2-RFP-School Psychologist.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: Independent Contractor Onsite School Psychologist

Tooele County School District

Notice

The Tooele County School District (hereafter referred to as “TCSD” or “the District”) is seeking proposals to fill two school psychology positions in TCSD. The District is seeking proposals to solicit school psychologist services from reputable, experienced, and skilled school psychologists. This RFP is not intended to be filled by educational staffing recruiting companies.

Purpose of RFP The purpose of this RFP is to solicit school psychology services from reputable, experienced, and skilled providers. Specifically, TCSD is seeking proposals from providers that can service our current and future students in a skilled, professional, and timely manner that complies with applicable USBE & IDEA Special Education rules and regulations. TCSD is seeking providers who are able and willing to provide in-person services at each of the school’s campuses. A qualified candidate will have experience with both Utah State and Federal guidelines and be able to understand alternative methods of identification for students with learning disabilities under a pattern of strengths and weakness model. Providers will be uniquely qualified and experienced with data-based decision making, consultation and collaboration, academic intervention and instructional supports, mental and behavioral health services and interventions, school-wide practices to promote learning, services to support and implement safe and supportive schools, family, school and community collaboration, equitable practices for diverse student populations, research and evidenced-based practices, and legal, ethical and professional practice. The providers will attend all meetings in person, participate in school-based problem-solving teams, and collaborate on-site with administrators, teachers and staff.

Provide in person assessment and support to include observation and direct skills instruction and group or individual skills as needed and will actively assist in the creation and implementation of functional behavior assessments, behavior intervention plans and other behavior or mental health supports. The providers will ensure compliant and timely evaluations and facilitate manifestation determination reviews. The providers will also support and train colleagues and staff members to ensure compliant and timely individual educational plans for students and ensure that these meet individual student needs with rigor and expectation. They will also assist school teams in ensuring each student is receiving a free and appropriate education in their least restrictive environment.

Background TCSD has a long history of providing education to residents of Tooele County, for over 100 years. Tooele County is Utah’s second-largest County covering 6,941 square miles. TCSD has over 15,000 students attending in person classes at 27 schools. In addition to school buildings, TCSD also owns and operates an additional Six (6) support buildings housing various other departments/groups.

Purpose The District intends to award a multi-award contract for school psychology services upon mutual agreement with the candidates.

This RFP is designed to provide interested offerors with sufficient basic information to submit proposals meeting minimum requirements but is not intended to limit a proposal's content or exclude any relevant or essential data. Offerors are at liberty and are encouraged to expand upon the specifications to evidence of service capability under any agreement.

TCSD will not be liable for any costs proposers may incur in the preparation or presentation of this proposal.

Timelines & Budget

Notification Date: 11/18/2025 Q&A Deadline Date in BONFIRE: 12/19/2025, 5:00 PM MST Proposal Due Date: 1/2/2026, 5:00 PM MST Evaluation of Proposals: Week of 1/5/2026

Final Notification of Award: 1/21/2026

Scope of Services The contracted School Psychologist will:

• Conduct comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations in compliance with IDEA and Utah State Board of Education Special Education Rules (USBE) and Regulations

• Participate in special education evaluation planning meetings and student support teams

• Interpret assessment data and provide written reports aligned with IDEA, USBE district standards, and timelines.

• Consult with teachers, administrators, and parents regarding student needs

• Participate in IEP and multidisciplinary team meetings as required in person

• Collaborate with internal support staff on early intervention and social emotional behavior and mental health learning efforts

• Maintain appropriate documentation and timelines

• Provide limited direct student support (e.g., small group work, individual work or skill building, behavior observation, functional behavior assessment behaivor intervention plans, risk and suicide assessments) if requested

• Lead & facilitate Manifestation Determination meetings

• Familiar with Patterns of Strengths and Weakness for Specific Learning Disability

Eligibility Criteria

• Provide recommendations, interventions, and technical assistance to district staff based on interpretations of assessment findings.

• Support district staff with knowledge of Federal and State laws, regulations, and policies related to the special education program.

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships and communication with students, special education teachers, parents, and administration.

• Use data-based decision making; understand and utilize assessment methods for identifying strengths and needs for developing effective intervention, services, programs and measuring outcomes within a multitiered system of support.

• Effective with consultation and collaboration and use strategies applicable to individuals, families, groups and systems, as well as methods to promote effective implementation of services.

• Knowledgeable with academic intervention and instructional support; understand the biological, cultural and social influences on academic skills, learning, cognitive and developmental processes and use evidenced-based curricula and instructional strategies.

• Knowledgeable with mental and behavioral health services and interventions and understand the biological, cultural, developmental and social influences on mental and behavioral health; behavioral and emotional impacts on learning and evidenced-based strategies to promote social-emotional functioning.

• Knowledgeable with school-wide practices to promote learning; understanding systems’ structures, organization, and theory; general and special education programming implementation science and evidenced-based school-wide practices that promote learning, positive behavior and mental health.

• Knowledgeable about services to promote safe and supportive schools by understanding principles and research related to social-emotional well-being, resilience, and risk factors in learning, mental and behavioral health, services in schools and communities to support multitiered prevention and health promotion as well as evidence-based strategies for creating safe and supportive schools.

