Independent Auditor HSMA RFP.docx

STATE OF COLORADO

COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Title: INDEPENDENT AUDITOR FOR THE HEALTHY SCHOOL MEALS FOR ALL PROGRAM Request for Proposal Number: RFP DAAA 2026-0237

STATE OF COLORADO REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL COVER SHEET

https://cdepurchasing.app.box.com/f/49e1555772f94e268767c426058bb2a2

CDE_Purchasing@cde.state.co.us

F.E.I.N.:

Authorized Signature:

Typed/Printed Name:

Title:

Company Name:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip:

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Contact for Clarifications:

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Proposals shall be uploaded at the following: https://cdepurchasing.app.box.com/f/49e1555772f94e268767c426058bb2a2. No other methods will be accepted.

Offerors are urged to read all solicitation documents thoroughly before submitting a proposal. List the Number of RFP Modifications that you have seen on the CORE/VSS web site: ________

Confidential Information: Included as separate zip folder: _____YES _____NO

THIS FORM MUST BE COMPLETED, SIGNED AND RETURNED WITH YOUR PROPOSAL

Contents

APPENDIX A - ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION DOCUMENT

APPENDIX B - DRAFT CONTRACT

APPENDIX C - W-9

appendix d - OFFEROR’S TECHNICAL PROPOSAL FORM

APPENDIX E – PRICING WORKSHEET

APPENDIX f – C.R.S. 22-82.9-201, ET SEQ. AND 1 C.C.R. 301-114, Rules for Healthy School Meals for All Program

OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION

The Colorado Department of Education (hereafter referred to as “CDE” or “the Department”) is soliciting competitive, responsive proposals from qualified individuals or organizations to perform as an Independent Auditor for the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) Program established pursuant to C.R.S. Sections 22-82.9-201, et seq. for the Department. Under C.R.S. Section 22-82.9-208(2), the Department shall contract with an independent auditor to conduct a biennial financial and performance audit of the implementation of the program. The HSMA Program launched in School Year 2023-2024. No previous audit of the program has been performed.

department background CDE School Nutrition Unit provides leadership, resources, support, and accountability to the state’s 215 School Food Authorities (SFAs), approximately 1,800 sites, to meet the needs of the state’s approximately 883,000 public school students. In State Fiscal Year 2025-2026, of the 215 SFAs, 195 are HSMA eligible and 194 SFAs are participating in the HSMA program. CDE School Nutrition supports the child nutrition community through innovation, training, and partnership to ensure all children and teens have access to healthy meals. To read more about the CDE School Nutrition Unit visit the Nutrition Unit’s website. To read more about the Healthy Schools Meals for All Program visit the HSMA website.

CDE also provides services and support to boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES), early learning centers, state correctional schools, facility schools, the state’s libraries, adult/family literacy centers, and General Education Development (GED) testing centers reaching learners of all ages. CDE also operates the Colorado Talking Book Library which provides support for people who have vision, print, and reading disabilities.

Background ON HB 22-1414, THE HSMA PROGRAM AND REIMBURSEMENTS HB 22-1414, C.R.S. Sections 22-82.9-201, et seq. was signed into law on June 6, 2022. The HSMA Program launched in School Year 2023-2024. The implementing regulations, 1 C.C.R. 301-114, became effective June 14, 2023. See Appendix F.

The act creates the HSMA Program which launched in School Year 2023–24 for the Department to reimburse SFAs that choose to participate in the program for free meals provided to students who are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the federal school meals programs.

SFA is defined in C.R.S. Section 22-32-120 (8) to mean:

(a) A school district or the state charter school institute;

(a.2) The Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind authorized pursuant to Section 22-80-102 (added via HB24-1206 which made these types of sites newly eligible for HSMA starting 3/1/2024).

(a.3) A charter school collaborative formed pursuant to section 22-30.5-603;

(a.4) An approved facility school or facility, as defined in Section 22-2-402 (added via HB24-1206 which made these types of sites newly eligible for HSMA starting 3/1/2024);

(a.5) A board of cooperative services created pursuant to article 5 of this title that elects to operate as a SFA pursuant to section 22-5-120; or

(b) A district charter school or an institute charter school that:

(I) The Commissioner of education or his or her designee provisionally authorizes as a SFA pursuant to subsection (6) of this section; or (II) The department of education authorizes an SFA pursuant to subsection (5) of this section.

A participating SFA must:

Provide free meals to all students enrolled in the public schools that the participating SFA serves and that participate in the national school lunch program or national school breakfast program.

Provide the Department with annual notice of participation prior to the beginning of each school year.

