Solicitation For Legal Services 02-01
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- This RFP was uploaded by the owner.
1.1This is a Request for Proposal (RFP) for LEGAL SERVICES to I Generation Empowerment Academy (school).
1.2The School is seeking to retain attorney / law firms whose partners are licensed to practice in the State of Florida, to provide assistance from time to time to the Board in the areas specified as Charter School Legal Representation. Proposals submitted pursuant to this RFP will, upon award, establish a list of pre-approved attorneys at the hourly rate specified therein
1.3All terms and conditions of this RFP, any addenda, proposer's submissions and negotiated terms, are incorporated into the contract by reference, as set forth herein.
1.4All terms and conditions of this RFP, any addenda and attachments, the Agreement for Legal Services and Guidelines for Outside Counsel, proposer's submissions and negotiated terms, are adopted and incorporated by reference.
2.0INSTRUCTIONS TO PROPOSER
2.1All proposals must be received no later than 4:00 PM, on May 30, 2013. Proposals must be sent electronically to [email protected].
2.2Per School instructions will not allow Proposals to be submitted after the closing date and time.
All proposals must be signed electronically by an officer or employee having authority to legally bind the Proposer(s). 4.0AWARD
4.1The Board reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals.
4.2The Board, through is designee(s), reserves the right to waive any irregularities and technicalities and may, at its sole discretion, request a clarification or other information to evaluate any or all proposals.
4.3The Board, through is designee(s), reserves the right, before awarding the contract, to require proposer(s) to submit evidence of qualifications or any other information the Board may deem necessary.
4.4The Board, through its designee(s), reserves the right, prior to the Board's approval, to cancel the RFP or portions thereof, without penalty.
4.5The Board, through its designee(s), reserves the right to: (1) accept the proposals of any or all of the items it deems, at its sole discretion, to be in the best interest of the District; and (2) reject any and/or all items proposed or award to multiple proposers.
4.6The proposal with the Lowest Cost per Point will be ranked first; however, nothing herein will prevent the Board from making multiple awards and deeming all proposals responsive, and assigning work to any firm deemed responsive.
4.7The Board, through its designee(s), reserves the right to further negotiate any proposal, including price, with the highest rated proposer. If an agreement cannot be reached with the highest rated proposer, the Board reserves the right to negotiate and recommend award to the next highest rated proposer or subsequent proposers until an agreement is reached.
55.0TERM OF CONTRACT / RENEWAL
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75.1The term of the contract shall be for three years from the date of award, and may, by mutual agreement between the Board and the contract awarded proposer(s), be renewable for one additional two-year period. All prices shall be firm for the initial term of this contract.
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9.0SCOPE OF SERVICES
9.1The School, I Generation Empowerment Academy and the Governing Board, (the Board) is seeking to retain attorneys / law firms whose partners are licensed to practice in the State of Florida, to provide assistance from time to time to the Board in the areas specified in Charter School at an hourly rate NOT TO EXCEED the amount set forth within each area of Sections 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8. Proposals submitted pursuant to this RFP will, upon award, establish a list of pre-approved attorneys at the hourly rate specified therein, but do not preclude the School from contracting with other attorneys outside the RFP. The School is not obligated to enter into contracts for Legal Services, or base its selection on a rotational basis and will contract with attorneys on an as-needed basis as determined at the sole discretion of the School.
10.0EVALUATION COMMITTEE MEETINGS
10.1As stated in Section 3.1 and Section 14.2 the Evaluation Committee will be convened to review and evaluate responsive proposals, for the purposes of making a decision as to an intended award. Per section 286.011, Florida Statutes, the Evaluation Committee meeting is open to the public.
11.0PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION
11.1In order to maintain comparability and enhance the review process, it is requested that proposals be organized in the manner specified below. Please send your proposal in one Document. Do not embed documents or links within your response;
11.2Title Page: Show the date; RFP number; RFP subject; and proposer's name, address, telephone number and email address.
