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Request For Proposals (RFPs)
Request for Qualifications (RFQs)
To review past RFPs please click here.
July 7, 2008
Office of Housing and Community Development
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
Financial and Compliance Contract or Project Audits
Mandatory Briefing July 24, 2008 at 10 am
Proposal Deadline August 6, 2008 by 5pm
I. Overview.
Certified Public Accountants (CPA’s), which are referred to as proposer(s) here-in-after in this contract opportunity or request for proposal (RFP) are invited to submit online proposals (as per information set forth in this contract opportunity, and/or in the City’s website, which is set forth in Section I. E. below) to perform three (3) financial and compliance contract or project audits in accordance with Government Auditing Standards on the following three (3) projects:
A. Project(s) List:
Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED)
PROJECTS ENDING June 30, 2008
| Project # |
Name |
State Funds |
Local Match |
Total |
Audit Period |
| 25-306-0043 |
Adaptive Modifications Program |
$480,000 |
$2,907,690 |
$3,407,690 |
7/1/05- 6/30/08 |
| 25-306-0017 |
Basic Systems Repair & Development Subsidy for 4 New Construction Homeowner Projects |
$5,730,000 |
$16,020,000 |
$21,750,000 |
|
| 25-330-0038 |
Planning/Technical Assistance for 2 Rail Station Areas |
$150,000 |
$37,500 |
$187,500 |
7/1/05- 6/30/08 |
The administering agencies for the above three (3) projects are as follows:
#25-306-0043 - Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC).
#25-306-0017 - Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia (RDA) and the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC).
#25-30-0038 - Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD) through the United Way. OHCD sub-granted one project to PHDC; one project to both PHDC and the RDA and one project to the United Way.
All three (3) contracts or projects have been subject to the audit requirements of the Single Audit Act - 0MB Circular A-133 on an entity wide basis as all DCED funds sub-granted to the RDA, PHDC and the United Way have been, or would be, audited for the aforementioned fiscal years as major programs by the respective agencies’ audit firm(s).
All three (3) contracts or projects shall be audited from inception to close out. All three (3) projects would be completed by June 30, 2008.
B. Funding Sources
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) has funded all three (3) contracts or projects. Any local match consists of Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and/or by the City of Philadelphia or by the Philadelphia Neighborhood Development Collaborative (PNDC).
C. Name and Address of Requesting Agency:
City of Philadelphia
Office of Housing and Community Development, Audit Department
1234 Market Street, 17th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
D. Project Questions Shall be Directed to:
- Audit Requirements – OHCD, Ezra Tepel (215-686-9725) and Joel Jenkins (215-686-9733)
- Contract Programmatic or Application Information – OHCD, Laura Taylor OHCD Contract Conformance Manager (215-686-9711)
- Project Fiscal Information – OHCD, Suki Kazahaya (215-686-9740)
- Project Fiscal Information – PHDC, James Quinn (215-448-3182)
- Project Fiscal Information – RDA, Roderick Lyles (215-209-8717)
- EEO Information – Michael Bell, OHCD, Compliance Director (215-683-3006)
E. Proposal Submission
Proposers shall register as a vendor prior to submission of their online proposals. To register, use the City’s website at www.ework.phila.gov/contracts, then choose eContract Philly. It is only necessary to register once in the City’s system. Proposers that had previously registered and had been issued their User ID and PIN numbers, can apply for the audits of these three (3) projects without the need to re-register.
Proposers shall apply online in order to be eligible for award of the posted contract opportunity, or RFP. Proposals to this contract opportunity, or RFP, shall not be considered unless applications are submitted through the City’s website at www.ework.phila.gov/contracts, then proceed as in the above paragraph, within the prescribed time period. Proposers who have failed to file complete applications through the aforementioned application process prior to the closing date and time indicated in this contract opportunity, or RFP, shall not be considered for award of this contract.
eContract Philly encourages proposers to start and complete their online applications as early as possible. Please be aware that internet connection speed depends on a variety of factors including: configuration of your computer, configuration of your business network, the condition of the wiring at your business, and network or internet congestion (available bandwidth). Please prepare and plan accordingly to ensure timely submissions of proposals.
