Questions & Answers

ARPA Innovations in Workforce Development Frequently Asked Questions

Question Response

Can you braid other funds with this funding? Such as supportive services to solve the target audience's barriers.

Yes.

What is the maximum amount for each grant?

There is no maximum amount of funding per grant.

Are online and/or hybrid programs eligible?

Yes, as long as they meet the other criteria for the grant.

Are vendors responsible for recruiting, or does the state provide individuals to vendors through various county workforce development organizations?

Vendors/providers are responsible for recruiting participants.

If you are on the HELC (Higher Education Licence Commission) list in Delaware, do you still have to have a business license?

Yes.

Is there space to rent at the AJC? No.

Can training be delivered on weekends?

Yes.

Are subcontractors allowed? Yes, there are directions in the RFP regarding what you will need to submit for subcontractors.

Do national nonprofits require a DE Business License?

No.

If we don't represent one of your focus industries, can we speak with someone to determine whether our

Other industries will be considered.

application would be considered?

Was it mentioned that this email address has an underscore just before ‘Contracting’?

It was, but the correct email is DWDBDETContracting@delaware.go v, with no underscore. The window for submitting questions closed on July 10, 2024.

Can training providers wait until approved to obtain a Delaware business license if they are from another state?

To train Delawareans, our out-of-state providers must have a certificate of approval as a post-secondary private business and trade school. Out-of-state ETPL providers have worked with DOE to get this approval, and the same would be true for this RFP.

Can we get access to current programs offered by the industry?

These are listed on DWDB’s website.

Select “click here” at the top of the page to download the list.

Will our programs be required to be on the ETPL?

No.

Is there a goal for the number of participants you seek to serve?

No, the provider will set the number based on capacity and estimate how many people they can serve.

You mentioned participants need to receive a credential. Is proof of the credential required? Copy of the credential? something similar to WIOA requirements

No evidence of credentials is currently required.

Are candidates required to have a High School diploma to enroll in classes?

Only if the provider requires it.

Will vendors have access to your system?

Yes, vendors will have access to the system.

What type of information should we provide in our proposal to justify the need for a program we are implementing?

Please see the RFP. Market labor information, economic development information in terms of a new industry or emerging industry, and communities of need are examples mailto:DWDBDETContracting@delaware.gov mailto:DWDBDETContracting@delaware.gov https://labor.delaware.gov/wdb/jobseekers/ of supporting data.

Are high school diploma programs eligible for funding if certification is required?

Yes.

Would CNA programs qualify to apply?

Delaware already offers several CNA programs. There would have to be a new or innovative aspect of the program.

Since we use your system, we don't have to use the WIOA common six measures. Can we add our own customized measures?

Yes. Providers will work with the DWDB to determine outcomes and measures.

Are we required to test students for reading and math levels before enrolling?

You are not required to do so.

However, if you do identify a candidate who requires assistance in those areas, additional support from the DWDBmay be available.

What is the age range for participants?

18 and older

Is there a required follow-up period post-training by the vendor?

No. The period of performance for the grant will go through December 2026.

Do you know roughly the number of Delaware residents who enroll in local or federally-funded training each year?

Last week, the DOL served 1,342 people, but numbers tend to be lower in the summer.

The RFP states that “more info will be found at www.bids.delaware.gov,” but the link does not work. Is there a better URL?

The correct link is https://mmp.delaware.gov/Bids.

Will you support providers in connecting participants with jobs in Maryland?

Yes. The DWDB acknowledges that participants may be trained in Delaware and work elsewhere, given the small nature of the state.

Who handles residency proof? Will the training provider collect the

The provider is responsible.

https://mmp.delaware.gov/Bids documents of residency?

Does the organization have to be registered with the background check center?

No.

How do we handle situations where the training provider may find that the person is not a good fit for the program? Is that something the provider must do independently, or will the DWDB help with the policy?

The provider should use their own policies when individuals are enrolled in training programs.

Providers should ensure they have a policy in place to ensure equity.

Out of the industries listed in the RFP, which ones are focused on less?

Are there industries that could be better served with more training and awareness?

There are emerging industries including clean, green, and blue energy or biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Obviously, with the bipartisan infrastructure dollars coming into all the states, there's also an increase in manufacturing.

