Independent Audit & Tax Services 15-NWA-004 Posting Date: 2/06/2015 Proposal submission deadline: 3/6/2015 8:00 PM EST Purpose of the RFP Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation d/b/a NeighborWorks America (NW) is soliciting proposals for external independent audit and tax preparation services to include but not to be limited to, the following: 1. Annual Financial Statement Audit 2. Annual OMB Circular A-133 Audit 3. Annual 990 Tax Return Preparation The corporation s fiscal year (FY) begins October 1 st and ends September 30 th. The period of performance for this contract will be five (5) FY years (2015 2019) inclusive of a three (3) - year base period and two 1-year option periods. NW may, at its sole discretion, unilaterally exercise the option periods without further competition. Background on NeighborWorks America NeighborWorks America is a national non-profit organization created by Congress in 1978 to provide financial support, technical assistance and training for community-based revitalization efforts. NeighborWorks America, the founder of the NeighborWorks network, provides support to and strengthens NeighborWorks organizations by providing training, technical assistance, funding and organizational assessments. NeighborWorks America was created by Congress in 1978 in order to revitalize older urban neighborhoods by mobilizing public, private, and community resources at the neighborhood level. Today, NeighborWorks America supports more than 240 organizations revitalizing their communities in rural and urban America. The NeighborWorks Network is a national network of more than 240 independent, community-based nonprofit organizations working to revitalize more urban, suburban, and rural communities through the work of thousands of residents, business people, government officials and other partners. NeighborWorks America works with several specialized capital corporations to build partnerships, develop loan products, and support financing vehicles that expand affordable housing opportunities in communities served by local NeighborWorks organizations.
2 NeighborWorks America has a national office headquartered in Washington D.C. and 7 district and regional offices around the United States. The District and Regional Offices are based in Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles and New York. NeighborWorks America has a total staff strength of 327 with total annual revenues of approximately $250,000,000. As a congressionally chartered corporation receiving a direct annual appropriation, the organization is subject to a significant level of oversight, and holds itself to the highest operational standards. Oversight includes, among other things, an annual third-party financial audit in addition to an organization-wide OMB A-133 compliance audit submitted to the Office of Management and Budget and Congress each year. Scope of Services: The contractor shall perform annual audits of the financial information for Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation dba/neighborworks America including federal expenditures for the fiscal year which ends September 30 th of each yea. The audit does not include the NeighborWorks Network or the Related Capital Corporations. All financial records are stored at NW headquarters and Oracle PeopleSoft is the current financial system. Each audit shall be conducted in accordance with the appropriate financial and government accounting standards to include but not be limited to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, as well as the related Circulars A-110 and A-122. The audit reports will include an opinion on the Financial Statements, Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA), a report on compliance and on internal control over financial reporting based on an audit of financial statements performed in accordance with Government Audit Standards, a report on compliance with requirements applicable to each major program, and on internal control over compliance in accordance with OMB Circular A-133. The tax return shall be prepared in accordance with the directions and guidelines applicable for Form 990 and any supplemental forms. The services must be provided in a timely fashion to enable Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation dba/neighborworks America to submit its annual reports to interested parties (tax authorities) within required and prescribed periods of time. The corporation is committed to timely performance and delivery of materials to complete the services described herein as significant portions of funding are derived from Congressional appropriations, federal grants and other governmental resources. The contractor shall conduct audit status meetings with members of the NeighborWorks America Board of Directors via the Audit Committee and NeighborWorks America management to apprise all parties of audit results. Additionally, interim status meetings are required with the NeighborWorks America Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President/Controller to review and discuss progress in the performance of the audit and preliminary audit results. The firm will also conduct an audit status meeting and interviews with the NeighborWorks America Chief Audit Executive at completion of the engagement.
3 Proposal Submission Requirements: Proposals become the property of NeighborWorks America. Proprietary information that you wish to remain confidential should not be included in your response materials. Your proposal (inclusive of executive summary) should not exceed 30 pages. The Proposal shall include the following: 1. Executive Summary This summary should include the firm s primary point of contact, position held within the company, email address, and phone number and a synopsis of your overall proposal indicating the main points and list any exceptions to the RFP requirements. 2. Technical Proposal The technical proposal shall include: A. Approach/methodology to meet the requirements of the scope of services inclusive of a proposed project plan to meet the OMB and IRS reporting deadlines. At a minimum, your technical proposal shall address planning, internal control testing and reporting and specific techniques (e.g. statistical sampling, analytical work and other non-sampling tests) that will be employed. The Audit Committee of Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation dba/neighborworks America Board of Directors is responsible for the final selection. At the discretion of the committee, select firms will be invited to make a 30 minute presentation to address the firm's overall approach in performing the services requested. In addition, 30 minutes will be set aside to address any questions the committee may have. Therefore, a slide deck (not included in the page limitations) for this presentation must be submitted with the technical and price proposal. B. Management and Staffing Plan: The firm shall submit a plan that clearly demonstrates how the effort will be managed and staffed (prime and sub- contractor) and the roles and responsibilities for personnel proposed to execute the technical proposal. The plan shall also include proposed labor categories, number of hours proposed for each labor category for each phase of the audit. Resumes (not included in the page limitation) shall be submitted for any (Key) personnel proposed in a leadership/management/senior role. Substitution of the Key Personnel requires NeighborWorks approval. C. Provide a copy of your most recent quality control/peer review reports from the independent evaluator, the related letter of comments and the firm s response to the peer review report. D. Corporate Experience/Past Performance: The section shall include a list of nonprofit organizations, community development centers, neighborhood housing agencies, housing corporations, real estate and banking organizations you have provided audit and/or tax services of similar scope and complexity to in the last 3 years. Please include the agency name, contact person and telephone number for each entity listed.