You can begin uploading (or attaching) your contract application materials at any time. It is especially prudent for you to start uploading your attachments earlier if you have a large number of attachments (e.g. over five documents) or larger sized attachments (e.g. above 5 MB). Until you sign and submit your application, your materials are not accessible to staff at OHCD and/or with the City of Philadelphia. Once you have signed and electronically submitted, your application, it is accessible only to appropriate OHCD and/or other City employees.
Proposers shall complete all required Disclosure Forms, which are accessed on-line on the aforementioned City’s website. Applicants are now required to disclose their campaign contributions, any consultants used and contributions the consultants have made, prospective subcontractors, and whether they have received any requests or advice on satisfying minority owned business participation goals from City employees. The submission of disclosure information and of proposals is part of the online application process. For more information, please consult the reference materials found on the website via e-mail to econtractphilly@phila.govor by calling 215-686-4914.
OHCD encourages proposers to include participation of qualified MBE and/or WBE and/or DSBE CPA firms or individuals, on the S & C Form mentioned below in this paragraph, within the ten (10%) to fifteen (15%) participation guide range, pursuant to the Mayor’s Executive Order 02-05. Please note, even though proposers shall complete the required Disclosure form pertaining to prospective subcontractors, on-line, all proposers shall also submit, as an electronic attachment, hereto, the Solicitation and Commitment Form (S & C Form), which, is also identified as Attachment I, to this contract opportunity or RFP. The submission of the S & C Form is required for compliance with the Mayor’s Executive Order 02-05 -Participation of Minority (MBE), Women (WBE) and Disabled Business Enterprises (DSBE).
Proposers shall follow all instructions set forth in the aforementioned City’s website for contract applications, and/or as set forth in this contract opportunity or RFP. Should a Proposer not electronically sign and submit its proposal or application on line, the application shall not be considered by OHCD or the City.
F. Responsibility for Proposal:
The proposals shall become part of OHCD’s and the City’s files without any obligation upon OHCD and/or the City of Philadelphia. OHCD and/or the City shall not be liable for any costs associated with the development, preparation, submission or presentation of any proposal or related material submitted in response to this contract opportunity or RFP.
II. Audit Requirements
A. Basis of Audit - The winning proposer shall perform three (3) contract or project audits in accordance with the following:
- GAO Government Auditing Standards.
- DCED Closeout Guidelines for Contracts with State Funding.
B. Reporting Requirements - The winning proposer shall submit three (3) separate contract or project Audit Reports, one each for the three (3) aforementioned contracts or projects, which shall contain, at a minimum, the following:
- Independent Auditor’s Report
a. Shall state that the report has been performed in accordance with GAGAS, and that the proposer has met the required independence standards.
b. Shall state whether the financial statements are presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
c. Shall identify those circumstances in which the GAAP principles were not observed.
d. Shall either contain an expression of the proposer’s opinion regarding the financial statements, taken as a whole, or the proposer’s assertion that no opinion could be given.
e. Shall state that the proposer is issuing a separate report on compliance and internal controls over compliance.
- Statement of (contract or project) Net Assets
- Statement of (contract or project) Activities
- Statement of (contract or project) Cash Flow
- Comparison Statement of (contract project) Budget to Actual Expenditures.
If contracts or projects are multi-funded, all separate sources and amounts must be indicated.
- Notes to Financial Statements
a. Nature of organization/project.
b. Basis of accounting
c. Background, purpose, and funding source of each contract or project shall be disclosed.
- Independent Auditor’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting.
a. Shall describe the scope of the testing of internal control over financial rting.
b. Shall state whether the results of Audit testing disclosed control deficiencies and/or significant deficiencies and/or material weaknesses (Findings) that represent deficiencies in the internal control structure or whether no deficiencies were found.
c. Shall disclose all instances of fraud and illegal acts unless clearly inconsequential.
- Independent Auditor’s Report on Compliance and Internal Control over Compliance
a. Shall describe the scope of compliance testing.
b. Shall state whether the results of audit testing disclosed no instances of noncompliance, which are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards (GAS), or whether instances of non-compliance (Findings) were disclosed, and if so, provide a summary of these instances (Findings).
c. Shall state whether the results of audit testing disclosed control deficiencies and/or significant deficiencies and/or material weaknesses Findings) that represent deficiencies on the internal control structure over compliance or whether no deficiencies were found.
d. Shall identify all amounts of questioned costs and/or state that no questioned costs were found. (Findings).
