Child Savings Accounts RFP_Revised.pdf

July 2026 revision 1

Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR

SMALL ORDER PURCHASE

FOR CHILD SAVINGS ACCOUNTS CONSULTANT SERVICES

Cherelle Parker, Mayor Orlando Rendon, Executive Director Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity The City of Philadelphia

RESPONSE DEADLINE:

No later than 5 pm Local Philadelphia Time on October 19, 2026

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

All proposals must be submitted electronically to the correct contract opportunity established for this RFP (identified by opportunity number) through eContract Philly at https://philawx.phila.gov/econtract/

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1 Values

1.2 Contracting with the City of Philadelphia

1.3 Contacting Us

2. SERVICES WE ARE LOOKING FOR

2.1 Overview

2.2 Project Details

Services

Compensation

Project Schedule

3. HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSE

3.1 RFP Schedule

3.2 What You Must Include in Your Response

4.1 Overview

4.2 Selection Process

4.3 Award

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Values

The City of Philadelphia is committed to ensuring all businesses have access to contracting opportunities with the City and seeks to promote the economic development of small and local businesses.

1.2 Contracting with the City of Philadelphia

The City of Philadelphia (“the City”) has two primary categories of contract opportunities:

Consistent with our values, the City requires that all contractors and subcontractors be in compliance with our laws, regulations, and polices, including:

Please closely review the City’s contract attachments including the standard terms and conditions.

Any contract resulting from this RFP will incorporate and be governed by these documents. You must raise any objections to these standard terms and conditions in your proposal.

Objections are not favored and may be weighed against your proposal and negotiation of proposed objections may extend the contracting time. Additionally, the City need not consider later-raised objections.

IF ELIGIBLE, YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO:

Apply for Local Business Entity (LBE) certification with City’s Procurement Department.

If you provide your LBE status and/or promise to have a Local Impact, this must be used as a positive factor in evaluation and potential selection. Additionally, some opportunities are exclusively reserved for LBE certified businesses.

Includes consulting, legal or creative services and other service types

Includes supplies and equipment and public works

PROCUREMENT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

CITY BUSINESS

LICENSES AND

PERMIT

REQUIREMENTS

PAYMENT OF CITY

BUSINESS TAXES

OR OTHER

INDEBTEDNESS

OWED TO THE CITY

CHAPTER 17-1300.

PHILADELPHIA 21ST

CENTURY MINIMUM

WAGE AND BENEFITS

STANDARD

1 2 3 https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/bidding-on-a-city-contract/get-certified-as-a-local-business-entity/ https://business.phila.gov/ https://business.phila.gov/ https://business.phila.gov/ https://business.phila.gov/ https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/business-taxes/ https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/business-taxes/ https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/business-taxes/ https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/business-taxes/ https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/business-taxes/ https://www.phila.gov/services/business-self-employment/business-taxes/ https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-296070 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-296070 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-296070 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-296070 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-296070

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1.3 Contacting Us

For technical questions or concerns connected to this RFP, email eContractPhilly@phila.gov or call

(215) 686-4914.

• Please note the phone number provided is not a live helpline.

• Allow for enough time prior to any application deadline to receive a response to your request. The City will not extend a deadline even if it has not responded to your question or request.

mailto:eContractPhilly@phila.gov

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2. SERVICES WE ARE LOOKING FOR

2.1 Overview

Department Issuing

The Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity (CEO) is the City of Philadelphia’s Community Action Agency and anti-poverty organization. CEO provides leadership on issues of economic justice by advancing equity and inclusive growth to ensure that all Philadelphians share in the city’s prosperous future. CEO does this by advocating for and investing in solutions that improve mobility out of poverty across multiple levels (including programmatic, procedural and systemic). CEO works in multiple priority areas including employment services, benefits access, housing security, income support, place based/community focused initiatives, advocacy and stakeholder engagement, and community health.

Term The term of the contract is expected to start on or about November 16, 2026

Compensation Compensation cannot exceed a total of $50,000

Local Business Criteria

Both Local Impact and certified Local Business Entity status can be considered positive factors in evaluation. Local Impact is considered employing City residents or performing work in the City.

Services

CEO is seeking a consultant to support the planning, program design, and community engagement for a local Child Savings Account program. Through this RFP, the City is seeking a contractor to perform the following services:

• Support the Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity in convening stakeholders and community members and incorporate input into design decisions.