As part of the notice of participation for the Wages & Stipends grant program which will begin in State Fiscal Year 2026-2027 (see Section 1.4 of this RFP for more information on this grant program), the participating SFAs must provide documentation on the SFA planned uses of funding received and may include but not be limited to, a written plan for the use of the funds and a link to the SFAs proposed budget and relevant job descriptions. 1 C.C.R. 301-114 (2023), Section 5.3.

As part of the annual notification, participating SFAs must attest to serving free meals to all students at participating schools in both community eligible and non-community eligible schools. 1 C.C.R. 301-114 (2023), Section 2.2.

Maximize the amount of federal reimbursement by working with the Department to complete analysis of school data to determine operating recommendations for participating sites. 1 C.C.R 301-114, Section 3.3 In State Fiscal Year 2025-2026, of the 215 SFAs, 195 are HSMA eligible and 194 SFAs are participating in the HSMA program.

The Department must submit to committees of the general assembly a biennial report concerning implementation of the program. C.R.S. Section 22-82.9-208 (1).

Background on LOCAL FOOD PURCHASING GRANT, Wages and stipends grant, and technical assistance partner TO START IN State fiscal year 2026-2027 In addition, HB 22-1414, C.R.S. Sections 22-82.9-201, et seq. created a local food purchasing grant program, a wages and stipends grant program, and a technical assistance partnership program all of which will start in State Fiscal Year 2026-2027.

The local food purchasing grant program enables the Department to provide local food purchasing grants to eligible participating SFAs.

A participating SFA that creates a parent and student committee to advise on food purchasing (advisory committee) is eligible to receive a local food purchasing grant to purchase Colorado grown, raised, or processed products for school meals.

Starting in State Fiscal Year 2026-2027, when the local food purchasing grant program starts, the Department must annually review a sample of the invoices for purchases made using grant money to ensure compliance with purchasing requirements.

HB 22-1414 also required the Department to provide funding to participating SFAs to increase the wages or provide stipends for individuals employed to prepare and serve food. While this program is starting in 2026-27, the Department plans to conduct compliance reviews starting in 2027-28 (using implementation data from 2026-27), so for the first audit year minimal program compliance data will be available for review. For example, for the Wages/Stipends data for the first audit year, CDE will not have available for the Contractor the corrective action and technical assistance provided during CDE’s administrative reviews of the program. CDE will have sponsor participation data for the Contractor’s review.

HB 22-1414 also required the Department to assist participating SFAs through the local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program.

The local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program distributes grants through a statewide nonprofit organization to promote the purchase of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products by participating SFAs and to assist participating SFAs in preparing meals using basic ingredients rather than processed products.

In addition to distributing grants, this technical assistance grant to a nonprofit will provide education, outreach, and promotion for participating SFAs to engage families and communities on the benefits of farm-to-school and ways to support farm-to-school. The program will also encourage Grower associations and growers to communicate to schools and school communities about the multiple benefits of purchasing local products. The technical assistance grant also provides other activities that support the development and use of locally produced products in meals served at school (updated in HB 25-1274).

The nonprofit organization must report annually to the Department concerning implementation of the grant program.

BACKGROUND ON THE AUDIT WORK CONDUCTED BY CDE FOR this grant CDE staff reviews the following SFA data virtually as it relates to implementation of the HSMA Program:

Annually, CDE verifies that all participating sites are following CDE’s operating recommendations. CDE also conducts outreach to SFAs opting out of the HSMA Program to provide technical assistance on program requirements, and documents SFAs rationale for opting out of the program.

On a bi-monthly basis, claims entered for sites operating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) are reviewed to ensure they are not claiming students in the reduced category per CEP claiming instructions.

CDE staff complete on-site visits with SFAs to determine how SFAs are implementing the HSMA Program as part of the Administrative Review process. During these site-visits, CDE Reviews the following information to ensure program compliance:

A sample of student accounts to confirm that no students are being charged for first breakfasts or lunches served. This information is reviewed while CDE staff are on-site; CDE does not collect or store this data, so this data will not be available to the Contractor.

A review of the CEP schedule to ensure the SFA is following CDE’s operating recommendations.

For SFAs participating in the Local Food Purchasing Grant or Wages and Stipends Grant, a sample of documentation will be reviewed by CDE to assess compliance with program requirements. Please note that for the Local Food Purchasing Grant, CDE staff reviews current-year documentation, but for Wages and Stipends Grant, CDE staff reviews prior-year documentation.

SFAs found out of compliance with any aspect of the HSMA Program or related grant programs will be required to submit at minimum a corrective action response detailing the steps taken to address the findings and to come into compliance.