- Findings Detail
a. Findings shall provide sufficient information to clearly show· Criteria (what should be)
- Conditions –statement of (what was found).
- Cause (why it happened).
- Effect (difference between what is and what should be).
- Recommendation (what is needed to be done).
- Views of responsible officials- management responses (corrective action taken or to be taken as indicated below).
b. A detailed explanation of questioned cost shall be provided.
c. Management’s response and plan of corrective action:
- Management shall comment on all the findings and recommendations.
- If Management disagrees with a finding or recommendation an explanation as to why corrective actions are not necessary shall be provided.
- Management shall provide the specific corrective actions that have been taken or are planned and state the specific point in time when such actions would be implemented or had been implemented.
- Management shall provide a description of the monitoring to be performed to ensure that the corrective actions are taken. Also, Management shall provide the position title of the person responsible for overseeing each corrective action process.
III. Work Papers
A. The proposer’s work papers shall be retained for at least five (5) years from the date of the Audit Reports unless the proposer is notified in writing to extend the retention period.
B. The reconciliation of the three (3) audit contract or project reports to the agency’s records shall be included in the proposer’s work papers and given to the agencies being audited.
C. The proposer’s work papers shall be made available to the City Controller’s Office and/or to any authorized representatives of OHCD or DCED, if requested.
IV. Time Consideration and Requirements
A. Mandatory pre-bid meeting at OHCD on
- July 24, 2008, at 10:00 am.
- 1234 Market Street, 17th Floor
B. Proposals shall be electronically submitted via the aforementioned City’s web site on or before
- August 6, 2008, by 5:00 pm.
- 1234 Market Street, 17th Floor
C. Work cannot commence until OHCD has informed the selected proposer to start its audit process.
D. Three (3) preliminary draft reports shall be submitted to the OHCD Audit Department on or before
- October, 27, 2008 by 4:00 p.m., and
-
the exit conference shall be held on or before November 17, 2008.
E. Eight (8) bound copies of the three (3) contract or project audit reports shall be submitted to the OHCD Audit Department, on or before
– November 24, 2008 by 4:00 p.m.
V. Criteria for Selection
The contract resulting from this contract opportunity or RFP will be awarded to the qualified proposer whose proposal is the most advantageous to the City. Any proposed award shall be subject to all required approvals by OHCD, the City Solicitor, Finance Director and the Procurement Director, and terms and conditions of the City, including but not limited to, the City’s indemnification and insurance requirements.
The administrative and technical requirements set forth below are considered absolute requirements for selection. Submissions that are rated unacceptable for any of these absolute requirements shall be rejected from further consideration.
A. Proposer selected shall have followed all application and disclosure requirements set forth in the City’s aforementioned web site, and/or as set forth herein, including, but not limited to, electronic submission and signature of the application.
B. Lowest Bid of qualified proposer’s firm.
C. Proposer cannot appear on any federal, state or city debarment or suspension listing.
D. Proposer must be in good standing with OHCD (all prior audit reports were satisfactorily submitted and accepted by 0HCD).
E. The criteria for qualification includes:
- Understanding of work to be performed.
- Qualifications of firm and personnel.
- Approach to performing the audit.
- Experience.
- Estimated Time.
- Quality control report (Peer Review)
- Employment and Subcontracting Commitments. Refer to Section I. E. and to VI. A. 8., herein, of this Contract opportunity or RFP.
- ACIS information.
VI. Proposal Responsiveness
A. Mandatory Proposal Format - Content
In order to help simplify the review process and obtain the maximum degree of comparison, each proposer shall organize and present its proposa in the following manner:
1. Title Page
Show the contract opportunity or RFP subject, the name of the proposer’s firm, local address, telephone number, name of the contact person and the date.
2. Table of Contents
Include a clear identification of the contents by sections and by page number.
