Request for Proposal

Group Legal Plan

Date

(Employer Name)

Request for Proposal

Table of Contents

Page

Section I: Introduction	#

Section II: Questionnaire	#

Section III: Legal Plan Design	#

Section IV: Rate Quotation	#

NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: This basic form template is being provided “as is” and as a courtesy for general purposes only. This template may not include all the necessary provisions, legal or otherwise, that should be included in your specific RFP. If you elect to use any portion of this sample template, you may want to seek legal and other professional advice to ensure for accuracy, legal sufficiency in your state and that it meets the needs of the specific entity soliciting the RFP. The provision of this sample template does not constitute solicitation, advertising or legal advice.

Section I: Introduction

The Proposal Process

The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to solicit written information for the provision of legal services to the employees of Employer. Employer will enhance its employees’ benefits package by offering employee-paid legal services.

This questionnaire has been prepared by Employer. Employer will evaluate all information according to the Request for Proposal specifications. Employer reserves the right to reject any or all submissions at its discretion.

Employer appreciates the time and effort spent on responding to this Request for Proposal. If you have any questions regarding the intent or scope of a question, please feel free to call:

Individual’s Name

Title

Phone number

E-mail

Please submit your proposal electronically or hard copy by date and time to:

Individual’s Name

Title

Employer’s Name

Street address

City State ZIP

Email.Address@email.com

Criteria for Selection

At this stage of the process, Employer is determining your company’s expertise and experience in administering/providing quality and affordable legal services for its employees. Employer is also determining your flexibility to work as a partner with their benefits department.

The following categories will be considered in the selection of a provider for the legal and financial planning services plan.

Plan Design

Service Capability

Attorney Network

Pricing and Rate Guarantees

Administration/Claims Processing

Account Management

Technology

Expertise in the Group Legal Marketplace

Regulatory and Compliance

Employer Information

(Provide introductory information about the Employer including the name of the proposed plan sponsor (employer), headquarter’s address, industry, total number of employees, number of plan-eligible employees and employee demographics, as appropriate.)

Proposed Effective Date:	Date

Employer/Policyholder:	Full Corporate Name of Employer

Headquarter’s Address:	Situs Address

Number of Eligible Employees:	Number

Enroll with Other Benefits:	Yes/No

Method of Enrollment:	Same as Current Benefits

TPA Involvement:	Yes/No

Current Legal Plan Provider:	ABC Legal

Current Participation:	15%

Current Rate:	$X.XX

Proposal Due Date:	Date

Plan Requirements

Employer is seeking a group legal program that offers comprehensive, affordable and flexible legal solutions to enhance their employee benefits package.

A network of attorneys is required. Although employer is based in the state of State, its workforce is distributed throughout many regions of the country; therefore, the network must be able to cover all eligible employees and dependents that enroll.

The plan also must provide for the use of non-network attorneys for covered services if a plan member so chooses and a reimbursement schedule when a non-network attorney is used.

Eligibility

Employer is seeking a legal plan provider that can match its existing definition of eligibility as used with its other benefits:

Employees are eligible for benefits if they are regular, full-time and scheduled to work at least 30 hours per week. Eligible dependents are the employee’s legal spouse, domestic partner and unmarried children up to the age of 26.

Employer will submit to the company a monthly electronic data feed containing enrolled employees.

Enrollment

Eligible employees may elect to enroll only during the annual open enrollment period via (Employer’s enrollment process). New hires can enroll (employer’s policy on new hires).

Section II: Questionnaire

When replying to these questions, please respond according to your group legal plan business only.

Company

Please provide the name and contact information of your primary contact for this RFP.

Describe the history and ownership of your company. How many years has your company offered legal plans to employer groups?

What is the A.M. Best rating for your company (or insurer)?

What is your legal plan philosophy?

Does your company consider its proposed legal plan to be an insurance product or a service product in Employer’s situs state?

How many companies/organizations does your company currently serve with legal plans? What is your average client size? Do you have any Fortune 500 companies as clients?

What is the average participation in your group legal plan? Please share best practices that help lead to greater awareness and higher participation.

Please identify any minimum participation requirements.

Describe what differentiates your company from your competitors.

Please provide the following information for three current client references, who are of similar size, industry and geographic location to the Employer who is soliciting this RFP

Company	Name	Title	Phone Number

How does your company create and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture?

Attorneys

Does your company offer a network of attorneys who provide legal services to members? How many attorneys are in your network? How many years of experience do they have on average?

Does your company contract with individual attorneys or law firms for legal services?