• Synthesizing feedback, working with CEO and stakeholders to outline program design components, including identifying and finding solutions for barriers to delivery.

• Meeting regularly with implementation partners to design program and problem solve around barrier to implementing the program.

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2.2 Project Details

Services CEO is exploring the creation of local Child Savings Account (CSA) Program that is designed to work with the Keystone Scholars Program, the first statewide, at birth CSA program, where each child born in the state of PA receives a $100 scholarship to be used for higher education. For additional details, please refer to this link: PA529 | College and Career Savings Program. CEO is seeking professional consulting services to add capacity to collaborate on and facilitate stakeholder meetings focused on mission, CSA focus areas, and community meetings to elevate resident voices.

The consultant will also work regularly with City staff and implementation partners in building out the program design, identifying barriers to implementation and seeking design solutions, establishing a base framework for implementation. The consultant will collaborate on the design of and lead facilitation on resident engagement and focus groups.

Overall goals and objectives

CEO is seeking a consultant to support the planning, program design, and community engagement for a local Child Savings Account program which is designed to work with the Keystone Scholars Program.

Tasks, milestones, or deliverables

Program planning and design

• Attend weekly meetings with City staff to continue the collaboration on the existing baseline CSA design, and help inform and design the components of services listed below and their progress.

• Facilitate three (3) meetings with representatives of key stakeholder organizations such as City departments, philanthropic organizations, and other organizations to be identified by the Department. The purpose of these meetings is to develop a common understanding of CSAs, identify goals and build the program design with input on mission, desired outcomes, focus areas, and outreach strategy. Facilitation tasks will include collaboration on meeting design and objectives, coordinating meeting logics, meeting facilitation, recording of meetings, and synthesizing information.

• In concert with stakeholder feedback, assist in designing the program’s overarching mission, objective, and desired impact. Support information gathering and problem solving to help ensure that Philadelphia’s CSA program is designed to collect all required data to work in https://pa529.com/keystone/register/RegisterKeystone/Registration

July 2026 revision 7 coordination with the Keystone Scholars Program.

• Work with CEO and City staff during the program design phase to identify potential barriers to CSA service delivery as well as collaborate on solutions that would result in equitable service delivery to Philadelphia youth.

• Create and update master document that outlines program design decisions

• Work with CEO staff and other stakeholders to identify key metrics and data collection strategies to measure impact for target population.

• Additional tasks as needed and assigned by CEO to support program planning and design.

Resident engagement

• In partnership with CEO, develop a design and a plan for resident engagement and focus groups. Conduct focus groups and/or individual interviews with community members who are part of target population to obtain input to inform effective implementation of a CSA program. Topics and questions will be finalized with City staff and program implementation partners. A minimum of 3-4 focus groups is required.

• In partnership with CEO, identify organizations and/or host sites to work with. Recruit focus group participants independently, or in partnership with community organizations.

• Ensure that focus group participants and/or sets of individual interviewees are compensated for their time.

• Ensure that participants are diverse in age, race, and neighborhood and all language access accommodations are provided, with at least one focus group to be conducted in Spanish.

• At least one focus groups should be conducted in partnership with an immigrant-serving community organization, with a focus on identifying needs and preferences for this group of program participants.

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• All focus groups should be hosted in low and moderate income neighborhoods.

• Additional tasks as needed and assigned by CEO to support resident engagement.

Organization and personnel requirements

Applicants should have a knowledge and understanding of the Child Savings Account landscape at the national, state and municipal levels.

Applicants should have deep expertise in designing and facilitating stakeholder meetings and resident focus groups.

Reporting requirements

• Documentation of outcomes of all stakeholder meetings, including summarization of commonalities and overarching themes for internal purposes and to share out to participants.

• Documentation of focus groups including a focus group report which summarizes findings and recommendations, along with documentation such as sign in sheets, facilitation plan, consent forms, etc.

Compensation Applicants are required to provide a cost proposal in their response which includes:

• A line-item breakdown of the costs for the specific services and work products proposed.

• A price that includes all costs, such as administrative or fringe costs, proposed to be charged to the City.

Cost proposals typically are:

• Fixed price, where payment is not based on time or resources expended, or

• Hourly rate, where payment is based on time or resources expended.

Compensation Not to exceed $50,000 for a contract resulting from this RFP.

