RFQ Amendment document.docx

This Request for Qualified Service Providers is being amended to allow Consultants and Organizations with expertise and capacity in providing technical assistance and training at the organizational level only. In addition, as part of this amendment, DHCD is seeking organizations and or consultants to assist with evaluations of DHCD’s economic prosperity programs. A fourth Service Category has been added to reflect this new opportunity.

Respondents must be able to provide high quality technical assistance, training, and program development services to program staff working with participants in DHCD’s Economic Prosperity Programs across the Commonwealth in one or more of the following categories.

Note: this amendment document only contains information/sections of the original Request For Qualifications that have been modified. Respondents are urged to review the original for additional information about this RFQ including Attachments A & B.

Category 1: Employment and Career Development

· Identifying regional systemic barriers to employment and developing possible strategies to mitigate them as appropriate for the target population

· Developing tools to support participants needing pre-employment/job readiness such as

· Resume writing

· Interview Prep

· Conducting a job search

· Work place etiquette

· Conflict resolution

· Skills assessments

· Exploring vocational counseling

· Assessing regional employment opportunities for program participants, with a focus on developing strategies targeting regional or sector-based high opportunity employers based on benefits, career ladders, and wage growth potential to assist staff in career coaching and developing strategies/plans for connecting organizations and participants to these employment opportunities

· Development of basic job development skills and assistance with identifying existing or potential job development partners within the regional employment market

· Developing effective employer partnerships Category 2: Financial Capability

· Strengthening working knowledge of credit and debt issues including but not limited to medical debt, student loans, bank debt/Chex Systems, consumer debt, and foreclosure issues.

· Reducing Debt

· Credit Building

· Understanding and explaining credit reports

· Building a strong understanding of asset development including traditional (tangible assets) and non-traditional (strong credit, strong tenancy history, energy savings) including accessing employer based asset development strategies, EITC, and other savings tools.

· Developing personalized financial goals and roadmaps for achieving them

· Planning for the “cliff effect” caused by employment as it relates to benefits and supportive services

· Creation of personal and family budgets

· Making informed banking choices Category 3: Education and Training

· Assisting with strategic post-secondary school choices

· Certificates vs degrees

· Identifying technical and vocational programs by region and sector

· Roles and potential/pitfalls of online classes

· Vocational training in high demand occupations with sustainable wages

· HSE / Hi-Set courses

· Adult Basic Education especially with a focus on entering the workforce

· ESOL especially with a focus on entering the workforce Category 4: Program Evaluation

· Assess program design plans and services to determine design effectiveness

· Review data collection tools and data measurement protocols for completeness, accuracy and effectiveness and recommend additional requirements to ensure that programs can be evaluated longitudinally in the future

· Assist with development of appropriate benchmarks and outcomes in the context of the goals of the Economic Prosperity agenda

· Conduct Evaluations of DHCD Economic Prosperity and related programs

· Provide interim and final reports (and stakeholder presentations as necessary) to DHCD that details lessons learned, best practices and preliminary findings/outcomes of programs, as well as charts a path forward with recommendations and considerations for future expansion of the programs

The ultimate target population for these services will be the residents served in DHCD’s subsidized housing portfolio, which may include recipients of state and Federal rental assistance administered by DHCD such as Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) households, State Rental Assistance program households, households living in state-aided public housing, residents of properties financed with Federal and/or state LIHTC or other capital assistance from DHCD, and homeless households engaged with DHCD’s homelessness programs (RAFT, HomeBASE, EA etc.). Consultants and organizations pre-qualified through this amended RFQ will provide training and supportive services primarily to the staff of these programs, but may provide direct service work to participants if they chose to respond to the original RFQ.

Amended Submission Requirements for Submission of Responses

I. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION OF RESPONSES

A Bidder’s response must be submitted with the attached Bidder response forms for a Bidder to be considered for designation as a qualified contractor under this RFQ, except as specifically noted below.

Please provide the requested information that identifies that the Bidder is qualified to provide the aforementioned services, by addressing the following:

A. Identification via Cover Letter Identification information must be incorporated into a signed and dated cover letter on the Bidder’s official stationary submitted with the Bidder’s response. The following information must be included:

1. Bidder’s legal name, complete address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the Bidder. Ability to provide a valid e-mail address is a requirement for this RFQ. Please also provide the resume of the Bidder.

2. Name, address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address of the Bidder’s contact person who will be able to answer any questions the DHCD procurement management team (“PMT”) has regarding the response. Please also provide the resume of this individual.

3. Supplier Diversity Office-certified Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) bidders must attach a copy of its current SDO certification letter. Information on becoming certified can be obtained at the Operational Services Division's Supplier Diversity Office website.

4. Indicate what service area(s) you which to be pre-qualified in

· Employment and Career

· Financial Capability

· Education and Training

· Program Evaluation

5. Indicate what area(s) of the state you intend to serve. The areas are:

· Western Mass

· Central Mass

· Cape Cod & Islands

· Greater Boston

· North of Boston/ Merrimack Valley

· South of Boston

B. Narrative (3-5 pages) For respondents interested in providing technical assistance/program design services, respond to the following:

I. Description of the respondent’s skill and experience successfully providing technical assistance and training on these topics to similar organizations II. Description of ability and flexibility to adapt or refine a work plan as the services are developed and launched. Provide a clear and specific description of process for determining the type, level and duration of assistance that would be needed for each organization. Describe assessment tools that will be used to support these determinations III. Description of experience working with staff of similar organizations to develop and deliver workshops and materials serving similar populations. Describe your process of securing input and information from all stakeholders (DHCD, agency staff, program participants), in developing trainings and materials in your service area(s).