Information collected and stored by CDE from these on-site visits will be made available to the Contractor awarded pursuant to this RFP if Contractor desires such information.

BACKGROUND ON THE AUDIT WORK WHICH IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS RFP

The Department must contract with an independent auditor or independent auditing firm to conduct a biennial financial and performance audit of the Health School Meals for All Program. C.R.S. Section 22-82.9-208 (2). This is the subject of this request for proposal solicitation as CDE seeks to contract with an independent auditor to conduct a biennial financial and performance audit of the program's implementation.

Contractor shall audit the reimbursement Work in Section 1.3 of this Statement of Work. The report and the financial and performance audit must review the implementation of the reimbursements.

The grant programs discussed in Section 1.4 (local food purchasing grant program, wages and stipends grant program, and the technical assistance partnership program) begin in State Fiscal Year 2026-2027, so Contractor will also need to conduct a biennial financial and performance audit of the implementation of those grant programs to include implementation of the local food purchasing grants, use of the additional amount for increasing wages or providing stipends, and implementation of the technical assistance program.

Note that the audit report due December 2027 will only have one State Fiscal Year's worth of data for the local food purchasing grant program, wages and stipends grant program, and the technical assistance partnership program because these do not start until State Fiscal Year 2026-2027. In addition, for the Wages/Stipends data, CDE will not have available for the Contractor the corrective action and technical assistance provided during CDE’s administrative reviews of the program. CDE will have sponsor participation data for the Contractor’s review (i.e., which Sponsors opted into the grant, how much funding was requested, expense trackers).

The audit of the two years in each biennial cycle must be completed by December 1 of the following budget year. Therefore, the Contractor shall complete the first audit by December 1, 2027, and the audit will cover state fiscal year 2025-2026 (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) and state fiscal year 2026-2027 (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027).

The Department must make the audit report easily accessible to the public on the Department website.

TERMINOLOGY

Acronyms, abbreviations and other terminology Acronyms and abbreviations are defined at their first occurrence in this Request for Proposals (RFP). The following list is provided to help the reader understand acronyms, abbreviations, and terminology used throughout this document.

Business Day - Any day on which the Department is open and conducting business but shall not include weekend days or any day on which the Department observes a holiday.

CEP – Community Eligibility Provision. Community Eligibility Provision means the Federal program created in 42 U.S.C. Section 1759a(a)(1)(F) that allows school districts to choose to receive federal assistance payments for school meals in exchange for providing free school meals to all students enrolled in all or selected schools of the school district. 1 C.C.R. 301-114 (2023), Section 1.1.

Contract - The agreement that is entered into as a result of this solicitation.

Contractor - The individual or entity selected from this solicitation to complete the Work in the Contract.

Department - The Colorado Department of Education, a department of the government of Colorado.

Effective Date - The effective date defined in the Contract.

Key Personnel: The position or positions specifically designated as such in the Contract.

Offeror - Any individual or entity that submits a proposal, or intends to submit a proposal, in response to this solicitation.

Other Personnel - Individuals and Subcontractors, in addition to Key Personnel, assigned to positions to complete tasks associated with the Work.

SFA – School Food Authority.

SFY - State Fiscal Year. The twelve (12) month period beginning on July 1st of the year and ending on June 30th of the following year.

Subcontractor - Third parties, if any, engaged by the Contractor to aid in performance of its obligations under the Contract.

Work - The tasks and activities Contractor must perform to fulfill its obligations under the Contract, including the performance of services and delivery of goods.

Anticipated Contract Term The initial operational period of the Contract is anticipated to begin on the Effective Date of the Contract (estimated to be January 1, 2027) and will last until December 31, 2027.

The total duration of the Contract, from the Operational Start Date until termination, and including the Department’s exercise of any options, is not anticipated to exceed nine (9) years – with a total of five (5) years of audit work as the statute creates a biennial work cycle. CDE, at its sole discretion, may renew the Contract for additional one-year renewals as follows:

SFY 2026-2027

December 1, 2027 *Note that in this year’s audit there will only be one State Fiscal Year's worth of data for the local food purchasing grant program, wages and stipends grant program, and the technical assistance partnership program because these do not start until State Fiscal Year 2026-2027.

In addition, for the Wages/Stipends data for this year’s audit, CDE will not have available for the Contractor the corrective action and technical assistance provided during CDE’s administrative reviews of the program. CDE will have sponsor participation data for the Contractor’s review.

SFY 2028-2029

December 1, 2029

* CDE will have available starting this year, and in future years, corrective action, and technical assistance data; however, it will be one year behind the audit year. For example, for the audit renewal year 2, CDE will have corrective action and technical assistance data for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.

