Request for Proposals for Procuring Medical Insurance for Venture37 Lesotho Employees

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

RFP Number: 2024-STEPS-PROC-0009

Subject: Request for Proposals for Procuring Medical Insurance for Venture37 Lesotho Employees

Issuance Date: March 8th, 2024

Offer Deadline: March 22nd, 2024, 18:00 local time

Land O’Lakes Venture37 (Venture37) is soliciting proposals from qualified providers of Medical Insurance for Venture37 employees as described in this Request for Proposals (RFP). These services are required for the Sustainable Transformation of Enterprises in the Poultry Sector (STEPS) program funded by USDA for services to be performed in the country of Lesotho and South Africa.

Firms invited by Venture37 (hereinafter “Bidders”) to submit offers for the services described in this RFP are under no obligation to do so. The Bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the Proposal; Venture37 will in no case be liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the solicitation.

This Request for Proposal includes the following sections:

  1. Instructions to Bidders
  2. Technical Specifications

Submission of offers must be completed in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders and complete offers must be received by the date and time indicated.

All correspondence and/or inquiries regarding this RFP must be requested in accordance with the enclosed Instructions to Bidders.

Background

Land O’Lakes Venture37 (www.landolakesventure37.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world thrive through agriculture. We strengthen economies by improving local agriculture, help agribusinesses create jobs, and link farmers to markets. We deliver integrated solutions that help build and improve food and agriculture systems by providing solutions for more competitive markets, more resilient systems, more nutrition-secure communities, and more inclusive societies.

Venture37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. (www.landolakes.com) sets us apart. Land O’Lakes Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports Venture37 project implementation with 100 years of experience in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs, and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives our development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food, and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world.

Venture37 is implementing the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food for Progress-funded Sustainable Transformation of Enterprises in the Poultry Sector (STEPS) in7 districts in Lesotho (Maseru, Berea, Leribe, Butha-Buthe, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, and Quthing). STEPS will reach its goal of improving productivity and the business enabling environmentinthepoultrysectorofLesothobysegmentingthecomplexpoultrymarketand supporting actors to level up regardless of their current capacity, organizing producers in Buyer Hubs to unlock economies of scale, and spurring innovation across the poultry sector to provide inputs and markets to poultry producers.

SECTION1:INSTRUCTIONS TOBIDDERS

  1. Introduction

Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 2024-STEPS-PROC-0009 dated March 22nd, 2024: Venture37, acting on behalf of STEPS, Lesotho is hereby soliciting bids for the supply of comprehensive Procurement of Health Insurance Service for 15 to 20 Venture37 Employees and their dependents as described in Section 2, Technical Specifications.

2.                  Eligibility

  1. This RFP is open to firms that are legally registered to conduct business in Lesotho. Small and/or disadvantaged businesses, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses are encouraged to submit proposals.
    1. A bidder will be considered ineligible if it has been suspended, debarred, or deemed ineligible, as indicated on (1) the “List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Non-procurement Programs” and/or (2) the “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List”.

3.                 Preparation of Offers

  1. Bidders are expected to examine the Technical Specifications and all instructions contained in this RFP. Failure to do so shall be at the Bidder’s risk.
    1. The offer prepared by the Bidder and all correspondence related to the offer exchanged by the Bidder and Venture37 shall be in English.

4.                 Contents of Offer

Submitted bids are required to consist of the following documents:

1.      Presentation/description of the requested services.

  • Monthly premium cost for a) individual Card; b) family card in case of insurance of one family member; c) family card in case of insurance of two or more family members.

The bidder is required to provide additional supporting documentation:

  1. Official business registration or license documenting eligibility to do business in country of Lesotho.
  2. Two references including contact names, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of people who can be contacted regarding the Bidder’s prior performance for similar work within the past three years.
  3. Brochures, marketing material, or other sources of information which details services and coverage provided (if available – please provide note if not).

5.             Offer Validity Period

Offers shall remain valid for a minimum of thirty (30) days after the offer deadline. An offer valid for a shorter period shall be rejected as non-responsive. Bidders shall clearly indicate their offer’s validity period within the proposal documents.

6.             Clarification of Bidding Documents

Clarifications may be requested in writing up to five (5) business days prior to the Offer Deadline. The contact for requesting clarifications is:

Sydney Maanibe

email: [email protected]  

7.                  Offer Deadline and Late Bids

  1. All offers must be submitted to Venture37 by March 22nd, 2024, 18:00 pm local time. Please submit electronic proposals to with the RFP Number referenced in the subject line. Late proposals will not be accepted.
    1. It is the Bidder’s sole responsibility to ensure that offers are received by Venture37 on or before the Offer Deadline of March 22nd, 2024, 18:00 pm local time.  Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged. Faxed offers will not be accepted.
  • Offers received after the deadline for submission shall be rejected. A late offer will be considered only if the sole cause of its lateness was attributable to Venture37,its employees or agents.

8.                  Submission of Bids

  1. Only electronic submissions will be accepted. Complete offers, including technical, price, and all supporting documentation must be received by March 22nd, 2024, 18:00 pm local time to Sydney Maanibe at [email protected] with a copy to Piper Marsh at [email protected]. Please reference the RFP number in the subject line.
  • Ensuring successful transmission and receipt of the bids is the responsibility of the Bidder. It is recommended that no e-mail exceed the size of 10 MB, inclusive of attachments.

