INFORMAL SOLICITATION
Minnesota Department of Administration
Consultant with Expertise in Accessibility and
Usability of E-Government Services
Description of Project: As the Internet is
changing the way that people communicate with
each other, obtain information, access services,
and conduct business, government is necessarily
having to change the way that it serves the
public. The State of Minnesota is increasing its
use of the Web and offering citizens a broad
range of services, including online
correspondence with elected officials,
information about government services, renewing
various types of license, tax information, and job services.
The greater use of information technology and the
ever changing advances in technology are proving
to be much more cost effective and efficient in
informing and serving citizens. At the same
time, it is incumbent upon government to ensure
that all citizens, including people with
disabilities have access to and can use this
technology in a manner that is comparable to
members of the general public without disabilities.
The GCDD is seeking a consultant, on an
intermittent basis during a six-month time
period, who can work with an interagency team to
improve the accessibility and usability of state E-Government services..
Sample Tasks:
1. Work with an interagency team throughout
all aspects of this project to arrive at a set of
recommendations to help resolve current barriers
to full access to e-government services.
2. Review data collected to date on accessibility issues.
3. Test the types of accessibility
barriers/issues presented, rate/rank common
issues and those that may be unique to how
certain types of information, or products/services are presented.
4. Identify a range of solutions, including
those that relate to programming and those that
are inherent in the hardware/software itself.
5. Provide advice and consultation to the
Office of Enterprise Technology (OET), the IT
Standards and Resource Management Program (ISRM),
and the Materials Management Division (MMD) on
State of Minnesota nonvisual access standards and Section 508 requirements.
NOTE: This Informal Solicitation does not
obligate the state to award a contract or
complete the project, and the state reserves the
right to cancel the solicitation if it is
considered to be in its best interest.
Desired Skills and Experience:
1. High level of expertise in information
technology with specific knowledge and
understanding of State of Minnesota nonvisual
access standards (Minnesota Statute 16C.145)
and accessibility requirements under Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act (federal law).
2. Experience in testing equipment and
running software applications to determine accessibility problems.
3. Experience in working with a broad range
of people with disabilities, including people with low literacy skills.
4. Experience in working with public and
private sector entities to identify accessibility
problems and how to solve those problems.
5. Ability to work together with teams to
strengthen and focus their combined concerns on
accessibility and usability issues.
Questions
Questions concerning this Informal Solicitation should be directed to:
Mary Jo Nichols
Grants Administrator
Department of Administration
Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities
370 Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155
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651-282-2899 voice
651-297-7200 fax
877-348-0505 toll free
MN Relay Service: 800-627-3529 OR 711
Response Content and Evaluation Point Distribution:
1. Discuss your knowledge, skills, and
abilities in information technology including
years of experience related to the application of
State of Minnesota nonvisual access standards and
Section 508 requirements (25 points).
2. Discuss your experience in working with
people with disabilities on issues related
specifically to access and usability of
information technology in both public and private
sectors, and identify the specific
problems/barriers they encounter (20 points).
3. Discuss your knowledge of information
technology products and accessibility features,
and experience in proposing business solutions
that include fully accessible information technology products (15 points).
4. Discuss your experience in working with
groups, your approach to assuring that the
knowledge and insights of all members are
considered, any specific challenges, and your
approach to resolving them in order to maintain
the project focus and complete all tasks (10 points).
5. Budget and breakdown of costs (30 points).
Response Delivery:
All responses must be in writing and delivered to:
Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities
370 Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155
All proposals must be received, by mail or hand
delivery, no later than 11:00 a.m. Central
Daylight Time, on Friday, September 5, 2008.
Late responses will not be considered. Fax or
email responses will not be accepted.
All responses received by the due date and time will be evaluated.
Conflicts of Interest
Responder must provide a list of all entities
with which it has relationships that create, or
appear to create, a conflict of interest with the
work that is contemplated in this request for
proposals. The list should indicate the name of
the entity, the relationship, and a discussion of the conflict.
Disposition of Responses
All materials submitted in response to this
Informal Solicitation will become public record
after the evaluation process is completed. The
State will not consider the prices submitted by
the responder to be proprietary or trade secret materials.
