Impartial Hearing Officers - Independent Consultants

The purpose of this document is to provide interested parties with information to enable them to prepare and submit a proposal according to the specifications set forth within this document.

The County intends to use the results of this process to establish a pool of potential Impartial Hearing Officers/Independent Consultants.

The Dane County Purchasing Division is the sole point of contact for questions and issues that may arise during the RFP process.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 2026-RFP-058-PR
• Department: Administration
• Department Head: Shelby Slaven (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-08-19T21:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-08-26T21:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Experience, Capabilities, and Qualifications (65 pts) —
  1. Through this Request for Proposals Dane County is looking for arbitration/mediation firms or individual attorneys operating under an LLC to serve as an Impartial Hearing Officer(s). The selected firms or individuals attorney would become the pool of Impartial Hearing Officers and from that pool an individual may be selected to serve as an Independent Consultant. Selected firms or individuals should have significant experience that could come from any of the following legal fields:
     1. Alternative dispute resolution practices and procedures, with an emphasis on employment law
     2. An attorney who has years of service on a Civil Service Commission and/or other Boards and Commissions providing personnel oversight.
     3. A retired Judge or Magistrate.
     4. Other similar services relevant to the legal specialties listed in 1-3.
  2. Provide an introduction to the individual/firm and their interest in this opportunity.
  3. Please describe the individual or firm’s experience and capabilities in providing impartial hearing services.
     1. This experience may come from the following fields: labor and employment law, service as a mediator, service as an arbitrator, human resources or employee relations, service on Civil Service Commission or related board offering personnel oversight to public sector employees, service as a judge or magistrate.
     2. Please describe this experience in detail and offer how this experiences makes the firm qualified to serve as an Impartial Hearing Officer and Independent Consultant for Dane County as described here within.
  4. Provide resumes describing the educational and work experiences for each of the key staff participating in this project.
     1. A substantial portion of that experience should be in handing public-sector employment relations in the State of Wisconsin. Experience may come from any of the following areas: employment law, mediation service, arbitration service, human resource or employee relations, service on Civil Service Commissions or other boards providing oversight of public sector employment, judicial experience.
     2. Staff should be familiar with County-level government.
     3. Additional consideration will be given for affiliation with any of the following: National Academy of Arbitrators, American Academy of Arbitrators, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, American Association of Mediators, National Association of Certified Mediators, Wisconsin Employment Relations Council, Wisconsin Association of Mediators, or affiliation with a similar organization of professionals related to arbitration or mediation (for example, other state level organizations – the Illinois Academy of Mediators & Arbitrators).
  5. Please identify all important points of contact. Please indicate which staff members would be primary points of contact and their backups.
• Conflicts of Interest (10 pts) —
  1. Please provide information on your current clients and conflicts of interest:
     1. List all entities, public or private, for which you or your firm currently provides services and describe the services provided.
     2. Describe the process you or your firm uses to identify actual or potential conflicts of interest.
     3. List any clients represented by your firm that would pose an actual or potential conflict of interest with your role as an independent consultant. Describe how you would propose to resolve these conflicts.
     4. Identify any client you or your firm has represented in the past 5 years whose interest was adverse to Dane County or any of its boards, commissions, elected officials, or employees.
     5. The firm selected to provide independent consultant services shall comply with the Wisconsin rules of professional conduct for attorneys and must enter into a contractual agreement. Describe how, if selected, you would avoid any conflicts of interest that could interfere with your role as the independent consultant.
• Cost (25 pts) —
  1. Review and complete the Pricing Proposal section (tables) within the RFP. 
  2. If applicable, describe any potential travel related expenses for consideration. Include a description, pricing, estimated frequency, etc. 
     1. Upload this document into 1.4 RFP Cost Proposal - Supplemental Document Upload within the Vendor Questionnaire.
• Local Vendor Preference (5 pts)

Submission Requirements

• RFP DOCUMENT UPLOADS
• Single Proposal Submission (required) —

  Only 1 proposal is allowed to be submitted per Vendor Account. This means if you are submitting multiple proposals, you must follow the instructions set forth within the Section 2.2 RFP Guidelines and Overview - Multiple Proposals & Acceptance. 

  It is understood that if multiple proposals are uploaded using 1 vendor account, the entire submission will be subject to disqualification. 

• RFP Response Document - Upload your Proposal (required) —

  Please DO NOT include Cost information in this section.

• RFP Response - Supplemental Document Upload —

  Upload any additional or required information documents that supplements this solicitation.

• RFP Cost Proposal Document - Upload Cost Proposal (required) —

  Pricing shall be inclusive of all labor, delivery costs and other expenses necessary to provide product in accordance with the specifications and terms and conditions of this bid document and your proposal.

   

   

   

   

• RFP Cost Proposal - Supplemental Document Upload —

  If applicable, upload any documents providing further clarification of the submitted pricing from the Pricing Table. This is not required.

• W9 Upload (required) —

  Upload your company's W9 form.

  NOTE: The W9 is required to be signed within the past 12 months

• VENDOR INFORMATION
• Local Vendor Preference (required) —

  Select a Local Vendor Preference:

  Vendors located within Dane County automatically receive five points toward the evaluation score.

