26 MARCH 2019 • FOGHORN NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR CONSULTING SERVICES TO ASSIST THE STEAMSHIP AUTHORITY IN TRANSITIONING TO A PROCESS-BASED APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT, INCLUDING THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SMS) AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (QMS) CONTRACT NO. 03-2019 The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority (the “SSA”) has is- sued a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) from consulting firms to assist the SSA in transitioning to a process-based approach to management, including the development and implementa- tion of a safety management system (SMS) across its fleet and facilities as well as a quality management system (QMS) across its entire organization, as recommended by HMS Con- sulting, Glosten and Rigor Analytics (collectively, “HMS”) in the report they issued on their comprehensive review of the SSA’s operations, dated December 13, 2018 (the “Report”). The SSA has not yet established a deadline for the submission of proposals, but will do so in a subsequent addendum to the RFP. At this time, the SSA anticipates that the deadline for sub- mitting proposals will be in late April or early May 2019 so that the SSA will have sufficient time to respond to consulting firms’ questions and suggestions regarding the RFP after they have had sufficient opportunity to review both the RFP and the Report. In order to receive electronic versions of the RFP, the Report, and all subsequent addenda issued by the SSA to the RFP, please email the SSA’s Procurement Officer, Peggy Nickerson, whose email address is pnickerson@steamshipauthority.com. Electronic versions of those documents may also be requested by calling Ms. Nickerson at (508) 548-5011, ext. 515, during the SSA’s regular business hours. The SSA is utilizing a RFP procurement process for this Contact. Under such a process, the selection of the most advantageous proposal will be based upon price and other evaluation factors specified in the RFP. The RFP fully details the procurement process and the require- ments for each proposal, and persons interested in submitting proposals for the Contract must comply with the provisions hereof. Unless all proposals are rejected, the SSA shall award the Contract to the eligible and respon- sible consulting firm who offers the most advantageous proposal to the SSA, based upon the RFP requirements and the evaluation criteria established for the Contract. In this regard, the Total Proposal Price is only part of the evaluation process, as more fully detailed in the RFP. The SSA is soliciting competitive proposals pursuant to a determination that such a process best serves the interest of the SSA and the general public, and not because of any legal re- quirement to do so. The SSA reserves the right to accept or to reject any and all proposals, to modify or amend with the consent of the consulting firm any proposal prior to acceptance, and to waive any informality, all as the SSA in its sole judgment and discretion may deem to be in its best interest. Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority may be a certain fallacy that underlies the notion that reporting sexual misconduct will end it. Victims do not always view it in this way. Instead, they anticipate negative consequences or fear that the harassers will face no reprimand; thus, more often than not, victims choose not to report the ha- rassment. Recent news articles report that studies have shown that not only is sex based ha- rassment in the workplace pervasive, but also the failure to report is widespread.   … Most of all the women who have expe- rienced harassment report that the male harassers faced no consequences. LEGAL About the Author Steven Bers is an attorney at Whiteford, Taylor, Preston, LLC and PVA General Counsel. He is available to PVA members through the PVA Legal Hotline at 410-347-8724 and sbers@wtplaw.com. Steve addressed several legal issues facing the passenger vessel industry at the PVA Annual Convention at MariTrends 2019 in New Orleans in January. The court went on to observe that, in a 2016 report, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission noted that 70 percent of individuals who may have experienced harassment did not report it.  Ultimately, the court sent the case back to the district court to set the case in for trial.   Since the Minarsky ruling was handed down by a federal appeals court, it does not necessarily supersede the Supreme Court decision in Faragher. Other federal appeals court may or may not adopt the same reasoning when they are presented with similar issues. However, the Minarsky case suggests that the federal law on sexual harassment is moving in favor of plain- tiffs and against defendant-employees. For vessel owners, the message is clear that possible employer defenses to claims of harassment workplace ha- rassment may be contracting and that employees may sue for harassment, even if they failed to utilize an em- ployer’s reporting policy.   It is more important than ever to proactively survey internally for any harassing behavior, maintain effective anti-ha- rassment policies with anti-retaliation assurances, and move with lightning speed to remedy any reported or likely incident.  n