If we deliver online training/assessments, are there preferred vendors/platforms you want us to work with? Or do we assume the hosting?

The DWDB does not have preferred vendors, and the provider would assume the hosting of any online training aspects.

Once the award has been made, is there a required kickoff date for starting the first cohort?

All work should be completed by December 2026, and money should be spent by then. There is no required kickoff date, but the providers are expected to meet the expected outcomes regularly over the life of the grant.

We are an online education content provider deemed exempt by the Delaware Department of Education’s Private Business and Trade School Department. They have said that we are exempt from entity oversight as the board does not claim jurisdiction over out-of-state entities. I wanted to confirm that we are still eligible to submit.

Out-of-state providers must have a certificate of approval as a post-secondary private business and trade school to train Delawareans.

We have out-of-state ETPL providers that have worked with DOE to get this approval. The same would be true for this RFP.

Is there an expectation that the training is to be delivered free of charge to participants? Are there any fees or costs that can be expected to be handled by the participants, either for the training or for any recommended ancillary resources?

There is no expectation that training is free. Although we are looking for training that will help mitigate barriers to employment for unemployed and underemployed individuals. Training fees may be perceived as a barrier.

Full Transcript (Edited for grammar & punctuation) Pre-bid Meeting Tuesday, July 9, 2024 10:00 - 11:00 AM via Zoom

0:00 - Joanna Staib This meeting is being recorded. Please drop your name and your organization into the chat; we would appreciate it. Good morning, everybody.

My name is Joanna Staib. I am the Executive Director for the Delaware Workforce Development Board. If you are on this pre-bid meeting, this is for the Workforce Innovation RFP that we currently have listed on the bids webpage for the state of Delaware. We will quickly go over just some of the highlights in the RFP. We'll have an opportunity for questions at the end, so just put your questions on or drop them into the chat, and we can monitor them or wait till the end, and we can go over it. Today, we will do a quick overview of the RFP and review some important dates, the scope of work, and again, some important information, questions, and closing out. This RFP is a little bit different than what we typically post. The Delaware Workforce Development Board received some ARPA funding to look at new innovative training programs, things that are not currently offered here in the state of Delaware or non-traditional training delivery methods, and the backbone of this is that it must help people in Delaware find employment opportunities in high growth, high demand or emerging industries. It needs to target individuals who are unemployed or underemployed here in the state of Delaware, and again, these funds are American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Some of the industries that the board is focused on currently right now are the growth industries that align with our economic development here in the state. They align with our high-growth, high-demand industries here in the state, but some of the industries of focus are construction, skilled trades, biotech, fintech, advanced manufacturing, IT, and then some of these new economies that are coming out the clean, green and blue economy.

These are some of the industries that we just highlighted. It doesn't mean that we're not looking at other industries, but these are some of the ones we've highlighted that the board has an interest in.

6:13 - Joanna Staib Again, the target audience for these proposals must be unemployed or underemployed Delawareans. They need to be 18 years or older. They must be eligible to work in the United States. You don't only have to target women in your proposed program, but again, when you think about some of the non-traditional delivery methods, sometimes caregivers are the first ones that need those non-traditional delivery methods. So, just keep that in mind when thinking about your proposal, but again, they need to be individuals facing barriers to employment. So, for the important dates and my team, if I still need to include something, just chime in. So again, some of the important dates, and some of these have passed, are public notices, which we put up on June 21st. You're all here at the pre-bid meeting on July 9th. Any questions you have regarding this RFP, you can ask us today, or you can send in your questions via email and the directions are in the RFP on how to do that. We will answer all the questions that we can. If there are questions that we need to look through before we answer them, we will do that, but we will post the questions in the same place where you saw the RFP. So, the DelawareBids.gov website is the best one. Answers to those questions will be posted.

8:00 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board by July 10th. Yes, the questions' deadline is July 10th, but we will not be posting by July 10. Questions will be posted by July 19th.

8:17 - Joanna Staib Okay, just note, thank you. Just notice that that's the same date, but they will be posted, and we will drop in when that will be posted by July 19th. You can find any answers to the questions on July 19th on the website. This is the most important date if you plan on submitting. You must submit your proposal.

