Pre-Proposal_Conference_Summary__-_Reemployment_Services_and_Eligibility_Assessment__RESEA__Program.pdf

PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE

Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program

LABOR-FY2025-023

eMMA BPM # BPM050983

DATE: Pre-Proposal Conference 05/16/2025 at 1:00 p.m.

Actual Start time: 1:04 p.m.

LABOR Staff

1. Raelene Glasgow – Chief of Procurement – Office of Administration

2. Marvin Ramiro – Procurement Manager – Office of Administration

3. Kennedy Iyare – Procurement Manager – Office of Administration

4. Ann Marie Dunning – Reemployment, Workshare and Trade Program Manager – Division of

Unemployment Insurance

5. Melissa Volpe – Deputy Director – Division of Unemployment Insurance

6. Pamela Holland – Director, Benefit Payment Control Unit – Division of Unemployment

Insurance

7. Suja Joseph – Director, Statewide Reemployment Programs – Division of Workforce

Development and Adult Learning

8. Margaret Rekstis – Deputy Assistant Secretary – Division of Unemployment Insurance

9. Julie Moore – Director of Benefits, Division of Unemployment Insurance

Vendors in Attendance

1. Actus Policy Research – MBE

Contact: Eileen Poe-Yamagata

Email: eileenpy@actuspolicyresearch.com

2. A Mylestone Group – SBR/MBE

Contacts: Cynthia Mitchell and Dr. Jason Mitchell

Email: cmithchell@amylestonegroup.com

Email: jmitchell@amylestonegroup.com

3. Britt’s Industries, Inc. – SBR/MBE

Contact: Elizabeth Britt

Email: contact@wosbprinting.com

4. K Jackson Strategic Consulting, LLC

Contact: Kevin Jackson

Email: krajackson@gmail.com

5. Keller Professional Services

Contact: Debra Keller-Greene

Email: dkgreene@kellerproservices.com mailto:eileenpy@actuspolicyresearch.com mailto:cmithchell@amylestonegroup.com mailto:jmitchell@amylestonegroup.com mailto:contact@wosbprinting.com mailto:krajackson@gmail.com mailto:dkgreene@kellerproservices.com

6. Optimal Solutions Group – SBR/MBE

Contact: Mark Turner

Email: mturner@optimalsolutionsgroup.com

7. Policy Research Group

Contact: Rebekah Snider

Email: rebekah@policyandresearch.com

8. Quality Assured Staffing, LLC – SBR

Contact: Juwerah Umar

Email: jumar@qualityassuredstaffing.com

9. Ripple Effect Communication, Inc. – SBR

Contacts: David Baker and Ellie Kerr

Email: dbaker@rippleeffect.com

Email: EKerr@rippleeffect.com

10. Serigor, Inc. – SBR/MBE

Contact: Atul Shukla and Deva Kale

Email: ashukla@serigor.com

Email: dkale@serigor.com

11. Trebuchet Research, LLC

Contact: Lisa Lin-Freeman

Email: llin-freeman@trebuchetresearch.com

12. University of Baltimore

Contact: Prof. Ting Zhang and Margarita Cordona

Email: tzhang@ubalt.edu

Email: mcardona@ubalt.edu

Note: The contact information for each vendor in attendance has been added in the event that there are opportunities for partnerships to be formed for this project.

Overview

Welcome to the Maryland Department of Labor Pre-Proposal conference for the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program

My name is Raelene Glasgow, your Procurement Officer and the sole point of contact for this solicitation.

I will address all procurement pinpoints for this solicitation. With me there are a few colleagues from two

Divisions within MD Labor.

Ann Marie Gunning will discuss and answer any questions related to the Scope of Work.

