request for proposals for ruby on rails web …

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR

RUBY ON RAILS WEB APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

PIN #004201600002

June 12, 2015

The New York City Campaign Finance Board is seeking a software development vendor to

develop enhancements to its NYCVotes.org website.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The New York City Campaign Finance Board

The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) is a nonpartisan, independent city agency.

Among other functions, the CFB administers a public matching funds program for candidates

running for municipal office in New York City; publishes campaign finance disclosure information

on its website; encourages voter registration and voting; and provides print, video, and online

information for voters. The CFB’s voter outreach efforts are conducted as part of its voter

engagement campaign, NYC Votes. More information about the CFB can be found on its

website, www.NYCCFB.info.

B. The NYCVotes.org Website

The CFB, with the help of volunteer partners and outside vendors, has developed a web

application for New York City elections. The site has three core functionalities:

● A contribution platform which enables individuals to make contributions to candidates for

City office with a credit card. Contributors can find candidates on the NYCVotes.org

website and make contributions to candidates who have set up an account.

Contributions are processed through Stripe, an e-commerce services provider that

makes tools for accepting online payments available to developers. The NYCVotes.org

site collects information from each contributor that is necessary to ensure contributions

may be valid for matching funds. The site is linked to the CFB’s web-based disclosure

application, C-SMART, and enables candidates to securely transmit the necessary

transaction data into the C-SMART system. NYCVotes.org also produces the

documentation necessary to meet the CFB’s audit requirements, which can be emailed

to the campaign’s registered email address(es).

http://www.nyccfb.info/

http://www.nyccfb.info/

https://stripe.com/

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● A campaign fundraising tool, which allows candidates for city office to easily embed an

iframe of the contribution platform on their own campaign website, in the manner of

embedding a Twitter feed.

● A voter information tool which allows users to create a profile and, by entering a home

address, find their polling place, see the candidates on their ballot, and view information

about candidates. The NYCVotes.org site connects with the City’s Geoclient API to

place an address within the correct political boundaries, and displays information

collected and provided by the CFB—including candidates’ Voter Guide profiles, videos

recorded for the Video Voter Guide, and links to social media feeds. The site can also

populate candidate data from Google’s Civic Information API. Polling place information is

provided in spreadsheet format by the New York City Board of Elections.

The site is built in Ruby on Rails and uses Object-Oriented programming practices. It is built to

work with an open source engine, called Open Votes, which was developed in conjunction with

NYCVotes.org. The Open Votes engine encompasses the site’s generic fundraising and voter

information functions, but not the site’s CFB-particular functionalities (i.e. submission of

contribution data to C-SMART).

The site was built during 2013 by partners including Method (design), Pivotal Labs (software

development), and Tipping Point Partners (product management). It was made available to

candidates and voters in the 2013 municipal elections via mobile only.

A second round of software development work done under contract with The Mechanism

(software development/design) and Brontosaurus Rex (product management), started during

the fall of 2014, updated the site to provide voters with access to information about candidates

for federal and state offices in the November 2014 general election.

The second round of development encompassed three further objectives: a fully responsive site

design that allows users complete access to the NYCVotes.org tools via desktop, tablet, or

mobile; the iframe functionality that allows campaigns for city office to embed the contribution

tool on their own websites; and the programmatic link between the NYCVotes.org system and

the CFB’s C-SMART disclosure system.

The second round of development has been completed; the site can be viewed on the staging

server at https://nycvotes-dev.herokuapp.com/

C. Relevant CFB Systems

The CFB employs a staff of approximately 90, which includes a Systems Unit of 18. The

Systems Unit is responsible for developing and maintaining approximately 20 internal and

external focused systems and applications, including CFIS (Campaign Finance Information

System), developed in PowerBuilder with a MS SQL Server database and used internally by

staff, and C-SMART (Campaign Software for Managing and Reporting Transactions), a web-

https://developer.cityofnewyork.us/api/geoclient-api

https://developers.google.com/civic-information/

http://vote.nyc.ny.us/html/home/home.shtml

https://nycvotes-dev.herokuapp.com/

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based disclosure system for candidates, which is developed in MS Visual Studio c# with a MS

SQL Server database. Currently, C-SMART maintains two web services that are privately

available to NYCVotes.org for the purposes of contribution reporting. This functionality must be

expanded in the near future to enable the transmission of certain transaction metadata from

Stripe to C-SMART (see project component A1, below).

