REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
AUDIT SERVICES FOR PROJECT VIDA, PROJECT VIDA HEALTH CENTER, AND AFFILIATED ENTITIES.
Project Vida, acting on its own behalf and on behalf of Project Vida Health Center, is soliciting a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from respondents who are experienced with Audit Services for a network of affiliated non-profit agencies.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENTITIES:
Project Vida Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center located in El Paso, Texas serving about 13,000 unduplicated individuals with multiple clinical, educational and outreach services supported by federal, state and local funding sources. Founded in 2004, it also includes a new Psychiatric Residency program, school campus-based services, and physical locations in both El Paso and Hudspeth Counties.
Project Vida is a social service organization incorporated in 1991 that provides microenterprise technical assistance, manages affordable housing units, provides both permanent supportive housing, prevention and rapid rehousing for homeless individuals and families, operates a licensed child care program and out of school activities for children and youth, and provides administrative support to affiliated agencies. It also owns and manages scattered site individual affordable rental homes.
P.V. Community Development Corporations is a Community Housing Development Organization staffed by Project Vida that owns PVCDC Linda Vista, a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project, and owns multiple affordable housing multi-family locations.
El Paso Collaborative for Community and Economic Development is a Community Development Financial Institution also staffed by Project Vida employees that offers loans to microenterprises and small businesses, holds mortgages on homes sold to low- and moderate-income families, and owns several scattered site homes leased to low and moderate income families.
CONTRACT BASIS – a contract will be negotiated with the best evaluated proposer under this Request for Qualifications (RFQ).
TIMELINE:
Issuance of RFQ: June 23, 2023
1st Advertisement June 23, 2023
2nd Advertisement June 29, 2023 Deadline for RFQ Question July 7, 2023
Deadline for Responses to RFQ Questions July 12, 2023 Proposal Due Date July 21, 2023
Estimated Approval July 26, 2023 INTENT
Project Vida is soliciting Statements of Qualifications from interested auditor is (hereinafter called "the auditor") to provide Professional Audit Services.
The information contained within this document is intended to provide interested auditors with the requirements and criteria that will be used to make the selection.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Project Vida is seeking the services of a qualified certified public accountant firm to perform the following services for the fiscal years ending September 30, 2023 through 2026.
Project Vida Audit, P.V. Community Development Audit, and El Paso Collaborative audits along with a unified audit of all three with Project Vida as the main entity and the others as subsidiary entities. Federal single audit as required.
PVCDC Linda Vista ‘short year’ audit from January 1, 2023 through August 31, 2023 to be followed by annual audits on the same time frame as Project Vida along.
Project Vida Health Center Federal Single Audit and Medicare Cost Report.
The entities fiscal year begins on September 1 and ends on August 31. All of the above entities have the same fiscal year with the exception of PVCDC Linda Vista which is changing this year to match.
More detailed information all the entities is available online at www.pvida.net, and previous year audits are available at www.Guidestar.org.
f) Contract initiation date: Upon acceptance by the respective Boards for the fiscal years ending 2023 through 2026.
DUE DATE AND DELIVERY LOCATION
Electronic copies only are to be received by the Responsible Staff Person no later than Friday July 21st at 4:00 PM Mountain Standard Time (MST) to be considered: w.schlesinger@pvida.net.
GENERAL CONDITIONS LEGAL ADDRESSES
All notices, letters, and other communications to you will be mailed, faxed, emailed or delivered to the respondent's business address, fax number or email address listed in your response. You may
change the address or contact information at any time by notice in writing. INDEMNIFICATION
You shall indemnify and hold harmless Project Vida and affiated entities, and all relevant officers, employees, agents, successors, and assigns from and against all claims, demands, suits, judgments, damages of every kind and type (bodily injury, death, property loss or destruction), attorney fees, costs, and interest that arise out of or relate to acts or omissions of respondent or respondent’s officers, agents, employees, or subcontractors in the course of performing the contract.
PROPOSALS CONFIDENTIAL
During the entire process, PROJECT VIDA treats all responses with the highest level of confidentiality. QUESTIONS, CLARIFICATIONS and CORRESPONDENCE
All questions and requests for clarification must be submitted to the responsible Project Vida staff person in writing and will be answered by them in writing. No questions will be accepted or answered verbally. Except as provided in this section, upon issuance of this RFQ, you are specifically
directed not to contact other Project Vida or PROJECT VIDA personnel, and any consultants, Engineers or Architects of the Project Vida or CITY, other than the responsible staff person, for answers to questions, clarifications, meetings, conferences, or technical discussions or anything else related to this
RFQ. Failure to strictly abide by this policy may result in your immediate disqualification.
RESPONSIBLE STAFF PERSON:
Bill Schlesinger, Co-Director Project Vida 3607 Rivera Avenue
El Paso, TX 79905 FAX: (915) 503-1014
Email: w.schlesinger@pvida.net
If the answers provided by do not change the information published in the original documents, then only a clarification will be issued. Clarifications do not require acknowledgement. However, if the answers do materially change the information published in the original documents, then an Addendum will be issued. Addendums require that you sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the addendum and submit it with your response to the RFQ. It is your responsibility to verify if an addendum(s) or clarification(s) have been issued and that you have received same. Contact the responsible person via email to verify.
ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF PROPOSALS
The PROJECT VIDA reserves the right to accept or reject any or all responses or parts of responses, to waive any formalities and technicalities, and to accept the best evaluated response.
CANCELLATION
The RFQ may be cancelled (in part or in its entirety) at any time with written notice by Project Vida.
REIMBURSEMENTS
There is no express or implied obligation for the PROJECT VIDA to reimburse respondents for any expenses incurred in preparing responses to this Request for Qualifications. The PROJECT VIDA will not reimburse respondents for these expenses, nor will the PROJECT VIDA pay any subsequent costs associated with the provision of any additional information or presentation, or to procure a contract for these services.
DISPUTES
In case of any doubt or difference of opinion as to the services and deliverables herein, the decisions of PROJECT VIDA shall be final and binding on both parties. The laws of the State of Texas will govern interpretation and performance of the obligations imposed on the parties pursuant to this order.
Further, the successful respondent agrees that the courts of the State of Texas shall have jurisdiction over the successful respondent with respect to any action brought by the PROJECT VIDA relating to the performance of the respondent’s obligation hereunder. Venue and jurisdiction of any suit, right or cause of action arising under or in connection with these specifications, shall lie exclusively in El Paso County, Texas.
REQUEST FOR NON-CONSIDERATION
Request for non-consideration or withdrawal of a response must be made in writing and received by the PROJECT VIDA prior to the time set for opening.
DEFAULT
In case of default by the successful responder, the PROJECT VIDA may procure the services from other sources.
CONDITIONS FOR PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL
All responses to this RFQ become the property of the CITY. The PROJECT VIDA will not return responses or other information supplied to it. All respondents shall comply with all conditions, requirements, and specifications contained herein. Any departure will constitute sufficient cause for rejection of the response. Responses to this RFQ are to be signed by an officer of the company authorized to bind the company in a contract submitted and to its provisions submitted in the RFQ. Failure to sign the response will disqualify the respondent. Responses are to contain a statement indicating the
period during which the response will remain valid. A period of not less than ninety (90) days is required.
FAMILIARITY WITH SCOPE OF WORK
This RFQ is based on the Scope of Work and information included in this document. Prior to submission of any response, each respondent should be thoroughly familiar with the scope, information, and the general terms and conditions in this package. The failure or omission of any respondent to examine any form, instrument or document shall in no way relieve any respondent from any obligation in respect to his/her response. No allowance will be made because of lack of
knowledge of this document. It is the responsibility of each respondent to ascertain the completeness of the information contained herein and thoroughly address those concerns in their response to this RFQ.
SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE
This RFQ will require specific performance on all criteria as stated in your response. All
specifications are as written unless specifically taken exception to by you. Any exception accepted by
the PROJECT VIDA will be strictly adhered to. Responders must submit written requests for exceptions to any specifications/conditions with their response. Exceptions made without submission of a written request may result in disqualification.
SCOPE OF WORK
The following Scope of Work is to be provided by the successful auditor:
Each entity’s general-purpose financial statements will be audited in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, and all federal and state single audit requirements. The auditor will express an opinion concerning whether the general-purpose financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the entities for the year then ended in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, the auditor will consider each entity’s internal control structure over financial reporting and assess control risk. It is recognized that the management of each entity is responsible for establishing and maintaining an internal control structure.
Reports to be Issued –
Following the completion of the audit of the fiscal year’s financial statements, the auditor shall present to the Board of each entity within 160 days after the last day of the City’s fiscal year:
A report on the fair presentation of the financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. (Audit Report)
A report on the internal control over financial reporting and on compliance and other matters based on an audit of financial statements performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. (Internal Control Report)
− A report on compliance for each major program and on internal control over compliance in accordance with Uniform Grants Management Standards and the State of Texas Single
Audit Circular and on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal and State Awards. (Single Audit)
Special Considerations
− The entities may require the auditor’s assistance to comply with any new reporting requirements mandated by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
− The auditor will submit Form SF-SAC data collection form and a copy of the A-133 reporting package to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.
- The auditor(s) will be expected to show the ability to use MIP/Sage/Abila, the accounting software used by all the entities, to generate reports and information as needed during the audit process as well as clearly defining requests for information in a timely basis.
RFQ RESPONSE ELEMENTS AND FORMAT
Project Vida requires comprehensive responses to every section within this RFQ. To facilitate the review of the responses, you must follow the described response format. The intent of the response format requirements is to expedite review and evaluation. It is not the intent to constrain Respondents with regard to content, but to assure that the specific requirements set forth in this RFQ are addressed in a uniform manner amenable to review and evaluation. A response that does not provide all the information requested below may be deemed non-responsive. Your response must concisely contain sufficient information to assure Project Vida of its accuracy and any additional information necessary to summarize the overall benefit of the response to the City. Responses must include the following information in the order listed:
Your Qualifications and Experience:
− The auditor’s past experience and performance on comparable nonprofit engagements; include all engagements within the last five years.
