SOI 1275 New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement Initiative FINAL.pdf

SOI 1275 New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement Initiative

Title: Solicitation of Interest (SOI) 1275

New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement Initiative

Agency: Children & Family Services, NYS Office of Bureau of Contract Management

Term: Beginning no earlier than 10/1/2026 and ending no later than 3/31/2027

Location: Statewide

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

EVENT DATE

Date of issue August 20, 2026

Deadline for submission of written questions September 2, 2026 by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Responses to written questions posted (on or about) September 11, 2026

Deadline for submission of applications September 25, 2026 by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Background

The New York State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS) announces a Solicitation of Interest (SOI) for qualified entities to participate in the New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement Initiative. Please see the Eligibility Criteria section for additional information.

Consistent with Governor Kathy Hochul’s commitment to strengthening families, expanding access to affordable child care, promoting positive youth development, and increasing opportunity for all New Yorkers, OCFS continues to invest in strategies that strengthen the role of fathers and father figures in the lives of children and families. Through this initiative, OCFS seeks to provide targeted, non-personnel financial support to community-based organizations that help fathers and father figures build stronger relationships with their children while increasing access to services and resources that promote family stability, child well-being, and long-term success.

Research consistently demonstrates that positive father engagement is associated with improved child well-being, including stronger educational outcomes, healthier social and emotional development, improved behavioral outcomes, and greater family stability. OCFS recognizes that fathers, grandfathers, and other positive father figures can play an important role in a child’s development and that many families benefit when these caregivers are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and community supports needed to actively participate in their children’s lives.

That is why OCFS continues to develop and support efforts to fully engage fathers who want to become more involved in their children’s lives and gain the skills that will strengthen their ability to be effective fathers, to improve child welfare outcomes and well-being. This includes supporting fathers in understanding and accessing available child care resources, strengthening healthy co-parenting relationships where appropriate, and increasing awareness of family support that helps children thrive. Please see the Scope of Work section for additional information.

The purpose of this solicitation is to invite any eligible and interested entities that believe they satisfy the requirements of this program to inform OCFS by submitting an application. To be considered responsive, your organization’s application should be received no later than the deadline specified on the first page of this announcement.

OCFS intends to fund multiple qualified organizations based on the criteria outlined in this announcement. Please see the How to Respond section for additional information and submission requirements.

Scope of Work

The New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement Initiative is designed to strengthen the relationship between fathers or father figures and their children while improving outcomes for children, youth, and families. Proposed activities should support responsible fatherhood, healthy parenting, positive youth development, family stability, and increased awareness of available community resources, including child care and other family support services, where appropriate.

Programs may serve fathers and father figures involved with child welfare, child support, family support services, workforce development, juvenile justice, or other family-serving systems, as appropriate to the applicant’s mission and community needs. Projects should demonstrate how proposed activities support measurable improvements in father engagement, parenting knowledge, family stability, awareness of child care and family resources, and positive youth development, as appropriate to the proposed project.

Eligible Services

Applicants may propose one or more of the following services in support of fatherhood engagement:

• Coaching, counseling, and/or parenting skills training for fathers and father figures

• Case Management

• Professional development for fathers and father figures

• Fatherhood education utilizing evidence informed or promising practice curricula.

• Educational workshops that strengthen positive parenting practices, healthy co-parenting, child development knowledge, and family stability.

• Child care education and navigation, including increasing fathers’ awareness and utilization of available child care options, child care assistance programs, local child care resource and referral agencies, and other early childhood resources.

• Navigation and referral to workforce development, employment, education, behavioral health, child support, housing, and other family support services, as appropriate.

• Father-child educational activities that strengthen parent-child relationships while promoting positive youth development.

• Community education and outreach activities that increase awareness of fatherhood resources, child care supports and services available to fathers and families.

• Partnership activities that strengthen collaboration with local child care providers, schools, family resource centers, OCFS-funded programs, local departments of social services, or other community organizations serving children and families.

