1. finance
2. accounting and auditing

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
FOR
PROFESSIONAL FINANCIAL AUDIT SERVICES
Issued By:
Philadelphia Land Bank
Proposals Will Be Received Until
May 29th, 4:00 PM, Local Time
at the Offices of the Philadelphia Land Bank:
1234 Market Street
17th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Mandatory Pre-Proposal Meeting
April 30th, 10:00 AM Local Time
at the Offices of the Philadelphia Land Bank:
1234 Market Street,
17th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Questions regarding this Request for Proposals must be directed to
Mr. Darren Williams
Director of Finance
1234 Market St. - 17th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 448-3110
[email protected]
This Request for Proposals and any accompanying materials will be posted on the
following website:
www.philadelphialandbank.org
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Page 2
2. Scope of Work
Page 3
3. Schedule
Page 4
4. Proposal Requirements
Page 4
5. Questions About This RFP and Evaluation/Selection
Page 7
6. Declarations and Other Information
Page 8
7. Application Process
Page 10
Exhibits
Available on the Philadelphia Land Bank website
Exhibit A: Philadelphia Tax Status Certification and Conflict of Interest Forms
Exhibit B: Insurance Requirements
Exhibit C: Campaign Contributions Disclosure Forms
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1. Introduction
The Philadelphia Land Bank was created by legislation passed by Philadelphia City Council and
signed by Mayor Michael A. Nutter following a campaign by advocates from a wide range of
organizations. The Land Bank will consolidate Philadelphia’s 9,500 publicly owned vacant and
surplus real properties, the related business processes and staff into a new organization housed at
the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC). The Land Bank will take advantage
of new authority under the State’s Land Bank Act to achieve its mission: to return vacant and
underutilized property to productive use through a unified, predictable, and transparent process,
thereby helping to revitalize neighborhoods, create socially and economically diverse
communities, and strengthen the City’s tax base.
The Land Bank incorporated in July of 2014 as an independent agency of City government,
guided by a board of directors appointed by the Mayor and City Council. Supported by a small
handful of seasoned managers, the Land Bank has been developing internal systems and policies
to guide its operations, along with a strategic plan to guide its operations. As of March of 2015 it
does not yet have land or program staff in place, but expects some of each to be in place in the
fourth quarter of its fiscal year. The first year of the Land Bank’s operations is funded by grant
resources from the City and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
General Information
A.
The Land Bank is soliciting responses from Independent Public Accountants (IPA) to
provide the professional services necessary to conduct a financial audit for its fiscal year
ending June 30, 2015. At the sole discretion of Land Bank, the contract may be renewed
for up to two additional one-year periods to have continuing services for the audit of its
financial statements and compliance requirements for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2016
and 2017. IPAs shall submit separate bid amounts for each of the aforementioned three
fiscal year periods.
B.
During its inaugural year of operations for fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, the Land Bank
will have processed approximately the following number of transactions.
Vouchers Recorded
Checks Issued
General Ledger transactions
Check Receipts Processed
C.
50
50
100
< 10
The Land Bank is required to issue the two financial reports listed below to its funding
sources. Fifteen bound copies of each final report are required and all reports must be
saved and capable of being shared electronically in PDF.
1. Financial and Compliance Report in conformance with GASB 34.
2. Income and expense audit (DCED)
D.
Land Bank maintains a separate fund for each funding contract/activity. Land Bank has
one bank account.
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E.
In fiscal year 2015, Land Bank is projecting expenses and revenues totaling approximately
$3.5 million. For FY 2016 and 2017 Land Bank is projecting an administrative budget of
approximately $6 million.
F.
Land Bank, through a contract with PHDC, currently has a total of five full time staff who
are employed by PHDC and are paid biweekly by PHDC using ADP, an outside payroll
service, to process its payroll. It is anticipated that by July 2015, Land Bank will increase
its full time staffing to approximately 20 employees.
G.
Land Bank does not have an internal audit staff. Accounting and record keeping operations
are performed under the direction of Darren Williams, PHDC’s Director of Finance.
2. Scope of Work
Audit Requirements.
A.
Basis of Audit - The IPA shall perform a financial and compliance audit in accordance
with the following (as revised):
1. Generally Accepted Auditing Standards “GAAS”.
2. GAO Government Auditing Standards – (2011).
3. AICPA - Audits of State and Local Governmental Units, (with thereporting
requirements as found in Statement of Position 92-7) - 1994.
4. OMB Circular No. A-87, Cost Principles for State and Local Governments
B.
Work papers
1. The Land Bank requires that the IPA’s work papers be retained for at least five (5)
years from either the date of the audit report, or from the date legal action was initiated
up to and including resolution of the action.
