RFP-COBRA Services

June 1, 2026

To Whom It May Concern:

The City of Cleveland, through its Director of Human Resources is soliciting proposals from qualified firms interested in proving COBRA administrative services. The contract term will be for one year with two, one-year options to renew.

Interested vendors must be thoroughly knowledgeable and proficient in administration of COBRA services in accordance with Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code and regulations promulgated thereunder and will be required to provide setup, administration, client service, customer service, and management for this program.

If your firm is interested, please submit to the City no later than 5:00pm EST, June 22, 2026 Including a technical proposal and a separate document that includes the price proposal.

The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals or portions of them, to waive irregularities, informalities, and technicalities, to re-issue or to proceed to obtain the service(s) desired otherwise, at any time or in any manner considered in the City's best interests. The Director may, at his/her sole discretion, modify or amend any provision of this notice or the RFP.

The selected provider will be notified as soon as practical after analysis of all proposals required in compliance with this request.  The City reserves the right to review details of services with potential vendors to ensure system compatibility prior to contract award.

It is anticipated that the contract will be effective no later than January 1, 2027. It is our hope that this RFP will be self-explanatory, however if you need additional information, please email:

Gretchen Heil

Senior Client Executive, Oswald Companies

gheil@oswaldcompanies.com

Background

The City provides medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision benefits along with a health care flexible spending account for approximately 7,320 employees plus their eligible dependents.

The City has 30+bargaining units and two medical carriers-Medical Mutual of Ohio and Aetna; CVS is the PBM; MetLife is the dental carrier; EyeMed is the vision carrier.

The COBRA plan administrator selected by the City must be implemented and in operation by January 1, 2027. All data files are available within the OpenGov system.

All bids should include costs for COBRA administration Services.

Project Details

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

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-06-15T21:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Experience and Staff (10 pts)
• Program Management Plan (25 pts)
• Proposed Services (25 pts)
• Sustainability (5 pts) —

  Proposed Schedule to complete the work.

• Schedule/Timeline (15 pts)
• Questionnaire Responses (20 pts)

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)