II. VENDOR REQUIREMENTS

The CFB is seeking a vendor with experience in developing and deploying web-based

applications, including a track record of successful completion of projects comparable to the

NYCVotes.org website. Personnel to be assigned to this project must have demonstrated

relevant technical expertise.

The selected vendor should expect to work with CFB staff and/or a CFB-selected project

manager to uncover and refine the requirements critical to achieving project goals, and to

collaborate during the development process to help manage the scope of new or changing

requirements in good faith and partnership.

Development must take place in an iterative and collaborative manner, to ensure that the team

works through issues together with CFB as they arise, and that developers are constantly

developing the highest value work to the agency. The goal of this engagement is to work

through as many of the requirements below (and those that come up in response to those

requirements) over a given period(s) of time and a fixed budget.

Specific expectations:

● Daily stand-ups of no more than 15 minutes

● Weekly Prioritization and Check-in meeting to review status and make key decisions for

upcoming flow of work (1 hour)

● Minimum release 1x per week of in-progress code to staging environment

● Programmatic testing, TDD preferred, with Continuous Integration

● Agile project management software such as Pivotal Tracker, Trello or similar

● Discrete per-feature estimation, development and management

● Discrete per-feature check-ins to Git

● Storage of code in NYCCFB Github account throughout the development process

The improvements developed for the NYCVotes.org site will be made open source.

The work may be performed outside the CFB offices, but the selected vendor must make

personnel available to work with CFB staff to the extent required, including the Assistant

Executive Director for Public Affairs, the Director of the Systems Unit, other members of the

Systems Unit, as well as other vendors or partners who may be selected by CFB to contribute to

the NYCVotes.org project. As appropriate, the selected vendor may also be requested to

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communicate with developers working on the open source code to incorporate other

improvements into the site.

III. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The CFB seeks a vendor to assist the CFB in continued development of the NYCVotes.org

project, to provide a fuller complement of functionalities well in advance of the 2017 citywide

elections.

A. CRITICAL COMPONENTS

These components must be developed, tested, and incorporated into the site during July 2015

in preparation for a late summer launch.

A1. Transmission of transaction metadata from Stripe to CFB.

CFB staff requires complete information about each transaction recorded by

NYCVotes.org to perform thorough audits of campaigns’ contributions. Currently, the

NYCVotes.org application submits all data about a transaction that is stored within the

application to internal CFB’s C-SMART system. NYCVotes.org does not currently

transmit transaction metadata from Stripe to C-SMART. This information is needed to

meet a critical business requirement. Further development of the NYCVotes.org system

is required to gather specific transaction metadata from Stripe and to transmit that

metadata alongside data that NYCVotes.org already transmits to the C-SMART system.

Background: Contribution data within NYCVotes.org is logically associated in

NYCVotes.org to Stripe contributions through Stripe IDs.

A2. Effective parsing of street address data.

NYCVotes.org must be configured to store contributors’ street address in order to

interact with two systems which process addresses differently - CFB’s C-SMART/CFIS

system and Stripe. C-SMART and CFIS require that street addresses be parsed to

separate the street number and apartment number from the name of the street. Stripe

must receive street address data in one field. The developers must build a process for

NYCVotes.org that reconciles these requirements and minimizes the possibility of false

address mismatches in C-SMART.

Background: This is currently done by a ‘space’ between the first number and the next

word; some rules must be developed that will help to make this more effective.

A3. Revise logic for personalized local candidate display.

NYCVotes.org displays a list of candidates personalized to any New York City voter’s

street address. The current site restricts the display list to candidates with party

identifications. To better match data for the current election cycle, this logic must be

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removed so that any user in a given area can view any candidate associated with their

location.

A4. Support launch.

Developers should be prepared to deploy NYCVotes.org from the development

environment (Heroku) to the live Web, early in the engagement. This objective may

involve some editing of copy on the site in preparation for public launch. The date to go

live will be determined between CFB and the vendor after work commences.

B. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

Vendor will work collaboratively with CFB to set priorities, define technical scope, and schedule

work on the following objectives. Those discussions may incorporate information obtained via

demonstrations of the existing development site to potential candidate users.

B1. Clarify existing error messaging; fix Stripe-based error messaging.