We need to receive your proposal no later than 1 p.m. on August 2nd. I'm going to repeat that. We must receive your proposal no later than 1 pm. So let me just tell you, if you hit send at 1 pm, we will not receive it at 1 pm. So my suggestion is that you get it in well before or you hit that send button well before that one o'clock. We've had to deny programs to move forward because they do not submit them by that time period. We do that because we have a very tight time period where we have to collect the proposals. We need to review them. We need to make sure all the documentation is in and then we need to get them to the panelists with enough time for them to have enough time to review the proposals by the time we're making these funding decisions. So that is very, very important. The other very important thing with your proposal is to make sure that everything that we request from that proposal is submitted. So if there's a request for a live signature, that means you print it, and you sign it, and you scan it back in, and you email it that way.

Again, please adhere to those because we don't want to have to deny a proposal just because we didn't receive it by 1 p.m. or there wasn't a signature or whatever was that wasn't submitted, did not come with it. We do have a panelist review that happens between the 5th and the 20th, and we estimate notification awards will go out sometime in mid-September. Again, those dates can adjust slightly, but that's what we're thinking. Anything I missed on that, Terry?

10:42 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board No, that sounds good.

10:45 - Joanna Staib Okay, scope of services. So this is what we're looking for. So, if you are responding to this RFP. You really need to be thinking about what you're submitting. Create or expand new and innovative training programs. So again, that is a new training program. So, is it something that we don't currently offer here in the state of Delaware? Is it new? Is it an emerging occupation or industry that's coming to the state of Delaware that we need to have training for? Or, again, this idea of a non-traditional training delivery method. So, is there something that you're solving with the way that you're delivering the training? And you need to be very clear about that. So, is it a new way that you're delivering the training in terms of the program? And again, high growth, high demand, emerging industries. And we are looking at this as a statewide. I know some of you may not operate as a statewide entity, but we will look at this in terms of like a statewide and how funding is distributed. So, if you are here because you have a current program that you're looking for funding for, this isn't the RFP for you. So, unless it's something new that you are adding to the program potentially, or if it's a different way that you want to deliver the training, that, you know, that's a possibility. But if it's just a program that you currently run, this is not the that is a requirement of ARPA. And so we need to be making sure that we're putting people back into jobs or putting them into higher paying jobs if they're underemployed. We need to make sure that we're targeting those individuals that face barriers to employment. As with everything that the board invests in, programs must need a credential, some kind of new skill, something that would lead to an increase in employment or higher wages. So these are programs that need to have some kind of credential or outcome that's attached to it. Okay, eligible applicants, this is typical for us, for-profit, non-profit, educational entities, community service providers, and training providers that have demonstrated the ability and experience to implement and administer workforce development programs. So pretty much covers a lot of people, but just an FYI. So, as with everything that the board does, if you're an organization or a business that's currently debarred or suspended, if you're ineligible to conduct business in the state of Delaware, you know, again, do not respond to this RFP. As we stated before, the funding source for this is the American Rescue Plan Act, the ARPA, whose estimated total funding amount is probably a little bit less than that. So we've, you know, but it's going to be no more than 25 to 2.5 million. And again, that's probably a little bit less right now. We do not have a limit on the number of awards that we're going to give. We're going to make a determination by the quality of the proposals that are submitted and the available funding that we have. We must, as with all ARPA, commit or obligate our dollars by December 31, 2024.

And this is important as well. All money must be spent. We must have it at the door by December 31, 2026. So, if you are submitting for a sort of development and implementation for a program, you just need to keep in mind that you only have two years to finalize this contract and all the dollars out of the door. If we, by chance, have other state or federal funds that become available, we may add them to the solicitation. So, with the funding, some of the things that you can use the funding for are in terms of your budget. So again, there's a budget template in the proposal. Staff salary, fringe, assessment, certification, tuition, employer training, participant training, stipends, supportive services, and materials. So those are some of the things that you can use the funding for.

15:42 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board Sorry, Mr. Dosis, if you're able to mute. Thank you.

15:51 - Joanna Staib Okay, so proposal information. So, minimum requirements, again, are also stated in the RFP. So, all providers must have a State of Delaware license or certification that says they can provide services. So you must have documentation of the state of Delaware business license or nonprofit status.

