19-LITCGrantApplication.docx

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

GRANT APPLICATION

FOR

LOW INCOME TAXPAYER CLINICS

ISSUED: October 10, 2018

RESPONSES DUE: November 9, 2018

BID NUMBER: BD-19-1028-DR115-JB001-32032

GRANT APPLICATION ATTACHMENTS

Department Massachusetts Department of Revenue

INTRODUCTION

Overview and Purpose of Procurement The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) is issuing this Grant Application to solicit Responses from qualified organizations or entities to develop, expand or support qualified low-income taxpayer clinics that provide education and assistance to low-income taxpayers seeking to file Massachusetts tax returns and to those engaged in disputes with the department.

While Low Income Taxpayer Clinics recognized by the Internal Revenue Service focus on federal tax issues, with assistance from these grants, DOR seeks to expand the ability of qualified organizations or entities in their mission to assist low income individuals and limited English Proficient Individual (LEPI) with Massachusetts specific tax issues. Recipients of these grants must:

· Represent individual low income taxpayers in disputes with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, helping to ensure that DOR receives meaningful appeal and hardship documentation

· Educate low income and LEPI taxpayers about their rights and responsibilities as Massachusetts taxpayers, encouraging such taxpayers to understand and achieve compliance with Mass tax laws

· Assist qualified taxpayers with claiming the Massachusetts Earned Income Tax Credit and helping them support their right to the credit if questioned

· Ensure that 95 percent of the taxpayers represented have income below 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

In awarding FY19 LITC grants, DOR will also consider the number of taxpayers in the geographical area who have limited English proficiency.

Number of Grant Agreements and Grant Term DOR anticipates entering into up to 6 Grant agreements of between $20,000 and $75,000 and intends to allocate approximately $150,000 in state fiscal year 2019 for the Grant awards resulting from this Grant Application.

The Grant Agreements awarded under this Grant Application shall commence upon execution by the parties and end on June 30, 2019, subject to (1) the Grantee’s satisfactory performance, as determined by DOR, of all duties and obligations under this Grant, and (2) any termination provisions set forth in the Grant, provided however, that DOR may terminate the Grant immediately if funding is unavailable due to reduction in DOR’s Appropriation Account 1201-0122.

Section 1.3 Statutory Authority Funding Authority - FY2019 General Appropriations Act

1201-0122 - For grants to qualified low-income taxpayer clinics established in section 13 of chapter 14 of the General Laws; provided, that the department shall report to the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than March 1, 2019 on: (a) the number of grant applications; (b) the number of rejected applications; (c) the reasons for those rejections; (d) the estimated number of taxpayers served by each approved grant; (e) the geographic location of the approved grant recipient clinic; and (f) the average size of approved grants ............................................................................ $150,000

Administrative Authority - Section 1 of chapter 159 of the Acts of 2016 added:

M.G.L. Chapter 14 Section 13: Low-income taxpayer clinics providing education and assistance to low-income taxpayers; grants Section 13. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

"Low-income taxpayer'', an individual with a household income which does not exceed 400 per cent of the federal poverty level, as calculated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

"Qualified low-income taxpayer clinic'', a clinical program at an accredited law school, business school, accounting school or an organization described in 26 U.S.C. 501(c) and exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. 501(a) that does not charge a fee for services, except for reimbursement of actual costs incurred, and in which at least 95 per cent of taxpayers represented by the clinical program are low-income taxpayers.

"Qualified representative'', an individual who is authorized to practice before the department or the applicable court.

(b) The commissioner may, subject to appropriation, award grants to develop, expand or support qualified low-income taxpayer clinics that provide education and assistance to low-income taxpayers seeking to file tax returns and to those engaged in disputes with the department. The commissioner, in determining whether to award a grant under this section, shall consider the number of taxpayers who will be served by the clinic, including the number of taxpayers in the geographical area who have limited English proficiency, the quality of the program offered by the qualified low-income taxpayer clinic, including the qualifications of its administrators and qualified representatives and its record in providing services to low-income taxpayers. The commissioner shall give preference in awarding grants to qualified low-income taxpayer clinics that assist taxpayers in applying for the earned income credit available under subsection (h) of section 6 of chapter 62. Upon application of a qualified low-income taxpayer clinic, the department may award multi-year grants not to exceed 3 years.

Section 1.4 Respondent Qualifications To be considered for a Grant Agreement pursuant to this Grant Application, the Respondent, in addition to all other requirements specified herein, must:

1. Have the capability and willingness to perform all responsibilities set forth in the Model Grant Agreement (Attachment A).

2. Be a “qualified low-income taxpayer clinic” as that term is defined in Section 1 (Definitions) of the Grant Agreement (Attachment A); and

3. Submit a complete Response Form (Attachment B) to DOR by the date and time detailed in Section 1.5 (Procurement Timeline).