Some errors in the site, especially in the contribution flow, contain inconsistent

messages, or act inconsistently from screen to screen. These must be standardized.

The original code presents multiple error messages to the user within some of the

contribution screens; the site should be updated to present one error at a time to provide

clarity to the user.

B2. Make documentation and monthly statements available for campaigns to

download.

The current site allows campaigns to prompt the system to send them documentation on

their contributions by email. To avoid email delivery issues and pitfalls, and to more

closely match user expectation, the NYCVotes.org system must be developed to provide

campaigns the ability to download those files directly from the site. In addition to the

individual transaction reports currently available, further development must provide

NYCVotes.org the capability to produce and deliver monthly statements for campaigns

of all transactions successfully processed.

B3. Enable voters/contributors to easily share NYCVotes.org links or notices with

their social networks.

The NYCVotes.org system should provide voters or contributors with the ability to easily

share candidate information, from NYCVotes.org via Facebook or Twitter, or tell their

networks when they’ve made a contribution.

B4. Standardize contributor addresses against the NYC Department of City Planning’s

Geoclient API.

To ensure contribution data coming into C-SMART is clear, usable, and will not require

cleaning by campaigns, contributor addresses should be standardized and verified as

“real” addresses before submission. Contributors should be prompted to fix errors and

approve the standardized address. This requirement may include passing the results of

certain validations against the Geoclient API through to C-SMART.

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B5. Make updates to the “employment” section of the site’s contribution tool.

Through a fillable form, the site collects information about each contributor’s employer

and occupation, as required by law. The logic behind the form must be updated to pass

through information about a contributor’s “employment type” from a pull-down menu;

certain data fields in the “doing business with the city” section must be removed.

B6. Make updates to the “amount” section of the site’s contribution tool.

Enhancements to the contribution section are needed. The site currently displays an

estimated total of matching funds when the contributor chooses one of the three pre-

selected contribution amounts; the site should be developed to display a matching

amount when the contributor selects “other amount” and enters his or her own total.

B7. Create prompts for candidates to follow to manage contributions in C-SMART.

After candidates upload their contribution data to C-SMART, the subsequent “success”

screen should provide detailed instructions that help campaigns manage their

contribution data in C-SMART, to help ensure that candidates take the necessary steps

in C-SMART to prepare the data transmitted from NYCVotes.org for submission.

B8. Improve iframe experience.

Certain refinements to the display of the contribution tool iframe are required to reflect

that the tool is appearing within a campaign’s website. These may include minimizing the

banner that displays a candidate’s name, or other refinements suggested by potential

users.

B9. Resolve saving customer information in Stripe and displaying address back to

end user.

NYCVotes.org enables voters to save their personal credit card information - including

address, etc. - for use in future contributions. As a result of a change to the Stripe

customer API construct, addresses are no longer updatable. An update to NYCVotes.org

is necessary to resolve the bug.

B10. Enhance candidate-side registration; associate name with candidate-linked email

address.

Information about campaign accounts comes from a CSV file provided by the CFB. This

file is automatically ingested by NYCVotes.org every night. Developers should work

collaboratively with CFB staff to record and display more information about candidate

account-holders, including names, campaign roles, and other relevant information.

NYCVotes.org should be modified to recognize changes in campaign personnel, so that

a campaign staffer who leaves the campaign no longer has access to the campaign’s

NYCVotes.org account; if account information is changed in the CFB-based CSV file,

those changes should over-write information in the NYCVotes.org database.

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B11. Force candidates to upload all transaction data to C-SMART before disconnecting

from Stripe, and send notification to CFB.

Candidates who disconnect their NYCVotes.org account from Stripe lose the capability

to report information from both sites together to C-SMART. The NYCVotes.org site

should require all previously unsubmitted data to be sent to C-SMART before

disconnecting. A notice of the disconnection should be sent to CFB, to provide a record

for audit purposes.

B12. Prepare Open Votes engine and other relevant code for open-source.

To provide other willing jurisdictions the opportunity to adopt similar systems, the generic

functionalities of the NYCVotes.org site will be made open source. The developers

chosen to work on the site should work with the existing code and create documentation

to support this objective.

Additional projects. The selected vendor may also be expected to work on other projects

related to the site, at the same rates, as needed throughout the term of the contract, in

consultation with CFB staff. The term of the project is expected to be no greater than one year.

