RFP No. 6420 - Strengthening Community College Training Grant Consultant.docx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP No. 6420

Strengthening Community College Training Grant Consultant

PROPOSALS DUE:

Friday, May 23, 2025, at 2:00 P.M.

Submit Proposals To:

Dennis Costello Purchasing Director costellod@macomb.edu bids@macomb.edu

Macomb Community College Purchasing Department 14500 E. Twelve Mile Road Warren, MI 48088-3896 (Mailing Address)

(586)-445-7308- Phone

INTRODUCTION

Macomb Community College (Macomb) is seeking proposals from qualified consultants/vendors to provide a developmental evaluation to ensure compliance with the U.S. Department of Labor’s guidelines and provide comprehensive reviews and recommendations for our Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant – Round 5 (SCC5).

BACKGROUND-MACOMB COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Macomb Community College (www.macomb.edu) is one of the nation’s leading community colleges, providing learning experiences to more than 38,000 students annually. Macomb nationally ranks in the top two percent for the number of associate degrees awarded and is the largest grantor of associate degrees in Michigan. The college’s comprehensive educational programming includes pre-collegiate experiences, university transfer and career preparation programs, bachelor’s degree completion and graduate degree programs, workforce training, professional education and certification, and continuing education and enrichment.

The college comprises 40 buildings across three campuses and a technical education center, covering over 400 acres. Macomb has approximately 1,400 employees (approximately 700 full-time employees) and 9 collective bargaining units. These groups include clerical staff, supervisory/technical employees, administrators, college police officers, police command officers, maintenance staff and faculty.

Macomb’s Mission: Transform lives and communities through the power of education, enrichment, and economic development.

Macomb’s Vision: Macomb Community College will be a leader in higher education, improving society through innovative learning experiences that create pathways for personal advancement and drive economic vitality.

Macomb’s Values:

Accountability: We take personal and collective responsibility for our actions to provide excellent services and experiences.

Collaboration: We rely on partnerships with students, employees, and the community to achieve our common goals.

Inclusion: We embrace individuals’ experiences to create a sense of belonging and empowerment for all students and employees.

Innovation: We foster creativity and agility to succeed in a constantly changing environment.

Integrity: We demonstrate high levels of professionalism, honesty, and ethical behavior throughout the institution.

Respect: We value all people and treat everyone with dignity.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Macomb Community College has been awarded the Strengthening Community College Training Grant – Round 5 (SCC5) from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. Our project titled Strengthening Healthcare Apprenticeships (SHA) will focus on the healthcare sector in the Metropolitan Detroit labor market, which includes Macomb County, where our college is located, as well as Lapeer, Livingston, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties. The grant award runs from February 1, 2025 – December 31, 2029.

The American healthcare industry faces complex challenges, including a shortage of workers and increasing demand for services. SHA proposes an apprenticeship pathway model that incorporates an innovative pre-apprenticeship program that will build the college’s capacity to meet the skill development needs of employers, support students in obtaining good jobs, and enhance our health career pathway apprenticeship programs for all students.

To that end, Macomb Community College is seeking a contracted consultant to assist with creating a developmental evaluation to ensure compliance with the DOL guidelines and outcomes as mentioned below.

SCOPE OF WORK

Consultant will:

· Design a developmental evaluation plan to assist grantees in tracking activities, documenting outcomes, and instituting a process for data review and analysis for determining whether the project is meeting goals of closing post-secondary education gaps and preparing students for Good Jobs as defined by the DOL.

· DRAFT plan due: November 1, 2025

· FINAL plan due: February 1, 2026

· Regular quarterly meetings with the grantee to assess and refine the evaluation plan is expected until the end of the contract.

· Co-create a cloud-based document sharing system

· Create a cadence of steps for grant staff to use when implementing the plan

· Annually assess outcomes of the grant. The grantee shall also incorporate the input gathered from the required worker and student voice efforts into annual data review and analysis. Annual process will address two key areas:

1. To determine whether the jobs that participants are being trained for and enter pay family-sustaining wages and offer skills and career advancement. This data review and analysis will help grantees build the capacity to undertake this type of analysis, understand whether they are training participants for good jobs, and make data-informed project management decisions with respect to training for good jobs.

2. To determine whether successful applicants are reducing their targeted post-secondary education gaps. The purpose is to help grantees build the capacity to do this type of analysis, understand whether they are reducing the gaps that directly or indirectly impact labor market outcomes for locally served communities, and make data-informed project management decisions with respect to addressing those gaps.

3. To determine if the grantee’s healthcare pre-apprentice model is working to improve student readiness for career pathways as healthcare workers. Pre/post surveys of both students and employers will be conducted by Macomb’s Institutional Research department.

Timeline for consultant deliverables:

· Annual consulting on or about: February 1, 2026, January 1, 2027, January 1, 2028, January 1, 2029

· Interim report due: on or about March 1, 2027

· Final report due: on or about December 1, 2029

· Comply with Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs) and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in relation to their role in ensuring ethical, legal, and secure data practices while evaluating the SCC5 grant.

