Benefits Consulting and Broker Services

Location:	North Carolina
Posted:	Nov 10, 2025
Due:	Dec 22, 2025
Agency:	City of Durham
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	R - Professional, Administrative and Management Support Services
Solicitation No:	26-0094
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) for Benefits Consulting and Broker Services

For the Human Resources Department

City of Durham

RFP 26-0094

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2025 Benefits Consulting and Broker RFP

SELECTED CONTENTS

Date of RFP

Project Manager and Contact with City; Questions about this RFP.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND NATURE OF RFP

Project

Scope of Work

Compensation Amount and Schedule

Definitions in this RFP

Contract

Trade Secrets and Confidentiality

Bonds

Insurance

Discretion of the City

SCHEDULE

Schedule

Keeping Proposals Open

Deadline to Submit Proposals

GETTING MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROJECT AND RFP PROCESS

Questions

Pre-submittal conferences, meetings, and site visits

Updates and revisions to RFP

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Evaluation Criteria

CONTENTS OF PROPOSAL

Contents of Proposal

Contact information; Legal status; Qualifications; Project Team, Location of Work, and Subcontracting;

Workforce Diversity Questionnaire; Methods; Compensation; Assumptions; UBE; Small Local Business

Enterprises (SLBEs); Financial Condition, Insurance, and Bonds; Conflict of Interest; Non-collusion

COVER LETTER WITH PROPOSAL

Cover letter

Addendums

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

How to submit a proposal

Format

Alternative Proposals

Candidate to Bear Expense; No Claims against City

Notice Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Values of City of Durham

EQUAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM (EBOP)

WORKFORCE DIVERSITY QUESTIONNAIRE

EXHIBIT A - SAMPLE CONTRACT

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2025 Benefits Consulting and Broker RFP

Request for Proposal (RFP) for an insurance brokerage firm to provide Employee Benefits

Brokerage and Consulting services. With the increasing cost of employee benefits and ever-changing compliance

requirements, we believe our employee benefits consultant should be a valuable member of our organization. Our

employee benefits consultant must understand and listen to our needs, identify challenges, propose innovative cost-saving

ideas, and superbly execute our plan.

10. Date of RFP: November 10, 2025

20. Project Manager and Contact with City; Questions about this RFP. Direct questions and concerns to

Attn: Gwendolyn Burnette

Benefits Division

City of Durham Human Resources

101 City Hall Plaza, Suite 1600

Durham, NC 27701-3329

Phone: 919-560-4214

Email: HRContracts@durhamnc.gov

If you have concerns about this RFP that you believe are not being addressed by the project manager, please contact

Montique McClary, Acting Director of Human Resources:

Phone: 919-560-4214

Email: Montique.McClary@durhamnc.gov

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND NATURE OF RFP

30. Project. This RFP solicits offers from qualified brokers to assist the City of Durham with strategically designing and

negotiating a comprehensive benefits program. Qualified firms will serve as business partners in implementing employee

benefit coverage programs. These programs will be available to eligible City of Durham employees, spouses, children,

retirees, and elected officials. The City of Durham has approximately 3,000 approved full-time positions and approximately

450 active retirees.

The City of Durham requires a North Carolina licensed Broker that is independent and not affiliated with any insurance

company, third-party administrative agency, or provider network. The brokerage firm should have more than five (5) years

of experience providing brokerage services for employers with at least 1,000 employees and have a thorough

understanding of a self-funding financial arrangement. All brokerage firms submitting a bid proposal must be licensed to do

business in all states. They should have the expertise, licenses, and resources to provide Employee Benefits

broker/consulting services for the City of Durham’s current and future operations. The successful firm must consistently

maintain and allocate sufficient staffing resources to provide timely service for the City of Durham Employee Benefits

broker/consulting service needs. Applicants must have qualified staff available to provide specialized technical expertise in

various disciplines.