IV. BUDGET

The maximum amount to be budgeted for this contract will not exceed $99,999.

V. TIMELINE

● RFP published: June 12, 2015

● Responses due: June 26, 2015, no later than 5:00pm

● Vendor interviews: week of June 29, 2015

● Selection: July 7, 2015

● Work to start: As soon as practicable

● Expected launch: August-September, 2015 [TBD]

● Complete objectives: no later than December 15, 2015

VI. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Your response must include a proposal that indicates how many of the objectives you estimate

you will be able to deliver within the expected budget. Please prepare and organize this

document in such a way that it demonstrates evidence that you have carefully considered the

needs of the project and assessed the general level of time and resources required to meet the

objectives.

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Please note that your proposal is an estimate. It is expected that the detailed technical scope of

the project will be refined between CFB and the selected vendor before and during the work,

and these refinements may impact the ultimate costs of the project. Adjustments to the scope

outlined in Section III-B (“Further Development”) may be needed to keep the project within the

expected budget.

Please take into account the possibility of responding to feedback from internal (CFB) and

external (candidates or elected officials) stakeholders to the project during development.

The NYCVotes.org code is available for review in NYCCFB’s Github repository to assist you in

composing a best estimate of the resources necessary to meet the objectives described above.

Your proposal will not be considered complete without completion of Attachments A through H.

Applicants may submit their proposals by mail or hand-delivery to Corey Schaffer, New York

City Campaign Finance Board, 100 Church Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY, 10007, or via

email at [email protected].

VII. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

The CFB will evaluate proposals based on the proposer’s experience with similar projects,

technical expertise, methodology, and hourly rates. One or more selected proposers may be

invited to the CFB for an interview prior to award of the contract.

The contract will be awarded to the responsible proposer whose proposal is determined to be

the most advantageous to the city, taking into consideration the hourly rates and the other

above factors. Contract award shall be subject to timely completion of contract negotiations

between the CFB and the proposer.

Deadline to submit proposals: proposals must be received by the CFB no later than 5

p.m. EDT on June 26, 2015. Late proposals will not be considered.

Questions about this RFP may be directed to Eric Friedman, Assistant Executive Director for

Public Affairs, at [email protected].

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INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

The selected contractor shall not commence performing services unless and until the following

required insurance is in effect:

Commercial General Liability Insurance

A. The Contractor shall maintain Commercial General Liability Insurance covering the

Contractor as Named Insured and the City as an Additional Insured in the amount of at least

One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence. Such insurance shall protect the City and the

Contractor from claims for property damage and/or bodily injury, including death that may arise

from any of the operations under this Agreement. Coverage under this insurance shall be at

least as broad as that provided by the most recently issued Insurance Services Office (“ISO”)

Form CG 0001, and shall be "occurrence" based rather than “claims-made.”

B. Such Commercial General Liability Insurance shall name the City, together with its

officials and employees, as an Additional Insured with coverage at least as broad as the most

recently issued ISO Form CG 20 10.

Professional Liability Insurance

A. The Contractor shall maintain and submit evidence of Professional Liability Insurance

appropriate to the type(s) of such services to be provided under this Agreement in the amount of

at least One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) per claim. The policy or policies shall include an

endorsement to cover the liability assumed by the Contractor under this Agreement arising out

of the negligent performance of professional services or caused by an error, omission or

negligent act of the Contractor or anyone employed by the Contractor.

B. All subcontractors of the Contractor providing professional services under this

Agreement for which Professional Liability Insurance is reasonably commercially available shall

also maintain such insurance in the amount of at least One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) per

claim, and the Contractor shall provide to the Department, at the time of the request for

subcontractor approval, evidence of such Professional Liability Insurance on forms acceptable

to the Department.

C. Claims-made policies will be accepted for Professional Liability Insurance. All such

policies shall have an extended reporting period option or automatic coverage of not less than

two (2) years. If available as an option, the Contractor shall purchase extended reporting period

coverage effective on cancellation or termination of such insurance unless a new policy is

secured with a retroactive date, including at least the last policy year.

