et_rfr.doc

Employment and Training Specifications for

Requests for Responses Rational:

This document presents common language for selected employment and training services Requests for Responses (RFRs). The language addresses one of the goals within the Employment Services Action Council’s (ESAC) 2003-2004 work plan:

All employment services procurements and grants will include common language to serve people with disabilities.

This ESAC goal also partially satisfies one of the tasks delineated in Phase One of the Massachusetts Plan for Enhancing Community Based Services (also known as the Olmstead Plan). Specifically, it is listed under Planned Activities for Fiscal Year 2003 (activity #5C, Employment for Persons with Disabilities; Coordinate all employment-related services utilizing the Employment Services Action Council (ESAC) and newly developed grants network).

The specifications were developed by five departments within the Executive Office for Health and Human Services: the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Mental Retardation and the Department of Transitional Assistance. The specification language is not intended to mandate or imply that agencies will serve persons other than their eligible clients in employment programs.

The specification language will be incorporated into upcoming Requests for Reponses (RFRs) for the employment and training services listed by service type and departmental MMARS program code (listed at the end of this document). The language will be incorporated in the Performance and Contracts Specifications section of the RFR. The language will also be incorporated, wherever feasible, into Standard Contract Form Amendments when departments exercise their options to renew contracts with providers.

Further, this language will be offered to departments in other Secretariats for their consideration and use in Requests for Responses.

Prior to drafting the language, the multi-department team considered the merits of placing common language into Requests for Responses. The group concluded this cross-agency measure would:

· Promote interagency collaboration (similar to the goals of the Enhancing Community Based Services Plan).

· Foster communication among purchasing departments by providing a common language and framework for discussing employment and training concepts.

· Present one face of government to the provider community. Thus, the underlying principles and vision of the employment and training system would be consistently presented by participating departments to providers who contract with several departments for these services.

· Highlight the need to serve persons with disabilities as part of an overall service model which includes non-disabled target populations (for agencies that have programming that does not exclusively serve eligible clients of a specific disability type).

· Facilitate more collaborative efforts through inter-agency cooperation and communication, such as joint procurements and joint monitoring of programs.

Definition of Employment:

Employment is defined as work in integrated community-based work settings in jobs where persons with a disability enjoy wages and benefits that are comparable to those of other workers in comparable jobs.

Request for Response (RFR) Performance and Contract Specifications:

The Commonwealth and the Department of (enter agency name) are committed to promoting social and economic self-sufficiency through the provision of the employment and training services described in this Request for Response. Further, the Department of (enter agency name) is dedicated to creating, in partnership with others, innovative and genuine opportunities for individuals with disabilities to participate fully and meaningfully in employment and training opportunities.

These guiding principles provide a general framework by which this department provides employment and training services to consumers.

Guiding Principles:

All respondents to this Request for Response agree to uphold the following principles of consumer informed choice, empowerment and communication, flexibility and cost-effectiveness, diversity, public awareness and support common to all employment and training services:

1. Consumer choice: Consumer choice is the promotion and acceptance of the capacity of people with disabilities to exercise choice and to make meaningful decisions in their lives to the same degree as people without disabilities. Successful employment services for persons with disabilities demonstrate an atmosphere of respect for an individual’s experience, interest and a belief that meaningful job training and employment are critical elements in a person’s participation in life.

2. Empowerment and communication: Individuals and their families must be empowered to speak for themselves, initiate ideas, have choices, and make decisions about supports (consistent with available resources). Communication, both formal and informal, must be ongoing in order to acquire information directly from the consumer about his/her strengths, needs, goals, interests and preferences. Ongoing communication must be in place to ensure that the consumer is satisfied with the services.

3. Flexibility and cost-effectiveness: The provision of services and resources should be flexible and cost-effective. If indicated, the contractor should facilitate a consumer’s preference to move to other programs or situations, subject to department approval, program restrictions and availability of resources.

4. Diversity: The ethnic and cultural diversity of each individual and staff must be valued and respected in the design and delivery of services.

5. Public awareness: Public awareness should be enhanced through linkages with employers, community groups and mainstream employment services programs in order to educate the public about the valuable roles persons with disabilities assume in society.

6. Support: Realizing one’s employment goals requires appropriate supports, to the extent available, and encouragement.

List of Employment and Training Services by Department And Type

CODE

MASSACHUSETTS REHABILITATION COMMISSION

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION

VOCATIONAL SERVICES

2201a

EVALUATION

2201b

WORK ADJUSTMENT TRAINING

2201c

SKILLS TRAINING

2201d

JOB SUPPORT SERVICES

DEAF SERVICES

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

S.E.S. ANCILLARY SERVICES

CBES

COMMUNITY BASED EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

CODE

MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND

DIAGNOSTIC & EVAL– NON-MEDICAID

PERSONAL VOC ADJUSTMENT– NON-MEDICAID

ON THE JOB TRAINING

CBES

COMMUNITY BASED EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

CODE

DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH

COMMUNITY SUPPORT CLUBHOUSE

SERV FOR EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT

CBES

COMMUNITY BASED EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

CODE

DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL RETARDATION

EMPLOYMENT SUPPORTS

CBES

COMMUNITY BASED EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

CODE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE

TRANSPORTATION

2833a

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES (ESP) : YOUNG PARENTS PROGRAM (YPP)

2833b

PARENTS FAIR SHARE

SUPPORTED WORK

SKILLS TRAINING

SERVICE DELIVERY AREA

MENTORING SERVICES

MSA VENDORS-EVALUATION