Date: April 30, 2024
- With only four business days from the time questions are due (Friday, April 26) to the proposal due date (Friday, May 3rd), would the County please consider extending the proposal due date seven (7) business days from the date the answered questions are returned to the bidders?
A: The RFP due date will be extended one week, due at noon on May 10th. There will be no more questions accepted.
- Could you please provide a copy of the current vendor commissary menu & pricing?
A: Please see Questions and Answers Attachment #1 for current commissary menu. The County has decided not to provide the pricing of our current commissary menu. We would like the vendors to submit their own pricing without the influence from what our current vendor is offering.
- There is conflicting data in the RFP surrounding pricing. Could you please confirm if the commissary menu prices are to be fixed for 1-year or 2-years?
A: Menu prices are to be fixed for one (1) year.
- Are the sales and commission totals provided on page 37 of the RFP for all commissary program sales lines including Care Pack & Online sales?
A: The commission totals are all inclusive with the exception of the online care packages which no commission is paid.
- Are the commissions the same at 41.5% for all commissary sales programs or do Care Packs & Online sales have different commission rates?
A: All sales are at a commission rate of 41.5%, with the exception of online care packages which no commission is paid.
- Could you please describe how the sales of the Care Packs currently work?
A: Family and friends are able to place care package orders through our current commissary vendor’s website. The individual purchasing a care package for an inmate needs to select which state, facility, and provide the inmate’s ID number prior to completing the order. Once the order is submitted, our current vendor includes the package in the inmate’s weekly delivery.
- Could you please provide contents and pricing of the Care Packs that are sold by the current vendor?
A: Our current vendor switches out the care packages throughout the year, but some examples from the past included a morning pack (cappuccino pack, coffee, creamer, sugar packets, honey buns, Pop Tarts, etc.), toiletries (soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothbrush, lip balm, toothpaste, etc.), meals (various ramen flavors, pickles, beans, crackers, cheese, rice, etc. ), and a variety snack pack (various chips, single drink packets, candy, etc.). The prices ranged from $18.99 to $29.99.
- Would the County require any of the following as part of the bid - Check printers? Check stock? Receipt printers? Release card scanners?
A: The County will not require any equipment to issue inmates their checks and/or debit cards upon release or transfer to another facility. We acknowledge that vendors offer various methods of returning money to inmates upon their release from our custody so we are relying on vendors to specify what their process will be in the RFP proposals.
- Beyond interfacing with the current phone and JMS provider, are any other interfaces required?
A: No, there are no other interfaces required aside from the JMS provider and phone provider.
- Could you please explain details of what is required for the Lake County Jail information systems interface (#8, pg. 21)?
A: The awarded vendor will need to ingest a file from our current JMS system. As it stands today, the file is sent from the JMS server to a file path on the commissary server. The commissary provider is then required to strip out the social security number and provide the file to the phone vendor.
- What is the current inmate-to-tablet ratio that the current phone vendor provides?
A: We currently have a 1:1 ratio under our current contract with Viapath.
- Would the County be interested in an alternative offer where the commissary vendor is able to interface their ordering application with the phone vendor's tablets and does not provide housing kiosks?
A: The County is open to this option, but the jail would still require a kiosk to be located in the ASU Pod and Pod 1 East. We cannot have the tablet interface as the only exclusive option.
- Our standard operating procedure includes the charging of a $1 fee to inmates when money is transferred between their commissary & phone account. Would this be an acceptable practice at Lake County if we are awarded the contract?
A: Lake County is requesting that there are no transaction fees as noted in the evaluation criteria under item C (pg. 26).
- Page 18 states that the awarded telephone provider will have the exclusive right of providing kiosks for all funding of inmate deposits. Is the county interested in online and telephone deposit services from the commissary provider?
A: The County is not interested in online and telephone deposit services from the commissary provider at this time.
- Can you please provide your current commissary menu and pricing?
A: Please see Questions and Answers Attachment #1 for current commissary menu. The County has decided not to provide the pricing of our current commissary menu. We would like the vendors to submit their own pricing without the influence from what our current vendor is offering.
- Can you please confirm your average daily inmate population? The total given at the walk through was very different than what was stated in the RFP doc.
A: The ADP at the time of responding to this question on April 25, 2024 is 394. Below is the monthly ADP for January 2024 – March 2024 that does not include the inmates that are currently being housed at McHenry County Jail.
|
January 2024 ADP
|
353
|
|
February 2024 ADP
|
357
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|
March 2024 ADP
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361
|
- What is your average inmate population per pod?