Organizational Conflicts of Interest
The responder warrants that, to the best of its
knowledge and belief, and except as otherwise
disclosed, there are no relevant facts or
circumstances which could give rise to
organizational conflicts of interest. An
organizational conflict of interest exists when,
because of existing or planned activities or
because of relationships with other persons, a
vendor is unable or potentially unable to render
impartial assistance or advice to the State, or
the vendor’s objectivity in performing the
contract work is or might be otherwise impaired,
or the vendor has an unfair competitive
advantage. The responder agrees that, if after
award, an organizational conflict of interest is
discovered, an immediate and full disclosure in
writing must be made to the Assistant Director of
the Department of Administration’s Materials
Management Division which must include a
description of the action which the contractor
has taken or proposes to take to avoid or
mitigate such conflicts. If an organization
conflict of interest is determined to exist, the
State may, at its discretion, cancel the
contract. In the event the responder was aware
of an organizational conflict of interest prior
to the award of the contract and did not disclose
the conflict to the contracting officer, the
State may terminate the contract for
default. The provisions of this clause must be
included in all subcontracts for work to be
performed similar to the service provided by the
prime contractor, and the terms “contract,”
“contractor,” and “contracting officer” modified
appropriately to preserve the State’s rights.
Foreign Outsourcing of Work Prohibited
All services under this contract shall be
performed within the borders of the United
States. All storage and processing of
information shall be performed within the borders
of the United States. This provision also
applies to work performed by subcontractors at all tiers.
Insurance Requirements
A. Contractor shall not commence work under the
contract until they have obtained all the
insurance described below and the State of
Minnesota has approved such
insurance. Contractor shall maintain such
insurance in force and effect throughout the term of the contract.
B. Contractor is required to maintain and
furnish satisfactory evidence of the following insurance policies:
1. Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Except
as provided below, Contractor must provide
Workers’ Compensation insurance for all its
employees and, in case any work is subcontracted,
Contractor will require the subcontractor to
provide Workers’ Compensation insurance in
accordance with the statutory requirements of the
State of Minnesota, including Coverage B,
Employer’s Liability. Insurance minimum amounts are as follows:
$100,000 – Bodily Injury by Disease per employee
$500,000 – Bodily Injury by Disease aggregate
$100,000 – Bodily Injury by Accident
If Minnesota Statute exempts Contractor from
Workers’ Compensation insurance or if the
Contractor has no employees in the State of
Minnesota, Contractor must provide a written
statement, signed by an authorized
representative, indicating the qualifying
exemption that excludes Contractor from the
Minnesota Workers’ Compensation requirements.
2. Commercial General Liability: Contractor
is required to maintain insurance protecting it
from claims for damages for bodily injury,
including sickness or disease, death, and for
care and loss of services as well as from claims
for property damage, including loss of use which
may arise from operations under the Contract
whether the operations are by the contractor or
by a subcontractor or by anyone directly or
indirectly employed by the Contractor under the
contract. Insurance minimum amounts are as follows:
$1,000,000 – per occurrence
$2,000,000 – annual aggregate
$2,000,000 – annual aggregate – Products/Completed Operations
The following coverages shall be included:
Premises and Operations Bodily Injury and Property Damage
Personal and Advertising Injury
Blanket Contractual Liability
Products and Completed Operations Liability
State of Minnesota named as an Additional Insured
3. Commercial Automobile
Liability: Contractor is required to maintain
insurance protecting the contractor from claims
for damages for bodily injury as well as from
claims for property damage resulting from the
ownership, operation, maintenance or use of all
owned, hired, and non-owned autos which may arise
from operations under this contract, and in case
any work is subcontracted the contractor will
require the subcontractor to provide Commercial
Automobile Liability. Insurance minimum amounts are as follows:
$1,000,000 – per occurrence Combined Single limit
for Bodily Injury and Property Damage
In addition, the following coverages should be included:
Owned, Hired, and Non-owned Automobile
State of Minnesota named as an Additional Insured-
4. Professional/Technical, Errors and
Omissions, and/or Miscellaneous Liability Insurance
Contractor is required to carry the following minimum amounts:
$1,000,000 – per claim or event
$1,000,000 – annual aggregate
Any deductible will be the sole responsibility of
the Contractor and may not exceed $50,000 without
the written approval of the State. If the
Contractor desires authority from the State to
have a deductible in a higher amount, the
Contractor shall so request in writing,
specifying the amount of the desired deductible
and providing financial documentation by
submitting the most current audited financial
statements or other approved documentation so
that the State can ascertain the ability of the
Contractor to cover the deductible from its own resources.