− The auditor’s past experience and performance auditing similar federal or state financial assistance programs.
− The quality of the auditor’s professional personnel to be assigned to the engagement and the quality of the auditor’s management support personnel to be available for technical consultation.
− Provide brief resumes of the personnel assigned to the engagement including the partner in charge of the audit team, the manager in charge of the onsite field work and the senior in charge of the onsite field work.
− The entities currently use Community Brands/Abila/Sage software. Applicants shall demonstrate domputer expertise with same or compatible software.
Mandatory Elements
The auditor is an independent auditor licensed to practice in Texas.
The auditor has no conflict of interest with regard to any other work performed.
The auditor must have the ability to conduct the audit in the timeframe allowed with required completion dates for the FQHC Medicare report and then submissions of the other audits as stated in public documents.
The auditor must have a continuing professional education program accounting, auditing, and financial reporting.
Audit Approach
Set forth a work plan including an explanation of the audit methodology to be followed to perform the services required in this Request for Qualifications. Auditors are may provide the following information on their audit approach:
Proposed segmentation of the engagement.
Level of staff and number of hours to be assigned to each proposed segment of the engagement.
Sample sizes and the extent to which statistical sampling is to be used in the engagement.
Extent of use of audit software in the engagement and approach to be taken in drawing audit samples for purposes of test compliance.
Type and extent of analytical procedures to be used in the engagement.
Approach to be taken in determining laws and regulations that will be subject to audit test work.
Approach to the implementation of new GASB pronouncements.
Approach to internal control structure understanding.
Your References
Provide references for all key personnel/team members for similarly successful projects including the name of the agency, address, contact name, current telephone number, email address and a brief description of services provided. Experience and/or references with similar affiliated systems is strongly preferred, but not required.
Suspension and Debarment Certification
Please provide certification as to any suspension or debarment experience in your company. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
After the responses are opened on the stated date and time, they will be reviewed for responsiveness by Project Vida and affiliates. In order for a response to be considered responsive to this RFQ, it must conform to all the substantial material terms and conditions required herein. A response that does not so conform will be declared non-responsive and will not be further evaluated.
Statements of Qualifications will be evaluated and scored for both technical qualifications and price.
If Project Vida is unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the highest ranked auditor, Project Vida shall formally end negotiations with the auditor and begin negotiations with the second most highly ranked auditor.
Negotiations shall be undertaken in this sequence until a contract is made. Project Vida will then make recommendations to the respective Boards. The contract will be subject to approval by the respective Boards.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
This proposal will be awarded to the best evaluated proposer. The following scoring will be used to evaluate each proposer’s response to the RFQ:
Qualifications and Experience 30
Mandatory Elements 30
Audit Approach 30
References 10
Max. Possible Score 100 PRESENTATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Contract negotiations may be conducted with responsible respondents who submit Qualifications that are reasonably anticipated to be selected. Respondents reasonably anticipated to be selected
based on criteria set forth in this RFQ may be given an opportunity to make a presentation and/or interview with Project Vida staff. Following any presentation and/or interviews, firms will be ranked in order of preference and contract negotiations will begin with the top ranked respondent.
Should negotiations with the highest ranked respondent fail to yield a contract, or if the respondent is unable to execute said contract, negotiations will be formally ended and then commence with the second highest ranked respondent, etc. However, PROJECT VIDA reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to award a contract without presentations or interviews, based solely on information supplied in the RFQ responses.
AWARD OF CONTRACT CONTRACT FORM
Please submit a sample contract and engagement letter that your company uses for this service. We will work with the selected respondent to negotiate a contract that is acceptable to both parties. If there is a conflict with the contract and the proposal, the proposal will prevail. All other documents including the original Request for Qualifications package together with all addendums and clarifications and the successful respondents bid documents will be included by reference.
NOTE: the form of contract and business points will be negotiated with the successful proposer. CONTRACT TERM
The contract shall become effective from the date of acceptance and approval by the respective Boards. It will remain in full force and effect for an agreed term. The term will begin with the 2023 fiscal year audits and remain through the 2026 year end.
CONTRACT DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS
After the proposal has been awarded by the CITY, the Director of Finance will send the awarded respondent a Notice of Award which will include a contract and a listing of other documentation required prior to fully executing the contract. Upon receipt of this notice, the vendor will have ten (10) calendar days to provide Project Vida with the signed contracts, Letters of Engagement and any other documentation that is required by the terms and conditions of the proposal. The Contracts and Letters of Engagement must be signed by the responsible official for each entity, and all other conditions required by the terms and conditions of the proposal must also be met before any work may begin. If there is failure to demonstrate good faith effort in providing the necessary documentation, then the respondent will be considered to have abandoned his proposal. The proposal will then be considered as non-responsive and may be promptly re-awarded to the next best evaluated proposal.