• Knowledgeable with family, school and community collaboration and understanding principles and research related to family systems, strengths, needs and cultures along with evidenced-based strategies to support positive family influences on children’s learning and mental health and strategies to develop collaboration between families and schools.

• Use equitable practices for diverse student populations by having knowledge of, and inherent respect for individual differences, abilities, disabilities and other diverse characteristics and the effects they have on development and learning.

• Have knowledge of research and evidence-based practice of research design, statistics, measurement and varied data collection and analysis techniques sufficient for understanding research, interpreting data, and evaluating programs in applied settings.

• Be legally compliant, ethical and use professional standards of practice by having knowledge of the history and foundation of school psychology, multiple service models and methods, ethical, legal and professional standards; and other factors related to professional identity and effective practice as a school psychologist.

• Keep up to date with professional development from the National Association of

School Psychologists or the Utah Association of School Psychologists.

• Communicate regularly with the Special Education Director

Mandatory requirements for all applicants:

• Utah State Board of Education Professional License

• Graduate degree from a National Association of School Psychologists or the

American Psychological Association accredited School Psychology program

• Mandatory on-site work availability

• Located within 60 miles of Tooele County School District Office

• At least 5 years of experience as an onsite school psychologist

• Follow the professional ethics requirements of NASP 2020 Professional Standards

• Have not been under disciplinary action by the NASP Ethics and Professional

Practices Board

• Independent contractor

Proposal Process

Proposals shall be submitted with the information required in this RFP. Each section must be labeled, and in the order listed below. Failure to comply may deem proposals non-responsive. As a minimum, proposals must include the following.

All proposals must include:

1. Cover Letter expressing interest and availability:

a. The legal company name of the offeror;

b. The complete company address;

c. The company contact person’s name, phone number, and email address;

d. The company’s website address;

e. The signature of the company’s authorized representative, including position/title;

and

f. The date of submission.

2. Technical Proposal:

a. Resume

b. Relevant licensure and certification information

c. Summary of relevant experience in the service area

d. Description of onsite service delivery model

e. Three professional references

f. Proof of liability insurance, if applicable

g. Estimated weekly availability

3. Cost Proposal (See Attachment B)

Proposal Submission

Proposals must be submitted electronically, through BONFIRE. Upload all documents in the

Requested Information section of BONFIRE. When submitting a proposal electronically through BONFIRE, please allow sufficient time to complete the online forms and to upload proposal documents. The RFP will end at the deadline. If an Offeror is in the middle of uploading a proposal when the deadline arrives, the system will stop the upload process and the proposal will not be accepted by BONFIRE, and the attempted submission will be considered late and ineligible for consideration.

Proposal Questions

The Question and Answer period closes on the date and time specified in Utah’s Public

Procurement Place (BONFIRE, formerly known as SciQuest or U3P). All questions must be submitted through BONFIRE during the Question and Answer period. Answers from the

School District will be posted on BONFIRE. Questions may include notifying the School

District of any ambiguity, inconsistency, scope exception, excessively restrictive requirement, or other errors in this RFP. Questions are encouraged.

Questions may be answered individually or may be compiled into one document.

Questions may also be answered via an addendum. An answered question or an addendum may modify the specification or requirements of this RFP. Answered questions and addendums will be posted on BONFIRE. Offerors should periodically check BONFIRE for answered questions and addendums before the closing date. It is the responsibility of the

Offerors to submit their proposals as required by this RFP, including any requirements contained in an answered question and/or addendums.

Addendum to RFP

If it becomes necessary to revise this RFP in whole or in part, an addendum will be posted on the Utah Public Procurement Place/Bonfire to all document takers.

Evaluation of Proposals

Stage 1: Initial Review

In the initial phase of the evaluation process, the conducting procurement unit will review all proposals timely received. Non-responsive proposals not conforming to RFP requirements will be eliminated from further consideration. Offerors must demonstrate the ability to meet or exceed the mandatory minimum requirements.

Stage 2: Technical Proposal

1. Proposals will be reviewed using the following criteria:

Qualifications and experience in school psychology

30 points

Capacity and availability to meet the needs of Tooele County School District

30 points

References 15 points

Total 75 points

Offerors that achieve a minimum score threshold of 55 points out of a possible 75 will proceed to the Final Stage: Cost Proposal Evaluation. Offerors with a score of less than the minimum required technical points will be deemed non-responsive and ineligible for further consideration. The evaluation score sheet has been attached to this RFP. The attached evaluation score sheet states the relative weight that will be given to each evaluation criteria. The evaluation committee, for this RFP, will tally the final scores for criteria other than cost to arrive at a consensus score by the following method: an average of the individual scores.

Final Stage: Cost Proposal Evaluation (See Attachment B) Offerors meeting the technical evaluation minimum point threshold advance to the Final Stage: Cost Proposal Evaluation. There is a total of 25 cost points possible in this stage.

Points assigned to each Offeror’s cost proposal will be based on the lowest proposal price.

