RFP 11-02 Property Tax Assessment Services - Town of Greenfield

CITY OF GREENFIELD, a/k/a TOWN OF GREENFIELDGREENFIELD, MASSACHUSETTSRFP TITLE: PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT SERVICESRFP #: 11-02DATE OF ISSUANCE:AUGUST 23, 2010 at 9:00 a.m.BID DUE DATE:SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.SUBMIT TO:PURCHASING DEPARTMENTTOWN OF GREENFIELD14 COURT SQUAREGREENFIELD, MA 01301Proposals must be submitted in two separate sealed envelopes marked “Greenfield – PropertyTax Assessment Services-Proposal” and “Greenfield– Property Tax Assessment Services-Cost/Pricing”. See Section II for details.As of 9:00 a.m. on August 23, 2010, copies of this RFP for Greenfield- Property Tax AssessmentServices may be obtained from the Town of Greenfield website at www.Greenfield-ma.govunder “Departments”, “Purchasing”, “Active Bids/RFQ/RFP” or electronically by contacting thePurchasing Department of the Town of Greenfield at purchasing@greenfield-ma.gov or bycalling A. LaBonté at (413) 772-1560 x-136 for additional information. Contract documents andproposal forms can be mailed upon request, at a fifteen dollar ($15.00) charge for handling andmailing costs. Mailing will be either via UPS or U. S. Mail, Fourth Class, Special Handling. Allhandling and mailing costs must be prepaid.Contract/Proposal Awarding Authority:Town of GreenfieldGreenfield, MassachusettsRFP 11-02 Page 1

TABLE OF CONTENTSRFP TITLE: PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT SERVICESRFP NUMBER: 11-02PageADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDDERS.................................................................................3Section I.PROJECT DESCRIPTION- OVERVIEW.....................................................4Section II. GENERAL INFORMATION.........................................................................5Section III. PROJECT DESCRIPTION-THE PROPOSAL..............................................9Section IV. EVALUATION CRITERIA/PROCESS AND CONTRACT AWARD......10ATTACHMENT AATTACHMENT BATTACHMENT CATTACHMENT DATTACHMENT EATTACHMENT FSCOPE OF SERVICES.....................................................12CERTIFICATE OF NON-COLLUSION..........................13CERTIFICATE OF TAX COMPLIANCE........................14BIDDER CHECKLIST......................................................15NON-SUBMITTAL RESPONSE FORM.........................16ASSESSMENT CLASSIFICATION REPORT- LA4RFP 11-02 Page 2

Advertisement for BiddersTown of GreenfieldOffice of the Mayor14 Court SquareGreenfield, MA 01301The Town of Greenfield is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide the Town withproperty tax assessment services. Services include but are not limited to data listing, mapping,inspections, and consulting. Greenfield is a town of approximately 19,000 residents located inWestern Massachusetts. It currently has approximately 7,150 parcels with a taxable value of$1,339,779,040.A Request for Proposals (RFP) is being solicited instead of a bid in order allow the Town toevaluate multiple options and determine the proposal and financial arrangement that best meetsthe Town’s interest.As of 9:00 a.m. on August 23, 2010, copies of this RFP for Property Tax Assessment Servicesmay be obtained from the Town of Greenfield website at www.Greenfield-ma.gov under“Departments”, “Purchasing”, “Active Bids/RFQ/RFP” or from the Purchasing Department atpurchasing@greenfield-ma.gov . Call A. LaBonté at (413) 772-1560 x-136 for additionalinformation.Sealed Proposals addressed to the Office of the Mayor, 14 Court Square, Greenfield, MA. 01301and endorsed “RFP # 11-02 Property Tax Assessment Services” will be accepted until 2:00 p.m.on September 24, 2010.Contract documents and proposal forms can be picked up at the Mayor’s Office, or electronicallyforwarded at no cost, or can be mailed upon request, at a fifteen dollar ($15.00) charge forhandling and mailing costs. Mailing will be either via UPS or U. S. Mail, Fourth Class, SpecialHandling. All handling and mailing costs must be prepaid.For further information contact:Lane KellyProcurement OfficerTown of Greenfield14 Court SquareGreenfield, MA 013011-413-772-1567 ext. 102RFP 11-02 Page 3