Describe the qualification requirements for individual attorneys on your network. Please outline in detail the process used to identify and recruit attorneys into your network. How can you ensure our plan members will receive quality legal services from a credentialed attorney?

How are network attorneys compensated for the services they deliver?

How do plan members contact network attorneys?

Do you have a network committed to providing legal advice via telephone for easier and faster access?

Can plan members choose a non-network attorney to provide legal services? How are non-network attorneys compensated for the services they deliver?

What types of liability insurance are required by your network and in what amounts?

Do members have any guarantee that an attorney will be available within a specific distance of the member’s home or work for their specific legal matter? If not, what benefits are available for members who cannot find a network attorney nearby to address their specific legal matter?

Are plan members free to make initial contact directly with a network attorney for covered legal services? Is pre-authorization or a case number required before a member contacts a network attorney?

Do you administer any managed case rules when member works with an attorney? If so, please describe these rules and on what specific coverages they apply.

How do you manage the ongoing performance of attorneys? What’s the overall satisfaction score of your attorneys? How do your attorneys score on their accessibility and responsiveness?

How are a member’s complaints against a specific attorney handled?

Can plan members access your attorney network information online? What attorney information is shared with the plan members online to help them select a network attorney (e.g. contact information, specialties, language spoken, etc.)? Please provide a screen shot of the attorney’s profile available to a plan member.

Do you provide existing plan members’ ratings and reviews to assist members with selecting a network attorney? If so, please provide a screenshot.

How often do you recredential attorneys on the network? Please explain your process. If you contract with law firms, how do you recredential the individual attorneys affiliated with them?

Employer has provided census data attached with this Request for Proposal. Please provide an attorney accessibility analysis (% of employees with access to at least one attorney within 30 miles).

How does your attorney network, and other service providers, support diversity, equi

Communications

What plan communications are available in the education and promotion of the legal plan? Are there any additional costs for these communications? Please provide samples of materials.

What communications will the member receive once they have enrolled in the legal plan? Please provide samples of these communications and detail any additional costs (i.e. member welcome package with ID cards).

Describe the legal tools and resources available to all employees and plan members on your website. How are these resources accessed?

Describe your online capabilities and available customization. Are there any associated setup costs?

Do you offer a mobile app? Please highlight mobile capabilities.

Is your online platform ADA compliant, ensuring technology is accessible for people with disabilities? Please provide complete details.

Claim Service

Are plan members required to submit claim forms?

Where are your claims processed and paid?

What’s the average turnaround time for paying claims?

How does your company handle claims for legal services that are in progress when a plan member does not renew or is no longer eligible for the plan?

How do plan members file a claim when using an out-of-network attorney?

What is the claims appeals process?

Customer Service

Do you maintain a toll-free customer service phone line, email and web chat to address all employee and member inquiries? What are the days and hours of operation?

Does your organization outsource any of your employee/member services call center? Please provide all locations of your customer service centers.

How are your customer service representatives trained? What is the tenure of your customer service representatives?

How do your website and applications accommodate members who have vision or hearing loss, and/or have other special needs?

How do you accommodate members who speak a foreign language?

Are customer service representatives able to answer questions about coverage and attorneys? Can your customer service representatives assist employees with questions about the legal plan prior to enrollment?

If an employee is not satisfied with the service provided by a plan attorney, what steps are taken to resolve the issue? Will your customer service representatives work with the employee to find another plan attorney?

How do you measure plan member satisfaction and on what frequency? What were your most recent results?

List your company’s standards of performance and the company’s results for 2020 (if available) against those standards.

What is your plan member retention and plan sponsor retention?

What is the percentage of complaints in comparison to the total number of claims processed?

Do you offer portability or conversion plan offering upon employee termination? Does member pay upfront? Can a member continue their plan for as long as they choose?

Account Management

Provide a description of your proposed account management strategy. Include a bio of your primary account manager (title, role, responsibilities, and years of services).

How do you track client satisfaction? Do you survey your clients to gauge the account management services (implementation, ongoing administration, etc.) provided?

Do you provide a single point of contact, who is available throughout the entire relationship (i.e. does our contact change after implementation, during open enrollment, and for ongoing administration)?

Describe your reporting capabilities (utilization, participation, retention, loss ratio, etc.) Please provide samples of reporting options.

What online support do you offer for clients, such as online billing, administration, and reporting? Can clients view the status of enrolled employees in real time?

Is your team willing to attend benefit/wellness fairs, provide enrollment presentations and/or offer webinars? Is there an additional cost for these services? If yes, describe the nature of the additional costs.