Or if you are not required to have a state of Delaware business license, we want you to submit that in the proposal as well. You need to complete and submit the proposal submission template. So all the questions that are in there in the template are what we want you to answer. So make sure if you are, you know, moving to a Word document that you make sure you transfer all of the questions over and answer them all completely. There are forms that must be submitted as well with the RFP when you submit your proposal.

There are business references. There's, you know, the attachment for which has your business name, mailing address, all that stuff. So, just make sure you've submitted everything that is in the proposal as it is laid out in the template. So these are some of the areas in which we're going to ask you to answer questions. There may be specific questions under each of these. We are going to ask you for your organizational background. Program details, outcomes, and a sustainability plan. This is one-time funding. So again, know, ARPA dollars, one-time funding, if you're going to start a program, we want to know if you can sustain that program outside of funding that you would receive from us. So there needs to be a sustainability plan in there. The budget and your timeline, and again, your references. What I'll say here, too, is be concise. Sometimes more information is just muddled in the proposal, and it sometimes could get confusing. So be concise, be clear, be thorough, but be concise with all of this information. Okay, so in terms of how the board and I know some of you are familiar with this, but how we sort of review proposals. So proposals will come in [and then] staff, workforce development board staff. We'll go through and make sure that everything is submitted, that we are requesting. And so, you know, live signatures, the template, the budget, everything, the business references, everything is complete, and the package is whole. Once that vetting is done, then it moves over to a panel.

And so what happens here is that the panel will receive all the proposals that made it through the intake. And then they read through and they... the score based on the criteria. Again, it's up here on the screen, but it is also listed in the RFP. So again, those last areas that we just talked about, there are very well-defined criteria for each of these and the amount of points that you can receive in that section. So again, regarding the background, make sure your proposals clearly describe your organization and the experience that you have implementing workforce training programs or similar programs. Make sure that you're clearly stating your partnerships and the details, so making sure that you are just highlighting what the high growth, high demand, the industry that you're focused on, or the occupation that you have adequate resources to address barriers, that you are showing a feasible timeline, and that you are addressing a particular need in the community, whether that is in a particular community or as the state, and then outcomes. So, we want you to identify and tell us the outcomes that you plan to track. If you've done similar programs, or if you've done work for the, you know, for the board in the past, there are federally negotiated outcomes that are available. So that might be one thing. If you've done programs in other states, you know, tell us what your outcomes are, tell us how you track that. Again, a strong sustainability plan for operating the program once the ARPA dollars are no longer budgeted. Again, it's really important for you to really make sure that you're identifying each budget line that you need, and making sure that you're listing that. so that we have an understanding of what the budget is in full and what those dollars are going towards. And here's this idea of bonus points. So, are you targeting specific marginalized populations or hard-to-employ populations? And then because we don't have a lot of offerings in Kent and Sussex County, are there any programs being offered in Kent or Sussex? We do have a lot of programs that are in Newcastle County, but Kent and Sussex, have some challenges. So, the contact information and where you need to send your proposal, and there should be an underscore here, is to make sure that you're sending it to the correct email. We've had some people send some programs, and some of their proposals to the wrong email, and if it doesn't come to the correct email, we don't receive it. So again, make sure you're checking and double-checking that email in the RFP. And again, you can send questions to that email as well. So, my team, does anybody have anything that I've missed or that we need to cover?

22:18 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board

So it's lucky. One thing that I'll say is when this debt will be provided with good morning, I'm sorry. Good morning, everyone. First and foremost, this document will be presented with questions. And the email address on this on the last slide, just make sure and we'll correct it for you. It's gov. It's dot gov.

So it looks like go, and then you see the bee, but just making sure. But to that point, just want to make sure and tell you now, but it'll be other directions that if by chance you haven't received A receipt saying, hey, thank you for your submission within today's, there will be additional instructions that will make sure that you know, you hear from someone from the office. So if it's been today, you submitted it, and you didn't get that receipt saying, thank you for receipt of your proposal. Also, you will have additional instructions.

They are not listed there now, but you do want to go back to review questions and to look and make sure that you have that portion. It will be, this will be appended, and it will be there so you'll know what to follow because we have had someone or a case where something was, you know, blacklisted by our IT department, and we didn't know. Right, so we just want to make sure that you follow that; please don't let it be. Oh, five days after the proposal deadline, and then you're saying, oh, well, I submitted it on time. You may have, but we were asking that you contact us as soon as, you know, within that two-day period so that we can really research if needed and just make sure if you didn't receive anything from us, did you use the correct email address? That may be a flaw as well. So we just want to make sure that you're in that time frame when you're submitting Joanna has already stated you want to make sure that you submit your question; everything that's there is listed, and that's what the evaluators will be looking for. So you want it to be as organized as the sink as possible.