A: We do not track the average inmate population per pod.
- Do you have your gross sales amount for March 2024?
A: Unfortunately, we do not have our gross sales amount information yet. We receive this information a month in arrears.
- What is your average indigent inmate population?
A: The County does not track this information.
- What other services besides commissary ordering are currently offered on your in-pod kiosks?
A: We use it at times to disseminate information to the inmates as notifications.
- How many indigent kits are sold per month?
A: The Lake County Jail does not sell or charge indigent kits to inmates. They are given for free to inmates that qualify.
- How does your facility currently purchase the indigent kits? Do you buy them in bulk from your current provider and keep them on site or does your current provider fill these orders weekly?
A: Currently, the Lake County Jail purchases indigent kits in bulk. The majority of inmates do not qualify as indigent, so it is not a common occurrence to distribute these kits.
- What does Lake County currently pay per indigent kit?
A: $2.11 per indigent writing kit, however none have been ordered in the last 12 months
- Are there any special menus your facility requires, such as kosher, vegetarian, diabetic, etc?
A: Our facility does not require special menus, but we do need the option to limit commissary for certain individuals with doctor’s orders for certain commissary limitations (e.g., diabetic). This is not a common occurrence.
- What are your current delivery days?
A: Our current delivery days are Tuesday and Friday.
- Do you have any federal inmates in your facility currently?
A: No, we do not currently have any federal inmates in our facility.
- Are you open to only one delivery date per week with a higher spend limit instead of two delivery dates?
A: No, we do not wish to limit delivery to once a week with a higher spending limit.
- How often can indigent inmates receive kits?
A: There is no set time frame for when indigent inmates can receive kits.
- What are your requirements for an inmate to qualify as indigent?
A: An inmate is considered indigent if they have less than $1 in their account for one week.
- Does your inmate banking software not currently reside on the county network?
A: There is a server located on the prem on the County network.
- Is there an exclusivity clause with your current ITS provider that would not allow us to put in separate tablets for commissary ordering until a new contract is in effect? Just want to confirm.
A: There is not an exclusivity clause that would prevent a commissary vendor from providing tablets in pods exclusively for ordering commissary. However, The Lake County Sheriff’s Office would have a discussion with our current phone and tablet provider to ensure they are okay with this before proceeding and the Sheriff’s Office does not have an interest in having two (2) different sets of tablets at this time.
- Your RFP states the telephone provider will have exclusivity with lobby kiosks. The commissary lobby kiosk only funds commissary, whereas the telephone provider’s kiosk would not fund commissary deposits. Can you please confirm if a commissary lobby kiosk will be allowed since they fund different products?
A: Currently, our lobby kiosk provided by our phone provider allows the public to place money into an inmate’s phone account or their trust account (commissary). It is up to the public to decide which account to place the deposited funds. We currently do not have a commissary kiosk located in the lobby due to the exclusivity right our phone provider possesses through our contract. Commissary kiosks are solely in the pods for the inmate’s use.
- What is the current commissary commission rate?
A: The jail’s current commissary commission rate is 41.5% as shown on Exhibit C within the RFP.
- Escalator provision states prices are to be fixed for two years. On page 21, states pricing shall be guaranteed for first year of contract. Please clarify if prices are to remain fixed for 1 or 2 years.
A: Prices are to remain fixed for the first year of the contract.
- On Page 23 / Company Background states: Provide one to three examples of similar work including one reference for similar work with a Continuum of Care. Can you provide example of Continuum Care?
A: An example of Continuum of Care is a facility that housed a diabetic inmate that had a doctor’s order restricting sugary snacks. Therefore, the inmate’s commissary order form excluded sugary snacks. Please expand upon this inquiry if this example does not fully answer your question.
- Page 20 (Software) Work release/community corrections tracking systems must be included. What does this (tracking) entail or how does this differ than county jail inmates?
A: Currently, the jail’s Community Based Corrections Center (CBCC) program is inactive until further notice. However, if the program is reinstated, the individuals in this program must have the ability to place commissary orders in the same manner as the inmates in the jail. The awarded vendor’s software should have the ability to identify these individuals as in the CBCC program versus the jail. If this is unable to be achieved, please mark this in your ‘Exceptions’ portion of the RFP response.
- Does facility currently have a Friends and Family Package Program? What is the current package program commission rate?