11.3Table of Contents: Include a clear identification of the material by section and by page number.
11.4Letter of Transmittal: Give the names of the persons who will be authorized to make representations for the proposer and their titles, addresses, and telephone numbers.
11.5Request for Proposal: Complete the Required Response Form (page 1 of RFP) with all required information completed and all signatures as specified.
11.6Experience and Qualifications of the Firm: State the experience your firm has had in the last three years with liability cases in the private sector, within government and specifically with school boards.
11.7Qualifications of Staff: The proposal must clearly specify the area of law, as outlined in Section
1.6 - 1.8 that the attorney / firm are proposing to represent the School. For each area that the firm wishes to represent the District, the proposer must provide:
11.7.1A listing of all education institutions previously or currently represented, the dates of representations, the nature of the representation, and if applicable, cases litigated.
11.7.2If the attorney/firm has not represented educational institutions, a list of governmental organizations represented, the dates of representation, and the nature of the representation and, if applicable, cases litigated.
11.7.3If the attorney/firm has not represented educational institutions or governmental organizations but has considerable experience in handling cases for which educational and governmental organizations were a party, list these organizations, the dates of representation, the nature of the representation and if applicable, cases litigated.
11.7.4The resume of each attorney who will represent the School, including a list of the government organizations represented, areas of law and a reference including the name and telephone number of the organization.
11.7.5Qualifications of all staff the proposer anticipates assigning to the School account.
11.7.6Proposer must provide proof of meeting the requirements as described in this RFP.
11.7.7State the experience your firm has had in the last three years with the areas of Personal Injury, Worker's Compensation and Appellate.
11.8Minority/Women Business Participation: Proposers are to indicate the extent and nature of the M/WBE's scope of work with specificity as it relates to the services described in the RFP. Proposers shall provide certification with the School, or the State of Florida, Office of Supplier Diversity, or its successors. Proposers that are District, or State of Florida Office of Supplier Diversity, or it successor's certified minority or women business enterprises, at the time of submittal, will be awarded a maximum of ten points. Maximum points will be awarded for 15% or greater minority participation. Points will be pro-rated for less than 15% minority participation. Proposers that do not meet the above requirement may sub-contract minority business participation in accordance with Section 35.0 and receive participation points
Points for utilization of certified M/WBE subcontractors shall be assigned as follows: 15% and over 10 points
9% - 14%8 points
4% - 8%6 points
1% - 3%4 points
0%0 points
11.9Cost and M/WBE: Submit Cost of Services and M/WBE portion of your proposal for this project as a separate document to [email protected]
11.10Insurance: Provide proof of contract awarded proposer(s) insurance as required in Section 24.0 of this RFP or submit a letter of contract awarded proposer(s) intention to have the required insurance within ten days of notification by the School.
12.0REFERENCES
12.1Complete the Reference Document and include at least five (5) references. This should include at least one reference from a client who has been with you for a year or less, three references from veteran clients with long term or repeat contracts and at least one reference from a past client who is currently not under contract with you
NOTE: The information requested must include a current email address for each reference.
13.0ORAL PRESENTATION
13.1Responders who submit proposals in response to this RFP and are selected by the Evaluation Committee may be required to give an oral presentation of their proposal to the Evaluation Committee on May 30, 2013. This will provide an opportunity for responders to highlight their proposals. This is only a fact-finding and explanation session to assist the Evaluation Committee in recommending the successful firm and does not include contract award or negotiations. The presentation is to be based upon the written proposals received.
14.0PROPOSAL EVALUATION PROCESS:
14.1RFPs are received and publicly opened. Only names of responders will be read at this time.
14.2An Evaluation Committee, consisting of Board members, will convene, review and discuss all proposals submitted.
14.3In the evaluation and recommendation process the Evaluation Committee will assign points to each proposal response to evaluation criteria listed in Evaluation Criteria, Section 15.0.