SFY 2030-2031

December 1, 2031

SFY 2032-2033

December 1, 2033

SFY 2034-2035

December 1, 2035

The Department may extend the Contract beyond the anticipated term in this subsection, in accordance with the Colorado Procurement Code and its implementing rules, in the event that the Department determines the extension is necessary to align the Contract with other Department contracts, to address State or Federal programmatic or policy changes related to the Contract or to provide sufficient time to transition the Work.

OFFEROR’S EXPERIENCE

MANDATORY QUALIFICATIONS

Offeror shall meet all mandatory qualification requirements in this section 3.1 to be considered for award of a Contract from this solicitation. Offeror may be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Firm or an individual CPA.

If Offeror is an organization/entity/corporation/etc.:

It must be registered and licensed as a CPA Firm in the State of Colorado.

It must have been in practice as a certified public accounting firm for at least five years.

The CPA firm must provide a CPA licensed to do accounting work in Colorado, who will be responsible for monitoring and supervising the Work.

The CPA Firm and all individuals it provides to perform this Work must have no conflicts of interest with this work. Conflicts of interest include accountants performing the Work must have no financial or other personal interest in the HSMA Program. It is a conflict if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any consultants, independent contractors, or employees of a SFA whose primary work responsibilities involved the HSMA Program. Likewise, the Department considers it a conflict of interest if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any current consultants, independent contractors, or employees of the Department who were involved in the HSMA Program.

If Offeror is an individual CPA:

The individual must be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed to do accounting work in Colorado.

The individual must have been in practice as a certified public accountant for at least five (5) years.

The CPA must have no conflicts of interest with this work. Conflicts of interest include accountants performing the Work must have no financial or other personal interest in the HSMA Program. It is a conflict if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any consultants, independent contractors, or employees of a SFA whose primary work responsibilities involved the HSMA Program. Likewise, the Department considers it a conflict of interest if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any current consultants, independent contractors, or employees of the Department who were involved in the HSMA Program.

ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The Department has determined that it desires specific experience and skills for an Offeror to possess for the Offeror to be able to complete the Work efficiently while meeting the demands and deadlines of the Department.

The Department will evaluate the Offeror's experience pertaining to the following:

Experience performing financial and performance audits of large-scale, state-level grant programs.

Experience working with state agencies or school districts.

Experience drafting and providing audit reports that are clear and able to be understood by the general public. This is an evaluative criterion because HB 22-1414 requires the audit report to be accessible by the public on the Department website.

MANDATORIES. Confirm that Offeror meets the mandatories listed in Section 3.1 and provide details to support that Offeror meets the mandatories. Confirm that the Offeror has no conflicts of interest. Offerors who do not meet the mandatories or who have conflicts will not be considered for award.

OFFEROR’S EXPERIENCE. Provide a detailed description of the Offeror’s organizational experience related to the Work. Specifically, address each organizational experience listed in Section 3.2 and any other experience Offeror believes would be beneficial for completing this Work. Offerors should describe, at a minimum, three (3) similar projects with similar activities, such as financial and performance audits of state-level grant programs. These descriptions should include: the name of the customer, contact information for the customer, the type of contract/agreement/purchase order, a brief description of the effort and complexity of the work performed, the performance period dates, the budget of that contract, and any scope or delay changes. Evaluators may contact the customers listed and/or other customers.

STATEMENT OF WORK

PROPOSAL VARIANCES FROM DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK

The Department has drafted this statement of work to provide information about the project for bidding purposes, and the Department intends to use this statement of work or a similar statement of work in the resulting Contract that is issued as a result of this RFP.

An Offeror should identify clearly and thoroughly any contradiction between its proposal and the Department's statement of work. Evaluators may consider such contradictions when scoring the evaluation criteria listed in this RFP.

Failure to identify clearly and thoroughly any variation between its proposal and the Department's statement of work, at the Department's sole discretion, will be deemed a waiver of any rights to subsequently modify the statement of work.

CONTRACTOR’S GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The Department will contract with one organization or individual that can provide the performance audit and the financial audit. The Department will work solely with that organization or individual with respect to all tasks and deliverables to be completed, services to be rendered, and performance standards to be met under the awarded contract.

The Contractor may be privy to internal policy discussions, contractual issues, price negotiations, Department financial information, and advance knowledge of legislation. In addition to all other confidentiality requirements of the Contract, the Contractor shall also consider and treat any such information as confidential and shall only disclose it in accordance with the terms of the Contract.