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GENERAL INFORMATION TO PROPOSERS A. Complaints. The New York City Comptroller is charged with the audit of contracts in New York City. Any proposer who believes that there has been unfairness, favoritism or impropriety in the proposal process should inform the Comptroller, Office of Contract Administration, 1 Centre Street, Room 835, New York, NY 10007; the telephone number is (212) 669-3000. In addition, the New York City Department of Investigation should be informed of such complaints at its Investigations Division, 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038; the telephone number is (212) 825-5959. B. Applicable Laws. This Request for Proposals and the resulting contract award(s), if any, unless otherwise stated, are subject to all applicable provisions of New York State Law, the New York City Administrative Code, New York City Charter and New York City Procurement Policy Board (PPB) Rules. A copy of the PPB Rules may be obtained by contacting the PPB at (212) 788-7820. C. General Contract Provisions. Contracts shall be subject to New York City’s General Contract Provisions, a copy of which is available through the Authorized Agency Contact Person. D. Proposer Appeal Rights. Pursuant to New York City’s Procurement Policy Board Rules, proposers have the right to appeal agency non-responsiveness determinations and agency non-responsibility determinations and to protest an agency’s determination regarding the solicitation or award of a contract. E. Multi-Year Contracts. Multi-year contracts are subject to modification or cancellation if adequate funds are not appropriated to the agency to support continuation of performance in any City fiscal year succeeding the first fiscal year and/or if the contractor’s performance is not satisfactory. The agency will notify the contractor as soon as is practicable that the funds are, or are not, available for the continuation of the multi-year contract for each succeeding City fiscal year. In the event of cancellation, the contractor will be reimbursed for those costs, if any, which are so provided for in the contract. F. Prompt Payment Policy. Pursuant to the New York City’s Procurement Policy Board Rules, it is the policy of the City to process contract payments efficiently and expeditiously. G. Prices Irrevocable. Prices proposed by the proposer shall be irrevocable until contract award, unless the proposal is withdrawn. Proposals may only be withdrawn by submitting a written request to the agency prior to contract award but after the expiration of 90 days after the opening of proposals. This shall not limit the discretion of the agency to request proposers to revise proposed prices through the submission of best and final offers and/or the conduct of negotiations. H. Confidential, Proprietary Information or Trade Secrets. Proposers should give specific attention to the identification of those portions of their proposals that they deem to be confidential, proprietary information or trade secrets and provide any justification of why such materials, upon request, should not be disclosed by the City. Such information must be easily separable from the non-confidential sections of the proposal. J. RFP Postponement/Cancellation. The agency reserves the right to postpone or cancel this RFP, in whole or in part, and to reject all proposals. I. Proposer Costs. Proposers will not be reimbursed for any costs incurred to prepare proposals.

RFP #004201600002: Ruby on Rails Web Application Development

ATTACHMENT A: QUESTIONNAIRE

Briefly respond to the following questions on this form, and return it in your submitted proposal. If you are subcontracting any part of this project, please note that in the appropriate areas; the subcontractor(s) should fill out a copy of this questionnaire also, responding to questions pertaining to the work they will perform.

1. Provide a general description of your firm, including any areas of specialization (business, government, e-commerce, etc.).

2. How long has your firm been in the business of providing (a) responsive website development? (b) Ruby on Rails web application development?

3. What were your firm’s billings and/or hours billed for Ruby on Rails web application development in the past 2 years?

4. What is the current size of your full-time and part-time or freelance staff available for Ruby on Rails development?


ATTACHMENT A: QUESTIONNAIRE (continued)

5. Please describe the specific knowledge, skills, and experience that make your firm well suited to perform the work described in this solicitation, including a description of relevant projects conducted within the last two years that demonstrate your company’s ability to carry out the specified work.

6. Please provide your hourly rates and/or fees for this project including over-time rates if applicable.


ATTACHMENT B: PROJECT TEAM FORM

Please attach résumés or descriptions of relevant experience for each of the Project Team members.

1. Respondent

Name:

Title:

Company:

Address:

Email:

Telephone: Fax:

2. Contact Person

Name:

Title:

Company: (if different from respondent)

Address:

Email:

Telephone: Fax:

Project Team

3. Project Manager

Name:

Title:


Address:

Email:

Telephone: Fax:


ATTACHMENT B: PROJECT TEAM FORM (continued)

4. Lead Developer

Name:

Title:


Address:

Email:

Telephone: Fax:

5. Additional Developer

Name:

Title:


Address:

Email:

Telephone: Fax:

6. Additional Developer

Name:

Title:


Address:

Email:

Telephone: Fax:


ATTACHMENT C: EXPERIENCE REPORTING FORM

Name of Respondent:

Project Team Member:

Role in Project:

Please report related experience on this attachment. A separate form must be completed for each reference.