Section 1.5 Procurement Timetable The anticipated timeline for this Grant Application, which is subject to change at the discretion of DOR, is as follows:

MODEL GRANT AGREEMENT

Attachment A contains provisions that shall be incorporated into any Grant Agreement to be executed with a selected Respondent (such Grant Agreement shall also include the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Standard Contract Form and Commonwealth Terms and Conditions). DOR reserves the right to modify Attachment A as it deems necessary. Changes to the Grant Agreement after its execution by the parties shall be made only by written amendment.

RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS

Response Submission Instructions Complete Grant Application Responses must be submitted by the deadlines specified in Section 1.5. Attachment B, the Response Form (Response) includes all required sections the Respondent must complete and lists all attachments the Respondent must provide to respond to this Grant Application. All Responses must be submitted in accordance with the submission instructions in this section.

1. All procurements posted on COMMBUYS (Bids) require the submission of electronic responses (Responses). To submit an electronic Response, Respondents must register and maintain an active COMMBUYS Seller subscription account. Questions regarding COMMBUYS should be directed to the COMMBUYS Help Desk at commbuys@state.ma.us. In addition, there is a webcast, How to Locate and Respond to a Bid in COMMBUYS, that Respondents may find helpful. See Section 5.2 of this Grant Application for further information about COMMBUYS.

Respondents must submit electronic Responses on COMMBUYS by the date and time specified in Section 1.5, COMMBUYS will not accept submissions after the specified deadline. The Respondent shall comply with all COMMBUYS electronic submission requirements and file size limits.

2. In addition to electronic Response submission, Respondents shall deliver to DOR:

a. One original of the Respondent’s complete Response.

The original shall be delivered to the Procurement Contact by the date and time specified in Section 1.5. Please include the title: Low-Income Taxpayer Clinics Grant Application Response.

3. A complete Grant Application Response shall consist of:

a. A Cover Letter, as specified in Section 4 (Certifications) of Attachment B, Response Form;

b. A completed Attachment B, Response Form; and

c. All required attachments specified in Attachment B, Response Form.

Each document and document section submitted shall include only information specific to the topic of that document and section. Superfluous information may be disregarded.

DOR, in its discretion, may choose to not consider any material that is not presented in accordance with DOR’s instructions in evaluating the Respondent’s Response.

4. Each paper document (originals and 4 paper copies) must be unbound, printed on recycled paper, reproducible, and submitted in a loose-leaf binder. Each binder must be clearly labeled and must state on the cover:

a. The title of the Grant Application;

b. The Respondent’s name; and

c. Whether the Response is an original or a copy.

5. The flash drive must be clearly labeled with the Respondent’s name, and shall contain all documents specified in Section 3 as follows.

a. All required attachments shall be in Word, Excel or PDF formats only. Respondents shall follow any other instructions regarding form and format that may be specified in Attachment B.

b. Electronic media submissions, other than the required electronic copies on flash drive and electronic files submitted via COMMBUYS, such as videotapes, audiotapes, and diskettes will not be accepted. Facsimile and e-mailed responses will not be accepted.

RESPONSE EVALUATION

Qualifying Responses All Responses to this Grant Application that are received on or before the Response Submission Deadline (See Section 1.5) will be reviewed by the Evaluation Committee (Committee). Any Response determined to be nonresponsive to any specification or requirement of this Grant Application, including instructions governing submission of Responses, will be disqualified without evaluation unless the Committee determines that the noncompliance is insubstantial, in which case it may seek clarification or allow the Respondent to make technical corrections.

Response Review Process Once the Committee has determined that the Respondent satisfied all required Certifications in Attachment B (Section 4) and submitted the required forms (Section 5 of Attachment B),the Committee will evaluate each element of the Respondent’s Organization (Section 7 of Attachment B), Program Plan (Section 8 of Attachment B) and Budget Plan (Section 9 of Attachment B) for comprehensiveness, appropriateness, feasibility, clarity, effectiveness, and responsiveness to the needs of DOR and the goals of low-income taxpayer clinics pursuant to M.G.L. c. 14, § 13A.

The Organization Response, Program Plan and Budget Plan will be numerically scored based on the information requested in the Response Form (Attachment B). The Committee’s evaluation will be based on, among other things, the Grantee’s experience with varied types of disputes, scope of services provided, procedure for monitoring and evaluating program results, qualifications of staff and quality of training for students and volunteers.

DOR may give preference to Respondents based on: their experience in assisting taxpayers with all aspects of the earned income credit, the geographical locations the Respondent serves, and their ability to assist low income individuals and limited English proficiency individuals.

DOR will notify Respondents if their Responses received a score of 50 or more to discuss the Program and Budget Plans and to determine the appropriate amount of grant funding for each such Respondent.