24:53 - Joanna Staib That's the only thing that I really wanted to add. Awesome. Yeah, so if you submit and you do not get an email back, that says, thank you received your proposal. I mean, we don't have it. Something went wrong. So just don't let weeks go by and then say, you know, hey, did you get my proposal? Okay, so there are some questions in the chat. So I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that. What is the maximum amount for each grant? There's no maximum. You need to just submit what your budget, what you need for your budget. Can you braid other funds with this funding source, such as support of services to solve for target? Yes, you can. Yes, please braid if you can. Are online and our hybrid programs eligible? Yes, as long as they meet all the criteria. What is the funding cap that an approved proposal can receive? We don't have caps. We don't determine that. You need to determine what your program, what you need for your program and submit. Are vendors responsible for recruiting? Does the state provide individuals to then there's through various county workforce development organizations? You are responsible for recruitment as well. I mean, we do have a local American job center, we have ways to promote programs, but we, you know, you are responsible for recruitment. Okay. Does anybody have other questions outside of what we just reviewed?

26:36 - Ashley Nichols I think there was an additional one.

26:38 - Joanna Staib Okay. Hello, if you are on the H E L C list in Delaware, do you still have to have a business license in the state of DE? What's the HELC? Does anybody know what it's ELC? Oh, higher education license commission. I'd have to look into that. I would. I would. What's your organization, Nicole? Okay. Again, so I'll have to look into that. I'm not 100% sure we haven't had that before. Okay. Is there space to rent at the AJC's? There might be opportunities for a table at an AJC on a particular day or time, but we don't have space to rent. Can training be delivered on weekends? Yep. Are subcontractors allowed? Yes, there is. There should be a subcontractor form in the RFP. Does it mention that this email address has an underscore? Yeah, I might have been wrong because I never emailed that. Terry, can you confirm? It's DWDBDETContracting.

28:31 - Ashley Nichols Yeah, I don't think we have an underscore.

28:38 - Joanna Staib That was confirming. National non-profits do not require, yeah, if you're a non-profit, shouldn't, didn't know about Delaware Business License. I'm assuming that's national as well, but we can confirm that.

28:57 - Wanda.holifield Joanna, Nicole springs

29:00 - Joanna Staib to put our business up there.

29:01 - Wanda.holifield Tom, it's associates. Oh, whole project training. Okay.

29:10 - Joanna Staib Nicole, let, let us, uh, let me just double-check that and we'll put it in with the answers when we post. We don't represent one of your industries of focus.

Can we speak with somebody to determine whether our application would be considered? I would submit, uh, know, if again, those are areas that were that we've identified that we may want to focus on, but it doesn't mean that we're ruling out other industries. Can we get access to the current programs that are being offered by industry online? If you go to the Delaware Workforce

Development Board’s website under training providers. There is a current list of our eligible training providers and the program. Um, it is being updated right now. We're in our renewal, so you could just look at like what what is currently there, but again, that's going to be updated probably within the next week.

30:12 - Ashley Nichols And that's under that.

30:16 - Joanna Staib Okay. We'll progress. We're required to be on the ETPL out now. Programs will not be required to be on the ETPL. Um, can training providers wait until awarded to obtain a Delaware business license if they're from another state?

Let me hold off on answering that. We've done in the past where a business license must be required before a contract is signed, but I just want to double-check a couple of things. Yeah. We are the eligible training providers.

List in DC in Maryland. Okay. I mean, yeah, I mean, we like to see other programs on the ETPL because we know that they've been vetted by other states. So we just need to double-check that higher education. We get access to the current programs. Okay. Yeah, they're on the D they're on. Actually, let me let me drop the Delaware Workforce Development Board’s website. Copy to everyone. So again, there's our website. And if you go under the job speaker tab, there is a list. It says click here, which is almost in the middle of the page. Are you interested in skilling reskilling or upskilling? Those are the current eligible training providers. Sorry. Those are the ones that we just went through. We know we have the State that list, but at least you can get an idea of like, what are the programs that we have available here in the state? Uh, no, we do not put goals. So somebody asks, is there a goal for the number of participants you're seeking to serve? We do not set goals. Providers need to determine that based on your capacity to train or how many cohorts you could do based on budget capacity.

