247134 University Health Master Agreement RFR~2.docx

APPLICATION FOR GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES (PP OBJECT CLASS)

Key RFR Information All Potential Bidders must readCOMMBUYS REGISTRATION It is the responsibility of the prospective Bidder and awarded Contractor to maintain an active registration in COMMBUYS and to keep current the email address of the Bidder’s contact person and prospective contract manager, if awarded a contract, and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the Purchasing Department, including requests for clarification. The Purchasing Department and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause email communications sent to/from the prospective Bidder/Awarded contractor and the Purchasing Department to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering. To register review the COMMBUYS Job Aide COMMBUYS Vendor Registration or go to www.COMMBUYS.com.

Title of Grant RFR: Support for Health-Related Activities at Massachusetts Public Colleges and Universities DPH RFR Document File Number: 247134 COMMBUYS BID Number: BD-24-1031-BCHAP-BCH01-95611 Contact Name: Cin Wong E-mail: cin.m.wong@mass.gov Section A: Procurement Overview A1: Procurement Description or Purpose The purpose of this Request for Response (RFR) is to establish a pre-qualified list of approved vendors, namely Massachusetts public colleges and universities, to be eligible for potential future funding from the Department of Public Health (DPH). This approach will provide a simplified process for eligible entities to access DPH funding and consolidate multiple sources of funding from DPH. Similarly, through this RFR, DPH is looking to establish a vehicle to support the Commonwealth’s eligible entities and create a more efficient process for how certain funding is distributed.

Vendors who qualify and are added to the master agreement will then be eligible to receive funding through the Quote processes described below.

As needed, bureaus, programs, and hospitals within DPH will engage vendors for specific services and negotiate and execute an engagement agreement (process described below) that describes the specific services and compensation with the selected vendor.

Engagements can be executed by DPH bureaus throughout the life of the contract. References to “bureau” in this document include all Department of Public Health bureaus, offices, programs, and hospitals.

Section B: Procurement Information B1: Applicable Procurement Law

Executive Branch Goods and Services

B2: Anticipated Payment Methodology:

B3. Whether Single Or Multiple Grantees Are Required For Grant(s) Check One (“X”):

B4. Expected Duration of Grant (Initial Duration and Any Options to Renew) (Subject to appropriation or the availability of sufficient non-appropriated funds under the grant funding authority)

B4: Anticipated Expenditures, Funding Or Compensation For Expected Duration

Dollar Amount

Will Federal Funds be used to fund any part of Contract(s)?

*Additional information for contracts with Federal Dollars:

Sub-Recipient: Grantees receiving federal grant funds will be considered sub-recipients for federal grant purposes and will be required to comply with applicable federal requirements, including but not limited to sub-recipient audit requirements under OMB Circular A-133.

Capital Budget Items: The funds received in advance of expenditure by a grantee for a capital budget item must be held in a segregated non-interest bearing account and must be expended within 60 days (for policy information on spending capital funds see: Office of the State Comptroller, State Grants and Federal Sub-grants: 815 CMR 2 (mass.gov)

Unique Entity Identifier: On April 4, 2022, the unique entity identifier used across the federal government changed from the DUNS Number to the Unique Entity ID also known as UEI or SAMS number. Any entity that wants to apply for federal contracts or wants to receive federal funds must register with SAM. Entities that use SAM include for profit businesses, nonprofits, government contractors or subcontractors, as well as state and local governments.

Registering with SAM.gov is free and is required for your organization to receive federal funds. Your organization can submit an application to this RFR without being registered on SAM, however if awarded your organization will need to have an active SAM account prior to contract execution.

Unspent Funds: Any funds from Capital, Trust and/or Federal Accounts designated in the budget that are unspent in any fiscal year will not be available for expenditure in the subsequent fiscal year.

Section C: Performance and Contract Specifications C1: Eligibility To be eligible to apply to this Master Agreement contract, a vendor must be a public college or university located in Massachusetts.

C2: Scope of Services Future activities will provide funding to Massachusetts colleges and universities to increase health-related capacity for institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Because each eligible entity has its own unique needs and areas for growth, capacity will be broadly defined to include, but not be limited to: training, staffing, specialty programming, shared service arrangements, equipment procurement and/or upgrades, renovations, medication purchasing, IT modernization, assessment and evaluation, and other related services. Note that requests for capital purchases, including renovations to physical space, will be specifically reviewed by program and Purchase of Service staff prior to approval.

Institutions of higher education will be expected to clearly articulate a health-related area where they lack capacity and describe the activities that they will take to address this need. A budget and timeline or workplan will accompany these requests.

