SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS THIRD PARTY TOWING SERVICES ADMINISTRATION ISSUING OFFICE PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY DIVISION

Transcription

1 SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS THIRD PARTY TOWING SERVICES ADMINISTRATION ISSUING OFFICE PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY DIVISION REQUEST DATE OF ISSUANCE MAY

2 GENERAL INFORMATION I. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this project is to seek a solution to provide emergency towing management and logistics via a third party administrator (TPA) to the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). The TPA must have the ability and interest to provide emergency towing notifications to privately-owned towing companies whenever a vehicle must be immediately removed from an interstate or rural highway due to varying circumstances such as being involved in a traffic accident, becoming disabled, being abandoned on a highway, etc. PSP provides primary police services to approximately 67 percent of the Commonwealth, as well as having primary responsibility for over 69,000 miles of both interstate and rural highways. When vehicles are involved in accidents, break down on the roadway, or otherwise impede the normal flow of traffic, those vehicles must be removed to a place of safety as quickly as possible. Additionally, certain vehicles must be removed from a roadway under specific lawful conditions, such as when a vehicle has been left abandoned on a roadway, or when the operator of the vehicle has been taken into police custody and cannot provide for the immediate removal of the vehicle. PSP does not own tow trucks, and does not provide towing services for the public for any of the circumstances articulated above. PSP has identified a need to secure the services of a TPA who can assume the tasks of identifying appropriate towing companies and the levels of service they can provide; dispatching them on an as-needed basis to all geographical areas of the Commonwealth. II. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT It is PSP s intention to develop a solution that is ultimately capable of servicing the Commonwealth in its entirety. To achieve this solution, the PSP will start the services with an initial pilot area that will consist of nine counties to include: - Erie County - Crawford County - Warren County - Venango County - Mercer County - Lawrence County - Beaver County - Butler County - Armstrong County When these counties are fully operational and functioning properly, PSP will develop a plan with the contractor to determine implementation of the remaining counties until the entire 2

3 Commonwealth is serviced by this contractor. following sections. Additional information is outlined in the III. REQUIREMENTS Offeror must provide a single point of contact for emergency contact by PSP. This point of contact must be available 24 hours per day/7 days per week/365 days per year, including all holidays. PSP will make notification when towing services are required, to include location, number and type of vehicles and information pertinent to the accident or incident. The TPA must respond as quickly as possible with the name of the towing company who will be responding and their ETA to the scene. The TPA must ensure that the responding towing company has all necessary equipment for the expeditious removal of the vehicle or vehicles from the roadway upon being dispatched. Responding towers must provide transportation from the scene to a place of safety for all occupants of involved vehicles, exclusive of medical transports. The responding towing company shall clean debris from the roadway prior to departure, in accordance with Pennsylvania Law The responding towing company must remove the vehicles to a secure storage area, and establish business hours to accept payments and provide for the release of the stored vehicles for a minimum of 40 hours per week. The TPA must ensure that the towers equipment is in compliance with all federal and state regulations. The tower s personnel must have a criminal history records check completed, with no violations indicated at or above the level of a Misdemeanor of the second degree. Criminal history checks shall be submitted to the TPA on a recurring annul basis for all owners and employees of each towing company. The TPA shall provide written acknowledgement to PSP annually that all towing company owners and employees have submitted their criminal history records checks and are in compliance with this standard. The responding tower must tow the vehicle to an alternate location at the discretion of the investigating officer, when the vehicle is being impounded or when necessary for evidentiary processing. The TPA shall maintain and dispatch from a separate list, all salvors that are licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. At such time that an abandoned vehicle needs to be removed from a roadway or from any private property, only a licensed salvor shall be contacted. The TPA shall provide reports to PSP upon request and including any requested data points. The TPA shall specify uniform towing rates, mileage rates and storage rates for all responding towing companies. Rates may be determined in a regionally geographical method and include differentials based upon the equipment that is necessary to remove the vehicle from the incident scene. All responding towing companies shall post their rates in a conspicuous location at their primary place of business, and shall provide a copy of a rate sheet to each involved driver as soon as practical after the incident. 3

4 IV. IDENTIFY Emergency Preparedness: To support continuity of operations during an emergency, including a pandemic, PSP requires a strategy for maintaining operations for an extended period of time. One part of this strategy is to ensure that essential contracts that provide critical business services to PSP have a plan for such an emergency and have contingencies in place to provide needed goods and services. o Describe how you anticipate such a crisis will impact your operations. o Describe your emergency response continuity of operations plan. Please attach a copy of your plan, or at a minimum, summarize how your plan addresses the following aspects of pandemic preparedness: 1) Employee training; describe your organization s training plan, and how this plan will be implemented with your employees. 2) Identify essential business functions and key employees within your organization who are tasked with administering your plans. 3) Provide your contingency plans for: o How your organization will handle staffing issues when a portion of key employees are incapacitated due to illness. o How employees in your organization will carry out the essential functions if contagion control measures prevent them from coming to the primary workplace. o How your organization will communicate with staff and suppliers when primary communications systems are overloaded or otherwise fail, including key contacts, chain of communications (including suppliers), etc. o How and when your emergency plan will be tested, and if the plan will be tested by a third-party. Please describe the communication system you intend to supply and the manner in which towing requests are processed. Include specific information regarding the technology to be used. Provide specific information on timeframes and standards that you will apply to towers. Describe your quality control measures and how you ensure the tow is completed in a timely manner. Describe how you will provide information to the public regarding their towed vehicle. Please describe the knowledge and expertise applied to towing requests that will ensure that the proper equipment is dispatched in response to the specific incident. Describe how you will ensure the safe transportation of the involved vehicle(s) occupants. Include specific information about your secure storage area, business hours and accepted methods of payment for towing and storage services. Please describe your initial and subsequent efforts to ensure that towers are in compliance with all state and federal regulations. Please describe how you will ensure that all personnel are compliant with the criminal records standards. 4

5 Please describe your ability to direct towers to alternative locations. Please describe how you will categorize towers and ensure that the proper tower is dispatched to the incident. Include how you intend to catalog towers by type of equipment, salvors, etc. Please describe your ability to provide ad hoc and systematic reports to PSP. Please describe how you will set rates for services and how you will ensure customers are being charged the appropriate rate. V. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS Questions regarding this solicitation will be accepted until close of business (4:00 P.M.) on Friday, June 7, All questions should be submitted in writing to Maggie Boyer at on or before this date and time. Questions will be answered in a timely manner and will be sent to all vendors that submitted questions. A copy of the questions and answers will also be available upon written request to Maggie Boyer to those vendors interested in the solicitation. Two copies of all proposals are to be submitted in paper format, via a sealed envelope, to the Pennsylvania State Police, Attention: Maggie Boyer, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA Proposals are to be received and stamped, verifying receipt, at this location no later than two o clock (2:00) P.M. on Thursday, June 20, No responsibility will be attached to any employee of the PSP for the premature opening of, or the failure to open, a bid for any reason whatsoever. 5