Section II. GENERAL INFORMATIONA. Point of contact and issuing office:Town of Greenfield, Purchasing DepartmentLane Kelly, CPOEmail: purchasing@greenfield-ma.govPhone: 413-772-1567 x102Fax: 413-772-1519Address: Town Hall, 14 Court Sq., Greenfield, MA 01301Attn: L .KellyB. Limits of LiabilityThe Town of Greenfield assumes no liability for any costs incurred by Proponents inresponding to this RFP or in responding to any further requests for interviews, additionalinformation, etc. prior to the issuance of the contract.C. Type of ContractD. QuestionsThe Town will consider the following type of agreement:• Contract for Property Tax Assessment Services: Contract term to be three (3)years.Proponents may submit more than one project proposal and/or payment proposal.Questions about this RFP shall be submitted one of two ways. They may be sentelectronically via e-mail and directed to Lane Kelly at lanekel@greenfield-ma.gov.In the subject line of the e-mail put “Question- Property Tax Assessment Services”.Alternatively, they may be faxed to 413-772-1519 Attn: L. Kelly. All submissionsmust contain the name of the person asking the question, company name, address,phone number and email address.Failure to provide the correct information in the email will deem the questionunanswerable, and it will not be considered as part of any addenda. Responses will beforwarded to all bidders within 24 hours and posted on the Town of Greenfield websiteat www.greenfield-ma.gov under “Departments”, “Purchasing”, “ActiveBids/RFQ/RFP”.It is the Proponent’s responsibility to perform due diligence. Failure to perform full duediligence does not relieve the Proponent from fulfilling project requirements.RFP 11-02 Page 5

I. Additional InformationProposals will be considered only from proponents who are financially responsible andwho have the resources and ability to successfully complete and operate the project. TheTown reserves the right to be the sole judge of these criteria.The Town may request additional information as deemed necessary. Failure to providesuch information may result in the proposal being considered incomplete.The Town reserves the right to reject any and all proposals in whole or in part; to waiveany technicalities and informalities; to amend and/or cancel the RFP prior to the time ofsubmission; and to correct any proposal erroneously made as a result of a clerical error onthe part of the Town. The Town reserves the right to make such selection, as in itsjudgment, is best suited for the purpose intended.The Proponent will be required to sign and submit with their proposal a Certificate ofNon-Collusion (Attachment B) and Tax Compliance Certification (Attachment C).J. Insurance Certificates:The Contractor must be able to provide evidence of the following insurance coverage:A. The contractor will serve in the capacity of an independent contractor in this project andwill maintain insurance at least as hereinafter set forth so as to protect it and themunicipality from any and all claims for personal injury and property damage, and fromclaims under the Workmen's Compensation Acts including death arising out of theoperation of this agreement, for the entire pendency of this project.B. A comprehensive general liability insurance policy with the following limits ofcoverage: Bodily Injury, One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) each occurrence; PropertyDamage, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) each occurrence, One MillionDollars ($1,000,000) aggregate of all claims per occurrence.C. A comprehensive automobile insurance policy with the following limits: Bodily Injury,One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) for each occurrence; and Property Damage, FiveHundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) each occurrence, One Million Dollars($1,000,000) aggregate of all claims per occurrence.D. All of the insurance must be issued by an insurer licensed, authorized and maintains anoffice to do business in Massachusetts.J. ConfidentialityProposals will be kept confidential until after they have been evaluated. A log will bemaintained of proposals received, but proposals are not opened publicly.RFP 11-02 Page 7

K. Proposed schedule:RFP Issued………………………………….. 08/23/2010 at 9:00 a.m.Questions Due………………………………. 09/17/2010 at 2:00 p.m.Proposals Due……………………………......09/24/2010 by 2:00 p.m.RFP 11-02 Page 8