· Incorporation of the usage of the following evaluation criteria to the project:

DOL's Chief Evaluation Office Resources-https://www.dol.gov/agencies/Prooasp/evaluation

Required Developmental Evaluation includes the following key aspects:

· Purpose: Supports data collection to provide real-time feedback for the planned intervention(s), allowing for potential adaptations to the intervention, and guiding refinement of evaluation questions.

· Using a Logic Model: Key components may include inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts to track implementation, facilitate continuous improvement, assess effectiveness, and support data-driven decision making.

· Roles and relationships: Evaluator is positioned as a collaborator and gathers data to provide feedback and support course correction as part of an ongoing process of continuous improvement, adaption, and intentional change. Evaluator is expected to meet with grantee as necessary and reasonable to meet the deadlines above.

· Examples of developmental evaluation questions: In what ways is this initiative evolving/developing with changing levels/quality of stakeholders’ involvement? What are the stakeholders learning from the ongoing iterations to the initiative? In what ways is design thinking or another framework influencing the initiative?

· Measurement: Grantee and evaluator develop evaluation measures and tracking mechanisms quickly as outcomes emerge; measures can change during the evaluation as the process unfolds.

· Criteria for this evaluation will be provided by the DOL.

INQUIRIES

Inquiries pertaining to this RFP are to be directed to:

Dennis Costello, Purchasing Director costellod@macomb.edu and bids@macomb.edu

Responses to clarifications will be shared with all organizations/individuals that were invited to submit a proposal. Macomb Community College will not be bound by any oral responses.

RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS

Interested consultants/vendors are invited to submit proposals in response to this RFP. Please include the following in your proposal:

To be considered for acceptance, all consultants/vendors wishing to submit a proposal must adhere to the following schedule:

Proposals must be received by 2:00 p.m. on May 23, 2025

Proposals should be submitted to:

Dennis Costello, Purchasing Director Macomb Community College 14500 E. Twelve Mile Road, Warren, MI 48088 E-mail: costellod@macomb.edu and bids@macomb.edu

Proposals should not include any zipped or executable files as these will be blocked by the College’s e-mail security appliance and may not be considered as received on time.

Proposals must be signed by an individual with authority to enter a binding contract and the authority of the individual signing must be stated thereon.

PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT

Responses should be submitted in electronic format (Microsoft Word, Excel or PDF and to the contact listed above.

Responses shall follow the section format as follows:

Section 1. Provide a company overview including core competencies and experience with grant management and auditing.

Section 2. Include a brief narrative or redacted resume of the qualifications of the employee(s) who will be assigned to Macomb, illustrating the candidate’s overall experience as a consultant or contractor specifically related to the scope of services defined in this document.

Section 3. The RFP response must include three customer references of similar scope and complexity.

Section 4. Provide a sample of your service contract for review.

Section 5. Proposed Fee- The consultant’s fee must include all costs for proposed professional services (e.g., license fees, modifications, travel and per diem, documentation, discounts, etc.).

Vendor must provide a price guarantee until 90 days after the May 23, 2025, proposal due date.

If the entire desired professional engagement described in the Scope of Services cannot be quoted at a fixed price, describe the portions of the project that can be delivered at a fixed price. Include a description of all deliverables. Include a description of each item or service the will not be part of a fixed cost. Show the item/service, the cost/rate and the unit. It is the College’s intent to establish known costs before a final contract is completed. For all variable priced items, describe how costs will be constrained and managed.

CONTACT PERSON

Please identify by name, telephone number, and e-mail address, the person or persons whom the College can address questions to during the evaluation of proposals.

AWARD OF PROPOSAL

The College may award a contract based upon the initial proposal without further discussion of such proposals. Accordingly, each initial proposal should be submitted with each respondent’s most favorable fee and service capabilities.

The College will award a contract to the one firm which believes offers a proposal that is in the best overall interest of the institution.

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Information contained in proposals may be subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests.

RIGHT TO REQUEST ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Macomb reserves the right to request any additional information, which might be deemed necessary after the completion of this document.

STANDARD FORMS AND CONTRACTS

Any forms and contracts the Consultant proposes to include as part of any agreement resulting from this proposal between the Consultant and Macomb must be submitted as part of the proposal. Any forms and contracts not submitted as part of the proposal and subsequently presented for inclusion may be rejected.

PROPOSAL TO BECOME PART OF AGREEMENT

This RFP, Consultant response, and any subsequent written communications, along with any formal, signed agreement will become part of the contract documentation governing performance of this project. Where conflicts exist, the later dated document will govern.

GOVERNING LAW

This Agreement, and all matters or issues collateral to it, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, the law of the State of Michigan.

DECLARATION: The undersigned agrees to provisions of proposal documents and hereby affix authorized signatures(s):

Signature(s): _________________________________________________________________

Title(s): ______________________________________________________________________

Company Name: ______________________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________

City: __________________________ State: ________________ Zip Code: ________________

Telephone Number: _____________________________________________________________

E-mail address: _________________________________________________________________

Print Name of Signature(s): ______________________________________________________

Date: __________________________________________________________________________

IT IS MANDATORY OF ALL CONTRACTORS TO RETURN

THIS SHEET FULLY COMPLETED WITH THEIR PROPOSAL.

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