The Offeror with the lowest total cost will receive 25 points respectively, which totals 100% of the total cost points awarded. All other Offerors will receive a portion of the total cost points based on what percentage higher their total cost is than the total lowest cost. The formula to compute the points is: Cost Points x (Lowest Proposed Price/Proposed Price).

During the evaluation process, the evaluation committee may, with appropriate approval, request best and final Offerors as provided for in section 63G-60-707.5 from responsible Offerors who submit responsive proposals that meet minimum qualifications, evaluation criteria, or applicable score thresholds identified in the request for proposals.

Contract Award

The responsive and responsible offeror with the highest score justified by the procurement code will be awarded a contract.

Length of Contract and Performance Review

The Contract will be for a multi-year award and will renewable each year up to five years.

The District reserves the right to review contract(s) on a regular basis regarding performance and cost analysis and may negotiate price and service elements during the term of the contract. A review will be performed at the end of school year one (end of the

2025-2026 school year). We reserve the right to negotiate the subsequent year’s services, agreeable to both parties.

Right of Rejection

TCSD reserves the right to reject any and all proposals or to waive any non-statutory informality. The District further reserves the right to make the contract award deemed to be in the best interest of the District. The District’s decision to accept or reject the contract shall be final.

Firm Proposal

Proposals must be signed by an official of the firm, if the proposer is a company, authorized to bind the company to a contract. Conditions must be firm for a period of one hundred twenty (120) days from the due date of this RFP to allow for evaluation of the proposals.

Pricing Guarantee Offeror must guarantee its pricing for one year.

If allowable under this RFP, a request for price adjustment must be made at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date. A request for price adjustment must include sufficient documentation (market analysis) supporting the request. Any price adjustment will not be effective unless approved by the Tooele School District.

A price adjustment will be guaranteed for the same length of time as the original price guarantee. The conducting procurement unit will be given the immediate benefit of any decrease in the market, or allowable discount.

Terms and Conditions

Any contract resulting from this RFP will include, but not be limited to the Standard Terms and Conditions. The Standard Terms and Conditions have been attached in the Buyer

Attachment section of this RFP.

Exceptions and/or additions to the Standard Terms and Conditions are strongly discouraged. However, Offerors requesting exceptions and/or additions to the Standard

Terms and Conditions must be submitted with the proposal. Exceptions and/or additions submitted after the date and time for receipt of proposals will not be considered. Offerors may not submit requests for exceptions and/or additions by reference to a vendor's website or URL. URLs provided with a proposal may result in that proposal being rejected as non-responsive. Offerors may submit questions during the Question and Answer period regarding the Standard Terms and Conditions.

TCSD may refuse to negotiate exceptions and/or additions that are determined to be excessive; that are inconsistent with similar contracts of the procurement unit; to warranties, insurance, or indemnification provisions that are necessary to protect the procurement unit after consultation with the applicable legal counsel; where the solicitation specifically prohibits exceptions and/or additions; or that are not in the best interest of the procurement unit.

For any proposed change(s), Offeror must provide the State of Utah’s Standard Terms and

Conditions for this solicitation in Microsoft Word format with redline edits. Additional terms or documents must be submitted in separate Microsoft Word documents. Offeror must also provide the name, contact information, and access to the person(s) that will be directly involved in legal negotiations.

Any mandatory required acceptance of an Offeror’s terms and conditions may result in the proposal being determined to be non-responsive.

An award resulting from this RFP is subject to successful contract terms and conditions negotiation (if required). TCSD may reject a proposal if the offeror who submitted the proposal fails to sign a contract within 90 days after the contract award.

Protected Information Pricing may not be classified as confidential or protected and will be considered public information.

Process for Requesting Non-Disclosure: Any Offeror requesting that a record be protected shall include with the bid a Claim of Business Confidentiality. To protect information under a Claim of Business Confidentiality, the Offeror provide a written

Claim of Business Confidentiality at the time the information (bid) is provided to the state, and

• Include a concise statement of reasons supporting the claim of business confidentiality (Subsection 63G-2-309(1)).

• Submit an electronic “redacted” (excluding protected information) copy of the proposal. Copy must clearly be marked “Redacted Version.”

• An entire bid cannot be identified as “PROTECTED”, “CONFIDENTIAL” or

“PROPRIETARY” and shall be considered non-responsive unless the Offeror removes the designation.

Redacted Copy: If an Offeror submits a bid that contains information claimed to be business confidential or protected information, the Offeror MUST submit two separate proposals: one redacted version for public release, with all protected business confidential information either blacked-out or removed, clearly marked as

"Redacted Version"; and one non-redacted version for evaluation purposes clearly marked as "Protected Business Confidential."

All materials submitted become the property of Tooele County School District. Materials may be evaluated by anyone designated by the State as part of the bid evaluation committee. Materials submitted may be returned only at TCSD’s option.

I (we) have read and understand the RFP documents for a Communications Software Platform. Furthermore, we are prepared to comply with all requirements contained therein.

Type of Organization:

(Corporation, Partnership, Individual, etc.)

SEAL (If a Corporation)

Respectfully Submitted, Name of Offeror

Title

Authorized Signature