The Contractor shall work cooperatively with key Department staff and, if applicable, the staff of other Department contractors or other State agencies to ensure the completion of the Work. The Department may, in its sole discretion, use other contractors to perform activities related to the Work that are not contained in the Contract or to perform any of the Department’s responsibilities. In the event of a conflict between the Contractor and any other Department contractor, the Department will resolve the conflict, and the Contractor shall abide by the resolution provided by the Department.

The Contractor shall maintain complete and detailed records of all meetings, system development life cycle documents, presentations, project artifacts and any other interactions or deliverables related to the project described in the Contract. The Contractor shall make such records available to the Department upon request, throughout the term of the Contract.

Deliverables All deliverables shall meet Department-approved format and content requirements.

Each deliverable will follow the deliverable submission process as follows:

The Contractor shall submit each deliverable to the Department for review and approval.

The Department will review the deliverable and may direct the Contractor to make changes to the deliverable. The Contractor shall make all changes within five (5) Business Days following the Department’s direction to make the change unless the Department provides a longer period in writing.

Changes the Department may direct include, but are not limited to, modifying portions of the deliverable, requiring new pages or portions of the deliverable, requiring resubmission of the deliverable, or requiring inclusion of information that was left out of the deliverable.

The Department may also direct the Contractor to provide clarification or provide a walkthrough of each deliverable to assist the Department in its review. The Contractor shall provide clarification or walkthrough as directed by the Department.

Once the Department has received an acceptable version of the deliverable, including all changes directed by the Department, the Department will notify the Contractor of its acceptance of the deliverable in writing. A deliverable shall not be deemed accepted prior to the Department’s notice to the Contractor of its acceptance of that deliverable.

The Contractor shall employ an internal quality control process to ensure that all deliverables, documents, and calculations are complete, accurate, easy to understand and of high quality. The Contractor shall provide deliverables that, at a minimum, are responsive to the specific requirements for that deliverable, organized into a logical order, contain no spelling or grammatical errors, are formatted uniformly and contain accurate information and correct calculations. The Contractor shall retain all draft and marked-up documents and checklists utilized in reviewing deliverables for reference as directed by the Department.

If any due date for a deliverable falls on a day that is not a Business Day, then the due date shall be automatically extended to the next Business Day, otherwise directed by the Department.

All due dates or timelines that reference a period of days, months or quarters shall be measured in calendar days, months and quarters unless specifically stated as being measured in Business Days or otherwise. All times stated in the Contract shall be in Mountain Time, adjusted for Daylight Saving Time as appropriate, unless specifically stated otherwise.

No deliverable, report, data, procedure, or system created by the Contractor for the Department that is necessary to fulfill the Contractor's responsibilities under the Contract, as determined by the Department, shall be considered proprietary.

If any deliverable contains ongoing responsibilities or requirements for the Contractor, such as deliverables that are plans, policies or procedures, then the Contractor shall comply with all requirements of the most recently approved version of that deliverable. The Contractor shall not implement any version of any such deliverable prior to receipt of the Department’s written approval of that version of that deliverable. Once a version of any deliverable described in this subsection is approved by the Department, all requirements, milestones, and other deliverables contained within that deliverable shall be considered to be requirements, milestones, and deliverables of this Contract.

Any deliverable described as an update of another deliverable shall be considered a version of the original deliverable for the purposes of this subsection.

0. Communication Requirements Communication with the Department The Contractor shall enable all Contractor staff to exchange documents and electronic files with the Department staff in formats compatible with the Department’s systems. The Department currently uses Microsoft Office 365 for PC. If the Contractor uses a compatible program that is not the system used by the Department, then the Contractor shall ensure that all documents or files delivered to the Department are completely transferrable and reviewable, without error, on the Department’s systems.

Contractor shall not engage in any non-routine communication with the media or the public related to the Work without the prior written consent of the State.

Intellectual Property Ownership In addition to the intellectual property ownership rights in the Contract, the following subsections describe the intellectual property ownership requirements that the Contractor shall meet during the term of the Contract.

The Department shall have all ownership rights, not superseded by other licensing restrictions, in all Work Product developed by the Contractor during performance of this Work. The Department shall have these ownership rights, regardless of whether the Work Product was developed by the Contractor or any Subcontractor in the performance of this Contract. Ownership rights shall include, but not be limited to, the right to copy, publish, display, transfer, prepare derivative works, or otherwise use the materials.

“Work Product” means the tangible and intangible results of the Work, whether finished or unfinished, including drafts. Work Product includes, but is not limited to, audits, reports, documents, text, research, reports, proposals, specifications, plans, notes, studies, data, images, photographs, pictures, drawings, designs, models, surveys, materials, ideas, concepts, know-how, and any other results of the Work.