Grant Awards The award of any Grant Agreements under this Grant Application shall be subject to sufficient appropriation, availability of state funds, all necessary state approvals, and successful negotiation of Grant Agreement terms.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Issuing Office Massachusetts Department of Revenue Office of Taxpayer Advocate 100 Cambridge Street, 7th Floor Boston, MA 02114

COMMBUYS Market Center COMMBUYS is the official source of information for this Bid and is publicly accessible at no charge at www.commbuys.com. Information contained in this Grant Application document and in COMMBUYS, including file attachments, announcements, modifications and information contained in the related Questions and Answers (Q&A), if any, are all components of the procurement.

Respondents are solely responsible for obtaining all information distributed for this procurement via COMMBUYS.

It is each Respondent’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for:

· Any amendments, addenda, announcements or modifications to this procurement, and

· Any Q&A records related to this procurement.

The Commonwealth accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Respondents who submit a Response to this Grant Application based on out-of-date information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

COMMBUYS Subscription. Respondents may elect to obtain a free COMMBUYS Seller subscription which provides value-added features, including automated email notification associated with postings and modifications to COMMBUYS records. In order to submit a Response, Respondents must register and maintain an active COMMBUYS Seller subscription account.

All Respondents agree that, if awarded a Grant Agreement: (1) they will maintain an active seller account in COMMBUYS; (2) they will comply with all requests by the procuring entity to utilize COMMBUYS for the purposes of conducting all aspects of purchasing and invoicing with the Commonwealth, as added functionality for the COMMBUYS system is activated; and (3) in the event the Commonwealth adopts an alternate market center system, successful Respondents will be required to utilize such system, as directed by the procuring entity.

The COMMBUYS system introduces terminology, which Respondents must be familiar with in order to conduct business with the Commonwealth. To view this terminology and to learn more about the COMMBUYS system, visit the COMMBUYS Resource Center.

Questions specific to COMMBUYS should be made to the COMMBUYS Help Desk at commbuys@state.ma.us.

Respondent Communications

1. Grant Application Contact Respondents are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of DOR concerning this Grant Application, and no other individual Commonwealth employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry concerning this Grant Application except as specified below. Respondents may contact the contact person for this Grant Application in the event the Respondent is having trouble accessing the complete Grant Application or obtaining any required attachments electronically through COMMBUYS.

Grant Application Contact:

Joseph Bellofatto Financial Services PO Box 9556 Boston, MA 02114-9556 Email: bellofatto@dor.state.ma.us

2. Publicity

The Grantee shall obtain the prior written approval of DOR before it or any employee makes any statement bearing on the work performed or data collected under the Grant to the press or other medium of communication.

3. Reasonable Accommodation Respondents with disabilities or hardships who seek reasonable accommodation, which may include the receipt of Grant Application information in an alternative format, must submit a written statement to the Grant Application contact person describing the Respondent’s disability and the requested accommodation to the contact person for the Grant Application. The Commonwealth reserves the right to reject unreasonable requests.

4. Grant Application Copies Respondents should download all Grant Application documents from COMMBUYS. If necessary, Respondents may request a copy of the Grant Application, or any of its components, by contacting the Grant Application contact person.

5. Electronic Communication/Update of Respondent’s/Grantee’s Contact Information It is the responsibility of the prospective Respondent and awarded Grantee to keep current the e-mail address of the Respondent’s contact person and prospective Grant manager, if awarded a grant, and to monitor that e-mail inbox for communications from the Committee, including requests for clarification. The Committee and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective Respondent’s/awarded Grantee’s designated e-mail address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective Respondent’s/awarded Grantee’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause e-mail communications sent to/from the prospective Respondent/awarded Grantee and DOR to be lost or rejected by any means, including e-mail or spam filtering.

Grant Application Questions The “Bid Q&A” provides the opportunity for Respondents to ask written questions and receive written answers from DOR. All Respondents’ questions must be submitted through the Bid Q&A found on COMMBUYS (see below for instructions). Questions may be asked only prior to the Deadline for Submission of Questions specified in the timetable in Section 1.5 of this Grant Application. DOR reserves the right not to respond to questions submitted after this date. It is the Respondent’s responsibility to verify receipt of questions.

Please note that any questions submitted to DOR using any other medium (including those that are sent by mail, fax, email or voicemail, etc.) will not be answered. To reduce the number of redundant or duplicate questions, Respondents are asked to review all questions previously submitted to determine whether the Respondent’s question has already been posted.

Respondents are responsible for entering content suitable for public viewing, since all of the questions are accessible to the public. Respondents should not include any information that could be considered personal, security sensitive, inflammatory, incorrect or otherwise objectionable, including information about the Respondent’s company or other companies. DOR reserves the right to edit or delete any submitted questions that raise any of these issues or that are not in the best interest of the Commonwealth.

