2023-45 Clarifying 1.pdf

PH: 503-742-5400 WWW.CLACKAMAS.US

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS #2023-65

RESPONSE TO CLARIFYING QUESTIONS

#1

Note that these are questions submitted by interested firms to the above referenced solicitation. The below answers are for clarification purposes only and in no way alter or amend the RFP as published.

1. How many estimated subrecipient agreements does the County anticipate having under this agreement? How many subrecipients in relation to the number of agreements?

Answer:

o Approximately 59 organiza�ons in total received pass through funding during FY22-23 o Approximately 103 subrecipient agreements in total during FY22-23 o Es�mate of agreements by type during FY22-23 (some are mul�-year agreements and not new agreements created during FY22/23):

Nonfederal: 52 Federal: 36 Mixed: 15

2. Of the federal agreements men�oned, how many corresponding projects will be completed within the current fiscal year?

Answer There are approximately 38 agreements with federal funding currently in place with end dates of September 2023 through June 2027. Of these 38 agreements, approximately 18 of the agreements will end during the current fiscal year through 06/30/24 unless amended.

3. How many subrecipient agreements did the county monitor in 22/23? Of the 23 new federal agreements, which are receiving funds, how many require monitoring?

Answer All federal subrecipient awards receive monitoring of various degrees. The monitoring ranges from review of reimbursement requests for all and additional monitoring from Audit & Expenditure review through desk monitoring or onsite/remote monitoring as determined during the risk assessment. See Financial Assistance Management Manual for risk assessment / monitoring matrix.

https://dochub.clackamas.us/documents/drupal/e6b60df2-1f91-4514-9de9-8645520e8ac3

4. Will the contractor be expected to monitor the state-funded subrecipient agreements as well?

Answer o Clackamas County has a strategic priority to build public trust through good government. As part of this priority, the County con�nually evaluates our process for any monitoring of subawards.

o For non-federal subrecipient agreements, any monitoring would be dependent on requirements in origina�ng funding agreement or in coordina�on with results from annual subrecipient assessments which would be performed for all subrecipients. Majority of non-federal subrecipient agreements would not require addi�onal monitoring beyond annual subrecipient assessments.

5. Is this contract suppor�ng only the an�cipated $15 million award to sub-recipients, or also the $140 million expended in Federal Financial Assistance funding? What is the an�cipated dollar amount of sub-awards?

Answer The contract would support our process related to subrecipients only and not all Federal expenditures. This would include the Federal subrecipients, ~$14.5 million in expenditures for FY21/22, as well as the non-Federal subrecipient agreements, ~$11 million in expenditures for FY21/22.

Current subrecipient agreements with federally originated funding range from $10,000 to $2.0 million.

6. Does the County have an an�cipated budget for this engagement?

Yes

7. Can the County provide an es�mate for the �me required for each review?

The �me required for the monitoring component of the consultant role would vary dependent on the level of assessed risk and procedures performed. See the Financial Assistance Management Manual for general overview of assessment and monitoring. htps://dochub.clackamas.us/documents/drupal/e6b60df2-1f91-4514- 9de9-8645520e8ac3

8. What financial so�ware does the County use to manage and track funds?

Oracle PeopleSoft for Financial Accounting. No grants management software currently being used. Tracking of current subrecipient agreements is maintained in Excel. The consultant position would rely on the current County Grants team staff to compile any financial information and would not be responsible for using the Financial Accounting system for any data entry.

9. Will the County share its risk assessment methodology? Can you provide a copy of the County’s subrecipient monitoring plan? Does the County have a risk assessment methodology and tools they would like the vendor to follow, or would the County like the vendor to develop the risk assessment methodology and tools?

General subrecipient process around risk assessment can be found in our Financial Assistance Management Manual: https://dochub.clackamas.us/documents/drupal/e6b60df2-1f91-4514-9de9-8645520e8ac3

While tools are currently in place, the risk assessment would be part of regular evaluation of processes and could be updated as determined necessary.

10. What is the typical amount of �me for vendor personnel to spend on-site? Does the County have a preference or expecta�on for conduc�ng on-site monitoring as part of this engagement?

No requirement for vendor to be on-site. All work could be completed remote.

11. Will the County consider awarding task orders specific to the deliverables iden�fied in the RFP on a task order basis?

No

12. Regarding the Emergency Opera�ons Center, does the County an�cipate needing this support con�nuously through the engagement, or would it be in response to specific emergency events?

Specific emergency events

13. What is the expecta�on of the contractor’s support of the Emergency Opera�ons Center in the event of a disaster or other unan�cipated event?

Support required would be limited to defined role of Compliance and Subrecipient Monitoring Consultant.