Renewal Options and Extensions The Department may, within its sole discretion, choose to not exercise any renewal option in the Contract for any reason. If the Department chooses to not exercise an option, it may reprocure the performance of the Work in its sole discretion.

Department System Access If the Contractor requires access to any Department computer system to complete the Work, the Contractor shall have and maintain all hardware, software, and interfaces necessary to access the system without requiring any modification to the Department’s system. The Contractor shall follow all Department policies, processes, and procedures necessary to gain access to the Department’s systems.

CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL

Personnel General Requirements The Contractor shall provide qualified Key Personnel and Other Personnel as necessary to perform the Work throughout the term of the Contract.

The Contractor shall provide the Department with a final list of individuals assigned to the Contract.

DELIVERABLE: Final list of names of the individuals assigned to the Contract DUE: Within five (5) Business Days following the Effective Date The Contractor shall update this list upon the Department’s request to account for changes in the individuals assigned to the Contract.

DELIVERABLE: Updated list of names of the individuals assigned to the Contract DUE: Within five (5) Business Days following the Department’s request for an update The Contractor shall obtain written approval from the Department for individuals proposed for assignment to Key Personnel positions prior to those individuals beginning the performance of any Work under the Contract.

The Contractor shall not voluntarily change individuals in Key Personnel positions without the prior written approval of the Department. The Contractor shall supply the Department with the name(s), resume and references for any proposed replacement whenever there is a change to Key Personnel. Any individual replacing Key Personnel shall have qualifications that are equivalent to or exceed the qualifications of the individual that previously held the position, unless otherwise approved, in writing, by the Department.

DELIVERABLE: Name(s), resume(s), and references for the person(s) replacing anyone in a Key Personnel position during a voluntary change DUE: At least five (5) Business Days prior to the change in Key Personnel If any individual filling a Key Personnel position leaves employment with the Contractor, the Contractor shall propose a replacement person to the Department. The replacement person shall have qualifications that are equivalent to or exceed the qualifications of the individual that previously held the position, unless otherwise approved, in writing, by the Department.

DELIVERABLE: Name(s), resume(s), and references for the person(s) replacing anyone in a Key Personnel position who leaves employment with the Contractor DUE: Within ten (10) Business Days following the Contractor’s receipt of notice that the person is leaving employment.

If any of the Contractor's Key Personnel, or Other Personnel, are required to have and maintain any professional licensure or certification issued by any federal, state, or local government agency, then the Contractor shall submit copies of such current licenses and certifications to the Department.

DELIVERABLE: All current professional licensure and certification documentation as specified for Key Personnel or Other Personnel DUE: Within five (5) Business Days of receipt of updated licensure or upon request by the Department Personnel Availability The Contractor shall ensure that Key Personnel and Other Personnel assigned to the Contract are available for meetings with the Department during the Department’s normal business hours, as determined by the Department. The Contractor shall also make these personnel available outside of the Department’s normal business hours and on weekends with prior notice from the Department.

The Contractor’s Key Personnel and Other Personnel shall be available for all regularly scheduled meetings between the Contractor and the Department, unless the Department has granted prior, written approval otherwise.

The Contractor and the Department shall hold a conference call for the performance and financial audits no less than monthly to review or prepare for audits and information acquired during the audits.

The Contractor shall prepare minutes of each conference call and submit them to the Department for review and approval.

DELIVERABLE: Monthly Meeting Minutes DUE: Monthly as directed by the Department The Contractor shall ensure that the Key Personnel and Other Personnel attending all meetings between the Department and the Contractor have the authority to represent and commit the Contractor regarding work planning, problem resolution, and program development.

At the Department’s direction, the Contractor shall make its Key Personnel and Other Personnel available to attend meetings as subject matter experts with stakeholders both within the State government and external or private stakeholders.

All the Contractor’s Key Personnel and Other Personnel that attend any meeting with the Department or other Department stakeholders shall be physically present at the meeting unless the Department gives prior written permission to attend by telephone or video conference. If the Contractor has any personnel attend by telephone or video conference, the Contractor shall provide all additional equipment necessary for attendance, including any virtual meeting space or telephone conference lines.

The Contractor shall respond to all telephone calls, voicemails, and emails from the Department within one (1) Business Day of receipt by the Contractor.

Monthly Report The Contractor shall submit a Monthly Report that details the Contractor’s monthly progress for the performance and financial audits and summarizes the information shared during the Monthly Meetings between the Contractor(s) and the Department.

DELIVERABLE: Monthly Report DUE: No later than the 15th of every month Key Personnel The Contractor shall designate people to hold the following Key Personnel positions:

Project Lead The Project Lead should have the following:

Experience planning and managing audit projects of similar size and scope to the work required under this solicitation according to established standards and practices.

