Managed Service Provider

Question

IDOA Response

State employees / Hiring Managers should contact their agency procurement personnel.
Resources who are providing services to the State:
* may ask State Hiring Managers work product questions.
* must ask their employer all employee questions, such as compensation and benefits.

Employers of Record / Providers should contact CAI directly.

Step 1: When the Indiana Hiring Manager has an SRP identified they want to employ through CAI, the Indiana Hiring Manager may initially discuss salary/rate expectations with the candidate.

Step 2: When the SRP individual expresses interest in the opportunity, the Hiring Manager will coordinate with their agency’s Head Procurement Agent to follow agency internal process to notify CAI of with the individual’s contact information, job description and desired pay rate.

Step 3: CAI will initiate the engagement/onboarding process for the candidate.

Step 4: Following the initial salary/rate discussion, the Hiring Manager should refer the candidate to CAI for all employment discussions, such as payroll or benefits questions, to avoid co-employment risks.

The timing is dependent upon multiple factors, with multiple entities in control of varying phases of data collection and decision making. There is no current deadline for transitions to be completed; however, the current expectation is this will be a completed phase no later than 12/31/2022. The agency will determine the transition date based on the following process:

* Employers of Record provide pay rate information to CAI
* CAI applies the MSP contractual rate card terms to the pay rate
* CAI presents the resulting information to the agency
* The agency reviews internally and either approves or counters for further discussion
* If the discussion takes the position outside the negotiated rate card ranges, the agency will request the deviation and provide justification to IDOA
* Upon final agreement, CAI provides the information to the employers of record
* The employers of record are at liberty to approve or counter. If a counter offer is to be made, the employer of record will be asked to provide justification for the deviation to CAI. IDOA and agency will review and respond
* In the event the agency agrees, the agency will determine the transition date. In the event the agency does not agree, continued efforts will be made to reach agreement. In the event agreement between the agency and the employer of record is not reached, CAI will present the agency with their current options.

What is the effective date of the new contract?

The new contract with CAI is fully executed, effective 12/21/2021. The contract term is four years with the option to renew for two additional years.

When did the Knowledge Services contract expire?

The previous contract with Knowledge Services expired at the end of last calendar year on December 31^st, 2021.

What is the scope of the new contract?

The new contract scope with CAI is the same as the previous contract scope. This includes:

* Staff Augmentation (aka temporary staffing) for the medical, IT, and administrative/clerical work categories
* The Selected Resource Program (SRP aka Payroll)
* IT Project Work for projects under $1 million and shorter than one year

Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) of IT Project work over $1 million for projects longer than one year

What happened to existing PO’s and resources when the Knowledge Services contract expired?

Purchase orders may extend past a contract expiration date as long as the purchase order is dispatched before the contract expiration date. Therefore, all existing purchase orders with Knowledge Services may remain until the PO amount is used, unless a transition target date for all purchase orders is established and communicated by IDOA. Modifications to purchase orders to increase hours or amounts require IDOA review and approval effective 1/1/2022. New requisitions must be made with CAI. Contact CAI at Indiana.help@cai.io for assistance.

Is there a cap on the length or amount of money for new purchase orders or modifications to existing purchase orders with Knowledge Services?

Not at this time. But IDOA will likely establish a target date (in 2022) for all agencies to transition existing Knowledge Services purchase orders over to CAI. The target date will be communicated as soon as it is established.

Will all resources for all contract scope categories transition to the new contract?

IDOA and CAI are working with agencies to determine the transition plans and timing for individuals of the Staff Augmentation and the Selected Resource Program (SRP) categories.

IT Project Work and IV&V of IT Project Work will finish out under the Knowledge Services contract and associated work order and purchase order.

How will the transition to the new MSP work?

CAI is working with agencies to develop agency transition plans to the new CAI contract. Ultimately, it is the agency’s responsibility to approve, execute and manage the transition plan with CAI and IDOA support (if needed).

Do I have to create new requisitions under the new contract for existing projects and temporary resources?

This will only need to be done in accordance with your agency’s specific transition plan to the new CAI contract.

When should I expect for IDOA and CAI to reach out to me for transition meetings?

IDOA has reached out to or met with every known agency to have active resources or projects under the previous agreement. Transition planning is underway. If you have questions about transitioning your resources, please reach out to IDOA at msp@idoa.in.gov.

When an agency submits the completed transition plan template to IDOA, IDOA will review and send it to CAI. CAI will reach out to the agency-designated MSP coordinator to schedule a meeting to discuss transition plan execution.

What should I do to prepare for my transition meeting with IDOA?

Please aggregate information for each temporary resource engagement (staff augmentation and SRP):

* How long do you need a temporary resource (end date) to do this work?
* Do you need the current resource or will another resource with equivalent knowledge, skill, and ability suffice?

What is the purchase order number and how many hours are still available on the purchase order?

What will happen to dotStaff?