The retroactive or prior acts date of such
coverage shall not be after the effective date of this Contract.
This policy will provide coverage for all claims
the contractor may become legally obligated to
pay resulting from any actual or alleged
negligent act, error, or omission related to
Contractor’s professional services required under
the contract, and include an extended reporting
period provision of a minimum of three (3) years
following completion of the work.
C. Additional Insurance Conditions:
· Contractor’s policy(ies) shall be
primary insurance to any other valid and
collectible insurance available to the State of
Minnesota with respect to any claim arising out of this contract;
· Contractor’s policy(ies) will provide
the State of Minnesota with thirty (30) days
advance notice of cancellation, nonrenewal, or
reduction in limits of coverage or other material change;
· Contractor is responsible for payment of
Contract related insurance premiums and deductibles;
· PLEASE NOTE: If Contractor is
self-insured, a Certificate of Self-Insurance must be attached;
· Include legal defense fees in addition
to its liability policy limits, with the exception of B.4 above; and
· Obtain insurance policies from an
insurance company having an “AM BEST” rating of
A- (minus); Financial Size Category (FSC) VII or
better and must be authorized to do business in the State of Minnesota.
D. The State reserves the right to immediately
terminate the contract if the contractor is not
in compliance with the insurance requirements and
retains all rights to pursue any legal remedies
against the contractor. All insurance policies
must be open to inspection by the State, and
copies of policies must be submitted to the
State’s authorized representative upon written request.
E. The successful responder is required to
submit acceptable evidence of insurance coverage
requirements prior to commencing work under the contract.
STATE OF MINNESOTA
LOCATION OF SERVICE DISCLOSURE AND CERTIFICATION
LOCATION OF SERVICE DISCLOSURE
Check all that apply:
q The services to be performed under the
anticipated contract as specified in our proposal
will be performed ENTIRELY within the State of Minnesota.
q The services to be performed under the
anticipated contract as specified in our proposal
entail work ENTIRELY within another state within the United States.
q The services to be performed under the
anticipated contract as specified in our proposal
will be performed in part within Minnesota and in
part within another state within the United States.
q The services to be performed under the
anticipated contract as specified in our proposal
DO involve work outside the United States. Below
(or attached) is a description of:
(1) the identity of the company (identify
if subcontractor) performing services outside the United States;
(2) the location where services under the
contract will be performed; and
(3) the percentage of work (in dollars) as
compared to the whole that will be conducted in
each identified foreign location.
CERTIFICATION
By signing this statement, I certify that the
information provided above is accurate and that
the location where services have been indicated
to be performed will not change during the course
of the contract without prior, written approval from the State of Minnesota.
Name of
Company:
Authorized
Signature:
Printed
Name:
Title:
Date:__________________________ Telephone
Number:______________________________________
STATE OF MINNESOTA
AFFIDAVIT OF NONCOLLUSION
I swear (or affirm) under the penalty of perjury:
1. That I am the Responder (if the Responder is
an individual), a partner in the company (if the
Responder is a partnership), or an officer or
employee of the responding corporation having
authority to sign on its behalf (if the Responder is a corporation);
2. That the attached proposal submitted in
response to the ________________________ Request
for Proposals has been arrived at by the
Responder independently and has been submitted
without collusion with and without any agreement,
understanding or planned common course of action
with, any other Responder of materials, supplies,
equipment or services described in the Request
for Proposal, designed to limit fair and open competition;
3. That the contents of the proposal have not
been communicated by the Responder or its
employees or agents to any person not an employee
or agent of the Responder and will not be
communicated to any such persons prior to the
official opening of the proposals; and
4. That I am fully informed regarding the
accuracy of the statements made in this affidavit.
Responder’s Firm Name:
___________________________________________
Authorized Representative (Please Print) ______________________________
Authorized Signature: _____________________________________________
Date: __________________
Subscribed and sworn to me this ________ day of ___________
Notary Public
My commission expires: ________
_______________________________________________
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