Section III THE PROPOSALA. The Scope of Services for this RFP is set forth in Attachment A.B. Qualifications/Certifications/Résumé and Operations PlanThe following information should be provided in a separate sealed envelopemarked “Greenfield-Property Tax Assessment Services – Proposal”.The City of Greenfield utilizes the Patriot Properties’ AssessPro appraisal system inhouse. Therefore, each Contractor must show evidence of familiarity with the PatriotProperties’ system by submitting a list of projects previously worked on that required theuse of the Patriot Properties’ AssessPro Appraisal System.In addition, bidders should provide detailed information addressing each of thefollowing areas:• History of the company and Résumés of officers• Profile of the company including a list of majority stockholders, assets and liabilities.• Information regarding law suits relevant to the requested services that are pending orhave been resolved within the past 12 months.Failure to be forthright in disclosure shall be grounds for disqualification of a vendor.This section shall not be interpreted to require the disclosure of information shieldedfrom disclosure by State or Federal Statutes and/or courtorder.C. Bid Response Elements• Entity Qualifications• List of current clients including contact information• Description of entity’s experience with providing requested services• Evidence of InsuranceD. Cost/Pricing ProposalThe following information should be provided in a separate sealed envelopemarked “Greenfield Property Tax Assessment Services – Cost/Pricing”:• The proposal should reflect the annual cost for each of the following items in theScope of Work with projected increases for the life of the contract:1. Items 1-52. Item 63. Items 7-16• Please note that for pricing purposes, under any approved contract, the nextrevaluation year will be 2014.RFP 11-02 Page 9

Section IV- EVALUATION CRITERIA1. Evaluation Criteria that will be used by the Selection Team are:A. General experience and technical competence- Extent of business; size of operation- Management experience of company- Financial capacity and security of the companyB. Overall impression of proposal-Organization, clarity, completeness, thoroughness-Approach to scope of servicesC. Payment/Value of proposed services that would be of maximumbenefit to the Town2. Comparative CriteriaThe following rating will be used to evaluate those Proponents that meet the minimumevaluation criteria above. Those proposals that do not meet the minimum criteria may bereviewed at the Committee’s discretion. If a proposal scores Unacceptable on any of thefollowing comparative criteria, the Committee may decide not review it any further. TheCommittee will consider the following comparative criteria for award:Highly advantageous Proposal exceeds the specified criterionAdvantageousUnacceptableProposal meets evaluation standard for the criterion.Proposal does not fully meet the evaluation criterion, leaves aquestion, or does not address the element issue at some or all levelsThe criteria that will be used for comparative purposes are as follows:1. Knowledge and Experience with Computer Assisted Mass AppraisalSystem:Highly Advantageous: Proponent has at least has more than ten (10) yearsof working with Mass Appraisal System.Advantageous: Proponent has at least has at least five (5) but less thanten (10) years of working with Mass Appraisal System.Non-Advantageous: Proponent has less than five (5) years of working withMass Appraisal System.RFP 11-02 Page 10

3. Miscellaneous2. Experience Conducting Residential and Commercial/IndustrialRevaluations.Highly Advantageous: Proponent has conducted a minimum of five (5)revaluation projects within the Commonwealth utilizing the PatriotProperties AssessPro software and each of which included the valuationof 5,000 or more real parcelssAdvantageous: Proponent has conducted a minimum of three (3)revaluation projects within the Commonwealth utilizing the PatriotProperties AssessPro software and each of which included the valuationof 5,000 or more real parcelsUnacceptable: Proponent has conducted less than three (3) revaluation projectswithin the Commonwealth utilizing the Patriot Properties AssessPro software andeach of which included the valuation of 5,000 or more real parcels.3. Experience with Appellate Tax Board:Highly Advantageous: Prepared for and/or represented municipalities inten (10) or more ATB hearings with at least five (5) being commercial orindustrial.Advantageous: Prepared for and/or represented municipalities in four (4)to ten (10) ATB hearings with at least three (3) being commercial orindustrial.Unacceptable: Prepared for and/or represented municipalities in less thanfour (4) ATB hearings.Any contract awarded as a result of this RFP will be awarded without discrimination onthe basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation ornational origin.RFP 11-02 Page 11