3. Letter of Transmittal
Shall be limited to one (1) or two (2) pages.
a. Briefly state proposer’s understanding of the work to be done and make a positive commitment to perform the work within the reuired time period.
b. State the all-inclusive maximum fee for which the work will be done.
c. State the names of the persons who will be authorized to make representations for and bind the proposer, and their position title and office addresses.
d. State that the person(s) signing the proposal and the audit engagement letter are authorized to bind the proposer.
4. Proposer’s Profile
a. State whether the firm is local, regional, national or international.
b. State the location of the office from which the work is to be done and the number of partners, managers, supervisors, seniors and other professional staff employed at that office.
c. Describe the range of activities performed by the local office such as government auditing (Financial and Compliance), accounting, tax service, or management services.
d. List recent financial/compliance audits of DCED funded contracts or projects (if any).
e. Provide a statement as to whether the proposer appears on any or all governments’ list of vendors that are barred from bidding on contracts. Should the statement be positive, provide all government levels, which have barred the proposer, and the reasons for being barred.
5. Peer Review
If your firm has had a quality control review (QCR), proposer shall attach a copy the most recent QCR report, and any comments letter, to your firm’s online proposal. If not, please state how and when you plan to meet this requirement.
6. Mandatory Affirmation Criteria
To be considered for award, proposer shall have an appropriate basis to make and shall make the following affirmative statements:
a. Affirm that the proposer meets the independence standards as well as all other requirements of the GAO Government Auditing Standards.
b. Affirm that the proposer is in good standing with OHCD and DCED.
c. Affirm that the proposer does not have any record of substandard audit work.
d. Affirm that the proposer is not barred from providing services via any and/all governments' list of vendors that are banned from bidding for contracts.
e. Affirm that the proposer is not currently indebted to the City of Philadelphia as to delinquencies to any and all taxes, license fees, open judgments/court awards, and/or water and sewer obligations and would not become so indebted during this contract.
It is understood that should any of the above affirmations be false, the proposer is subject to prosecution under Title 18 Pa.C.S.A. Section 4904 (Sworn falsehoods made to government authorities).
In addition to any other rights or remedies available to the City at law or in equity, it is understood that any breach or failure to conform to the above affirmations may result in the offset of any such indebtedness to the City by payments due to the proposer under this contract, which has been awarded under this contract opportunity or RFP, and/or termination of the contract that has been awarded from this contract opportunity or RFP.
7. Summary of the proposer’s Qualifications
Proposer shall provide the following:
a. Identify the supervisors who will work on the audit, including those who are staff from other than the local office.
b. Electronically attach, via the aforementioned City’s on line application process, resumes including relevant experience and continuing education for supervisory staff to be assigned to the audit.
c. Describe the recent local and regional office auditing experience similar to the type of audit requested, and give the names and telephone numbers of client officials responsible for the audits listed.
8. Employment and Subcontracting
a. The proposer shall establish specific hiring, and/or sub-contracting goals. Refer to Section I. E., herein, for an overview of these requirements.
b. The proposer shall provide the required employment and sub-contracting participation form as an electronic attachment. Refer to Section I. E., herein.
9. Proposer’s Approach to the Audit
a. Electronically submit, as indicated above herein, a work plan, as part of your application to accomplish the scope defined in the aforementioned Section II (Audit Requirements) of this RFP.
b. The work plan shall include:
- The basis for the audits.
- Time estimates for each significant segment of the work.
- The staff level to be assigned.
- Where possible, individual staff members should be named.
- The planned use of specialists shall be specified.
- The audit work plan shall completely cover what audit work will be accomplished to allow the proposer to submit:
a) Reports with opinions on the financial statements.
b) Reports on the results of the study and evaluation of internal control systems.
c) Reports on results of tests of compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
The work plan shall demonstrate the proposer’s understanding of the audit requirements set forth by the DCED.
10. Compensation
a. Shall state the total hours and hourly rates required to complete the three (3) audits and reports, by staff classification, and the resulting all-inclusive maximum fee for which the requested work would be done.
b. Twenty five percent (25%) of the audit fee would be retained until the three (3) audit reports are reviewed and accepted by OHCD and DCED.
c. If the reports were submitted on time and OHCD has not provided notification of the review results within ninety (90) days of the last date on which any or all of the three (3) contract or project audit reports were submitted, the twenty five percent (25%) fee balance would be released, unless the reason for the for lack of results is that the proposer has not complied with requests from OHCD pertaining to changes needed to any or all of the three (3) audit reports, and/or unless DCED has not communicated the status as to acceptance of any or all of the three (3) reports within the aforementioned ninety (90) day period.