We are relying on Knowledge Services to continue all services, including dotStaff, associated with all active purchase orders through the purchase order expiration date.
CAI’s vendor management system (VMS), VectorVMS, will replace dotStaff for all new requisitions made with CAI. The CAI Account Manager assigned to your agency will work with you during the rollout of the VectorVMS solution.

When can we begin submitting new requisitions for staff augmentation, SRP, IT Project, and IV&V?

CAI is accepting and filling new requisitions for staff augmentation and SRP. Coordinate with your agency Head Procurement Agent to follow internal processes.
IT Project and IV&V:

Complete this form: https://www.in.gov/idoa/procurement/active-contracts-and-qpas/qpa-supplemental-information/msp/ to initiate services.

Will the temporary service providers in the current MSP network transition to new MSP network?

CAI has reached out to providers in the previous MSP network and invited them to initiate enrollment and onboarding to the new network. To see the full list of providers enrolled in the new CAI MSP network, go to: https://www.cai.io/msp/indiana/

Please note: This list is updated frequently and only includes the providers that have completed the enrollment process. It does not include providers who are in process.

This is dependent upon the agency approved transition plan.

Hiring Managers may seek direction from their agency Head Procurement Agent to acquire an answer to this question.
Individuals performing the work should ask their employers of record their employment questions. The employers of record should follow up with CAI. CAI will engage with the agency and/or IDOA when appropriate.

The appropriate flow of communication about employment is not between the Hiring Manager and the individual performing the work. To mitigate co-employment risk, conversations should be limited to the work product expectations and fulfillment.

When will I be able to see the new resource rate card?

The new rate card is available at https://www.in.gov/idoa/procurement/files/MSP_CAIRates.pdf.

This is a different model than the previous. The current rate card should not be compared with the previous rate card. Instead, it is encouraged to gain full understanding of the model change including noting the pay range now transparent, a negotiated mark-up cap that is now known and the reduced MSP fee.
A visual explanation is available at: https://www.in.gov/idoa/procurement/active-contracts-and-qpas/qpa-supplemental-information/msp/

MSP Town Hall Presentation 12/16/2021
Slides 5 – 6 of 10

Generally, how do the rates in the current contract compare to the rates in new contract?

There are three elements to the hourly rate the State pays for a resource (commonly referred to the bill rate). These three elements are:
1. The pay rate ($) that goes to the resource.
2. The mark up rate (% of resource pay rate) that goes to the vendor in the network.
3. The MSP fee (% of resource pay rate) that goes to the MSP (KS / CAI)

The rate that you are invoiced and pay to the MSP is inclusive of all three elements. In other words, the resource only receives a portion of what we pay to the MSP.
Under the Knowledge Services contract, we did not have visibility into the portion of the bill rate that goes to the resource versus the vendor. Therefore, we cannot provide a comparison of resource pay rates and vendor mark-up rates between the two contracts.

The MSP fees in the CAI contract are lower than those in the KS contract. The below table shows the difference in the MSP fees between the two contracts.

The bill rate formulas are:

Staff Augmentation = resource pay rate + (resource pay rate * provider mark-up rate) + (resource pay rate * CAI staff augmentation fee)
SRP = resource pay rate + (resource pay rate * benefit reimbursement rate) + (resource pay rate * statutory cost reimbursement rate) + resource pay rate * CAI SRP fee)

Fees are always applied to the resource pay rate and are not compounded.

Most SRP resources will be employees of CAI. CAI offers a benefit package for full time associates (working more than 30 hours per week) that can be customized to an individual’s needs. Available benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance, healthcare flexible spending account, life and disability insurance, and paid time off (PTO). The State reimburses CAI for benefit and statutory costs at a rate of 11% and 9% (respectively).

What if a resource pay rate range is not aligned or competitive with the labor market?

There are three methodologies of approach:

If an agency wishes to request an adjustment to the negotiated rate card by individual performing the work, the Managed Service Provider QPA Exception Request form is available for agency completion at: https://www.in.gov/idoa/procurement/active-contracts-and-qpas/qpa-supplemental-information/msp/
If CAI discovers the misalignment, CAI is responsible for bringing these situations to IDOA for review, discussion, and possible exception or contract amendment.
If a supplier claims there to be a misalignment, it is the responsibility for the supplier to contact CAI. Agencies should guide the supplier to CAI. CAI and IDOA have prepared the data request for the supplier to complete for their claim to be taken into consideration.
The rate card is available at https://www.in.gov/idoa/procurement/active-contracts-and-qpas/qpa-supplemental-information/msp/.

Any exceptions must be reviewed and approved by IDOA.

If I am asked a question about the procurement process or IDOA’s award decision, what should I say?

Please direct them to IDOA at msp@idoa.in.gov.

If my temporary resources or IT project resources have questions about transitioning to the new MSP network, what should I say?

IDOA invites all questions and concerns to be heard. This is a transition with multiple stakeholders that requires collaboration and coordination. While we encourage resources to ask questions of their employer, questions may also be emailed to msp@idoa.in.gov. Additionally, IDOA encourages network providers to email questions to Indiana.help@cai.io.