14. Does the County expect the vendor to conduct training for subrecipients? If so, does the County have an expecta�on on the number of trainings?

Training and support for subrecipients will be dependent on nature of agreements, risk assessment of subrecipients, and results of any monitoring. No defined expectation on number of trainings.

15. Will the County define the an�cipated frequency of ad hoc requests in support of sub-recipient agreement services?

Dependent on nature of agreements, risk assessment of subrecipients, and results of any monitoring.

16. Would the County require assistance in all its NOFOs, or a selected por�on? How many NOFOs does the County an�cipate offering?

Currently Finance Grants team, through Compliance and Subrecipient Monitoring Consultant, works with departments to support development of NOFO with federally originated funding. Departments currently prepare NOFO with non-federal funding. Consultant role will be transitioning to work with departments to support development of all NOFO. A list of previous NOFO can be viewed on the Clackamas County website under Open and Closed Grant Opportunities: https://www.clackamas.us/procurement-process

17. Will the County please quan�fy specific tasks and es�mated hours for Compliance and Monitoring Services, No�ce of Funding Opportunity Services, and Sub-recipient Agreement Development Services? Historically, how many hours have “Risk assessments of a sub-recipient using County developed tools such as the risk assessment,” taken? On average, how much �me does the County es�mate that each project will take?

Estimated ratio of work by category:

o No�ce of Funding Opportunity Services – 2.5% o Subrecipient Agreement Development – 45% of �me when suppor�ng federal and non-federal agreements o Risk Assessments, Compliance, and Post Award Monitoring – 45% o Award Close-out – 2.5% o Other – general support/consulta�on/technical support/training – 5%

18. Do subrecipients generally ask for reimbursement monthly, quarterly or some other infrequent basis? How many requests for reimbursements are made, on average, per year and per subrecipient? Approximately how many subrecipient reimbursement requests are expected per year under these services?

• Most subrecipient agreements require monthly reimbursement. Approximately 12 per agreement.

• Currently departments review non-federal reimbursement requests and reimbursement requests including federal funding.

• Compliance and Subrecipient Monitoring Consultant reviews subrecipient reimbursement requests including federal funding only currently.

• Under new agreement, Compliance and Subrecipient Monitoring Consultant will review all subrecipient reimbursement requests a�er departments have approved and prior to submi�ng to Accounts Payable.

• FY22/23 es�mated payment vouchers for subrecipient / pass through payment https://www.clackamas.us/procurement-process o 400 – under federal funding subrecipient agreements o 800 – under non-federal funding subrecipient agreements

19. Under the Scope of Work 3.3.1.A, one bullet point says the consultant will “assess if the sub-recipient has a con�nuing capacity to carry out the approved program or project.” Does the County have a tool or metric for making these determina�ons that the Consultant will follow?

Any decision/assessment is completed in coordination with department program staff.

20. Under the Scope of Work 3.3.1.A, two bullet points say the consultant will “iden�fy poten�al problem areas and assist the sub-recipient in complying with applicable laws and regula�ons; and assist sub-recipients in resolving compliance problems through discussion, nego�a�on, and the provision of technical assistance and training.”

Will the consultant be entering into a separate consul�ng engagement with the sub-recipient for this assistance and training? Or will the consultant bill the County for this addi�onal consul�ng work?

Work would be completed under County contract. Due to conflict of interest requirements, no independent work could be completed by consultant outside of contract with the County with existing subrecipients.

21. Under the Scope of Work 3.3.1.A., two bullet points say, “if applicable”, the consultant will “review of sub-recipient agencies to determine if services are delivered in accordance with contract requirements as to type of services and number of units of service; and review records of sub-recipients agencies to determine if systems are in place to properly document the provision of services, client eligibility, and compliance with any other contract requirements.” Under which scenario would these du�es become “applicable”? Would these reviews and determina�ons be performed under the performance audi�ng standards? Would the consultant enter into a separate engagement for these services?

Duties would be applicable as part of subrecipient monitoring and completed in coordination with County department program staff. Work would be completed under County contract. Due to conflict of interest requirements, no independent work could be completed by consultant with existing subrecipients while working under County contract.

22. Under the Scope of Work 3.3.1.A, one bullet point says the “total number of site visits required will be determined by the County’s risk assessment tool.” How many site visits were required during FY22 and FY23?

All monitoring was completed remotely during FY22 and FY23. Monitoring included desk review or remote monitoring.

23. Under the Scope of Work 3.3.1.A, the County men�ons the possibility of atending fiscal monitoring visits. How many of the visits was the consultant required to atend in FY22 and FY23?