  Vendors located within the counties adjacent to Dane County (Columbia, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, Sauk) automatically receive two points toward the evaluation score.

  Vendors located outside of Dane County and the 7 counties adjacent to Dane County would choose "No Preference".

  NOTE: A post office box address does not qualify as an established place of business.

• Fair Labor Practice Certification (required) —

  Has your company been found by the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") or the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission ("WERC") to have violated any statute or regulation regarding labor standards or relations in the seven years prior to the date this bid submission is signed?
  
  If yes is answered, a copy of any relevant information regarding such violation is required to be uploaded with your bid submission.

  Additional information about the NLRB and WERC can be found using the following links:
  www.nlrb.gov and http://werc.wi.gov.

• Cooperative Purchasing (required) —

  Reference Guidelines - Section F.

  Does your company agree to furnish the commodities or services of this bid to municipalities and state agencies?

• Designation of Confidential and Proprietary Information (required) —

  Please specify what information you wish to designate as confidential and proprietary. Please identify section/ pages/ topic /documents, etc.

  NOTE: Pricing sections cannot be designated as confidential and proprietary.

  If nothing will be designated, simply type "None" in the section below.

• Compliance with County Ordinance and the Employee Benefit Handbook
• Confirmation - Ordinance and Handbook (required) —

  Provide confirmation that you are able to work with the Impartial Hearing Officer and Independent Consultant procedure as described in County Ordinance and the Employee Benefit Handbook.

• Confirmation - Procedures (required) —

  Provide confirmation that you can comply with procedures as described within sections 4.4 (Impartial Hearing Officer Procedure) and 4.5 (Independent Consultant Procedure) of this RFP. 

• Did you attend the mandatory vendor conference? (required)
• Did you attend the mandatory vendor conference? (required)
• RFP ADDENDA
• I understand that if any addendum is issued I will have to acknowledge the posted addendum. (required)
• If an addendum is posted after I have submitted my proposal response and the resulting addendum requires action to be taken either in the Specification Section or Pricing Section, I understand that: (required) —

  1. I will have to unsubmit my proposal response.

  2. I will have to acknowledge the posted addendum.

  3. I will have to take action in responding to the changes on either the Specification Section or Pricing Section.

  4. I will then have to resubmit my proposal response.

  Further instructions on addendum(a) postings can be found here.

• SIGNATURE DECLARATION
• RFP Solicitation Response Declaration (required) —

  In submitting and confirming this solicitation response, we certify that we have not, either directly or indirectly, entered into any agreement or participated in any collusion or otherwise taken any action in restraint of free competition; that no attempt has been made to induce any other person or firm to submit or not to submit a solicitation response; that this solicitation response has been independently arrived at without collusion with any other vendor competitor or potential competitor; that this solicitation response has not been knowingly disclosed prior to the opening of bids to any other vendor or competitor; that the above statement is accurate under penalty of perjury.

  Further, by submitting this solicitation response, firm agrees with all the terms, conditions, and specifications required by the County in this solicitation and declares that the corresponding solicitation response and pricing are in conformity therewith.

  I have read and understood the entire document.

  I declare under penalty of false swearing under the law of Wisconsin that the foregoing is true and correct.

• Signed on: (required) —

  Write in month, day, year and city/state in which the submission occurred.
  Example: June 27, 2025 in Madison, WI

• Electronically signed by: (required) —

  Provide First Name, Last Name and Title

• What is the MUNIS ORG & OBJECT code and available funds for this project? (required)
• Purchase Description
• How soon do you desire to OBTAIN the requested products/services? —

  Enter a specific date

  Figure 2 months minimum for RFB,

  Figure 6 month minimum for RFP from posting date

• Do you need this solicitation posted sooner than three weeks from now? —

  The typical lead time from intake to solicitation posting is 3-6 weeks depending on whether it's an RFP or RFB and complexity of the solicitation.

• Justification for Rush Request —

  Please provide desired posting date and justification for rush request

• What is the anticipated cost for this solicitation? (All Applicable Terms Combined)
• Via contract or a bid, is there an existing vendor currently providing these goods/services?
• Please state the current Contract # or Bid #:
• Is a vendor conference desired for this project? —

  NOTE: All vendor conferences are defaulted to begin at 10:00 am. Select dates that you and other staff are available at 10:00 am.

• (Yes - Mandatory on Site) List all dates that necessary staff are available to host the vendor conference:
• (Yes - Mandatory on Site) Provide address for vendor conference: —

  Include any other specific details such as Room #, directions, etc.

• (Yes - Optional on Site) Provide address for vendor conference: —

  Include any other specific details such as Room #, directions, etc.

• (Yes - Optional on Site) List all dates that necessary staff are available to host the vendor conference:
• (Yes - Mandatory Virtual) List all dates that necessary staff are available to host the vendor conference:
• (Yes - Optional Virtual) List all dates that necessary staff are available to host the vendor conference:
• Who will be evaluating this solicitation? —
  • If this is an RFB, provide name of one evaluator
  • If this is an RFP, provide names of three evaluators minimum. If evaluator is outside of the County, provide email address also.
• Pricing table required? —

  Always select "Yes" unless this is a Highway WisDot Design Project

• External Pricing Document?* —

  Is an external pricing document being used?