Attachment ARFP: Property Tax Assessment ServicesRFP No.: 11-02SCOPE OF SERVICESThe successful proposal will fully describe the delivery, scope, and level of service of thefollowing:1. All data listing including but not limited to cyclical, permits, overvaluations and sales.2. Physical inspections of residential, industrial and commercial properties to obtainsufficient data to determine full and fair values of both land and buildings.3. Conferences with property owners, private appraisers, attorneys, assessors, taxrepresentatives and others relative to the assessed values on properties.4. Maintenance of current knowledge of real estate market trends to establish appropriatemarket values.5. All mapping, lot splits and combines. Creation/deletion of parcels using PatriotProperties software including annotations. Maintenance, correction and updating ofinformation in the Town’s computer assisted Mass Appraisal System. Entry of propertycharacteristics to correct assessment value and other data to maintain system.6. Discovery, listing and valuation of all personal property in the Town. Physicalinspections of businesses in town to gather information regarding personal propertyvaluation. Entry of information into computer assisted personal property appraisalsystem to keep assessments current and maintain system.7. Analysis and review of pertinent sales information that will affect the triennialrevaluation.8. Development of neighborhood delineation, neighborhood map, neighborhood modifiersand new land schedules as indicated by vacant land sales, land residuals and incomeresidual analysis.9. Implementation of new land valuations and adjust all cost schedules as indicated byanalysis in order to produce new valuations meeting the Department of Revenue’sstatistical requirements for Certification of Values.10. Provision of supplemental income, expense and vacancy data from neighboringcommunities.11. Development of income approach values for all applicable commercial, industrial,apartment and mixed use property as well as all conforming use mobile home parks andspecial use properties.12. Reconciliation of indicated income approach values and cost market values to a finalvalue estimate.13. Provide the Chief Assessor with a working knowledge of all residential,commercial/industrial and other D.O.R. triennial certification requirements.14. Assistance to the Board of Assessor’s in completion of the LA13 New Growth report andassociated spreadsheets15. Meeting with the Board of Assessors as needed to discuss and review new land schedulesand documentation.16. Meeting with D.O.R. representatives and provision of all statistical sales data associateddocumentation and spreadsheets necessary to achieve Certification.RFP 11-02 Page 12

Attachment BRFP: Property Tax Assessment ServicesRFP No.: 11-02CERTIFICATE OF NON-COLLUSIONThe undersigned certifies under penalties of perjury that this bid or proposal has been made andsubmitted in good faith and without collusion or fraud with any other person. As used in thiscertification, the word “person” shall mean any natural person, business, partnership,corporation, union, committee, club, or other organization, entity, or group of individuals.__________________________________________Signature of person making proposal___________________________________________Name of businessB-9 © Office of the Inspector General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. All rights reserved.RFP 11-02 Page 13

Attachment CRFP: Property Tax Assessment ServicesRFP No.: 11-02TAX COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATIONPursuant to M.G.L. c. 62C, §49A, I certify under the penalties of perjury that, to the best of myknowledge and belief, I am in compliance with all laws of the Commonwealth relating to taxes,reporting of employees and contractors, and withholding and remitting child support.___________________________________________Signature of person submitting bid or proposal___________________________________________Name of businessRFP 11-02 Page 14

Attachment DRFP: Property Tax Assessment ServicesRFP No.: 11-02BIDDER CHECKLIST( ) Submitted all information as requested( ) Submitted signed proposal in one sealed envelope duly marked( ) Submitted separate pricing proposal in one sealed envelope duly marked( ) Signed and dated Cost / Pricing Proposal( ) Received _______ number of addendum(s).( ) No conditions or restrictions have been placed by the company on this proposal thatwould declare it non-responsive.( ) Prepared to provide the insurance required._____________________________________________ __________________Signature of Authorized Official Date_________________________________________________________________Company NameRFP 11-02 Page 15

Attachment ERFP: Property Tax Assessment ServicesRFP No.: 11-02NON-SUBMITTAL RESPONSE FORMNOTE TO BIDDER:If your company’s response is a “non-submittal”, the District is very interested in the reason forsuch response since the District desires to ensure that the procurement process is fair, nonrestrictiveand attracts maximum participation from interested companies. We, therefore,appreciate your response to this non-submittal response form. Please indicate your reason forresponding with a “non-submittal”:( ) Unable to meet the requirements for this project.( ) Unable to meet the time frame established for start and/or completion of the project.( ) Received too late to reply. Received on ________________________.( ) Please remove our company’s name from receiving similar type solicitations.( ) Other: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Your response will be given careful consideration, and included in the contract file. Your inputwill assist the District in determining changes necessary to increase participation andcompetition.________________________________________________________________________________Authorized Signature Title Date________________________________________________________________________________Name of Company / Consultant_________________________________________________________________________________Company Address(___)_______________________________Business Telephone Number(___)______________________________Facsimile Number_______________________________E-Mail AddressRFP 11-02 Page 16

Attachment FRFP: Property Tax Assessment ServicesRFP No.: 11-02PDF TO BE ATTACHED.RFP 11-02 Page 17