C3: Performance Requirements and Contract Monitoring Performance requirements and contract monitoring will depend on the specific health-related engagement, but will likely include an annual qualitative report of activities completed, scheduled (typically monthly) check-ins to provide update on activities, and completion of performance measures as relevant to the project.

C4: Funding Mechanism All funding will be distributed through a Notice of Opportunity on Commbuys as detailed below:

1. Competitive Notice of Opportunity Process: Used when there is limited funding available and there will be competition for that funding. Qualified grantees will be required to submit a response, and the Department will put out a notice and set aside a specific timeframe to receive responses. DPH will conduct a review process. The description of the process and results of that process will be posted on COMMBUYS. This may also be used to announce an opportunity for limited funding that will be awarded on a first-come first-serve basis subject to proposal review by DPH.

2. Non-Competitive Notice of Opportunity: In certain circumstances funding may become available that is available to all qualified grantees, or the grant disbursement methodology is formula-based or otherwise would not change if an application process was conducted. This may also be a method used if budgetary or legislative language specifies funding for a specific college or university. A Notice will be posted to COMMBUYS outlining how DPH determined the funding distribution.

C5. Grant Engagements Engagements executed through this procurement will be disbursed as scheduled periodic installments. The exact payment schedule will be outlined in a future engagement and may differ between engagements. An initial payment will be made upon a fully executed engagement and payment voucher. Subsequent payments will be contingent upon receipt of required reports and other deliverables outlined in procurement parameters for future engagements.

All or some of the following information may be required to participate in future engagements:

· Triannual or quarterly narrative reports and expenditure reports

· Annual strategic workplan

· Willing participation in engagement-specific programming and initiatives

· Participation in evaluation activities to assess the success of programming

· A detailed annual budget which itemizes:

· Personnel

· Supplies

· Training

· Other program support, occupancy, and agency overhead

· Travel expenses and all other expenses (if needed). In no case will the amount of the travel reimbursement expense exceed those of the agency or the IRS/GSA rate.

· If applicable, a signed Confidentiality or Business Associate Agreement.

Failure to comply with the engagement of interest’s scope requirements can lead to termination of contract.

C6. Invoicing

Grantees are required to submit a completed payment voucher in order to receive a grant installment payment as specified in each engagement.

In accordance with the Commonwealth’s Bill Paying Policy – and General Payment Policies, payments under state grants and federal subgrants present unique payment circumstances. Grant payments are subject to the EFT requirement for any grant payments as well as the standard payment cycle of 45 days from an invoice or the start of the grant or periodic payment date.

Financial hardship is not a sufficient justification for accelerated payments for all payments under a grant. Initial grant or contract payments may be accelerated for the first invoice or initial grant installment, but subsequent periodic installments or invoice payments should be scheduled to support the Payee cash flow needs and the standard 45 day EFT payment cycle.

As mentioned, payment through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is required for any contract awarded through this solicitation. If awarded a contract vendors not already enrolled will be required to sign up for EFT as a contract requirement by completing and submitting the Authorization for Electronic Funds Transfer Form to the Department. Additional information will be sent at the time of contract.

Section D: RFR Evaluation D1: Evaluation Criteria The proposal will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

· Applicant meets eligibility requirement

· RFR response is complete and accurate. Instructions for submitting a complete RFR response are found in Section F below.

Section E: Estimated Procurement Calendar

RFR Release Date November 24, 2023

Deadline for Submission of RFR Q&A.1

Deadline for Submission of Responses Also known as the BID Opening Date in COMMBUYS

Please put RFR __ 247034___ Response in the subject line. This is a rolling-enrollment procurement. Proposals will be reviewed as received.

Anticipated Contract Start Date

January 1, 2024

1All Questions must be received in writing. Questions can be sent by email no later than the date and time indicated in the Procurement Calendar. All questions should be sent to the email listed in the calendar and should include the RFR title and number in the subject of the email. All Questions with answers will be posted on the COMMBUYS Attachment section for this procurement.

Section F: Instructions for Submission of Responses

F1: Bidder Response Requirements Complete the University Health Master Agreement Application, and submit to DPH as described in Section F2.

F2: Submission Instructions A complete RFR Response includes:

· An application response form

· Confidentiality agreement

Submitting Responses:

Responses should be submitted electronically only via email to SRHP@mass.gov.

Please put RFR _247134__ Response in the subject line. This is a rolling-enrollment procurement. Proposals will be reviewed as received.

Do not submit via COMMBUYS.

F3: RFR Attachments

To assist bidders in identify the purpose of the attachments for this procurement; the forms posted on the COMMBUYS attachment section have a prefix according to the following chart:

PP RFR Template 1-2023