There is a Pre-Proposal Conference Response Form – Attachment A, which you must submit. If you have not already done so, please be sure to acknowledge and submit the form as this is very important in the event there is a need to contact you after this meeting.

mailto:mturner@optimalsolutionsgroup.com mailto:rebekah@policyandresearch.com mailto:jumar@qualityassuredstaffing.com mailto:dbaker@rippleeffect.com mailto:EKerr@rippleeffect.com mailto:ashukla@serigor.com mailto:dkale@serigor.com mailto:llin-freeman@trebuchetresearch.com mailto:tzhang@ubalt.edu mailto:mcardona@ubalt.edu

A. All Vendors must submit acknowledgment that they attended the pre-proposal conference.

B. Must be registered on eMMA prior to the proposal due date. The link to the website is:

https://emma.maryland.gov/

C. Must be in Good Standing with SDAT before a contract is awarded. The link to the website is:

https://businessexpress.maryland.gov/start/register-a-business-in-maryland

D. Please review all contract documents with your counsel before closing of the Questions and Answers

Period.

E. I would like to note briefly that a Pre-Proposal Conference Summary and Attendee List will be posted after this conference on eMMA.

F. Answers to all questions will be posted on eMMA for all vendors, even if they are submitted to my email address. Questions should be sent via eMMA.

G. This conference will be broken down into several sections – General Procurement Information, Minimum Qualifications, Scope of Work, and a Question and Answer (Q&A) period. I am asking everyone to hold all questions until the designated Q&A period at the end of the pre-proposal conference.

I. General Procurement Information

A. The purpose of today’s conference is to give general information and guidance to potential offerors on the requirements for the Maryland Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA)

Program, eMMA RFP #: BPM050983. Please note that this procurement has is NOT SBR-designated (Small Business Reserve Procurement, but there is also an MBE Subcontracting Goal of

20%, and a 0% VSBE goal.

• MBE forms, especially the D-1A Form must be filled out completely. Please read the instructions at the top of that form and follow all instructions. Do not leave any space blank.

This form must be submitted at the time of the RFP closing with your Technical Proposal.

• Firms used for MBE subcontracting goals must be registered in Maryland.

• Firms used for MBE subcontracting goals cannot be registered in another state and be used for meeting Maryland subcontracting goals. They must be registered in Maryland through the

Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT).

• Firms used for MBE subcontracting goals must be registered at the time of RFP proposal submission. If they are pending, a vendor’s proposal shall be deemed non-responsive, and the vendor shall be disqualified.

• Vendors are required to submit copies of their subcontractors’ agreements which must be reviewed and approved before the contract is awarded. These are to be submitted with your D3 forms.

• If susceptible of being awarded this contract, the D-3A and D-3B forms must be submitted within 10 Business Days of notification of apparent award. If the Offeror fails to return this affidavit within the required time, the Procurement Officer may determine that Proposal is not susceptible to being selected for Contract award.

https://emma.maryland.gov/ https://businessexpress.maryland.gov/start/register-a-business-in-maryland

• If a vendor is seeking a waiver for the subcontracting goals, please be sure to read the instructions and steps that must be followed, to qualify for a waiver.

B. The RFP and all subsequent documentation regarding this solicitation are posted on eMaryland

Marketplace Advantage (eMMA). Please be reminded that, to receive a contract award, a vendor must be registered on eMMA. Registration is free. Go to https://procurement.maryland.gov. You may review Section 4.2 of the RFP for details.

C. Please note you should NOT rely on verbal communication or answers given today as a formal response from the State. I would like to ask everyone that when we get to the Q/A portion of this meeting everyone who asks a question should also submit that same question to me in writing for clarification purposes. Carefully review Section 4.3 under Questions.

D. Questions must be submitted in writing no later than Friday, May 23, 2025, at 1:00 P.M. Local

Time to the Procurement Officer via eMMA. Some potential offerors may not be in attendance today. Per Maryland’s Regulations, we cannot have questions and answers addressed here and not share them with the other potential participants. That is why we require that any questions here be followed up in writing and sent to my attention via eMMA so we can officially answer your questions. What is stated here is for information purposes only.