IV. Description of use of subcontractors to be used if any to provide services as part of response. Resumes of subcontractors must be submitted with proposal. DHCD reserves the right to limit the use and number of subcontractors.

For respondents interested in the program evaluation component of this RFQ respond to the following:

I. Description of the respondent’s skill and experience successfully doing a program evaluation across multiple locations and years.

II. Description of ability and flexibility to adapt or refine a work plan to meet the needs of the program.

III. Brief specific description of process for creating program evaluation.

IV. Description of experience working with site based staff to provide technical assistance on collecting data and confirming data quality.

V. Description of use of subcontractors to be used if any to provide services as part of response. Resumes of subcontractors must be submitted with proposal. DHCD reserves the right to limit the use and number of subcontractors.

A. Samples of Training Materials

· Training Examples: Handouts, agendas, promotional materials, and descriptions of web-based tools used in trainings

· Program Evaluation Examples: Executive Summary and full report of program evaluation, lessons learned, graphs and charts showing the story of the program development and outcomes

B. Budget with costs for the following activities Technical Assistance/Program Design Services:

· Initial and ongoing assessment of stakeholder needs and interests from stakeholders (stakeholders include DHCD, RAA staff, and participants)

· Quarterly Trainings for FSS and other staff on topics to be identified through working group of FSS staff and FSS participants

· Assessment of local resources and development of a plan to develop effective partnerships in service area

· Development of materials for participants

· Development of Topical “Overview” Workshop for staff to deliver to participants

· Specific costs associated with subcontractors, if any Optional: Provision of individual technical assistance and support to FSS participants as referred by FSS Coordinators (est. hourly expense) Program Evaluation Services:

· Program evaluation design process

· Technical assistance to sites on data collection

· Implementation of program evaluation for a three to five year timeframe

· Specific costs associated with subcontractors, if any If an individual or firm wishes to be qualified to provide technical assistance services in more than one specialty, they must state this explicitly in the narrative. Those applicants must provide detailed information about their professional capacity in each area. The 3-5 page limit will not apply in this situation. Budgets should clearly identify costs for each service area. Materials must be provided for each service area.

DHCD may, at its discretion, engage an individual or firm to provide services in only one part of the state, and /or may request that a vendor submit additional information in order to contract with them to provide expanded services.

I. Evaluation of responses Required General Qualifications Selection process for this project is as follows:

1. DHCD will review applicants’ proposals to determine compliance with required submission documents.

2. For those proposals that meet the qualifications, DHCD will rank the most qualified applicants using the selection criteria outlined below.

3. High-ranking respondents may be invited to an interview with DHCD staff and stakeholders (anticipated to be scheduled two to four weeks after response deadline).

4. On the basis of the proposals and interviews (if necessary), DHCD staff will select individuals or firms.

Selection Criteria:

During the selection process, DHCD will consider the criteria below and the relative weight assigned to each criterion:

Service Delivery and workplan (up to 40 points) For Technical Assistance:

· Narrative demonstrates an understanding of the work and ability to provide technical assistance services as requested;

· Demonstrated ability to assist staff with development of effective materials and tools required for programs; and

· Demonstrated ability and flexibility to adapt or refine a work plan as the program is developed and launched.

For Program Evaluation:

· Narrative demonstrates an understanding of the work and ability to provide program evaluation services as requested;

· Demonstrated ability to provide technical assistance to sites on data collection; and

· Demonstrated ability and flexibility to adapt or refine a work plan as the program is developed and launched.

Experience (up to 40 points) (consistent with required and Scope of Work) For Technical Assistance:

· General past performance with regard to implementing an initial and ongoing needs assessment process involving similar stakeholders (public, private, and HUD funded projects);

· Specific past performance related to similar services and populations and requiring similar outcomes; and

· Clearly articulated experience and ability to work with stake holders to develop effective workshops and trainings for delivery to target populations, including hard to engage populations.

For Program Evaluation:

· General past performance with regard to designing and implementing a multi-year and multi-site program evaluation;

· Specific past performance related to similar program based evaluations in the area of economic prosperity; and

· Clearly articulated experience and ability to work with stake holders to develop effective data collection tools and ways of communicating the lessons learned from the data and analysis.

Cost (up to 10 points)

· Respondent’s ability to provide required services at an hourly and/or total cost that represents the best value to the Commonwealth; and

· Proposed budget is comprehensive as requested in the amended RFQ and evidences an understanding of the goals of this Bid.

II. Submission Process This will be a rolling application and the process will remain open until DHCD determines it is no longer needed. Eligible and interested applicants are strongly encouraged to apply before November 15, 2018. DHCD will accept written questions submitted via email to joanne.mckenna@state.ma.us through October 26, 2018.