Utah State Courts Legal Representation for Respondents in Guardianship Cases RFP

Project Description: The purpose of this request for proposal is to enter into a contract with a qualified firm or agency to provide legal representation to respondents in guardianship petitions filed statewide (Guardianship Reporting and Monitoring Program) at the rate of $200/hour.
The Judicial Council has provided funding for this pilot program in which a firm or agency will be incentivized to accept guardianship cases statewide when appointed by the court. The GSP (Guardianship Signature Program) receives approximately 130 requests from all the districts and each year that are not eligible for an attorney waiver, as per statute. These are cases where judges would either ask for a court visitor, even though statute requires the appointment of an attorney; or the judge would move forward with the appointment, without a court visitor or attorney. Each case averages 5-15 hours of work to be completed by an attorney. These cases will be assigned to the pilot program after the statutory 60 days have passed to allow an attorney to volunteer for the case through the GSP. This Pilot Program has setup $130,000 for this contract so far. More money is being requested next fiscal year if this program is successful.
It is anticipated that this RFP will result in a contract award to a single offeror.
There will be two phases to this RFP. All vendors who score 51 points or higher out of 85 points possible on the attached evaluation scoresheet in Phase 1 will qualify for an interview in a second phase. The winning bidder will be the highest score after the the 2 phases are added up.
Please provide a proposal that addresses all of the requirements and scope of work, including addressing each of the Evaluation score sheet categories, on the attached RFP document.
Cost is a fixed rate for this project at $200/hr with a maximum payout of $130,000 with the possibility of more funds to be added in the new fiscal year.
All questions and answers will be through this Euna Bonfire U3P website during the posted Q&A period.