Cost Proposal Type Fixed Price

Terms of Payment

Contract funds will be distributed upon completion and approval of specified services, deliverables, performance standards, and reporting requirements.

Monthly invoicing and payments.

Please note travel costs are reimbursable only if approved by the Department and in accordance with current City policies; commuting costs are not reimbursable. The City has adopted the Federal Government Maximum Per Diem rate.

https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates

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Project Schedule November 2026 – June 2027 – Weekly project meetings that will focus on design of community meetings and focus group, design of CSA program, and identifying implementation barriers.

November 2026 – January 2027 – Design and facilitation of 3 stakeholder meetings

January – March – Design and facilitation of 3 community focus groups

3. HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSE

3.1 RFP Schedule

RFP Posted Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Applicant Questions Due Applicants must submit questions regarding this opportunity by Wednesday, October 7, 2026. All questions must be submitted via email to ceo.contracts@phila.gov

Answers Posted on eContract Philly

Friday, October 9, 2026

Proposals Due Monday, October 19, 2026, 5pm Local Philadelphia Time

Applicant Interviews, Presentations (City Discretion)

October 26, 2026

Applicant Selection October 30, 2026

Contract Execution November 16, 2026

Commencement of Work November 16, 2026

The above dates are estimates only. Notice of changes in the pre-proposal meeting date, time or location, and due date for Applicant questions will be posted on eContract Philly. Should the Department change the date for the Application submission, a notice/Addendum will be posted on eContract Philly.

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3.2 What You Must Include in Your Response

Applicants must submit the following information and documentation in their response to this RFP:

1. Introduction

2. Company Profile

3. Company contact information

4. Proposed Scope of Work, addressing all items in Section 2 and describing how the Applicant will meet project requirements

5. Proposed Schedule

6. Cost Proposal (Appendix B)

7. Project Personnel Statement of Applicant’s Qualifications/Relevant Experience

8. References

9. Written Statement of Financial Capacity from independent source and at least one current financial document (audited or unaudited financial statements, bank statements or references, Form 990)

10. Stated exceptions to terms and conditions, if any, and reasons for the request

11. Local Business Certification and justification and/or documentation

12. Provide the following statement: “If awarded this contracting opportunity and this contract opportunity is valued at or over $99,000 or the amount expected to be realized by the Applicant is at or over $99,000, the Applicant will provide all Transparency in Business disclosures required by Section 17-1402(1)(b)(.4) of the Philadelphia Code prior to contract conformance.”

Applicant Proposed Scope of Work responses should be between 5-10 pages.

3.3 Response Requirements

Online Submission Required by the Application Deadline You must apply online through eContract Philly to be considered for this contract opportunity. The City will not accept responses in any other format.

If you are not already registered with eContract Philly, you must first register for an account before you can apply to this opportunity. Note that each legal entity must have a separate account; you may not utilize or repurpose another entity’s account for this application.

A Complete Application is Required Please give yourself as much time as possible to start and complete your online application. The City will not consider proposals that are submitted late.

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Use the Below Submission Checklist This is a tool to help you to submit a complete, accurate, responsive, and on time application.

DOES MY RESPONSE MEET THE PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS?

Did you submit the proposal before the stated deadline in RFP Section 3.1?

Did the proposal explain how Applicant meets the goals and objectives, tasks, milestones, and deliverables, and other requirements described by the Department under “Services” in RFP Section 2.2?

Does your cost proposal meet the requirements under “Compensation” in RFP Section 2.2?

Does your cost proposal meet the requirements under “Project Schedule” in RFP Section 2.2?

Does your proposal meet the overall format and content requirements described in RFP Section 3.2, including the independent Statement of Financial Capacity” and the page limit?

If applicable, was the Local Business Certification and justification and/or documentation provided in the proposal?

Does your application provide the mandatory statement: “If awarded this contracting opportunity and this contract opportunity is valued at or over $99,000 or the amount expected to be realized by the Applicant is at or over $99,000, the Applicant will provide all Transparency in Business disclosures required by Section 17-1402(1)(b)(.4) of the Philadelphia Code prior to contract conformance.”

Did you review the entire RFP and Contract Attachments, including the Terms and Conditions?

Did you state any objections to these document Terms and Conditions? You must raise any objections to these standard terms and conditions in your proposal. Objections are not favored and may be weighed against your proposal;

additionally, the City need not consider later-raised objections.