2. The reconciliation of the audit report to Land Banks records, including the monthly
financial statements, must be included in the IPA’s work papers and be given to Land Bank.
C.
Mandatory Requirements
A. IPA cannot appear and must certify that they are not on any federal, state or City
debarment or suspension listings.
B. The IPA must be in good standing with the City and OHCD in particular. All prior
audit reports must have been satisfactorily submitted and accepted and/or other factors,
such as cooperation with respect to previous audit issues must have been satisfactory.
C. The IPA must clearly state the fixed fee to be charged for the first year and for each of
the two subsequent optional years of the audit.
D. Responses must state that in the event of any turnover of the audit staff, vacancies
will be filled by staff with similar training and experience working on city
governmental audits and approved by Land Bank before they perform any audit work
required by this RFP.
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3. Schedule
The timeline for this Contract Opportunity is as follows:
Schedule
RFP Issued
Pre-Proposal Meeting
Date
April 9th 2015
April 30th 2015 10:00 AM
Question and Clarification Period
Submissions Deadline
Respondent Interviews
Request Respondents Tentatively Hold Dates Open
Respondent(s) Selection Target Date
May 15th 2015 5:00 PM
May 29th 2015 4:00 PM
June 5th & 8th 2015
June 15th 2015
These dates are estimates only and the Land Bank reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to alter
this schedule as it deems necessary or appropriate.
In addition to the mandatory pre-bid conference, the IPA is required to attend a mandatory exit
conferences with the Land Bank board of directors.
4. Proposal Requirements
Proposals must include a detailed plan, cost estimate and timeline. Proposal must also include the
completed forms identified below in Section 6.
In order to help simplify the review process and obtain the maximum degree of comparison,
Land Bank requests the responses to be organized in the following manner:
Title Page
Show the RFP subject, the name of the Respondent’s firm, local address, telephone number, name
of the contact person and the date.
A. Table of Contents
Include a clear identification of the material by section and by page number.
B. Letter of Transmittal
Limit to one or two pages.
1. Briefly state the Respondent’s understanding of work to be done and
commitment to perform work within the required time periods.
2. State the all-inclusive maximum fee and estimate of costs for which the work
will be done and an estimate of all associated costs. Land Bank is seeking the
total cost for the initial year plus the two possible one year extensions of the
contract. Please state the fee and cost estimate for each year separately.
3. State the names of the persons who will be authorized to make representations
for the Respondent, their titles, addresses, and telephone numbers.
4. State that the persons signing the letter are authorized to bind the Respondent.
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C. Profile of the Respondent
1. State whether the firm is local, regional, national or international.
2. 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 the office.
3. Describe the range of activities performed by the local office such as
government auditing (Financial and Compliance), accounting, tax service, or
management services.
4. List recent financial/compliance audits of federally funded programs, along
with client contact persons and phone numbers for each such audit.
D. Peer Review - Including Letter of Comments
If your firm has had a quality control review, please submit a copy of the latest report
with your response. If not, please state how you are in compliance with this GAS
requirement and when your review is anticipated to be completed.
E. Mandatory Criteria
1. Affirm that the Respondent meets the independence standards of the GAO
Government Auditing Standards (2011 revision).
2. Affirm that the Respondent is in good standing with OHCD.
3. Affirm that the Respondent does not have a record of substandard audit work.
4. Affirm that the Respondent, and/or related companies or subsidiaries, is or are not
currently indebted to the City of Philadelphia and shall not at any time during the
term of this audit proposal (three year period) be indebted to the City of
Philadelphia for or on account of any delinquent taxes or water bills (including but
not limited to payroll, real estate or business taxes) and shall not have any liens or
judgments established.
F. Summary of the Respondent’s Qualifications- The Respondent shall:
1. Identify the managers, supervisors and staff (from and outside the local and
regional offices) who will work on the audit. Resumes, including relevant
experience and continuing education for managerial, supervisory and staff persons
to be assigned to the audit, shall be submitted.
2. Describe the recent local and regional office auditing experience similar to the type
of audit requested.
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G. Respondent’s Approach to the Examination- The Respondent shall:
1. Submit a work plan to accomplish the scope as defined in Section III (Audit
Requirements) of these guidelines, which shall include the basis for the audit. The
work plan shall also include time estimates for each significant segment of the
work and the staff level to be assigned. Where possible, individual staff members
should be named. The planned use of specialists should be specified. The audit
work plan shall completely cover what audit work will be accomplished to allow
the responder to render, including, but not limited to:
a. An independent opinion report on the financial statements.
b. Separate reports on the study and evaluation of internal control systems
in accordance with Government Auditing Standards and on the systems
used in administering federal, state and local financial assistance
programs.
c. Separate reports on tests of compliance in accordance with Government
Auditing Standards; with the general requirements applicable to federal,
state, and local financial assistance programs; with specific
requirements applicable to major federal and state financial assistance
programs; and with requirements applicable to non-major federal and
local financial assistance program transactions.