32:34 - Bobbi Vernon Okay.

32:38 - Joanna Staib Anything else? We could stay on for a while. If you can, if you want to review, we typically will stay on until the end of the meeting and answer questions as they come up.

32:50 - Fran, Social Contract Joanna, one thing I would add in terms of funding is that the only things that this funding can't cover are capital expenditures. Um, so the purchase of the building, things of that nature would not be eligible for this.

33:12 - Joanna Staib You mentioned participants need to receive a credential. Is proof of the credential required? Well, we've never. Do we need to provide proof? Well, we've never asked anybody to upload the proof, but we want your program to have a connection to a copy of the credential, something so little. So are you like, so one of the things is if you are if the program is. When you're running a cohort of individuals, you will be required to upload them into our case management system. And so there's probably a place in there in terms of the credential that will need to be uploaded. I'll have to go back and double-check. But I mean it; I guess I'm thrown off a little bit by that question. There needs to be a credential received. If we, want to, if we feel it is necessary that we want that to be sent to us, we will ask for it. Are candidates required to have a high school diploma to enroll in classes? That would be based on what your minimum requirement would be. I know there are some programs where you must have a high school diploma. There are other programs where they get, you know, concurrently with the program, they'll get a high school diploma and do training at the same time. Please, if you have not, there seem to be a lot of people on. If you have not dropped your name and your organization in the chat, please do so now. I don't think we've got as many people as are on. Yes, vendors will have. I have access to our system. do we know what's called the lower job link or the American, uh, sorry, the, uh, AJLA. Okay, what type of information should we provide an approach to justify the need for a program we are implementing could be market labor information, and it could be, um, you know, you know, economic development information in terms of a new industry and emerging industry.

Um, it could be, um, you know, communities of need. Uh, so you just, you know, that's going to be based on what you're submitting for. Are High school diploma programs eligible for funding if required for certification?

High school diplomas, eligible for. Okay, so would it be like, uh, are you talking about, uh, you know, somebody receiving their GED or high school diploma while they're in training? If there's clarification on that. With CNA programs qualified to apply. We have a lot of CNA programs here in the state of Delaware, so unless it's something that a different way to administer or deliver the programming. I mean, again, I'm not telling you not to apply. So, Michaela, I think it is our high school diploma programs eligible for funding if required for certification. Can you just elaborate on that?

37:23 - Micaela Pearson Do you want me to come off the mute or just go through the chat? Yeah, yeah. That's fine. The question is, if there's an online high school completion option through our training organization, is that eligible to be funded in conjunction with a core certification?

37:39 - Joanna Staib I can't see why I wouldn't be.

37:41 - Micaela Pearson I would submit for it. Okay.

38:00 - Joanna Staib Thank you. I just would hate to get somebody into a certification, but they can't get a job without the diploma. So. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We talk about that. Fact, you just, we just, Terri and I were just talking about this earlier this morning. Um, you know. Excellent. Thank you so much. Sure. Since we're using your system, we don't have to use the we owe a common six measure.

Can we add our own customized measures? Um, Yeah. Oh, listen, I'll have to think about that one and how we would do that in our system. Um, but I think it's possible, but I'm me get back to you on that. Let me answer that one. Hi, Glenn. Are we required to test students for reading about those before?

38:53 - Dea Coleman No, none unless you require it. We don't want that to be a deterrent though.

Uh, we'd like to figure out if they don't pass reading or math levels, how do we get them to a point where they can.

39:09 - Joanna Staib In order to participate. Okay, what is the age range? You just have to have to be 18 or older. Is a required follow-up care for post-training by the vendor. So, yeah, it seems as if a lot of people are very familiar with the WIOA and the way that we fund and how we back this up. So just remember that this is different. It is a different bucket of money. And so, while we do want to show that there are outcomes. And that we do have, we do have our federally negotiated outperformance. If it's not something that sort of aligned with that, you just need to tell us what the outcomes and what you're tracking would be. So it feels like people are very familiar with WIOA, but these are different funding dollars. So we have the ability to adjust sort of the performance or the outcomes to fit what the program is. And that might be something that we have to go back and negotiate with you with if they're if we wanted to go forward with your proposal. So just keep that in mind, like think about what you want to implement.