The City of Durham is competing to recruit and retain the best employees, and we must have financially competitive and

affordable benefit programs to offer our employees. Information on the City’s current benefits package can be found here:

https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/59899/2025-2026-Employee-Benefits-Guide

40. Scope of Work. The City is soliciting a person or firm to:

The selected firm is to provide benefits consulting and broker services to the City of Durham for an agreed-upon period,

usually three years, with up to three possible additional one-year extensions. The winning bid will provide insurance

brokerage and advisory services associated with self-insured employee benefit plans.

The City of Durham requires the following services:

Benefits Strategy & Consulting

• Assist with annual benefits renewals, including preparing bid specifications, identifying appropriate markets,

analyzing proposals submitted, making recommendations, and assisting in negotiating multi-year contracts.

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2025 Benefits Consulting and Broker RFP

• Contribute to the development of objectives and initiatives through strategic planning.

• Advise the City regarding plan design issues, plan management, wellness, potential cost savings, and reducing

health plan expenditures while retaining a competitive benefits program.

• Evaluate various insurance products submitted by carriers, agents, and brokers.

Compliance & Regulatory Consulting

• Communicate information regarding changes in statutes, rules, and regulations regarding the City of Durham’s

responsibility under federal and state laws, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the management of benefits, and the

self-funded plan.

• Provide legislative updates.

• Review benefit plan documents, including summary plan descriptions, contracts, employee summaries, and

policies/procedures for quality of benefits provided, cost-effectiveness, competitiveness, and plan administration.

• Audit resulting contracts for accuracy of coverage, terms, and conditions.

• Notify the City of Durham of required legal notices and assist in the preparation of stated notices.

Account Management

• Provide a key contact person to be available to answer questions and resolve issues that arise during the year

regarding employee benefits, contract administration, service provisions, and new legislation.

• Make fact-based presentations to management on the current state of benefit plans and recommend changes.

• Monitor ongoing contracts, including provider plan administration, provider compliance with the contract, and

incurred claims.

• Provide information on employee benefits issues, trends, and proposed or new legislation.

• Be available to meet with the City of Durham Management and the Human Resources Benefits Team as needed.

• Assist in the design of employee benefits communications. Participate, as needed, in benefits fairs and other

employee wellness events

• Participate in the annual enrollment process, including providing benefits counselors to assist with onsite and

virtual enrollment for employees.

• Perform other related consultative services as needed or requested.

Employee Benefits Education & Communication

• Provide an online tool for employees to make and maintain open enrollment elections and off cycle changes. This

tool must be flexible to accommodate customized exceptions and qualifying events that are required by the City.

Additionally, the tool must be able to accept file feeds from the City and produce deduction file feeds for the City.

If the City finds the tool to be ineffective the broker will source and pay for a tool to accommodate the City’s

needs.

• Provide an online tool to help employees understand their benefits and make informed coverage decisions.

• Assist in the annual development of the three separate benefits guides for employees, retirees, and council

members for open enrollment and new hire onboarding. The firm will also be responsible for all printing costs.

o The open enrollment period is scheduled for approximately three (3) weeks annually with a coverage

effective date of July 1. Should a substantial need arise, open enrollment may be reopened, but in no

case will the open enrollment extend beyond May 30. The City shall be the sole determinant of the

need for reopening or extending the open enrollment period.

50. Compensation Amount and Schedule. Clearly outline any cost associated with the required services on a separate fee

addendum. Identify and define the payment method and schedule of payment.

The City will make payments based on a negotiated payment schedule. Each billing must consist of an invoice and progress

report. No payment will be made until the project manager has approved the invoice.

60. Definitions in this RFP: City, RFP, Proposal, Candidate, Contractor, Should. Unless the context indicates otherwise –

(a) The expressions “RFP,” “this RFP,” and “the RFP” refer to this document as it may be amended or updated. (b) “City”

and “city” mean the City of Durham. (c) The “proposal” or "Bid" is the response of a person, firm, or corporation proposing

to provide the services sought by this RFP. (d) The word “Candidate” or “candidate” is the person, firm, or corporation that

submits a proposal or that is considering submitting a proposal. (e) The word “Contractor” or “contractor” is the person,

firm, or corporation with which the City enters into a contract to provide the services sought by this RFP. That is,

“contractor” generally refers to a successful candidate that has obtained a fully executed contract with the City, while

“candidate” is generally reserved to the stage before a contract has been signed. (f) The word “should” is used to tell

candidates what the City thinks it wants and/or what the project manager thinks is best. Candidates that want to increase

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2025 Benefits Consulting and Broker RFP

the likelihood of being selected will, in general, do what the RFP says candidates “should” do, but failure to comply with all

“shoulds” will not necessarily and automatically result in rejection.