Experience and demonstrated success in data and evaluation/audit methods.

Experience in project management.

Have no conflicts of interest with this work. Conflicts of interest include but are not limited to the Project Lead performing the Work must have no financial or other personal interest in the HSMA Program. It is a conflict if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any consultants, independent contractors, or employees of a SFA whose primary work responsibilities involved the HSMA Program. Likewise, the Department considers it a conflict of interest if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any current consultants, independent contractors, or employees of the Department who were involved in the HSMA Program.

The Project Lead shall be responsible for all the following:

Monitoring all phases of the project in accordance with work plans or timelines or as determined between the Contractor and the Department.

Serving as Contractor’s primary point of contact for the Department.

Ensuring the completion of all Work in accordance with the Contract’s requirements. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of all work.

Overseeing all other Key Personnel and Other Personnel and ensuring proper staffing levels throughout the term of the Contract.

Auditor(s) The Auditor(s) shall:

Be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed to do accounting work in Colorado.

Been in practice as a certified public accountant for a minimum of five (5) years.

Have no conflicts of interest with this work. Conflicts of interest include but are not limited to accountants performing the Work must have no financial or other personal interest in the HSMA Program. It is a conflict if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any consultants, independent contractors, or employees of a SFA whose primary work responsibilities involved the HSMA Program. Likewise, the Department considers it a conflict of interest if the Contractor or Contractor’s planned personnel to be provided for this Work include any current consultants, independent contractors, or employees of the Department who were involved in the HSMA Program.

The Auditor(s) shall be responsible for all the following:

Performing the performance and financial audits.

Drafting the resulting reports for the financial and performance audits.

Other Personnel Responsibilities The Contractor shall use its discretion to determine the number of Other Personnel necessary to perform the Work in accordance with the requirements of the Contract. In the event that the Department has determined that Contractor has not provided sufficient Other Personnel to perform the Work in accordance with the requirements of the Contract, the Contractor shall provide all additional Other Personnel necessary to perform the Work in accordance with the requirements of the Contract at no additional cost to the Department.

The Contractor shall ensure that all Other Personnel have sufficient training and experience to complete all portions of the Work assigned to them. The Contractor shall provide all necessary training to its Other Personnel, except for Department-provided training specifically described in the Contract.

The Contractor may subcontract to complete a portion of the Work required by the Contract. The conditions for using a Subcontractor or Subcontractors are as follows:

The Contractor shall provide the organizational name of each Subcontractor and all items to be worked on by each Subcontractor to the Department.

DELIVERABLE: Name of each Subcontractor and items on which each Subcontractor will work DUE: The later of thirty (30) days prior to the Subcontractor beginning work or the Effective Date The Contractor shall obtain prior consent and written approval for any use of Subcontractor(s).

Provide a detailed explanation of how the Offeror will provide sufficient personnel to perform the Work, including all the following:

How the Offeror will provide Key Personnel (Project Lead and Auditor(s)) that meets or exceeds the requirements contained in this RFP.

How the Offeror will provide and train all Other Personnel so that the Work is completed accurately and in a timely manner. Additionally, include a listing of the position titles for each position related to the Contract, the general responsibilities of that position, the number of individuals filling that position and the numbers of hours each week the position will be dedicated to the Work.

A plan for how the Offeror will replace all Key Personnel and Other Personnel so that the transition between personnel does not impact the ability of the Contractor to complete the Work.

If the Offeror intends to use a Subcontractor, the Offeror shall provide a description of how the Offeror will use Subcontractors and the portions of the Work that will be completed by each Subcontractor. This description shall also include the anticipated positions provided by the Subcontractor and the roles of those positions, as well as a plan for how the Offeror will manage the Subcontractor and all Subcontractor personnel to ensure that the portions of the Work assigned to the Subcontractor will be completed accurately and in a timely manner.

AUDIT plan The Contractor shall develop a detailed Audit Plan by which to monitor the progress of the Work. The Audit plan must demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of the HSMA Program.

The Audit Plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following sections:

Comprehensive outline of auditing tasks and activities from start to finish for the Contract term.

A general strategy and detailed methodological approach for how both the performance and financial audits will be conducted and sampled.

The proposed timeline for the audits including the start date and completion date for each task/activity.

Job title of staff resource(s) assigned to each task/activity.

Completion criteria for each task/activity.

The risks associated with the Work and a plan to mitigate those risks.

Sample report templates that will be generated.

The Contractor shall deliver the Work Plan to the Department for review and approval.