40:33 - Dea Coleman And again, it may be that you are developing the program.

40:39 - Joanna Staib It may be that you want to develop the program and then, you know, then you have a sustainability plan and then you implement it after the dollars. So you just think about it in that way; don't think about it and only WIOA outcomes. So, Ray, we will work with you and follow you until the contract is done, and so what we determine your outcomes and your follow-up and post-training looks like that will be done during contract negotiation. Does that make sense, Ray?

41:23 - Ray Bell Yes, it does. I'm so WIOA driven because we were ready for Friday, was just stuck in my head but trust me, I'm loving this, I'm loving this comparison to WIOA, trust me.

41:41 - Joanna Staib Will the recording be accessible to be at the same link used to join the call?

Fran, we have the. I know you're doing a recording, but you're only doing the transfer, right?

41:54 - Fran, Social Contract Yeah, it would just be a transcript.

41:56 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board So we have the next will be available. with the questions that we're hearing that will be embedded.

42:10 - Fran, Social Contract Yeah, so what we'll post is the deck as well as questions and we're recording the questions.

42:33 - Joanna Staib So we will just continue to hang out. So you're welcome to stay on. You're welcome to drop off. If in 10 minutes you think of something else you want to pop back in, pop back in. You're welcome just to hang out with us. But we do appreciate you joining. We appreciate your interest in this. This is a very large crowd, larger than we have ever that I've ever seen before. So, that's exciting for the state of Delaware to really think that there could be some new opportunity. These four individuals here in the state, so we appreciate that.

Hi, Wanda Gibson.

43:12 - Wanda Gibson Hi, how are you?

43:14 - Joanna Staib Nice to see you.

43:16 - Wanda Gibson Thanks.

43:17 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board

I think that a few people did drop off, but we do know that question. If you don't think of anything now and you have questions, they should follow the guidelines. If they're coming directly from the RFP, follow the guidelines listed like the section, and the page number. And we look forward to seeing those before tomorrow. We can email them to the same email address that you will be submitting so that we won't have them included in our response.

43:54 - Jessica Perdomo, SME Hey, that's it. How are you? Good. How are you?

43:58 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board I'm good.

44:23 - Ashley Nichols We have more questions.

44:26 - Joanna Staib Oh, okay. Do you have the number of Delaware residents who enroll in local or federal programs? Right, you're asking some hard questions this morning.

44:39 - Ray Bell I'm just curious about how many folks come through the doors each year to request training because as a DC and Maryland training provider, we're going to need to be boots on the ground, we've already identified a few partners that connect the locally, but we're so hands-on, we're going to be showing up to ourselves to do recruiting. So, I'm just going to want to get an idea of how many folks actually have an interest in training each year and know it.

45:05 - Joanna Staib You know, let me just pull up a, hang on, I can pull up a weekly report very quickly. Just to give you an idea, it's summertime. So it might be a little bit less. Let's see if it's in here. So, total walk-ins, again, this is one week; I'm just pulling the one report for all of our AJCs or 203, but total by email, by phone, by chat, that kind of thing. We had 1,342 that engage with us in some ways to perform, and again, that's one week. Okay. And that could be career services.

could be, you know, across the board. So, just an FYI. Okay. Okay. Oh, the link doesn't work. Okay. Is, uh, that's probably me.

46:27 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board So I just put it in to see that. I answered that for you. Like just for everybody.

So it's going to take you that link that I just dropped and will take me back to where you found this proposal. And that's where questions will be posted with responses.

48:00 - Joanna Staib

Again, we'll continue to hang out for another 15 minutes.

48:03 - Monterry Luckey-DEWorkforce Development Board But there's another question, Joanna.

48:05 - Joanna Staib Oh, OK. Will you support providers connecting participants in jobs in

Maryland? So, Fran, you might need to help me. We stated that it's Delawareans who receive it. But I don't think that we had anything in there about where they land in terms of a job, correct?

48:30 - Fran, Social Contract Yeah, that's correct.