70. Contract. The City anticipates that at the conclusion of the RFP process there will be a contract between the City and

the successful candidate under which the successful candidate will provide the goods and services generally described in

this RFP. It is the City’s intention to use the contract that is attached as Exhibit A, modified and filled in to reflect the RFP

and the proposal. If a candidate objects to any of the contract provisions, it should state the objections in its proposal.

Failure to provide objections creates an assumption that the candidate accepts all standard City contract terms and

conditions.

If federal assistance or funds are used in conjunction with the services provided by the candidate, clauses for contracts

involving federal financial assistance shall be incorporated into contract. The Candidate is required to be familiar with these

federal assistance clauses and to comply with them.

80. Trade Secrets and Confidentiality. As a general rule, all submissions to the City are available to any member of the

public. However, if materials qualify as provided in this section, the City will take reasonable steps to keep trade secrets

confidential.

Definitions.

In this section (Trade Secrets and Confidentiality) –

The term “candidate” includes the candidate as contractor (that is, after it is a party to a contract with the City).

The term “trade secret” means business or technical information, including but not limited to a formula, pattern,

program, device, compilation of information, method, technique, or process that:

a. Derives independent actual or potential commercial value from not being generally known or readily

ascertainable through independent development or reverse engineering by persons who can obtain economic

value from its disclosure or use; and

b. Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.

The existence of a trade secret shall not be negated merely because the information comprising the trade

secret has also been developed, used, or owned independently by more than one person, or licensed to other

persons.

The term “record” means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic

or other tapes, electronic data-processing records, artifacts, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form

or characteristics, received by the City of Durham in connection with the candidate’s proposal.

(a) Designation of Confidential Records. To the extent that the candidate wishes to maintain the confidentiality

of trade secrets contained in materials provided to the City, the candidate shall prominently designate the

material with the words “trade secrets” at the time of its initial disclosure to the City. The candidate shall not

designate any material provided to the City as trade secrets unless the candidate has a reasonable and good-faith

belief that the material contains a trade secret. When requested by the City, the candidate shall promptly

disclose to the City the candidate’s reasoning for designating material as trade secrets; the candidate may need to

label parts of that reasoning as trade secrets. In providing materials to the City, the candidate shall make

reasonable efforts to separate those designated as trade secrets from those not so designated, both to facilitate

the City’s use of the materials and to minimize the opportunity for accidental disclosure. For instance, if only a

sentence or paragraph on a page is a trade secret, the page must be marked clearly to communicate that

distinction. To avoid mistakes or confusion, it is generally best to have only trade secret information on a page

and nothing else on that page.

To the extent authorized by applicable state and federal law, the City shall maintain the confidentiality of records

designated “trade secrets” in accordance with this section. Whenever the candidate ceases to have a good-faith

belief that a particular record contains a trade secret, it shall promptly notify the City.

(b) Request by Public for Access to Record. When any person requests the City to provide access to a record

designated as a trade secret in accordance with subsection (a) above, the City may

(1) decline the request for access,

(2) notify the candidate of the request and that the City has provided, or intends to provide, the person

access to the record because applicable law requires that the access be granted, or

(3) notify the candidate of the request and that the City intends to decline the request.

Before declining the request, the City may require the candidate to give further assurances so that the City can be

certain that the candidate will comply with subsection (c) below.

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2025 Benefits Consulting and Broker RFP

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.

Bid Number:	26-0094
Bid Title:	Benefits Consulting and Broker Services
Category:	Requests for Proposals/Qualifications and Services
Status:	Open

Benefits Consulting and Broker Services

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