E. Note: When amendments are made to eMMA, that round will close, and a new one will be opened. For example: If vendors post their proposals in Lot 1, Round 4 and new amendments are made, round 4 will close and round 5 will open. Vendors are required to go back into eMMA and upload their proposals to the new Round 5. Please pay attention to notifications from eMMA as amendments are made.

F. At this time, I would like to point out some of the critical areas in the RFP that require close attention:

a. Please review the Key Information Summary Sheet on Pages iii and IV (4) of the RFP. This sheet has my contact information, deadlines, and time adherences associated with this RFP.

b. Please note that the Proposals are due by , Thursday June 5, 2025, at 1:00 P.M. Local Time.

Offerors are reminded that a completed Feedback Form is requested if a no-proposal decision is made (see page ii).

c. The Procurement Method used for this solicitation is the Competitive Sealed proposal under

COMAR 21.05.03. (Section 4.4 – Procurement Method) of the RFP.

d. Proposals for this solicitation are being accepted solely via the eMaryland Marketplace

Advantage (eMMA) e-Procurement system. Proposals will not be accepted via email and/or fax. It is important to review the Opening/Due Date and Time References) of the RFP.

e. Important: If for any reason vendors encounter any issues uploading their proposals in eMMA, please contact me immediately via email and I will instruct you on the next steps.

f. Important: If a vendor waits until the very last minute to contact me regarding eMMA issues, the RFP closing date and time will not be extended, and I may not be able to accommodate you.

Please do your best to begin by uploading your proposals well in advance of the closing time.

https://procurement.maryland.gov/

g. Your Proposals must be received by the Procurement Officer no later than the Proposal due date and time indicated on the RFP Key Information Summary Sheet, for your proposals to be considered. If your Proposal is late by one minute, it cannot be accepted by the State. Requests for extensions will not be granted under any circumstances - no exceptions! Please allow enough time to ensure your Proposals have been properly submitted.

h. Review Section 4 and 5 – Proposal Submission Information and Instructions – Please follow the instructions stated in this section. Financial Proposals are not to be included in the Technical

Proposal. These are to be uploaded separately. Omit all pricing information from the

Technical Proposal.

i. Please submit redacted versions of your Technical and Financial Proposals.

j. Section 5.3.2 – This section provides the order for your Technical Proposal. Since this is being submitted electronically via eMMA, please use a blank page between every Section. For example, on the blank page indicate TAB A – Title Page and Table of Contents, followed by the contents of TAB A. This should be done for all the tabs. Please address all Tabs, do not leave any of these sections empty. The Technical Proposal begins at Tab A and continues to Tab O.

k. Review Section 6 – Evaluation and Selection Process

l. Section 7 – RFP Appendices and Exhibits - Please review this section, pay attention to the instructions provided and provide the necessary documentation required. There are a few that can be submitted after, but it is recommended that these be included with your initial Technical

Proposal submission.

I will now turn the rest of the Pre-proposal conference over to Ann Marie Gunning

Talking Points – UI – Scope of Work

• Contract Requirements (Section 2) – Ann Marie Gunning

II. Questions & Answers

A. Before we open for Questions & Answers, I would like to caution everyone that only written answers should be relied upon. Even if addressed here, please submit all questions via email or eMMA to

Raelene.glasgow3@Maryland.gov per the process identified in Section 4.4 and the Key Information

Summary Sheet of the RFP.

B. Questions will be answered on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be mindful of those who wish to have their questions addressed, and please listen to all questions being asked to avoid duplication.

Questions asked during Pre-Proposal Conference

Question – Policy Research Group:

I'm from the policy and research group. Have y'all done any evaluation yet for the program?

Response:

We got to all the point where we collected a lot of the data and a lot of the data was skewed to the time it was during COVID. So, it was during unprecedented times we have our data, and it is worth what we collected. However, we were never able to get to a random control trial because the data was so inclusive of that situation at that time. So, we're hoping that even though we are going through a little bit of a different time right now, we're hoping that with what we're doing, we're able to collect the data and get to that random control trial where we can really measure the effectiveness of what we're doing. And if we need to do something different, we can make a few changes.