Business name:

Business address:

Business telephone:

Contract manager:

Scope of Services for Project:

Contract Value:

Was this a New York City or New York State contract? Yes No


ATTACHMENT D

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM

Ruby on Rails Web Application Development 004201600002(RFP Title) (Pin Number)

PROPOSER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION

Name

Employer Identification Number (EIN) #(If no EIN, provide Social Security Number)*

Social Security Number (SSN) #

Address

Contact Person Telephone

SUB-CONTRACTOR(S) IDENTIFYING INFORMATION (IF APPLICABLE)

Name EIN #(If no EIN, provide SSN)*SSN #Address

Name EIN #(If no EIN, provide SSN)*SSN #Address

I have read the attached proposal and am familiar with all information provided herein.

Signature Date

Print Name

Title

* Under the federal privacy act, the furnishing of Social Security Numbers is voluntary. Failure to provide a Social Security Number will not disqualify a proposer or sub-contractor from being awarded a contract.


ATTACHMENT E: VENDEX NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

The New York City Administrative Code requires that the City maintain a computerized data system containing information for every city contract and very specific information about every prospective vendor for awards over $100,000, and for vendors (including subcontractors) doing more than $100,000 in cumulative annual business with the City. The majority of the vendor information placed on the VENDEX system comes from the VENDEX questionnaires. VENDEX questionnaires are also required for sole source contracts valued at $10,000 or more, for franchises (regardless of dollar amount) and for applicants for concessions which, singly or in combination with other contracts held by the vendor, are valued at $100,000 or more.

The purpose of VENDEX questionnaires is for vendors to provide a wide array of information regarding the vendor’s ownership, financial capacity, business structure, affiliations and involvement in government investigations. The VENDEX questionnaire is the vendor’s primary opportunity to provide accurate and complete information about its operations. VENDEX is the primary source used by agencies in making a responsibility determination.

VENDEX questionnaires, which consist of vendor and principal questionnaires, are valid for three years from the date of signature. Vendors are required to update their forms with each new award. If any of the information on either the vendor or principal questionnaire has changed since the prior filing, the vendor must submit “changed questionnaires.” If no information has changed since the prior filing, the vendor must submit a “certificate of no change.

The VENDEX Questionnaires and Guide can be downloaded at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mocs/html/research/vendex.shtml. Vendors should submit VENDEX Questionnaires only when directed to do so by a City agency.

Note: Proposers do not need to submit VENDEX forms with their proposals for this RFP. Only the selected contractor may be required to submit the appropriate VENDEX questionnaires or affidavits prior to contract award.


ATTACHMENT F: DOING BUSINESS DATA FORM FOR CONTRACT PROPOSERS

DOING BUSINESS ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE DOING BUSINESS DATA FORM

What is the purpose of this Data Form?

To collect accurate, up-to-date identification information about organizations that have business dealings with the City of New York in order to comply with Local Law 34 of 2007 (LL 34), the recently passed campaign finance reform law. LL 34 limits municipal campaign contributions from principal officers, owners and senior managers of entities doing business with the City and mandates the creation of a Doing Business Database to allow the City to enforce the law. The information requested in this Data Form must be provided, regardless of whether the organization or the people associated with it make or intend to make campaign contributions. No sensitive personal information collected will be disclosed to the public.

Why have I received this Data Form?

The contract, franchise, concession, grant or economic development agreement you are proposing on, applying for or have already been awarded is considered a business dealing with the City under LL 34. No proposal or application will be considered and no award will be made unless this Data Form is completed. Most transactions valued at more than $5,000 are considered business dealings and require completion of the Data Form. Exceptions include transactions awarded on an emergency basis or by publicly advertised, non-pre-qualified, competitive sealed bid. Other types of transactions that are considered business dealings include real property and land use actions with the City.

What individuals will be included in the Doing Business Database?

The principal officers, owners and certain senior managers of organizations listed in the Doing Business Database are themselves considered to be doing business with the City and will also be included in the Database.• Principal Officers are the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief

Operating Officer (COO), or their functional equivalents. See the Data Form for examples of titles that apply.