9.                  Amendment of Bidding Documents

Venture37 may at its discretion and for any reason, modify bidding documents by amendment. All prospective Bidders that have received bidding documents will be notified of the amendment by e-mail and such amendments will be binding on them.

10.              Modification of Offers

  1. Any Bidder has the right to withdraw, modify, or correct its offer after it has been delivered to Venture37, provided the request for such a withdrawal, modification, or correction together with full details of such modification or correction is received by Venture37 at the submission point of contact above before the Offer Deadline.
  • Venture37 may ask any Bidder for a clarification of its offer or conduct negotiations with the apparent winner after evaluation of offers; nevertheless, no Bidder will be permitted to alter its price or make any other material modification to its offer after the deadline unless the RFP has been amended or the deadline extended. Clarifications which do not change the price or other material aspects of the offer may be accepted.

11.              Criteria for Award and Evaluation

  1. Subject to Clause 15, Venture37 will award the contract to that Bidder whose offer is deemed acceptable and which offers the best value based upon the evaluation criteria. All complete, eligible offers will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
  1. Offered monthly premiums/fees-30%
    1. Offered requested services-30%
    1. Hospital Network–20%
    1. Experience and References-20%

For a bid to be deemed acceptable, it must comply with all the terms and conditions of the RFP without material modification. A material modification is one which affects the price, quantity, quality, delivery or installation date of the equipment or materials or which limits in any way any responsibilities, duties, or liabilities of the bidders or any rights of Venture37. In addition, the successful bidder must be determined to be responsible. A responsible bidder is one who has the technical expertise, management capability, workload capacity, and financial resources to perform the work.

  • Subject to Clause 15, Venture37 shall award the contract to the Bidder whose offer presents the best price, taking into consideration that the offer meets the eligibility requirements and technical specifications and requirements indicated in Section II of the bidding documents.

12.              Venture37’s Right to Accept Any Offer and to Reject Any or All Offers

Venture37 will reject any offer that it deems non responsive. Further, Venture37 reserves the right to waive any minor errors in any offer received if it is in

Venture37’s best interests to do so, to reject the offer of any Bidder if, in

Venture37’s judgment, the Bidder is not fully qualified to provide the services as specified in the contract, or to reject all bids.

13.              Notification of Award

  1. Before the expiration of the period of offer validity, Venture37 will notify the successful Bidder in writing that its offer has been accepted.Venture37 may negotiate with the successful bidder on any details and terms of the contract which do not materially change the scope or specifications of the goods or services to be provided.
    1. Upon the successful Bidder acknowledging receipt of the Notification of Award, Venture37 will promptly notify each unsuccessful Bidder that their bids were rejected. If, after notification of award, a Bidder wishes to ascertain the grounds on which its offer was not selected, it should address its request to Venture37 in writing.

14.              Acceptance of Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

By submitting a proposal to Venture37, Bidder consents to and provides Venture37 with permission to process the Bidder’s personal data specifically for the performance of, and purposes identified in, this solicitation document and in compliance with Venture37’s legal obligations under applicable United States and Lesotho laws, data protection and regulations, and any other applicable legal requirements. The bidder may withdraw their consent at any time by contacting [email protected]. If consent is withdrawn, Venture37 reserves the right to either accept or reject the offer.

SECTION2: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The bidder should provide the proposal in response to the following specifications for both Lesotho and South Africa as applicable:

ServicesPercent of Coverage /co-insuranceMaximums
24-hourcall-center service100%Unlimited
Urgent Medical care provided by ambulance crew100%Unlimited
In-Patient Service
Urgent hospital service due to personal accidentPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Urgent hospital servicePlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Planned hospital servicePlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Day hospitalPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Interventional Cardiology/ Cardio surgeryPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
OncologyPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Pregnancy/DeliveryPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
RadiologyPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Out-Patient Service
Urgent out-patient servicePlease provide%Unlimited
Planned out-patient servicePlease provide%Please provide annual maximum
Planned out-patient service due to chronic illnessesPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Reimbursement of costs for MedicationsPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Reimbursement of costs for Medications during chronic illnessesPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Reimbursement of costs for Medications without doctor’s prescriptionPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Planned out-patient service without exceptionPlease provide%Unlimited
Preventive Care
Laboratory-instrumental tests (blood test)Please provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Vaccination/Immunization (Please specify)Please provide%Twice per individual annually
Pharmacy/ MedicationPlease provide%Please provide annual maximum limit
Dental ServicePlease provide% 
Urgent dental servicePlease provide%Unlimited
Planned dental service in provider clinicsPlease provide%Please provide annual limit and list of clinics
Planned dental service in non-provider clinicsPlease provide%Please provide annual limit
Orthopedic dental service and implantationPlease provide percentage of co-financingPlease provide annual limit and list of clinics
Vision Services
Annual eye examPlease provide%Please provide annual limit
  Corrective lenses/glassesPlease provide percentage of co-financingPlease provide annual limit and list of clinics
Additional Services
Personal Accident (applies only to the Insured’s employees)Please provide annual limit
Total permanent disabilityPlease provide annual limit
Summary: 
Monthly insurance premium per individual cardPlease provide monthly fee
Monthly insurance premium per family card in case of insurance of one family memberPlease provide monthly fee
Monthly insurance premium per family card in case of insurance of two or more family membersPlease provide monthly fee

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