Was the proposal submitted electronically through eContract Philly?

Was the proposal submitted under the correct opportunity number?

Was the application signed by clicking on the “submit” button at the conclusion of the eContract Philly submission process?

Was the individual who signed the application an authorized signatory for the Applicant?

July 2026 revision 12 c 4. HOW WE SELECT A CONTRACTOR & AWARD

THE CONTRACT

4.1 Overview

After the proposal deadline, a diverse panel will review the submitted, complete and eligible proposals. In some cases, the finalists may be contacted for an interview or other final selection step. Once the department managing the RFP selects an Applicant, the Applicant will be notified and will enter into negotiations with the department.

4.2 Selection Process

Although, cost to the City is a material factor, it is not the sole, or necessarily the determining factor, in proposal evaluation. If the City chooses to make an award of a contract from this RFP, the City may, at its sole discretion, award such contract to a person or entity other than the responsible Applicant submitting the lowest price when the City determines, in its sole discretion, it is most advantageous to the City and in the City’s best interest to do so.

To select an Applicant for this contract opportunity, the City uses the below standard criteria in its selection process.

1. Superior ability or capacity to meet particular requirements of contract and needs of City Department and those it serves

2. Eligibility under Code provisions relating to campaign contributions

3. Superior prior experience of Applicant and staff o Staffing Qualifications o Familiarity with Child Savings Accounts o Expertise in designing and facilitating community and stakeholder engagement meetings and/or focus groups.

4. Superior quality, efficiency and fitness of proposed solution for City Department

5. Superior skill and reputation, including timeliness and demonstrable results

6. Special benefit to continuing services of incumbent, such as operational difficulties with transition or needs of population being served

7. Benefit of promoting long-term competitive development and allocation of experience to new, local, or small businesses

8. Lower cost

9. Administrative and operational efficiency, requiring less City oversight and administration

10. Anticipated long-term cost effectiveness o Expressed willingness to comply with City and/or department standard contract terms (e.g., indemnification, insurance, nondiscrimination)

11. Meets prequalification requirements

12. Applicant’s certification of its Local Business Entity/Local Impact status

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The Department cannot communicate with other Applicants not selected for the opportunity about their proposals until after an agreement is finalized

The Department is not obligated to debrief an unsuccessful Applicant on why we’ve made the decision not to select them for award.

4.3 Award

The City will post a notice on eContract Philly once the City decides which Applicant will be awarded the contract. There is no waiting period before the contract may be executed.

If selected for award, the Applicant will have to comply with laws, regulations, polices in order to be eligible for award of the contract and to maintain the contract after award.

WHAT ARE MY RESPONSIBILITIES IF I’M AWARDED THE CONTRACT?

Have an active Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT) Account Number.

REGISTER HERE.

Have an active Commercial Activity License (CAL) Number REGISTER HERE

Obtain a Philadelphia Tax and Regulatory Status and Clearance

OBTAIN A TAX

CLEARANCE

CERTIFICATE HERE

Meet the Campaign Contribution Disclosures Requirements

INFORMATION ON

DISCLOSURE/ELIGIBILITY

IS HERE

{If the awarded contract is valued at or over $99,000} Submit all Transparency in Business disclosures

TRANSPARENCY IN

BUSINESS REGULATIONS

ARE HERE

Comply with the 21st Century Minimum Wage and Benefits Ordinance

CURRENT LIVING WAGE

RATE CAN BE FOUND

LOCATED HERE

If applicable, comply with federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

SEE TERMS AND

CONDITIONS IN THE

OPPORTUNITY

INFORMATION

https://ework.phila.gov/revenue/ https://www.phila.gov/services/permits-violations-licenses/get-a-license/business-licenses-permits-and-approvals/get-a-commercial-activity-license/ https://www.phila.gov/services/payments-assistance-taxes/get-tax-clearance/ https://philawx.phila.gov/econtract/ https://www.phila.gov/publications/transparency-in-business-regulations/#/

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APPENDICIES

1. APPENDIX A: THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SMALL ORDER PURCHASE

PROVIDER AGREEMENT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

2. APPENDIX B: COST PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

3. APPENDIX C: LGBTQ DATA FORM

4. APPENDIX D: LOCAL BUSINESS ENTITY CERTIFICATION

APPENDICIES