RFP_CV24-108_FAQs_1.16.25.pdf

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Request for Proposals #CV24-108

Questions and Answers as of 1/16/2025

Timeline

1. Can the current proposal deadline be moved from January 20th at 5pm to January 27th at 5pm?

No, the proposal deadline of January 20, 2025 may not be moved.

The new deadline is now January 29, 2025 at 5pm PST.

2. What is the due date for the letters of commitment that is specified in Attachment 2, Section G

A letter of commitment is not required for this solicitation, however you make include a letter of commitment with your proposal.

Administrative & Personnel

1. Is there currently a vendor working on this effort? If so, please provide the name of the vendor as well as the associated contract term (start/end date), and dollar amount.

No vendor is currently working on this effort.

2. In Exhibit A – Scope of Work, Section D. Location of Services, it states “…The Contractor may be required to perform some of the services, under this Agreement, onsite at California Volunteers office located at 1400 Tenth Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.” Please advise on the number of times the Contractor may need to travel to Sacramento over the contract term.

The Contractor may be asked to travel to Sacramento periodically throughout contract period, but not more than twice.

3. How many visits to California Volunteers office located at 1400 Tenth Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 are expected during the contract period?

The Contractor may expect to visit the California Volunteers office located at 1400 Tenth Street, Sacramento CA 95814 a maximum of two times throughout the contract period.

Governor’s Office of Service & Community Engagement / California Volunteers (CV)

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Effort

Posted 1/10/2025

Budget

1. Is it acceptable to modify the Contractor Cost Sheet / Cost by Task to include additional tasks and or subtasks?

Yes, as long as deliverables are accounted for and the total budget does not exceed $500,000.

2. Is it acceptable to modify the General Cost Proposal Worksheet to include different or additional job title/classifications?

Yes, as long as deliverables are accounted for, and the total budget does not exceed $500,000.

3. In Exhibit A – Scope of Work, Section F. Cost, under Restrictions, it states “Any and all travel costs or incidentals must be covered by the Contractor and are not the responsibility of the State under this agreement.” Please confirm that this means travel costs should not be included within the $500,000 budget

Travel costs should be included in the budget. We recommend you review Exhibit B, Section A before submitting your cost sheet. It states “If there are any travel expenses outlined in the budget, then expenses are not to exceed the travel and per diem rates set at the rate specified by CalHR for similar employees or verification supplied that such rates are not available to the contractor.”

4. Will payment for the event sponsorships come from this contract funds or handled separately?

Payment for event sponsorships and registrations will come from the contract funds.

5. Will payment for printed collateral come from the contract funds or handled separately?

Payment for printed collateral will come from the contract funds.

6. Will payment for the event materials come from this contract funds or handled separately?

Payment for event materials will come from the contract funds.

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Effort

Tasks & Deliverables

1. Is there any specific software and/or databases that the Contractor is required to use for this contract?

The Contractor may use whichever software protects the personal information of the contacts collected, has capability to capture notes pertaining to each contact as/if needed, and allows for an export in .csv format.

2. Is there an expected response rate or can the contractor recommend response rate(s)?

A trusted messenger response rate of 50% may be expected.

3. Can other research instruments be used?

If other research instruments are within budget and appropriate to the scope of work, yes.

4. If interviews or focus groups are used, will they have to be in person or virtual?

Interviews or focus groups may be conducted in-person or virtually.

5. Will a research database of high school students be provided to sample from?

A research database of high school students will not be provided.

6. What are the goals of research?

The goals of the research are to identify the ideal target recruitment audience for potential California Service Corps members, including but not limited to their character traits and motivations, where and how to reach them, and who their trusted messengers are (including trusted messengers’ character traits and motivations, and where and how to reach them).

7. Respondents being of high school age, are there any sample restrictions and or requirements?

California Volunteers does not have existing templates or information related to conducting research with minors. If your research plan includes focus groups or

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Effort surveys with individuals 13-17 years of age, we recommend consulting available resources for conducting ethical research with children to ensure we’re adhering to relevant privacy and safety guidelines.

8. Using English and Spanish are specified, but what happens if the research indicates other languages are required?

We would be willing to consider expanding the scope of translation services if research indicates that materials in languages other than English and Spanish would greatly benefit member recruitment for California Service Corps programs.