• Principal Owners are individuals who own or control 10% of more of the organization. This includes stockholders, partners and anyone else with an ownership or controlling interest in the entity.

• Senior Managers include anyone who, either by job title or actual duties, has substantial discretion and high-level oversight regarding the solicitation, letting or administration of any contract, concession, franchise, grant or economic development agreement with the City. At least one Senior Manager must be listed or the Data Form will be considered incomplete.


I have already completed a Doing Business Data Form; do I have to submit another one?

Yes. An organization is required to submit a Doing Business Data Form each time it enters into a transaction considered a business dealing with the City, including contract, concession and franchise proposals. However, the Data Form has both a Change option, which requires only information that has changed since the last Data Form was filed, and a No Change option. No organization should have to fill out the entire Data Form more than once.If you have already submitted a Data Form for one transaction type (such as a contract), and this is the first time you are completing a Data Form for a different transaction type (such as a grant), please select the Change option and complete Section 4 (Senior Managers) for the new transaction type.

Will the personal information on this Data Form be available to the public?

No. The names and titles of the officers, owners and senior managers reported on the Data Form will be made available to the public, as will information about the organization itself. However, personal identifying information, such as home address, home phone and date of birth, will not be disclosed to the public, and home address and phone number information will not be used for communication purposes.

I provided some of this information on the VENDEX Questionnaire; do I have to provide it again?

Yes. Although the Doing Business Data Form and the VENDEX Questionnaire request some of the same information, they serve entirely different purposes. In addition, the Data Form requests information concerning senior managers, which is not part of the VENDEX Questionnaire.

What organizations will be included in the Doing Business Database?

Organizations that hold $100,000 or more in grants, contracts for goods or services, franchises or concessions ($500,000 for construction contracts), or that hold any economic development agreement or pension fund investment contract, are considered to be doing business with the City for the purposes of LL 34. Because all of the business that an organization does or proposes to do with the City will be added together, the Data Form must be completed for all transactions valued at more than $5,000 even if the organization doesn’t currently do enough business with the City to be listed in the Database.

No one in my organization plans to contribute to a candidate; do I have to fill out this Data Form?

Yes. All organizations are required to return this Data Form with complete and accurate information, regardless of the history or intention of the entity or its officers, owners or senior managers to make campaign contributions. The Doing Business Database must be complete so that the Campaign Finance Board can verify whether future contributions are in compliance with the law.

My organization is proposing on a contract with another firm as a Joint Venture that does not exist yet; how should the Data Form be completed?

A joint venture that does not yet exist must submit a Data Form for each of its component firms. If the joint venture receives the award, it must then complete a form in the name of the joint venture.


How long will an organization and its officers, owners and senior managers remain listed on the Doing Business Database?

• Contract, Concession and Economic Development Agreement holders: generally for the term of the transaction, plus one year.

• Franchise and Grant holders: from the commencement or renewal of the transaction, plus one year.• Pension investment contracts: from the time of presentation on an investment opportunity or the

submission of a proposal, whichever is earlier, until the end of the contract, plus one year.• Line item and discretionary appropriations: from the date of budget adoption until the end of the

contract, plus one year.• Contract proposers: for one year from the proposal date or date of public advertisement of the solicitation,

whichever is later.• Franchise and Concession proposers: for one year from the proposal submission date.

For information on other transaction types, contact the Doing Business Accountability Project.

How does a person remove him/herself from the Doing Business Database?

When an organization stops doing business with the City, the people associated with it are removed from the Database automatically. However, any person who believes that s/he should not be listed may apply for removal. Reasons that a person would be removed include his/her no longer being the principal officer, owner or senior manger of the organization. Organizations may also update their database information by submitting an update form. Removal Request and Update forms are available online at www.nyc.gov/mocs (once there, click MOCS Programs) or by calling 212-788-8104.

What are the new campaign contribution limits for people doing business with the City?

Contributions to City Council candidates are limited to $250 per election cycle; $320 to Borough President candidates; and $400 to candidates for citywide office. Please contact the NYC Campaign Finance Board for more information at www.nyccfb.info, or 212-306-7100.

The Data Form is to be returned to the City office that issued it.

If you have any questions about the Data Form please contact the Doing Business Accountability Project at 212-788-8104 or [email protected].