Questions received after the deadline may be disregarded. DOR will review questions received by the deadline and at its discretion prepare written responses to questions which DOR determines to be of general interest. The written answers will be posted on COMMBUYS. Only written answers are binding on DOR. Respondents should check COMMBUYS for updates.

Closing Date Responses received after the Bid Opening Date listed in COMMBUYS (closing date of Bid) will be rejected. Individual requests for extension of the time for submitting Responses will be denied.

Amendment or Withdrawal of Grant Application If DOR decides to amend or clarify any part of this Grant Application, an announcement and a written amendment will be posted on COMMBUYS. DOR reserves the right to amend the Grant Application at any time prior to execution of Grant Agreement(s) and to terminate this procurement in whole or in part at any time.

Grant Application Errors This Grant Application may contain errors that may be corrected by DOR at any time prior to Grant Agreement execution. Corrections to this Grant Application will be posted on COMMBUYS.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) All Respondents responding to this Grant Application must agree to participate in the Commonwealth Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) program for receiving payments, unless the Respondent can provide compelling proof that it would be unduly burdensome. EFT is a benefit to both Grantees and the Commonwealth because it ensures fast, safe and reliable payment directly to Grantees and saves both parties the cost of processing checks. Grantees are able to track and verify payments made electronically through the Comptroller’s VendorWeb application. The Electronic Funds Transfer Sign-Up Form is available here: https://massfinance.state.ma.us/VendorWeb/eftRegisterfrm.asp. Additional information about EFT and VendorWeb is available on the VendorWeb site.

Any successful Respondent must enroll in EFT. The Electronic Funds Transfer Sign-Up Form, along with the voided check, submitted within the Grant Application Response will be reviewed, approved, and forwarded to the Office of the Comptroller. If the Respondent is already enrolled in the program, it may so indicate in its Response. Because the Electronic Funds Transfer Sign-Up Form contains banking information, this form, and all information contained on this form, shall not be considered a public record and shall not be subject to public disclosure through a public records request.

Section 5.9 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Standard Contract Form and Commonwealth Terms and Conditions Respondents selected as Grantees agree to abide by the terms of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Standard Contract Form and Commonwealth Terms and Conditions. DOR is prohibited from amending these documents or agreeing to any change in the language. Any Respondent’s suggestion or requirement altering these documents will be disregarded.

Section 5.10 Acceptance of Response Content The entire contents of the Respondent’s Response shall be binding. This Grant Application and all response documents submitted in response to it by a selected Respondent will, at DOR’s discretion, be incorporated by reference into any Grant Agreement awarded as a result of this Grant Application.

Section 5.11 Alterations Respondents may not alter (manually or electronically) the Grant Application language or any procurement component files, except as directed in the Grant Application.

Modifications to the body of the Grant Application, specifications, terms and conditions, or which change the intent of this Grant Application are prohibited and may disqualify a Response.

Section 5.12 Authorizations and Appropriations Any Grant awarded under this Grant Application is subject to all necessary state approvals, as applicable, including from the Office of the Comptroller, and is subject to appropriation of sufficient funding, as determined by DOR.

Section 5.13 Confidentiality The selected Respondents shall be required to comply with all state and federal laws and regulations applicable to the privacy and security of personal and other confidential information, and the additional terms, conditions and obligations relating to the privacy, security and management of personal and other confidential information that may be set forth in Attachment A. Further, DOR reserves the right to add any requirement during the course of the Grant that it determines it must include in the Grant in order for DOR to comply with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations relating to privacy and security, including but not limited to the state tax confidentiality laws.

Section 5.14 Conflict of Interest The Respondent may not have any interest that will conflict with the performance of services required under any Grant resulting from this Grant Application, or that may be otherwise anti-competitive, as determined by DOR, for the duration of the Grant. In order to so demonstrate, a Respondent may be required to submit any additional relevant information requested by DOR regarding its financial, legal, contractual or other interests. If DOR, in its sole judgment, determines that a Respondent possesses a conflicting interest, DOR may propose or consider any measures which would eliminate or mitigate such conflicting interest to DOR’s satisfaction.

Section 5.15 Grant Expansion If additional funds become available during the Grant duration period, DOR reserves the right to increase funding to some or all grants executed as a result of this Grant Application.

Section 5.16 Costs The Commonwealth will not be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred by Respondents in responding to this Grant Application.

Section 5.17 Ownership of Submitted Responses DOR shall be under no obligation to return any Responses or materials submitted by a Respondent in response to this Grant Application. All materials submitted by Respondents become the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will not be returned to the Respondent.

Section 5.18 Public Records All Responses and related documents submitted in response to this Grant Application are public records and are subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10 and M.G.L. c. 4, § 7 subsection 26. Any statements in submitted Responses that are inconsistent with these statutes will be disregarded.

Section 5.19 Response Duration The Respondent’s Response shall remain in effect until a Grant Agreement resulting from this Grant Application is executed.

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