $1,000/calendar year

Physiotherapy Included

Hearing Aids $700/60 months

Orthotic appliances (inserts) $500/calendar year

Survivor benefit 24 months

Termination Last day of employment

Dental Care Provider: Great West Life

Premium 100% employer‐paid; no annual deductible

Basic 100% coverage

Major 50% coverage

Maximum $3,500/calendar year for basic and major combined

Orthodontic 50%; lifetime maximum for child/adult $3,500

Recall frequency Once every 6 months

Fee guide Current Provincial General Practitioner

Survivor benefit 24 months

Termination Last day of employment

Vision Care Provider: Great West Life

Premium 100% employer‐paid; no annual deductible

Eye examinations Adult ‐1 every 24 months/Child – 1 every 12 months

Glasses, contact lenses, laser eye surgery $500 every 24 months

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The above is intended as a summary only, please refer to the Group Benefits Program booklet or Personnel Policy (PER‐1) for specific information. If there are discrepancies between this document and the booklet/policy, the booklet, policy will apply.

Health Care Spending Account (HAS)/Wellness Account (WA) Provider: Great West Life/BC

HSA benefit amount $500/year (prorated to $250 in first year when eligibility occurs between July and December

HSA eligible expenses Any health and dental expenses eligible under the Income Tax Act Account is non‐taxable

WA eligible expenses $300/calendar year – self administered This account is taxable

Life Insurance and AD&D (Accidental Death and Dismemberment) Provider: Great West Life

Premium 100% employer‐paid

Benefit amount 250% of base annual salary

Maximum $250,000

Waiver of premium 124 days

Reduction 50% at age 65

Conversion privilege Yes within 31 days

Termination Age 70 or last day of employment

Dependent Life Insurance Provider: Great West Life


Benefit amount $20,000 spouse; $10,000 child

Eligibility Birth to age 21; 25 if full‐time student

Optional Life Insurance Provider: Great West Life

Premium 100% employee‐paid

Benefit amount Units of $10,000

Maximum $500,000

Medical questionnaire May be required

Termination Age 65

AD&D (Employee) Provider: Great West Life

Premium 100% Employer‐paid

Benefits amount 250% of base annual salary

Maximum $250,000

Medical questionnaire Not required

Long Term Disability Provider: Great West Life


Benefit amount 70% of first $5,715 monthly earnings, 50% of remainder

Maximum $10,000/month

Definition Payable for first 24 months after waiting period

Benefits commence After 124 days

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The above is intended as a summary only, please refer to the Group Benefits Program booklet or Personnel Policy (PER‐1) for specific information. If there are discrepancies between this document and the booklet/policy, the booklet, policy will apply.

Benefit period To age 65

Tax status Taxable

Termination Age 65, or last day of employment

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Provider: Great West Life

Description Confidential support services for employees and their immediate family members

Accessibility 24/7/365 Telephone consultation Online Services

Best Doctors Service Provider: Great West Life

Description Service allowing employee and dependents to access specialists, resources, information and clinical guidance if diagnosed with a serious medical condition

Accessibility Toll free number provided and a member advocate is assigned to assist with the process

Registered Retirement Plan (RRP) – non‐union staff Provider: Manulife

Employee contribution Equal to LAPP up to max CRA allowable

Brazeau County contribution 10.22% of base annual salary

Tax Free Savings Account Provider: Manulife

Employer contribution Based on RPP contributions/Maximum

Employee contribution Based on RPP contributions/Maximum

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Request for Proposal - Brazeau County · Request for Proposal – Independent Benefits Broker...

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