RFP-Benefits Consultant Services

To Whom It May Concern:

The City of Cleveland, through its Director of Human Resources, is requesting proposals for a benefits insurance consultant to coordinate its group insurance, administrative services, and ancillary products from reputable insurance carriers and vendors, provide expertise that facilitates and supports sound management of self-insured health care plans, provide subject-matter expertise to assist with regulatory compliance and find the desired products and services at the most competitive prices.  The contract term will be for a period of one year, with three one-year options to renew, exercisable by the Director of Human Resources. It is anticipated that the contract will be effective no later than April 1, 2027.

Background

The City of Cleveland (the City) is seeking proposals for Professional Benefits Consultant services.  The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to gather information from your organization relative to the City’s required scope of service and key selection criteria. Organizations selected as finalists may be expected to address more detailed issues regarding financial and other specifics of their organization and operations. These same finalists may be expected to participate in interviews with the City.

The City of Cleveland employs approximately 8,000 employees at its seasonal peak; and desires to procure services from a qualified professional consultancy provider. 

The City will require the selected vendor for this RFP to provide services within the parameters set by this RFP.  All pricing of services must be stated as cost per unit of service, if applicable.  The Vendor must be able to meet, at minimum, the service requests outlined within this RFP.

Vendors that respond to this RFP may bid on the entire scope of services within the parameters set by this RFP or may select from among the services and submit a bid that is limited to one or more services.  All pricing of services must be stated as cost per unit of service.  The Vendor must be able to meet, at minimum, the service requests outlined within the scope of services in this RFP.

Project Details

• Department: Personnel and Human Resources
• Department Head: Matthew J. Cole (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-08-17T21:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Quality of Proposal (45 pts) —

  Quality of Proposal includes Organization of the Team, Specific Approach to this Project, Ability to Perform the Scope of Services, Capacity to Perform Work, including consideration for current City project workload, and Special Commendations as defined in the “Proposal Submission Requirements” section of this RFP.

• Credentials of Key Personnel (15 pts) —

  Credentials of Key Personnel including qualifications and experience of the Project Team, particularly the project manager and construction general contractor who will be the lead person on this project, and their prior experience and demonstrated ability to perform the scope of work.

• Demonstrated Ability (25 pts) —

  Demonstrated history of successful relevant projects to meet proposed schedules and budgets.

• Proposed Schedule (15 pts) —

  Proposed Schedule to complete the work.

Submission Requirements

• Technical Proposal (required)
• Price Proposal (required)
• Vendor Background Information
• Provide information about any local branch offices or support centers that might serve an account in Cleveland, OH, including number of employee and type of services provided (required)
• Provide name of each principal. (required)
• Provide the year the company was established and any former firm names (required)
• Type of Company (required)
• Provide the state and type of incorporation (required)
• Provide information on related services offered by the company (required)
• Provide the total number of FTEs in the company. (required)
• Provide average years of experience of professional staff. (required)
• Vendor Client References
• VENDOR CLIENT REFERENCE #1 (required) —

  Please include the following information: 

  • Proposing Vendor Name
  • Reference Company/Organization Name
  • Reference Address
  • Reference Contact Name
  • Contact’s Position
  • Contact’s Telephone Number
  • Type of Company/Organization (Industry)
  • Number of Employees
  • Services Performed
  • Sub-contractors used
  • Identify any vendor staff that worked on this reference company's project, that are proposed for City
  • Original Cost Estimates
  • Actual Final Costs
  • Comments
• VENDOR CLIENT REFERENCE #2 (required) —

  Please include the following information: 

  • Proposing Vendor Name
  • Reference Company/Organization Name
  • Reference Address
  • Reference Contact Name
  • Contact’s Position
  • Contact’s Telephone Number
  • Type of Company/Organization (Industry)
  • Number of Employees
  • Services Performed
  • Sub-contractors used
  • Identify any vendor staff that worked on this reference company's project, that are proposed for City
  • Original Cost Estimates
  • Actual Final Costs
  • Comments
• VENDOR CLIENT REFERENCE #3 (required) —

  Please include the following information: 

  • Proposing Vendor Name
  • Reference Company/Organization Name
  • Reference Address
  • Reference Contact Name
  • Contact’s Position
  • Contact’s Telephone Number
  • Type of Company/Organization (Industry)
  • Number of Employees
  • Services Performed
  • Sub-contractors used
  • Identify any vendor staff that worked on this reference company's project, that are proposed for City
  • Original Cost Estimates
  • Actual Final Costs
  • Comments
• City Required Forms
• NOTICE TO BIDDERS AND OEO SCHEDULES (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• NON-COMPETITIVE BID CONTRACT STATEMENT FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2026 (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Northern Ireland Fair Employment Practices Disclosure —

  INSTRUCTIONS: Pursuant to Codified Ordinance Sec. 181.36, the information requested on this page must be supplied by all contractors and any subcontractors having more than a fifty percent (50%) interest in the proposed contract prior to any contract being awarded by the City of Cleveland.  Any contractor or subcontractor who is deemed to have made a false statement shall be declared to have acted in default of its contract and shall be subject to the remedies for default contained in its contract.  For failure to cure such a default, the contractor or subcontractor shall be automatically excluded from bidding for the supply of any goods or services for use by the City for a period of two (2) years.

• CHECK WHICHEVER IS APPLICABLE: (required)
• By confirming, the proposer affirms that they are in compliant Northern Ireland Fair Employment Practices. (required)
• Pricing (required)
• Applicable Language for Goals for Subcontractors (required)
• Is this RFP for Airport? (required)
• Insurance Requirements (for Airport RFP only) (required)
• Do you require insurance from the awarded vendor for this RFP? (required)