9. Will travel be required for any part of this contract?

Yes. The Contractor will be expected to represent California Service Corps as an exhibitor at 10 - 15 events/conferences.

10. Will the trusted messengers receive renumeration for their participation in events? If so, will payments be covered by the contractor or by California Volunteers?

If the Contractor decides to conduct focus groups with trusted messengers, then trusted messengers may receive renumeration for participation in focus groups.

That audience may not receive renumeration for participating in any other activities.

11. Are there any incentives or compensation for trusted messengers?

Currently, no. If a bidder is interested in conducting focus groups with trusted messengers, then trusted messengers may receive renumeration for participation in focus groups. That audience may not receive renumeration for participating in any other activities.

12. What is the compensation / incentive for the trusted messengers to promote California Service Corps?

Trusted messengers will not receive compensation for promoting California Service Corps. Trusted messengers are individuals with a vested interest in supporting our target recruitment audience in growing their technical skills, professional network, access to higher education and other related benefits of these paid service programs.

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Effort

13. What are the details of the program that a trusted messenger is expected to convey?

Trusted messengers are expected to convey the financial, educational and professional benefits of California Service Corps programs, as well as how to get more information.

14. Are there any specifics regions and counties for recruiting trusted messengers?

Trusted messenger relationship connections should be fostered across the state, with particular attention focused on Central Valley, Bay Area, Inland Empire and Los Angeles.

15. Are events a major source of trusted messenger recruitment?

Conferences/events that target trusted messengers can be a strong source of trusted messenger recruitment.

16. Can you explain the terms target audience and trusted messengers? How are they different?

Target audience in the RFP refers to individuals California Volunteers would like to recruit to become California Service Corps paid service members, such as high school seniors. Trusted messengers are individuals with personal or professional relationships with the recruitment target audience, such as high school counselors, teachers and sports coaches.

17. Can you provide a better understanding of target audience? Is that trusted messengers? Are we developing people to be trusted messengers?

The target audience for people we are securing to become trusted messengers for California Service Corps program opportunities are individuals with direct access to soon to be high school graduates, such as high school counselors.

There are some already established relationships, but our goal is to expand that network more broadly. We want to focus on grassroots network building. Our established relationships are not likely to overlap much, if at all, with the target audience of individuals we'd like to secure to become trusted messengers for this effort.

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Effort

18. Is the primary goal to find trusted messengers? Is this creating a profile for a type or crafting a list of people?

Yes, the goal is to create a list of people to contact and build upon. We want to learn more about those trusted messengers, build a process for gathering that information, secure a connection with them, and ensure that the relationships are transferred to California Volunteers.

19. Is engagement outside of the education space okay for trusted messenger recruitment?

We're open to hearing justifications for this but our intention is to activate those trusted messengers in the education space or those who have direct contact and/or access to potential applicants.

20. Will California Volunteers provide the selected contractor with current marketing items i.e., logos, videos, etc. for use to develop items for the tabling and outreach events?

California Volunteers will provide relevant existing assets (logos, videos, etc.), and the design files for additional materials as determined by the Contractor and California Volunteers Project Manager. The Contractor is responsible for production of these materials (including but not limited to flyers, door hangers, stickers, banners, tablecloths, etc.).

21. Is the expectation that the conferences and sponsorship events will be held across the entire state?

Yes. The Contractor will be expected to represent California Service Corps as an exhibitor at 10 - 15 events/conferences hosted by external organizations that reach trusted messengers and/or target recruitment audiences for California Service Corps programs, as well as manage sponsorship at 3 - 5 events/conferences across the state. The selected events/conferences will be chosen in an agreement between California Volunteers and the contractor.

22. In terms of priority audiences are there any priority regions in the state that you'd like the vendor to focus on?

The Central Valley and Bay Area are priority regions, but the Contractor should plan for outreach in areas across the state where we have active service programs.

California Service Corps Pipeline Building Effort

23. What is the current distribution of volunteers across the organizations under the California Volunteer umbrella?

The current distribution of paid service members across the California Service Corps programs is about 34% Youth Service Corps, 32% AmeriCorps California, 30% #CaliforniansForAll College Corps and 4% California Climate Action Corps.

24. Will the contractor utilize California Volunteers social media platforms or is the expectation that the contractor will utilize their own?

California Volunteers' owned social media platforms will be utilized for recruitment purposes.