DELIVERABLE: Final Work Plan DUE: Three (3) weeks from the Effective Date Contractor shall review its Work Plan monthly and determine if any changes are required to account for any changes in the State’s processes and procedures, ideas or processes learned during the audit process, or changes in Contractor’s processes and procedures. Contractor shall provide the updated Work Plan to the Department for review and approval by the tenth Business Day of the following month. Contractor shall modify the Work Plan as directed by the State upon the State’s completion of its review.

DELIVERABLE: Work Plan Update DUE: Monthly, by the 10th of each month if there are changes to the Work Plan At the request of the Department, Contractor shall provide weekly updates, to CDE, that show Contractor’s status toward meeting the timelines and milestones described in the Work Plan. Contractor shall ensure that all requirements of the plan are complete by the deadlines contained in the State-approved Work Plan.

Provide a Draft Audit Plan with the information contained in Section 4.4. that shows how Offeror will ensure that Contractor has the audit and resulting audit report complete by December 1 of each year. If Offeror suggests differing timelines than listed in this Statement of Work, please clearly specify those dates and why Offeror is suggesting those changes.

Data CDE WILL PROVIDE TO THE AUDITOR The Department will be able to provide Contractor with the information and data listed in this Section for Contractor’s performance and financial audit. CDE anticipates the data will be in excel, google sheets, or PDF format.

CDE will provide Contractor with the following Performance Audit Data:

For the HSMA reimbursement audits detailed in Section 1.3:

Site eligibility data to support CEP enrollment.

Analysis files to support site-level operating recommendations.

Administrative Review: fiscal action policy, corrective action assigned and related SFA responses, technical assistance provided.

For the grant programs detailed in Section 1.4:

Local Food Purchasing Grant: SFA applications, list of participating SFAs, list of suppliers and market channel types SFAs procured using Local Food Program funds, Administrative Review corrective action assigned and related SFA responses, technical assistance provided.

Wages and Stipends Grant: SFA applications, list of participating SFAs, Administrative Review corrective action assigned and related SFA responses, technical assistance provided. CDE will have available starting in the second audit year, and in future years, corrective action, and technical assistance data; however, it will be one year behind the audit year. For example, for the audit renewal year 2, CDE will have corrective action and technical assistance data for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.

Technical Assistance Partner: CDE competitive grants documentation to support contracting, Nonprofit partner’s annual report and financial statement submitted to CDE which will include detail on the types of technical services provided, grants to stakeholders (and process for determining awards), marketing support and resources for schools and providers.

Financial Audit Data to be Provided by CDE:

Section 1.3: state overhead costs, record of claims submitted by SFAs, and related state reimbursements paid.

Section 1.4:

Local Food Purchasing Grant: SFA-level funding allocation and usage, unused funding allocations and the process used to reallocate this funding, total spending on local food purchasing with grant funds by product category, SFA other allowable costs detail, and Advisory Committee costs detail.

Wages and Stipends Grant: SFA-level funding allocation and usage.

Technical Assistance Partner: Nonprofit partner’s annual report and financial statement submitted to CDE which will include details on fund allocation and spending for TA grant.

CDE will be able to provide Contractor with a report, as detailed in Section 22-82.9-208, starting December 1, 2024, and every two years thereafter, detailing:

The increase in free eligible meals due to the program's implementation.

For Section 1.4, from the December 2024 and December 2026 reports (note this report will cover SFYs 2025 and 2026), CDE will be able to provide Contractor with the following information:

The effect of the use of local food purchasing grants on the amount of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products purchased by participating SFAs and include a compilation of the information reported by participating SFAs pursuant to Section 22-82.9-205(1)(b).

The effect of the distribution of money pursuant to section 22-82.9-206 on the amount of wages paid or the amount of stipends provided to individuals who are employed by public schools to prepare and serve school meals.

A summary of the information reported by the nonprofit organization pursuant to section 22-82.9-207(3) concerning implementation of the local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program.

In addition, the Contractor may be able to attain information and data from the Non-profit Technical Assistance Partner who distributes the grants to the SFAs. At this time, that partner is not in place, so it is not clear what that additional data may entail.

CDE will provide Contractor with a list of the SFAs which received HSMA Program funding. Contractor shall research and gather all contact information needed to reach out to these SFAs, if needed.

SECTION 1.0

SECTION 2.0

SECTION 3.0

SECTION 4.0

4.1.

4.2.

4.3.

4.4.

4.5.

Develop AUDIT Forms, TOOLS, METHODOLOGIES, and Processes and data collection 4.6.

If Contractor, in its expertise, determines that additional information or data beyond what is listed in the section above is needed for it to conduct the performance or financial audits, Contractor will…