In accordance with the City's Code Ordinance 4010 a request for proposal was advertised in the "Legal Notice Section" of the Palm Bach Post and  on the City Website  on August 19th & 20th, 2018 to solicit qualified professional firms to provide benefit consulting services for its employee group insurance plans.  The firms that responded were evaluated by a committee consisting of management staff.  There were two separate evaluation phases, the first phase was ranked based on the criteria established in the City's RFQ included, qualification and capabilities of the firm, experience of the staff, past experience, project understanding, litigation, location, SBE or M/WBE.  The second phase, the top three firms were ranked during oral presentations and scoring was based on communication skills, understanding of the project, and responses to questions.  As a result of the phase one and phase two evaluations an overall score was calculated and based on the sum of both results the Gehring Group was the highest ranked firm.   At the December 19, 2018 City Council meeting, staff recommended awarding a three year contract to the Gehring Group to serve as the City's agent of record.  The motion failed due to the lack of a second. 

Also during the January 16, 2019 City Council meeting, one CP TD Davis requested that Bernstein ad Associates present during the next city council meeting.  However, in the interest of fairness, all the 10 respondents to the RFQ should be allowed to present.  If the Council is in agreement,  all the bids can be rejected, and start the RFQ process over again.