H. Compensation- The Respondent shall:
1. State the total hours and hourly rates by staff classification and the resulting allinclusive maximum fee (for each year) for which the requested work will be done.
2. State whether data processing will be used in the examination, and if so, estimate
the data processing resources the Respondent will need to supply in terms of
computer time, operator time and programmer time.
3. Submit the compensation requested in a sealed envelope together with the
response.
4. Submit responses for three one-year contracts. However, as Land Bank has the
sole option of contract renewal for the second and third years please state the
proposed fee for each year separately.
5. Agree to Land Bank withholding twenty five percent (25%) of the audit fee until
the audit reports are reviewed and completed.
I. Additional
Since the preceding sections pertain only to data that is specifically requested, any additional
information considered essential to the response should be included in this section. However,
please note, the Respondent’s general information publications, such as directories or client
lists, should not be included unless specifically requested. If there is no additional information
to present, state “there is no additional information we wish to present.”
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5. Questions About This RFP
Questions concerning this RFP may be asked at the Pre-Proposal Meeting. Otherwise, questions
must be submitted to:
Mr. Darren Williams
Director of Finance
PHDC
th
1234 Market St., 17 Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
[email protected]
in writing, by email, fax, or letter, no later than May 15th, 5:00 PM Local Time (the “Deadline for
Questions”). The Land Bank will not consider or answer questions submitted by telephone.
The Land Bank is not obligated to answer or respond to any questions it receives after the Deadline
for Questions. The Land Bank will answer all questions asked at the Pre-Proposal Meeting or
properly submitted before the Deadline for Questions, and which the Land Bank in its sole
discretion determines concern a material element of the proposal process. The Land Bank will
provide answers in writing by an addendum to this RFP before the Deadline to Submit Proposals
and will post the answers at www.philadelphialandbank.org The Land Bank is not bound by any
oral response made by any Land Bank official or employee.
Evaluation/Selection
The Land Bank intends to award a contract to the applicant who best demonstrates the level of
experience, skill and competence required to perform the services called for in this RFP in the most
efficient, cost-effective, and professional manner. The successful respondent will be willing to
execute and work pursuant to the Land Bank’s contract terms and conditions, which include –
without limitation – non-discrimination requirements, indemnification of the Land Bank, insurance
coverage and cost principles. The Land Bank reserves the right not to award contracts as a result of
this RFP, or to award contracts for part of this scope.
The Land Bank will be guided by the following criteria in making a selection for award and will use its
professional judgment in determining which respondent best serves the interests of the Land Bank.
A. Audit Qualifications and Responsiveness:
1. Timeliness of response
2. Compliance with requirements.
B. Content of Response:
1. Demonstrated qualifications of firm and personnel; including quality control report
and/or comments (peer review), as applicable.
2. Demonstrated understanding of work to be performed.
3. Approach to performing the audit
4. Relevant experience
5. Estimated time for performance
6. Employment and subcontracting commitment.
C. Cost Analysis:
1. A fixed fee is required for each of the three years identified in the proposal
2. Associated costs will be a factor considered in the selection of the successful proposal.
Estimates of the fees that will be incurred for each year must be stated clearly.
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6. Declarations and Other Information
MBE/WBE/DBE Firms: The Land Bank strongly encourages and promotes the employment of
qualified MBE/WBE/DBE firms in all aspects of its procurement of goods and services. If applicant
is a Certified M/W/DBE, defined as Minority Business Enterprises (MBE), Woman Business
Enterprises (WBE), or Disabled Business Enterprises (DBE); please submit information to confirm
Certification as part of bid proposal.
Philadelphia Tax Status Certification and Conflict of Interest Form: Respondents, upon request of
the Land Bank, must provide evidence satisfactory to the Land Bank that all municipal taxes,
including business taxes, real estate, school, water and sewer charges, if applicable, are current for
both the individual applicant and the applicant’s firm and neither is currently indebted to the City;
will at any time during the term of the agreement be indebted to the City, for or on account of any
delinquent taxes, liens, judgments, fees or other debts for which no written agreement or payment
plan satisfactory to the City has been established. Please complete the Philadelphia Tax Status
Certification and Conflict of Interest form (Exhibit A) and submit it with your proposal.
