The Board of Trustees of Illinois State University (ISU) is requesting Proposals for the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) for the school year 2022-2023. The Policy year will begin on August 15, 2022.

The SHIP is administered by the Student Insurance Office (IO), located in the Student Services Building, reports to the Division of Student Affairs, and is staffed with 4.25 FTEs. Personnel include 1 full-time working manager, 3 full-time Medical Insurance Specialists, and .25 extra help staff. The IO not only manages the SHIP, but it acts as a Third-Party Claims Administrator (TPA). This arrangement has been in place for over 43 years. The full cost of the IO (salaries, benefits, office space, supplies, utilities, and equipment) is covered by an Administrative Fee that is included in the total insurance premium charged to the student.

It is the objective of Illinois State University to enter into a contract with a licensed Insurance Carrier to provide Student Health and Accident Insurance for a one-year period with up to 9 one-year renewals. Coverage will be in effect commensurate with the academic calendar with premiums assessed with tuition and fees for each of three Terms: Fall, Spring, Summer.

In response to COVID-19, ISU is enabling electronic submission of submittals (e-bidding). New electronic submittal regulations and instructions are noted below.

ISU will continue to maintain and follow all Illinois Procurement Code Regulations and Rules. Any submittals received after the identified due date & time will not be accepted or evaluated.

Either electronic (e-bidding) or hard copy submissions will be accepted for this solicitation.

IMPORTANT
Read the attached E-Bidding instructions for critical information. (File: E-BiddingVendorInstructions.pdf)

NOTICE Pre-Bid Meeting
A voluntary pre-submission conference call will be held on Friday, November 12, 2021 at 10AM CST, using the Zoom app, at which place and time all pertinent information will be shared. This pre-bid virtual meeting is not mandatory, however, it is highly encouraged. We will discuss state requirements as well as optional e-bidding registration details and instructions. The Zoom virtual/call-in meeting information is in the Specification Documents.

After the submission deadline, a recording of the solicitation opening is available upon request.

*Updated BEP Utilization Information*

A list of University-supplied NIGP commodity codes has been included in Part III of this solicitation's BEP Utilization Plan. Per the Utilization Plan's instructions, vendors who request a waiver from the goal on the basis of good faith efforts must exhaustively contact each vendor certified with the University-supplied commodity codes and document that contact in the Utilization Plan's Good Faith Efforts Contact Log. Waiver requests cannot be granted without exhausting outreach efforts in accordance with the Utilization Plan. For current and official BEP resources go to: https://cms.diversitycompliance.com.

If the list of University-supplied NIGP commodity codes excludes a code that a prospective respondent or BEP-certified vendor believes should be included with the solicitation, additional codes may be requested and must be submitted by the question deadline for this solicitation. These requests should be made through a commodity code addition form supplied by the University buyer assigned to this solicitation. Email the buyer to obtain this form. If requested, additional University-supplied commodity codes may be added to the Utilization Plan by addendum at the University's discretion.

Subcontractors must meet the same requirements as prime contractors to do business with Illinois State University.

This procurement may be contingent on Board of Trustees approval.
There is a 20 percent BEP goal for this procurement. See solicitation documentation for details.