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ATTACHMENT G: IRAN DIVESTMENT ACT COMPLIANCE RIDER FOR NEW YORK CITY CONTRACTORS

The Iran Divestment Act of 2012, effective as of April 12, 2012, is codified at State Finance Law (“SFL”) §165-a and General Municipal Law (“GML”) §103-g. The Iran Divestment Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits municipalities, including the City, from entering into contracts with persons engaged in investment activities in the energy sector of Iran. Pursuant to the terms set forth in SFL §165-a and GML §103-g, a person engages in investment activities in the energy sector of Iran if:(a) the person provides goods or services of twenty million dollars or more in the energy sector of Iran,

including a person that provides oil or liquefied natural gas tankers, or products used to construct or maintain pipelines used to transport oil or liquefied natural gas, for the energy sector of Iran; or

(b) The person is a financial institution that extends twenty million dollars or more in credit to another person, for forty-five days or more, if that person will use the credit to provide goods or services in the energy sector in Iran and is identified on a list created pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision three of Section 165-a of the State Finance Law and maintained by the Commissioner of the Office of General Services.

A bid or proposal shall not be considered for award nor shall any award be made where the bidder or proposer fails to submit a signed and verified bidder’s certification.

Each bidder or proposer must certify that it is not on the list of entities engaged in investment activities in Iran created pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of Section 165-a of the State Finance Law. In any case where the bidder or proposer cannot certify that they are not on such list, the bidder or proposer shall so state and shall furnish with the bid or proposal a signed statement which sets forth in detail the reasons why such statement cannot be made. The City of New York may award a bid to a bidder who cannot make the certification on a case by case basis if:(1) The investment activities in Iran were made before the effective date of this section (i.e., April 12, 2012),

the investment activities in Iran have not been expanded or renewed after the effective date of this section and the person has adopted, publicized and is implementing a formal plan to cease the investment activities in Iran and to refrain from engaging in any new investments in Iran: or

(2) The City makes a determination that the goods or services are necessary for the City to perform its functions and that, absent such an exemption, the City would be unable to obtain the goods or services for which the contract is offered. Such determination shall be made in writing and shall be a public document.


BIDDER’S CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH IRAN DIVESTMENT ACT

Pursuant to General Municipal Law §103-g, which generally prohibits the City from entering into contracts with persons engaged in investment activities in the energy sector of Iran, the bidder/proposer submits the following certification:

[Please Check One]

BIDDER’S CERTIFICATION

By submission of this bid or proposal, each bidder/proposer and each person signing on behalf of any bidder/proposer certifies, and in the case of a joint bid each party thereto certifies as to its own organization, under penalty of perjury, that to the best of its knowledge and belief, that each bidder/proposer is not on the list created pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of Section 165-a of the State Finance Law.

I am unable to certify that my name and the name of the bidder/proposer does not appear on the list created pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of Section 165-a of the State Finance Law. I have attached a signed statement setting forth in detail why I cannot so certify.

Dated: , New York

, 20

SIGNATURE

PRINTED NAME

TITLE

Sworn to before me this

day of , 20

NOTARY PUBLIC

Dated:


ATTACHMENT H: AFFIRMATION

The undersigned proposer or bidder affirms and declares that said proposer or bidder is not in arrears to the City of New York upon debt, contract or taxes and is not a defaulter, as surety or otherwise, upon obligation to the City of New York, and has not been declared not responsible, or disqualified, by any agency of the City of New York, nor is there any proceeding pending relating to the responsibility or qualification of the proposer or bidder to receive public contract except .

Full name of Proposer or Bidder [below]

Address

City State Zip Code

CHECK ONE BOX AND INCLUDE APPROPRIATE NUMBER:

A – Individual or Sole ProprietorshipsSOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

B – Partnership, Joint Venture or other unincorporated organizationEMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

C – CorporationEMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

By If corporation, place seal here:Signature

Title

Must be signed by an officer or duly authorized representative.

* Under the Federal Privacy Act, the furnishing of Social Security numbers by bidders or proposers on City contracts is voluntary. Failure to provide a Social Security number will not result in a bidder’s/proposer’s disqualification. Social Security numbers will be used to identify bidders, proposers or vendors to ensure their compliance with laws, to assist the City in enforcement of laws, as well as to provide the City a means of identifying businesses seeking City contracts.

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