14.3.1The committee will evaluate and score the criteria listed in 15.0. The points awarded will be based on the following standard:
Exceptional - receives full point value
Exceeds standards - receives 85% of full point value
Meets standards - receives 75% of full point value
Fails to meet all standards - receives 25% of full point value
Unacceptable - receives 0% of full point value
14.3.2Minority/Women Business Participation will be scored as outlined in 11.8. The M/WBE points will be included as part of the total points as listed in 15.0.
14.3.3Once the Evaluation Committee has completed the scoring excluding any consideration of Cost of Services, the points will be totaled and scores will be ranked as a percentage of the total points. Only proposals that have received minimum acceptable score of 70% or better will proceed to the Cost of Services evaluation. Proposals that receive less than a minimal acceptable score of 70% will be eliminated from further consideration.
14.3.4The proposers who have achieved a minimal acceptable score as assigned by the Evaluation Committee will be included in the Cost of Services portion.
1.The total score per proposer will be divided into Cost of Services offered. This will calculate a cost per point for each proposers score. The ranking of the proposals will be based on the calculated lowest cost per point.
Example
ProposerCost of Svc
Pts
AwardedCost/PtRank
A$845,000.0080$ 10,562.501
B$ 1,200,000.0095$ 12,631.583
C$900,000.0073$ 12,328.772
2.Proposer A in this example would be ranked first with the lowest cost per point and recommended for award.
14.4The Evaluation Committee reserves the right to interview any personnel who may administer and be assigned to work on the contract before recommendation of award. This interview is to be based upon the written proposal received.
14.5The Evaluation Committee or its designees reserve the right to negotiate further terms and conditions, including price with the highest ranked proposer. If a mutually beneficial agreement with the first ranked proposer or all proposers being considered for award cannot be resolved, the Evaluation Committee reserves the right to enter into negotiations with the next highest ranked proposer and continue this process until an agreement is reached with the number of programs required to meet the needs of the School.
14.6The results of the Evaluation Committee's evaluation and ranking is reviewed and approved by the Board prior to posting the recommendation.
14.7The Board will award or reject any or all proposal(s).
15.0EVALUATION CRITERIA
The Evaluation Committee shall rank all proposals received, which meet the submittal requirements, in order to establish a pool of qualified vendors.
MAXIMUM POINTS
A.Experience and Qualifications of the Firm45
B.
Qualifications of Proposer's Staff
45
C.
Minority/Women Business Participation
10
Total100
15.1Experience and Qualifications of the Firm
Firm must maintain a law office with a substantial practice within the State of Florida and be a member of The Florida Bar for at least five years or equivalent Bar membership, unless not required to render the legal services requested. Firm must possess demonstrated ability, knowledge and expertise to provide services to a school district.
Those submitting proposals should provide a resume detailing the education, training, certifications and experience of all key professional personnel as specified in Section 15.2.
Attorney/law firms selected must possess demonstrated ability, knowledge, and expertise to provide legal assistance from time to time in the particular areas as stated in Section 1.0 Introduction. The attorneys/ law firms should also be knowledgeable and interested in the concept of planning and budgeting litigation.
The attorney primarily assigned to represent the District shall be a member of the Florida Bar for at least five years or equivalent Bar membership unless not required to render the legal services requested.
15.2Qualifications of the Attorneys for the Firm
Those members of the law firm who could be designated to work on School matters should have previously demonstrated skills in that area of law. School system background and experience or the representation of public employers is preferred.
This expertise can be demonstrated by the following:
1.History of successful handling of similar matters (please provide details of significant cases and results achieved).
2.Professional ratings and/or recognition in the legal community for professional achievement (e.g. Martindale & Hubbell rating; recognition or extraordinary participation in Florida Bar, Federal Bar, American Bar Association, local bar associations or professional practices committees).
3.Advanced training or certification in related practice areas.
4.Significant achievement in matters requiring litigation or trial advocacy skills and a consistent litigation or trial record demonstrating superior litigation ability.
5.Other experience or qualifications that the attorneys/law firms believe would be relevant to services requested.
6.Practice of law in the specialized area.