During FY23, there were 3 outside agency monitoring visits where the consultant attended to provide support related to subrecipient monitoring performed in addition to providing information for the county-wide Single Audit.

24. Will the consultant have remote access to the County’s systems of records and tools, or does the consultant need to be on-site to access these things?

Remote access would be available.

25. The County issued a similar RFP (#2021-68) in September 2021. Is the consultant that was hired at that �me able to respond to this current RFP?

Not applicable

26. Will County personnel be working with the Consultant to deliver the services described under the Scope of Work? If yes, how many hours of County personnel �me is the County commi�ng to delivery of the services described under the Scope of Work?

The consultant will work actively with County staff including the Finance Deputy Finance Director, Finance Grant Accountants, and most frequently the Finance Grants Manager, department management analysts, department program staff, and County Counsel. County staff are involved in the process and support elements of the deliverables; however, the consultant is responsible for delivery of services described under the scope of work.

27. What type of subrecipients will be served: primarily individuals or organiza�ons?

Organizations or other governmental entities

28. Have you already performed subrecipient monitoring on the subrecipients covered under this engagement? If so, are there any results, trends, or informa�on that the County can share?

Subrecipient monitoring is an on-going process being performed. The County values the partnership with community organizations and other entities delivering services to the community as well as the importance of maintaining compliance with any funding requirements.

29. Does the County have a preference or expecta�on of the frequency of the subrecipient monitoring?

See subrecipient monitoring in the Financial Assistance Management Manual

30. Does the County expect the vendor to create closeout procedures and documents once subrecipient monitoring is completed?

The vendor would complete the closeout documentation using the County process.

31. What federal programs is the subrecipient monitoring associated with? CDBG, State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), etc? Is the scope of this engagement limited to certain grants?

Please reference the FY21/22 Single Audit of Federal Awards for the Federal funding sources related to subrecipient monitoring. https://www.clackamas.us/finance/financearchive.html Other funding sources predominantly from State agencies where portion of funding is being passed through to subrecipients.

32. Does the County expect the vendor to help develop performance metrics and mapping compliance metrics for the subrecipients?

Answer Compliance metrics are developed from funding agency requirements with individual awards. Other performance related metrics are developed in coordina�on with County department program staff.

33. Regarding NOFO services, will the consultant take over all NOFO ac�vi�es or only act in an advisory role for the current department overseeing NOFO ac�vi�es?

Consultant will be involved in creating and support all NOFO activities working in partnership with the County departments and Grants Manager. Note: Currently consultant role supports NOFO with federally originated funding and is a resource to departments for non-federal NOFO agreements. All NOFO are currently reviewed by consultant prior to NOFO being posted to County website. Under new agreement, consultant will be involved in creating and supporting all NOFO activities, both federal and non-federal.

https://www.clackamas.us/finance/financearchive.html

34. Regarding annual trainings for the County on the NOFO process, will the consultant be required to design a training from the ground up, or are there already training procedures in place?

Existing resources and trainings will be available; however, some development of trainings will be required in coordination with the Finance Grants Manager.

35. In general, have subrecipients followed all record keeping provisions set forth by the county?

Yes. The County, through the department program staff and the Compliance and Subrecipient Monitoring Consultant, works with subrecipients at the start of the agreement process, throughout the program, and during monitoring so subrecipients are aware of compliance requirements. In addition, subrecipients complete any necessary independent audit requirements. This approach strengthens the partnership with subrecipients and supports on-going compliance. In the event of non-compliance by a subrecipient, on-going monitoring and corrective action would be required.

36. Regarding the service, “Provide informa�on to County Finance related to subrecipient agreements for the

County to complete the FFATA.” What type of informa�on is the County reques�ng?

Confirming all required FFATA reporting information related to grant subaward is on-file and any reporting is completed prior to the filing deadline.

37. Regarding “Assis�ng the Finance Grants Manager with the annual single audit of federal expenditures”, has this work tradi�onally been performed by a third-party or is the Finance Grants Manager looking for assistance if a problem arises with one of the subrecipients/agreements?

Management and Finance Grants team staff are responsible for the annual Single Audit process. The consultant supports the process by verifying subrecipient information required for the SEFA is correct and supporting any Single Audit testing of Subrecipient Monitoring requirements.

38. Please confirm that the fee schedule should be for the period ending June 30, 2025.

Yes. The fee schedule should be through June 30, 2025.

39. Please confirm if resumes for proposed personnel are required. If yes, do the count in the page limit?

Yes, any bios/resumes would be included within any page limit requirements.

40. Can links to other documents be included in the proposal? If so, will the documents in the hyperlinks be excluded from the page count.

No

End of Clarifying Questions #1