Describe your implementation process. What are the key methods or tools you utilize to ensure accurate requirements gathering during the implementation process for consistency across all impacted parties?

What is the recommended time requirement to complete the implementation project? Please include a sample implementation timeline.

How frequently can you accept eligibility data (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)? What is your preferred frequency?

How do you capture premium reporting and remittance? Do you require member level premium posting?

How often will you analyze plan design – including data from employees – to make recommendations on plan changes?

Security/Technical

Does your program require the use of employees’ Social Security numbers to administer? If not, is there a cost associated with setting this up?

What specific security practices are in place to protect personal plan member information?

Does your company have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place? If so, please describe such plans.

SECTION III: Legal Plan Design

Please describe the legal program you would offer to Employer’s employees. Include value propositions of the product(s) you recommend and complete description of the product(s). Explain why this is the best program for Employer’s employees.

Is your proposed product considered insurance under the state laws of the employer’s situs location?

Is coverage available in all 50 states? Internationally?

Are you able to offer a choice of two legal plans for the employee to choose the level of legal protection they would like?

Describe any waiting periods in your proposed plan that would delay a member’s access to any plan services.

Which services are discounted as opposed to 100% paid-in-full? Do members experience any additional out-of-pocket costs?

Do any of your proposed plan benefits have any limitations to frequency of usage or hourly limits? If yes, please specify services and frequency limitiations (i.e. limited to 1x use per year and/or hour limits).

Do you apply managed case rules to limit claims expenses, where you are setting a maximum claim amount and any additional fees are then paid by the member? If yes, please specify which coverages are limited by managed case rules and the average maximum claim severity across your book of business for each coverage.

Does your legal plan offer any free resources or services for employees who choose not to enroll?

Does your plan include paid-in-full coverage for both plaintiff and defendant matters? If yes, does the proposed plan provide plaintiff coverage for:

Consumer disputes

Real estate disputes

Neighbor disputes

Tenant disputes with landlord,

Personal property disputes

School administrative hearings

Social Security/Veterans/Medicare Disputes

Does your plan provide paid-in-full coverage (plaintiff and defendant) for real estate disputes, construction/home improvement related matters? If yes, please list specific coverage.

Does your plan include paid-in-full coverage for both primary and secondary residence for the following legal matters?

Building Codes, Easements, and Zoning

Foreclosures

Home Equity Loans

Neighbor disputes

Property Tax Assessments

Purchase/Sale of Residence

Real Estate Disputes

Refinancing

Does your plan include paid-in-full coverage for both contested and uncontested legal matters? If yes, does the proposed plan provide contested coverage for:

Adoption

Conservatorship/Guardianship

Divorce

Post-Divorce Matters

Describe in detail the divorce benefit offered under your proposed plan. Please outline whether both uncontested and contested are covered. Are there any annual usage limits, hour limits, and/or managed case rules?

Does your plan include coverage for post-divorce legal matters (i.e. child support, alimony, child custody and child visitation)? Are there any annual usage limits, hour limits, and/or managed case rules?

Please highlight any proposed legal coverage specific to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Does your plan include identity theft prevention and/or recovery services? Do these services include credit monitoring, full-service identity theft restoration and representation for covered matters from an attorney if necessary?

Does your proposed plan provide any covered services for a member’s parents’ and/or grandparents’ legal needs that do not directly affect the member? If so, please provide coverage details and any additional costs associated with it.

Since some legal issues have financial implications, does your legal plan offer financial education and counseling including debt management?

Does your legal plan offer tax services, including tax advice and discounted tax document preparation/filing?

Does your proposed plan offer any interactive do-it-yourself legal forms/documents for members? If so, how many and who do you partner with to offer these documents? How do you ensure their legal validity and members’ privacy?

Can employees on an unpaid leave of absence (or long-term disability) continue their coverage under the plan? Please describe process for continuance and direct payment of premium.

Do you offer benefits for noncovered legal matters? If yes, please list the benefits available.

Are employment related matters covered under the plan?

Is your plan portable for currently enrolled members who leave Employer? If so, what will they receive and what will the cost be? How long can they expect to receive these services?

Does your proposed plan cover pre-existing legal matters?

What coverages and/or services are specifically excluded from your legal plan?

Do you offer waiver of premium of members on military leave and/or member’s death?

Section IV: Rate Quotation

What is the monthly premium rate (composite) for the requested legal plan described in Section III?

If you suggested any additional benefits in Section III, please provide the price of those additional benefits.

Are you willing to guarantee these rates? For how long?