Awarded applicants will collect and report participant and program outcome information, as requested by OCFS, to support evaluation of this pilot initiative.

Eligible Expenses

Eligible expenses are limited to Non-Personal Services (NPS) and other direct programmatic costs necessary to implement the proposed New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement

Initiative. Personnel salaries, fringe benefits, and other ongoing personnel costs are not eligible for reimbursement.

Eligible expenses may include, but are not limited to:

• Contracted Services, such as:

o Facilitators o Parenting educators o Curriculum trainers o Subject matter experts o Consultants o Other contracted professionals supporting approved project activities

• Programmatic Costs, such as:

o Educational, curricula, and outreach costs o Professional development, training certification or vocational fees o Supplies such as diapers, baby formula, children’s books o Transit tickets – For individuals being served only o Gas cards – For individuals being served only o Translation, interpretation, or accessibility supports

Applicants are encouraged to propose expenses that directly support participant engagement, educational programming, connections to child care and family resources, and measurable program outcomes.

Ineligible Expenses

• Capital costs including site preparation, demolition, or construction costs

• Semi-permanent infrastructure (e.g., ADA accessibility for home or transportation)

• Lease payments or rent

• Travel costs related to the Grantee’s staff.

• Participation incentives

• Personnel salaries, fringe benefits, or other ongoing personnel costs

• Expenses incurred outside the approved contract period

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants must satisfy the following criteria:

• Be authorized to do business in the State of New York.

• Be a Not-for-Profit Organization and must be prequalified in the New York State Financial

System (SFS), if not exempt, at the time of application.

o For additional information regarding the prequalification process, please refer to the

Prequalification Process section below.

• Have at least one year of experience administering a program that was financially supported by governmental funds.

• Have a fatherhood engagement program serving children and families in New York State that has been existence for at least one year, at the time of application submission.

Funding Details

OCFS anticipates awarding a minimum of seven awards; a maximum award of $10,000 to pay for an applicant’s requested and approved eligible expenses related to the initiative, with at least one award being made in each of the OCFS-designated regions below:

• Region 1 (Buffalo): Western NY

• Region 2 (Rochester): Finger Lakes/Southern Tier

• Region 3 (Syracuse): Central NY/North Country

• Region 4 (Albany): Capital District/North Country

• Region 5 (Westchester): Lower Hudson

• Region 6 (New York City): All five boroughs

• Region 7 (Long Island): All Long Island

To see county breakdowns by region, please view the OCFS Regional Map, which is also located here: https://ocfs.ny.gov/directories/assets/docs/DCCSRegionalMap.pdf

Applicants may submit only one application and receive only one award. All funds must be used to reimburse eligible expenses. Applications may be funded at the full amount of the request or at a partial amount, depending on the recommendations of the evaluation team, the number of eligible parties that respond to this solicitation, and the availability of funds.

Reimbursements will be authorized with the approval of a submitted AC 3253-S, Claim for Payment and acceptable supporting documentation that the eligible operating expenses were incurred within the Term of the Agreement.

Term of Agreement

Awards in response to this solicitation are anticipated to begin no earlier than October 1, 2026, and end no later than March 31, 2027. The notification of an award of does not guarantee funding will be available. OCFS has no obligation to pay for services rendered before New York State approves the Agreement.

How to Respond

To be considered responsive, interested parties should complete and submit all required documents in conformance with the format and content requirements as explained in this document. A response that does not provide all the information requested may be subject to rejection. The response should contain sufficient information to assure OCFS of its accuracy. The information provided should, wherever possible, verify your organization meets the requirements in the Eligibility Criteria section of this solicitation.

Responses must be emailed to funding@ocfs.ny.gov and received by the due date and time specified on the first page of this announcement.