A: Yes, our facility currently has a Friends and Family Package option from our current commissary vendor. The package program commission rate is 41.5%.
- Please provide commissary sales, not including phone time or tax, for each of the past 3 full months (Jan 2024-March 2024).
A: This information is included in Exhibit C. We do not have March 2024 commissary sale details at this time.
- Please provide package program sales, not including phone time or tax, for each of the past 3 full months (Jan 2024-March 2024).
A: January - $31.78, Feb. - $602.65, March - $563.42
- How many orders per month, over the last three months, have been placed through the commissary?
A: 5464
- Please provide the hardware being requested by the County for this RFP? PCs, Printers, Pod Kiosks, Etc.
A: The County is not requesting any specific hardware. We are leaving it up to the vendors to determine what equipment is needed for the contract. However, we do recommend providing a kiosk in each Pod as that is what is currently implemented.
- Who is the County’s current Internet Service Provider (ISP)?
A: Comcast is the County’s current Internet Service Provider (ISP).
- How many employees does current vendor utilize for the commissary operation? Are the employees part time or full time? What days and hours do they work?
A: The current vendor utilizes two (2) employees to deliver commissary twice a week. The employees are not stationed on-site and instead drive to our facility with deliverables. There are no set hours or times for delivery and they work on site until all commissary is delivered.
- Since stated there is no commissary room, will facility provide office space for our employee to do computer work such as answer grievances, issue credits, etc. Is there adequate power and internet connection?
A: We do not have office space available for the vendor’s employees to do computer work on-site. Our current vendor does all administrative work off-site.
- If commissary is not delivered in one day, is there a storage place to store commissary bags overnight?
A: We could make space available, but we would prefer not to have items left on-site undelivered as it then becomes our responsibility to ensure it is not damaged or stolen.
- Please provide a breakdown of the facility’s housing units to include the ADP of each unit.
What is the capacity of each housing unit?
A: We do not have ADP information on specific housing units. Below is a breakdown of the pods and max capacity.
|
Pod
|
Max Capacity
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1 East
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40
|
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2 East
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56
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2 West
|
56
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2 Medical
|
12
|
|
3 North
|
48
|
|
3 Southeast
|
24
|
|
3 Southwest
|
24
|
|
4 North
|
60
|
|
4 South
|
60
|
|
5 North
|
60
|
|
5 Southeast
|
40
|
|
5 Southwest
|
40
|
|
6 Northeast
|
40
|
|
6 Northwest
|
40
|
|
6 Southeast
|
40
|
|
6 Southwest
|
40
|
|
3 Tower
|
60
|
|
TOTAL CAPACITY
|
740
|
- What is the current commissary delivery schedule? If deliveries take more than 1 day per week, what housing units are delivered on what days?
A: The current commissary delivery schedule is two (2) days a week and deliveries are made to all pods during those days. The jail is open to discussing delivery schedules.
- Are there any special housing units that would need any restrictions? For example - Segregation, MSU, Medical? How many inmates are in these housing units?
A: The Jail’s ASU housing unit is restricted to only hygiene and writing commissary. No commissary food orders are allowed in this housing unit. The max capacity in the unit is 48.
- Will there be an Officer in the housing units while commissary is being delivered?
A: Yes, there will be a Corrections Officer in the housing units while commissary is delivered. We have a direct supervision jail model which has an Officer in the Pod at all times. However, a Corrections Officer will not escort the awarded vendor’s staff around the jail to each Pod.
- What are the facility count times, or any other times that we will not be able to deliver (meals, medical, pill call, laundry)? Are there any other daily events that would prevent the vendor from delivering or entering a housing unit?
A: There is no set schedule where deliveries would not be able to be made. However, since this is a jail, there are unexpected events that arise without notice that could delay deliveries for a short period of time.
51. Please provide the current commissary list with pricing from the existing vendor.
- Do prices include tax on the commissary order form?
A: A: A list of our current commissary list is provided on the following two pages. Prices are under a available with FOIA request. Commissary List
Date: April 24, 2024
Question 1:
On pages 11 & 12 of the RFP it states:
Excess/ Umbrella Liability
The Contractor’s Excess/ Umbrella liability insurance shall be written with the umbrella follow form and outline the underlying coverage; limits of insurance will be based on size of project:
$ 2,000,000 per occurrence limit (minimum, and may be higher depending on the project)
Question: Can you provide the limit required for this project?
Answer 1:
For this contract $2M per occurrence is adequate.