48:31 - Joanna Staib Yeah. So as long as who you're engaging with in terms of the training is a

Delaware resident, because we do, you know, we are a small state, we have a lot of migration in and out. So if they, if you can place them in a company outside of it, it would be OK. Research is showing the wages for the same job are higher, a little bit higher in Maryland. The cost of living is a little lower here.

50:17 - Ray Bell I do have one more.

50:18 - Joanna Staib Sorry.

50:19 - Ray Bell Oh, yep. I typed it in there. Who handled residency? We've always collected documents for us. It was even on the wheel side. Well, the training provider collected that. Yeah.

50:43 - Joanna Staib Hello.

50:44 - Dea Coleman Hi. Hi. Do we have to be registered for the background check center or our academy?

50:52 - Joanna Staib Background check. Wanda, did you know what that is?

50:59 - Wanda.holifield No, we don't have to have that.

51:05 - Dea Coleman Hi, Miss Wanda.

51:06 - Wanda. Holifield program, correct? Well, we just have to see.

51:12 - Dea Coleman Definitely is not like on the ICA side. Okay.

51:16 - Wanda.holifield Okay. I just want to make sure. Thank you so much. You're certainly welcome.

51:21 - Dea Coleman Have a wonderful day.

51:53 - Ray Bell Thank you. Thank How do we handle situations where you do a great job of value, put somewhere in a program, and after a couple of weeks, maybe a month into it, the training provider may deem that the person's not a good fit? And I’d like to give you an example. So, we do CDL training, right? And the interview goes well, do a little assessment, the person's ready, a month then, they're starting to show up smelling like alcohol. And then we send a vote or say you're coming back next weekend, and they smell like alcohol again. So, at some point, it's probably not safe for the other students, the instructor, or the community at large because these folks get to go out on public roads and drive if someone showed up like that for training, and we think it's probably a good idea that that the person gets dismissed. But initially, everything was fine. Is that something we have on our own, or is there someone on your end that we would work with to execute the termination of participation?

53:13 - Wanda.holifield That was definitely your own. You're being your own. You use your own policies when individuals are enrolled in your training programs. So you must make sure that you document and have everything already set up and a policy in place so that you're not picking and choosing each person differently. You use the same policy for everyone. So get that together now if you don't have anything in writing about that.

53:41 - Ray Bell I'm sure you do. We do.

53:43 - Wanda.holifield We have to at a school. Yeah, but that will be policy with all you guys.

53:53 - Joanna Staib Well, other questions here. Are the industries listed in the RFP? Which ones do you find aren't focused on as much? Are there industries that could be better served with more training and awareness? Yeah, I mean, for sure, awareness and, you know, I don't know if there's anything that we would that I would identify as, like, aren't focused on as much. I mean, there are emerging industries when you think about clean green and blue or biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Obviously, with the bipartisan infrastructure dollars that are coming into all the states, there's an increase in manufacturing. yeah, I mean, there are definitely some emerging computing industries. So again, you just need to think about what it is that you are thinking about doing in terms of training and then having some data, some Delaware data, that could support what you want to do. And again, you could look at that eligible training. Provider list. It doesn't cover all of the training that we have here in the state of Delaware, but it does have a very good, it's a very good list. I think it's around 300 programs that are on the list currently.

So you'll have an idea of sort of like where some funding or where some dollars can be allocated. If we deliver online training assessments, are there preferred vendor platforms you want us to work with, or how do we assume the hosting? That's on you. If you're doing online delivery, you have to have that system set up and ready to go. You're it.

56:11 - Ray Bell Yeah, I grew up in this game. I'm almost there until the end, I might have one or two more, but this is just go for once the award has been made, and I apologize if I missed this in the documentation. Is there a required kickoff, like when would we need to have our first cohort start?

56:36 - Joanna Staib So, really, the award can be made. It could be, like I said, that we have to obligate the funds before December 31, 2024. And funds need to be spent and everything done by December 31, 2026. you know, we could even write a contract for two and a half years where it takes a longer, a little bit planning, you know, longer time to implement to do one. That's that, again. is going to be a negotiation between the proposals that the board wants to move forward with and the provider. Thank you, everybody. Again, you can look at the RFP. If you have any additional questions, you can send them in via the instructions that are in the RFP and we will get the answers posted within about 10 days. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day.