We do really heavily rely on the evaluator for a lot of direction. With our profiling method in Maryland, we are and every in other states as well with the whole federal layoff, we are having a lot more people come through our door that are RESEA eligible and are the ones that are most likely to exhaust benefits.

So, they're going to be the ones that we're helping. So, we really are looking at someone for a little bit of direction. some we really need to update our profiling methodology.

We really need to be able to get our data and take our data and analyze it to see where we need to go and the important people that we need to help the whole federal contracting group right now is what's coming through our door. So, it's a really important job. I'm really passionate about it. I won't bore you with all my craziness about it because sometimes people, but it's really an important task that we look for a lot of help and guidance with the evaluator.

Question – Policy Research Group:

I was just going to ask if you all do your selection process internally or do you work with an outside software contractor to help you select claimants for RESEA?

Response:

Right now, we're using profaring methodology and it's an algorithm and it looks at tenure how long if you ever collected unemployment before your age. It looks at five different or six different variables to determine whether you're most likely to exhaust benefits and you go to our RESEA workshop. So basically, at the 50% go to a RESEA and the other 50 to row. So, we use a methodology and labor market information to get that determination.

Question – Policy Research Group:

And you all do that internally within the Department of Labor in Maryland.

We do.

Question: K Jackson Strategic Consulting LLC:

I guess I’m kind of piggybacking off of that question, I think I read in the solicitation that there's a desire for 10,000 participant sample size. Is there a required timeline for identifying that sample size? If it's the onus of the vendor to collect or since you're using internal metrics, will that sample size be provided by the Maryland Okay, To make an analysis of it we generally enter into an MOU agreement to agree to share the data. So, you tell us once we identify what type of data you need to make the analysis. Then it's sent to you so you can analyze it and get the data.

Question – Trebuchet Research:

Thank you so much for putting this together. I was wondering, can you say a little bit more about what the data collection might look like or what are your expectations? What's on your wish list? Just maybe a little bit more. I think the scope of work mentioned interest in outcomes, but are you interested also in participant input, survey data, focus groups, quantitative? I'd love to hear a little bit more about what do you envision as far as data collection needs.

Response:

Basically, the data that we're collecting is all meant to see whether we're measuring the outcomes of, and intensity of our reemployment service claimants receive. So, a lot of times the data that we're collecting are usually allows me to get the exact actual analysis of what we get. We’re trying to get how many weeks they've been on unemployment, salary, what type of activities they've chosen to take during the workshop. We’re looking at the individual reemployment plan. And we're looking at what we said they needed and as a result of us delivering these activities and these services, how likely they were to get off from unemployment a little bit quicker than the 26 weeks.

We also measure whether they got off at a higher rate of pay. So, we're collecting all that data that would help us be able to come up with these determinations, which would be their salary, how long they were on unemployment, how long you their age, how many different activities they participated in. We're looking at a lot of different factors to determine what we did had an effect. I'm not sure if I answered that well.

It is helpful if the evaluator looks at what the program is and what data they need in order to do the evaluation in order to help us move forward with our program. So, I think it is a real collaboration with respect to data.

I just found that the variables that we use for the profiling of the age, education, job tender, occupation, industry codes, UI claim history, labor market information, wage history, and the search activities and that they're taking. So, they're all the variables that we're looking at to determine the effectiveness of our program and to find out who's being profiled to attend our workshops. Sure.

Our previous evaluator actually went around to certain centers. They watched the process. They sat in on the IRP. So, you'll get an opportunity to do that to even assess whether we are asking the right types of questions, and how we're engaged. The initial study was also a study that helped us fine-tune our program.

III. Closing Remarks

Before we conclude this meeting, please remember that for an official response, all questions should be submitted to me in writing via eMMA and or email. All questions and answers will be posted on eMMA.

This concludes the pre-proposal conference for Maryland Reemployment Services and Eligibility

Assessments, eMMA RFP #: BPM050983. Thank you for attending and have a great day.

The conference ended at 1:38 p.m.