Insurance Requirements: Please submit a certificate of insurance evidencing the required coverages
as outlined in Exhibit B with your proposal.
Campaign Contribution Disclosure Forms: Please complete the applicable forms (Exhibit C) and
submit with your proposal.
Confidential Information, Public Disclosure
Each Proposal and the written documents and communications related to them, may be subject to
public disclosure, except as provided in this RFP.
If a Respondent chooses to include material of a confidential nature, then the Respondent must
mark the confidential material as noted below and explain why it is confidential. The Land Bank
will exercise reasonable care to honor confidentiality requests, subject to applicable laws,
including the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act.
Each Respondent must identify the pages of its Proposal that contain confidential information by
prominently marking those pages as explained below. Each Respondent is reminded that the mere
designation of information as confidential does not necessarily make the information confidential
under applicable laws. Each Respondent should include the following notice in the front of each
copy of its Proposal:
NOTICE
The information on pages
of this Proposal, identified by
the words Confidential Proprietary Information” [in boldface type
of at least 12 points in the top right-hand corner of each page] contain
proprietary information that the Respondent desires not be disclosed.
The Respondent requests that such information be used only for
evaluation of Respondent’s Proposal, and not be disclosed to the
public except as may be required by applicable law.
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Reservation of Rights
By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, an Applicant affirmatively acknowledges:
(i) its acceptance of the terms and conditions of this RFP;
(ii) the Land Bank may exercise in its sole discretion the following rights; and
(iii) the Land Bank may exercise the following rights at any time and without notice to any
Applicant:
1. to reject any and all proposals;
2. to supplement, amend, substitute, modify or re-issue the RFP with terms and conditions
materially different from those set forth here;
3. to cancel this RFP with or without issuing another RFP;
4. to extend the time period for responding to this RFP;
5. to solicit new proposals;
6. to conduct personal interviews with any Applicant to assess compliance with the selection
criteria;
7. to request additional material, clarification, confirmation or modification of any
information in any and all proposals;
8. to negotiate any aspect of a proposal, including price;
9. to terminate negotiations regarding any and all proposals at any time;
10. to expressly waive any defect or technicality in any proposal;
11. to rescind a selection prior to contract execution if the Land Bank determines that the
proposal does not conform to the specifications of this RFP;
12. to rescind a selection prior to contract execution if the Land Bank determines that the
specifications contained in this RFP are not in conformity with law or that the process in
selection of a proposal was not in conformity with law or with the legal obligations of the
Land Bank;
13. in the event a contract is awarded, the successful Applicant or Applicants shall procure and
maintain during the life of the contract liability insurance in an amount to be determined
prior to the award of any contract;
14. in the event a contract is awarded, all Applicants agree to perform their services as an
independent contractor and not as an employee or agent of the Land Bank;
15. in the event a contract is awarded, all Applicants agree that no portion of performance of
the contract shall be subcontracted without the prior written approval of the Land Bank;
16. each Applicant agrees to indemnify, protect and hold harmless the Land Bank from any and
all losses, injuries, expenses, demands and claims against the Land Bank sustained or
alleged to have been sustained in connection with or resulting from (i) the submission of
the Applicant's proposal; (ii) the delivery by the Applicant to the Land Bank of any other
documents or information; and (iii) any other conduct undertaken by the Applicant in
furtherance of or in relation to the Applicant's proposal. Each Applicant agrees that its duty
to indemnify and hold harmless shall not be limited to the terms of any liability insurance,
if any, required under this RFP or subsequent contract.
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7. Application Process
Applicants must submit 4 original copies of the proposal and one electronic copy on CD to the
offices of the Land Bank no later than May 29th at 4:00 pm. Files on the CD may only be in
Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF.
Proposals received after the deadline will be automatically rejected.
An applicant, whether an individual, partnership, LLC, nonprofit, for profit or other business entity,
may submit only one response to this RFP. Individuals that are related to each other or business
entities that are legally related to each other or to a common entity may not submit separate
proposals. The Land Bank, in its sole and absolute discretion, retains the right to reject any proposal
where:
1) applicants or principals of applicants are substantially similar or substantially related parties; or
2) the Land Bank has determined that the applicant has violated these conditions or the spirit of
these conditions.
Applicants may hand deliver or send proposals via registered mail to:
Darren A Williams
Philadelphia Land Bank
1234 Market Street, 17th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
NOTICE: The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority is subject to the Pennsylvania Right to Know
Law. Any information provided in your response to this Request for Proposals may be subject to
disclosure to the public.
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