It is the responsibility of all proposers to assure that they have received any and all addenda by reviewing the contract opportunity or RFP on the City’s website prior to submission of proposals and/or of revisions thereto.
All proposers are responsible for reviewing and verifying the completeness of their proposals.
11. Additional Information
Since the preceding sections refer to information that is specifically requested, any additional information considered essential to the proposal shall be included in this section. However, do not include or attach general information publications, such as directories or client lists. Should the proposer not have any additional information to present, please state so in this section.
VII. City’s Reservation of Rights
A. Right to Reject Proposals and Waive Informalities
- The City reserves the unilateral right to reject as informal or non-responsive any proposal that, in the City’s sole judgment, is incomplete, is not in conformity with applicable law, is conditioned in any way, deviates from this contract opportunity or RFP, or contains erasures, alterations, or items of work not called for by this contract opportunity or RFP.
- The City reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and/or re-issue the notice of contract opportunity, or RFP, at any time prior to execution of a final contract, to issue a new notice of contract opportunity , RFP, with terms and conditions substantially different from hose set forth in this notice of contract opportunity, or RFP, extend the time period for responding to this notice of contract opportunity, or RFP, or cancel this notice of contract opportunity with or without issuing another notice of contract opportunity outright or if, in the City’s sole discretion, it is in the City’s best interest to do so.
- The City may waive any informality, defect, non-responsiveness and/or deviation from the RFP that is not, in the City’s sole judgment, material to the proposal, except as to minimum or absolute requirements set forth herein by OHCD.
- The City may accept or reject any or all of the items in any proposal and award the contract in whole or in part if it is deemed in the City’s best interest to do so.
- The City retains the option of canceling the award if the successful respondent fails to accept obligations of this contract opportunity, RFP.
- Note: This notice of contract opportunity, or RFP, is subject to all of the City’s reservation of rights, which are set forth in the City’s aforementioned website. Proposers agree to all of the City’s reservation of rights by virtue of submitting their applications to the City.
B. Additional City Rights
- The City may request additional or clarifying information or more detailed information from any Proposer at any time, including information inadvertently omitted by a respondent.
- The City may conduct investigations with respect to the qualifications of each Proposer.
- The City reserves the right to change, modify or revise the RFP at any time. Notice of any changes or modifications which may be made by the City would be provided on the City’s aforementioned website
VIII. City and Funding Source Contract Requirements
A. The contract resulting from this contract opportunity or RFP is anticipated to be less than one year in duration, refer to the aforementioned time requirements.
B. The contract resulting from this contract opportunity or RFP will contain the City’s contract requirements as set forth in a document known as the “General Provisions” as well as contract requirements imposed by DCED in its “DCED Closeout Guidelines for Contracts with State Funding and/or by other funding sources in documents known as the “Funding Source General Terms and Conditions”. The “General Provisions,” the “Funding Source General Terms and Conditions” and the “DCED Closeout Guidelines for Contracts with State Funding” are standard documents that are not subject to negotiation. Therefore, all proposers are advised to become familiar with the content of these documents since they will govern the contract issued as a result of this contract opportunity or RFP.
IX. Notice of Award
A. To find out the proposer that was awarded the contract for these three (3) DCED contract or project audits, do as follows:
1. Access the aforementioned City’s website.
2. Then access eContractPhilly and the Contract Awards section.
3. Click on the award to see information pertaining to the Notice of Award.
B. OHCD may send out an award notice letter to the proposer that was selected to perform the three (3) DCED audits and/or utilize other appropriate methods to communicate the award notice.
X. Contract Preparation Fee
The successful proposer shall be required to pay a contract preparation fee imposed by the City’s Law Department, unless this fee is waived.
XI. Period of Availability
Provisions of this contract opportunity or RFP and the contents of the successful response shall be available for establishment of final contractual obligations for a period of ninety (90) days following the proposal submission.
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