SR-09-29-2015-3H
City Council
Report
City Council Special Meeting: September 29, 2015
Agenda Item: 3.H
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Donna Peter, Director, Human Resources Department
Subject: Authorization to execute an agreement with Plan Source Benefits
Administration, Inc.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to execute a two year
professional services agreement with PlanSource Benefits Administration, Inc., a
Florida-based company, to provide a benefits administration program, in an amount not
to exceed $150,000, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Executive Summary
In an effort to streamline and automate employee benefit related transactions and
ensure the City is compliant with the reporting regulations of the Affordable Care Act
(ACA), staff recommends implementing a benefits administration system. Staff
recommends that these services be provided by PlanSource Benefits Administration,
Inc. at a cost not to exceed $150,000 over a two-year period.
Background
The City offers a comprehensive benefits program to staff which inc ludes a variety of
types of insurance coverages for eligible employees and their dependents. The City
contracts with over ten different vendors to provide these benefits. Currently, the City
does not have any benefits administration software to manage be nefit related
transactions. Most benefit related transactions are performed manually and entered
into multiple systems in a variety of ways. Recently, Federal law has imposed significant
reporting requirements for employee benefits on large employers. Beginning in 2015,
the ACA requires employers to report the following information for each month of the
calendar year to the IRS: identify all full time employees (as -needed or permanent)
working 30 hours or more, whether minimum essential health coverage providing
minimum value was offered, whether the offer was made to dependent children and
spouses, whether the offer was affordable, and the employee’s premium contribution to
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the lowest cost employee-only plan. A benefits administration program would allow the
City the ability to manage enrollment, billing, compliance and ongoing administration of
employee benefits in one system, thus saving time, decreasing the margin for errors
and increasing productivity.
Discussion
After an evaluation of current processes in the Human Resources Benefits Division, it
was determined that a benefits administration program would better assist in managing
the high volume of employee benefit related transactions and provide a mechanism to
ensure accurate reporting compliant with the ACA. After interviewing and viewing two
demonstrations by companies recommended by the City’s third party insurance broker,
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., PlanSource was selected. BenefitsOne, the technology
platform offered through PlanSource, would provide the following services to the City:
the ability to manage benefits and eligibility on-line with intuitive cloud-based
technology, automate the creation and distribution of Forms 1094 -C and 1095-C as
required by the ACA, generate, adjust and reconcile carrier bills, ability to customize
reports and workflows, provide a portal for employees to enroll in and access their
benefits from any computer or mobile device any time of day or night, and connect with
3rd party systems to exchange and update employee benefits information with insurance
carriers and the City’s payroll system. The implementation of BenefitsOne would
provide staff with a secure cloud based environment to process and manage daily
benefit related transactions with more efficiency and accuracy and the ability to cure
long standing inefficiencies derived from manual and antiquated processes. The
PlanSource/BenefitsOne system will integrate with the HR/Payroll modules of the City’s
new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, once that system is fully
implemented, should there remain a need for a separate benefits administration system.
Staff is requesting authorization for the City Manager to execute a two year agreement
through September 30, 2017.
Vendor Selection
The City’s third party fee-based insurance broker, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. solicited
proposals from vendors to provide a benefits administration program. The proposals
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were analyzed by Gallagher. Based on the recommendation by Gallagher, Human
Resources staff viewed two demonstrations and selected PlanSource Benefits
Administration Inc. PlanSource was recommended based on their experience providing
benefits administration services, their established relationships with benefit vendors with
whom the City currently contracts with, and their competitive pricing.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The agreement to be awarded to PlanSource Benefit administration, Inc. is for an
amount not to exceed $150,000. Funds are available in the FY 2015 -16 budget in the
Human Resources Department. The agreement will be charged to account
01252.533580. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Tatiana Morrison, Executive Administrative Assistant
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
Reference:
Agreement No. 10191
(CCS)