4 3. Price Proposal The Firm Fixed Price proposal should include pricing for each year of the three-year base period, Fiscal Years 2015 through 2017, and option periods 2018 and 2019, for all services required to implement your technical proposal. Price proposals should include pricing (base and all option periods) for the following audits: 1. Annual Audit of Financial Statements, including the costs and charges attributable to management letters and specific reports (such as communications) 2. Annual Audit in compliance with OMB Circular A-133 3. Annual Preparation of Form 990 Complete Attachment A and submit with other required pricing information. At a minimum, the price proposal should include the proposed labor categories, number of hours per labor category, hourly rate, and any other costs incurred to successfully execute your technical proposal. Proposal Evaluation and Selection Process: NeighborWorks America reserves the right to determine which bidders have met the base requirements of this RFP. In addition, NeighborWorks America may reject, in whole or in part, any and all proposals, waive minor irregularities in proposals, allow an offer to correct minor irregularities and negotiate with all responsible efforts in any matter deemed necessary to serve the best interest of NeighborWorks America. NeighborWorks America reserves the right to reject any and all proposals when such rejection is in the interest of NeighborWorks America, to reject the proposal of a bidder who has not met the prerequisites of the bid proposal or who has previously failed to perform properly or complete on time contracts of a similar nature, and to reject the proposal of a bidder who is not in the sole opinion of NeighborWorks America, able to perform the contract to the sole satisfaction of NeighborWorks America. NeighborWorks America also reserves the right to waive any informalities and technicalities in the bidding. NeighborWorks America reserves the right, however, to award the contract in accordance with its best interest and will not be required to accept the lowest bid. NeighborWorks may, upon its discretion, establish a competitive range of qualified proposals for award consideration. NeighborWorks will not conduct discussions or negotiations with firms not within the competitive range and those firms will not be considered for award. Responses will be evaluated using the following criteria: A. Proposal s demonstrated ability to meet and/or exceed the requirements found in the scope of services. Oral presentation demonstrates your firm s ability to meet the scope of services requirements.
5 B. Demonstrated corporate experience and past performance for requirements of similar scope, size, and complexity. C. Price RFP Provisions The proposal is a firm offer that will be considered valid for one hundred twenty (120) calendar days from the due date. NeighborWorks America shall not be responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the Bidder in preparing this proposal. Bidder shall bear all costs associated with preparing the proposal. We will be unable to provide any verbal or written feedback on individual proposals. NeighborWorks America also reserves the right to cancel or to reissue the RFP in whole or in part, prior to final award of a contract. Revisions to the RFP In the event it becomes necessary to revise any part of this RFP, all modifications will be posted to the NeighborWorks site at: http://www.neighborworks.org/about-us/business- Opportunities/RFPs. Any submitted questions and their answers relating to the RFP shall be provided as a modification to the RFP. Summary of Proposal Key Dates Description Date Request for Proposal is posted February 6, 2015; 8:00 PM ET All Questions regarding this RFP must be received no later February 18, 2015 than NOON EST. Questions and Answers Posted to NeighborWorks.org February 23, 2015 Proposal Submission Deadline March 6, 2015 NLT 8PM EST NeighborWorks America may request additional information Week of March 9, 2015 from Service Provider or request conference call with Service Provider to confirm proposals before selection NeighborWorks America completes proposal review March 27, 2015 Presentations by Finalists to the Audit Committee (Estimated) Notification of selected Service Provider (Estimated) Week of March 31, 2015 Week of April 6, 2015 Anticipated Service Start Date (Estimated) August 2015 Qualified bidders will be alerted to any schedule changes.
6 Submission Details: All questions and inquiries must be submitted in writing to procurement@nw.org not later than (NLT) 12:00 Noon ET, February 18, 2015. The email subject line item shall include Questions 15-NW-004 (Independent Audit and Tax Services) All Proposals must be submitted to procurement@nw.org NLT 8PM ET March 6, 2015, 8:00 PM ET. The email subject line item shall include Proposal 15-NW-004 (Independent Audit and Tax Services)