Request for Qualifications with Price Proposals
RFQ/P
#
45-013
For the provision of
Banking and Investment Services
Hall County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners (herein “County”) is soliciting proposals from qualified banking institutions to provide comprehensive, competitively priced, and highly personalized Banking and Investment Services as described in the Scope of Services herein.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Bid Post Date:
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Bidders Questions Due Date
: Thursday, January 9, 2025
Bid Due Date:
Thursday, January 16, 2025, 2:00pm
Bidding Process:
The County is now accepting sealed bid proposals from qualified
banking institutions (herein “Bidder”) for Banking and Investment Services (herein ‘Services’). The County will accept Bids in the Purchasing Division located on the fourth (4th) floor of the Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 30504, by 2:00pm, Thursday, January 16, 2024. All bid packets must be sealed, time and date stamped by the Hall County receptionist on the 4
th
floor to be considered.
Schedule of Fees:
Bidder’s proposed schedule of fees, if accepted, shall be firm and fixed for the initial contract term.
Definitions:
For the purpose of this RFQ/P, the terms “Contract” and “Agreement” shall mean one and the same. Furthermore, the terms “Bidder”, “Firm”, “Bank” and “Institution” shall mean one and the same. “Bid Packet” includes all documents, Exhibits, and attachments.
Public Reading
: Bid openings are open to the public. Bidders are not required to attend but may do so. The Issuing Officer named herein will open and publicly read all proposer’s company names and location on the date, time and address above. Cost will not be read at this time.
Term:
The County seeks to award one (1) bank for all the services with an initial contract term of one (1) year followed with four (4) additional one (1) year renewal options.
Alternative Terms:
The County may award one (1) bank for all banking services and one (1) investment firm for investment services, if in the best interest of the County.
Addendums:
If needed and in the best interest of the County, Purchasing may make any extension of the bidding period by a formal written addendum and publicly posted on the County website. All addendum must be signed by the bidder and returned with the bid packet.
Proposal Documents:
Bidders may obtain all submittal documents at no cost via the links provided below.
Any Addenda will also be posted at the bottom of the solicitation.
Pre-Bid Meeting:
Not required for this solicitation.
Request for Clarification:
The County reserves the right to request clarification of information submitted though a written Request-For-Clarification. The County may request in-person or virtual presentations, interviews and may choose to enter into negotiations with select, potential bidders as needed.
Bid Response:
The County considers a bid response as an irrevocable offer, good for a period of one-hundred and twenty (120) days from submission. Furthermore, the County reserves the right to reject all proposals, in full or partial, and to negotiate fees, conditions, or other terms with the respondent submitting the overall best scored proposal. Furthermore, the County may cancel the bid in its entirety if in the best interest of the County. The County may waive nonmaterial irregularities, informalities, and errors and seek clarification of such.
Legally Binding Agreement:
The County and the selected Bank shall enter into a formal agreement; substantially in the form of the attached EXHIBIT – B CONTRACT FOR SERVICES by counter signing the contract with an execution date. Contracts are only valid if they are countersigned. Bidders should sign the Contract and submit it with their bid response. All questions regarding the Scope of Services should be included in the response to the Proposal. If there are no written objections then the County will take this as an affirmative acceptance of the Scope of Services as it is presented.
EVALUATION METHODOLOGY
Technical Qualifications & Proposal Response:
Bidders must answer all Mandatory Questions on Exhibit G – Mandatory Scored Questions, which are weighted and will be scored by the County’s evaluation committee, and additionally Exhibit H – Mandatory Investment Services Qualifications which are Yes/No (Pass/Fail) questions specific to investment capabilities under State of Georgia law. The County’s Evaluation Committee will score and assign point values to the answers. The total maximum points are set at 1,000. The County has assigned an 95%/5% split for scoring points, nine-hundred fifty (950) points available for Technical Qualifications, and fifty (50) points available for the Cost Proposal. The bidder with the highest total point scores closest to 1,000 will be the apparent contract award winner.
This RFQ/P poses sixty-five (65) mandatory scored questions valued at a maximum 14.62 points each for a total nine-hundred fifty (950) potential total points. Proposers are required to answer all the Mandatory Scored questions. Skipped questions will return a 0-point score. The proposer’s response should limit answers directly to the questions asked.
Bidders may expand their answers to the questions onto separate pages if needed, with the question repeated at the top of each page, in addition to the space provided next to each Mandatory Scored Question Worksheet. Bidder’s may input “see attached” in the space provided next to each question.
Please do not submit bound bid responses. Provide one-side documents only. Do not include superfluous marketing brochures nor unnecessary promotional materials. These will not be evaluated. Address each specific question with direct, detailed answers.
Each bidder must also provide their response on one (1) USB drive with two (2) folders, one entitled “Technical Response’ and one (1) entitled “Cost Proposal”. Do not include your cost proposal with the technical response as this may cause your proposal to be rejected.
All quantitative material should include complete assumptions and be supported by detailed schedules evidencing all calculations and results.
Responses to the questions should be clear and concise. Where appropriate, Bidder’s should show statistical information in a tabular chart format, and textual information in bullet form. Summarize key points at the beginning of each answer.
Evaluation and Selection:
The County will evaluate all submittals in accordance with the Official Code of Hall County, Georgia 3.10, and as further detailed herein. The County will evaluate proposals using a two-step process. The first is the ‘Technical Qualifications Proposal’ that outlines the bidding firm’s qualifications and experience and its approach to deliver the services.
Cost Evaluation:
The County will evaluate each Schedule of Fees as outlined on the Exhibit C - Mandatory Cost Proposal Worksheet. The lower cost will receive higher scores. Any fees should be detailed in the response, if applicable. Hall County currently does not pay any banking fees.
Validation:
Bidders must sign and notarize their submittals. Digital signatures are acceptable. Hall County requires that bidders provide a cover letter with a signature by an officer of the firm with the submittal to ensure its originality. Please submit four (4) unbound, hard paper copy marked “Original” with signature, along with five (5) unbound copies, and additionally provide the proposals (technical and separately cost worksheet) in a digital format on a USB drive.
Bid Retention:
The County reserves the right to retain all proposals submitted and use any idea(s) in a proposal regardless of contract award or not. The County shall have the right to waive any informality or irregularity of immaterial deviation, omissions and clerical errors in any bid received.
Mandatory Documents:
Bidders must complete and return all forms and documents entitled ‘Mandatory’ with the bid or the proposal. Failure to do so may deem the proposal non-responsive and the County may not evaluate it for award.
Award Process:
The County reserves the option to reject any or all bids, in whole-or-in-part, or to select any bidder to complete the described Service. The County will not make an award of contract solely based on lowest bid, but also on approach, references, qualifications and other subjective criteria as the County may deem necessary and determine at its sole discretion.
Questions:
Bidder’s must present all questions in writing and directed solely to the issuing officer at
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.
Non-Collusion Requirement
(aka Cone-of-Silence)
:
Bidders must not have
contact of any nature with other bidders, County staff members, administration, elected officials, nor Commissioners during the evaluation process. The County may deem such as collusion, and thus render the submission in violation of the Official Code of Hall County and therefore the County may render the proposal as non-responsible and not evaluate the proposal for an award.
