ILA0010 - Amendment 01 - QA FINAL 7.16.20.pdf

ADM-5120-E (R. 01/2019) http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/do

Department of Workforce Development Division of Operations P.O. Box 7946 Madison, WI 53707 Telephone: (608) 266-1024 Fax: (608) 267-7952

Tony Evers, Governor Caleb Frostman, Secretary

Amendment No: 1 Amendment Date: July 17, 2020 Request for Application: ILA0010 Request for Application Due Date: July 23, 2020 @ 4:00 PM CST

Commodity or Service:

Project SEARCH® RFA

Revision:

Respond to vendors questions

Applicants must submit this Amendment 1 with the bid response to ensure that they have read, understand, and that the bid of the company is predicated upon the contents of this Amendment

Please include a signed copy of this amendment with your response.

Signature Date

Questions and Answers

1. Do you anticipate extending the bid due date?

No. Time is very limited to make a selection and to bring new partner(s) on before the beginning of the Fall start at sites.

2. What additional details are you willing to provide, if any, beyond what is stated in bid documents concerning how you will identify the winning bid?

The winning bid will be awarded based on highest scoring application which passes all criteria and is over

50 on the scoring rubric (Attachment B) for each site.

3. Was this bid posted to the nationwide free bid notification website at www.mygovwatch.com/free?

No, this request for application was posted to the State of Wisconsin's VendorNet site:

https://vendornet.wi.gov/.

4. Other than your own website, where was this bid posted?

This request for application was posted to the State of Wisconsin's VendorNet site:

https://vendornet.wi.gov/.

5. What is the upfront cost/start up fee to be a provider for one of the Project SEARCH locations?

There are no upfront costs or fees for the community rehabilitation services provider to join a Project SEARCH site. DWD has/will pay all fees related to licensure and contracting for technical assistance. All partners are expected to participate in technical assistance and training provided which may require expenses related to in-state travel for staff.

6. In Are you aware of if the previous provider was able to cover the cost of the program expenses with the funds that flowed through Project SEARCH?

Program costs primarily include classroom instruction and vocational service provision:

The cost of classroom instruction is paid by the student's school district or the adult's long-term support provider. The instructor's salary/fringe is divided by the number of students in the program to determine the per intern cost.

The cost of vocational service provision is paid by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) on a per intern basis as identified in the Project SEARCH fee schedule.

https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dvr/programs/project-search/serviceproviders.htm

Cost incurred for the partner can vary depending on the number of staff used to provide services and the salaries/fringe of those staff. Generally, one direct service provider is required for every eight (8) interns. If the community rehabilitation service provider also has administrative or supervisory staff included in their cost, the cost per intern would be greater. DWD/DVR does not prescribe the staff model that community rehabilitation service providers follow.

7. Is there room for offering suggestions/new ideas within the Project SEARCH model?

Sites must be licensed through Cincinnati Children's Hospital (CCH) and adhere to Project SEARCH model fidelity. Suggestions can be made to the National and Statewide Project SEARCH Coordinators.

8. [Our organization] is interested in the RFP for Children's Hospital and Froedtert in Wauwatosa. Can you let us know how to proceed?

Please go to the RFA posting on VendorNet, download the posted documents, and follow the instructions in the RFA document for submission for an application.

9. What discussions have been had with Project SEARCH/CCHMC about model fidelity and what will be allowed in terms of deviation from the model? (“There is total immersion of interns at the host business.

That is, interns are on site at the business each program day for a minimum of six hours, for an entire academic year”) Will new providers be allowed to use the same model with hiring instructors with special education credentials? What kind of support is CCHMH prepared to provide to help the experience become virtual?

See 1.10. DVR recognizes that program delivery may look different than the model prescribes. DVR is in regular communication with CCHMC regarding program requirements and is currently discussing how those requirements may be modified for the 2020 -21 program year due to COVID-19. Once final guidance is provided, the information will be posted on Wisconsin's Project SEARCH webpage.

No information has been provided that the model of hiring instructors with special education credentials will change. Once final guidance is provided, the information will be posted on Wisconsin's Project SEARCH webpage.

CCHMC and Wisconsin DVR have provided many strategies to sites to help them run their programs virtually for the end of the 2019-20 program year and will continue to do so for the 2020-21 program year.

Strategies have been shared in Statewide Meetings, reoccurring meetings scheduled for the varying site partner roles, and in one-on-one meetings. All strategies will be shared with new partner(s) selected.

10. What assistance is the previous provider willing to provide to the selected CRP? Are interns already selected for these sites and are they will to share that information? Staff names and contacts that may have been laid off? BAC contacts? Business Liaisons?

There is no expectation that the former community rehabilitation partner at the five sites will provide assistance including names or contact information of former staff.

All site partner information including that of the business liaison will be provided by DVR to the new partner(s) and is also available on the Wisconsin Project SEARCH webpage.

Some interns have already been selected for the sites and there may be additional applications that have yet to be acted on. That information will be shared with the new selected partner(s).

11. On a related note to the above:

a. Have students been recruited for the student sites?

Please see the response to question 10.

b. Are the schools which have previously participated willing/able to do so this year? Is CESA?

The three student-based sites did not previously have instructional partners. See the Educational bullet and note under 1.2.2. The community rehabilitation partner(s) selected will be expected to identify instructional partners.

The two adult-based sites previously had instructors hired by the community rehabilitation partner and that is also the expectation going forward.

What discussions have been had to date with health care providers such as Children’s and Pro Health about their interest in continuing as a site for the 2020-21 school year? Regarding a new provider?

Please see Section 1.10. DVR has met with all five of the businesses to determine interest in Project SEARCH for the 2020 – 21 program year. All have expressed interest in some capacity, but not all can make a commitment at this time due to COVID-19 if or when interns may be allowed back in the business for rotations. All understand that a Project SEARCH program for the 2020 – 21 year may look different than in years past.

Should individual agencies be reaching out to each of these sites?

Please see Sections 4.1.4 and 4.1.6.

12. We understand this is a technical assistance grant and not a cash award. Does this grant cover the annual fee required by Project SEARCH/CCHMC? (NOTE: this link, which may have been intended to include this information, does not work: https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dvr/programs/projectsearch/

There is not an annual fee required by CCHMC. There are one-time initial licensing and technical assistance fees that have already been paid for these sites. Ongoing technical assistance is paid for by DWD. The correct hyperlink is: https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dvr/programs/project-search/.