Interested parties must complete and provide:

• Attachment 1 – Application and Budget Request Form

The subject line of the email submission of your response should include the following information:

Additionally, please clearly identify your organization’s name in the file names of attached documents to ensure your submission is processed efficiently.

Applicants must use Attachment 1 – Application and Budget Request Form, provided. Late responses will be rejected.

https://ocfs.ny.gov/directories/assets/docs/DCCSRegionalMap.pdf https://ocfs.ny.gov/directories/assets/docs/DCCSRegionalMap.pdf mailto:funding@ocfs.ny.gov

Email delivery or read receipts are recommended. OCFS will provide a confirmation email that the submission has been received. Applicants are responsible for contacting OCFS prior to the deadline if confirmation has not been received. OCFS will not be liable for any costs incurred by interested parties in the preparation of documents submitted in response to this solicitation.

Vendors may modify or withdraw, in writing, the content of any submission at any time prior to the due date and time specified on page one of this announcement.

Questions

Questions should be submitted via email to funding@ocfs.ny.gov prior to the due date and time specified on the first page of this announcement. The subject line should include the following information: SOI 1275 New York Statewide Fatherhood Engagement Initiative. Please submit your question(s) with adequate time for response. Late questions may not be addressed.

Answers to all questions will be provided to all applicants in the form of a question and answer document to be posted to the NYS Contract Reporter (https://www.nyscr.ny.gov) and OCFS funding opportunities page (https://ocfs.ny.gov/main/contracts/funding/) on or about the date specified in the Calendar of Events on the first page of this announcement and will not identify the applicant asking the question.

Under the requirement of the Procurement Lobbying Act, all communications regarding advertised projects are to be channeled only through the primary contact identified herein.

Prequalification Process

New York State requires not-for-profit organizations to complete the Vendor Prequalification process for applications to be evaluated. After becoming prequalified in SFS Grants Management, not-for-profit organizations will have the responsibility to keep their information current by updating on an annual basis.

Applications received from not-for-profit applicants that are not prequalified in SFS in accordance with the timeframe listed in the section entitled “Eligibility Criteria” will be removed from further consideration.

NOTE: Government entities are not required to prequalify but should still be registered in SFS Grants Management (see Subsection entitled “Register for the NYS Statewide Financial System”).

Below is a summary of the steps that must be completed to meet registration and/or prequalification requirements. The prequalification page on the Grants Management website details the requirements.

Register for the NYS Statewide Financial System

• On the Grants Management website, download a copy of the Registration Form for Vendors and follow the instructions on the How to Register page. You will be provided with a username and password allowing you to access SFS as a Vendor/Grantee.

• If you have previously registered and do not know your username, email HelpDesk@sfs.ny.gov. If you do not know your password, click the Forgot Password link from the main login page and follow the prompts.

https://www.nyscr.ny.gov/ https://ocfs.ny.gov/main/contracts/funding/ https://grantsmanagement.ny.gov/get-prequalified https://grantsmanagement.ny.gov/ https://grantsmanagement.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2023/12/grants-management-registration-form-for-statewide-financial-system.pdf https://grantsmanagement.ny.gov/register-your-organization-sfs mailto:HelpDesk@sfs.ny.gov https://esupplier.sfs.ny.gov/psc/passwd/SUPPLIER/ERP/c/MAINTAIN_SECURITY.EMAIL_PSWD.GBL

Complete Your Prequalification Application

• Sign in to the SFS Vendor Portal (be sure to select the checkbox to agree to Vendor Online Services’ Terms of Service). If this is your first time logging in, you may be prompted to change your password.

• Please consult the SFS Grantee User Manual for guidance regarding how to complete this process. The Grantee User Manual can also be obtained by logging into the SFS Vendor Portal and locating the training materials on SFS Coach.

• Click the “Grant Management” tile, then click the “Prequalification Application” tile. On the Welcome Page, under Select an Activity Below, (your Supplier ID will be pre-populated) choose the option that best applies to you and click Next. Complete the fields, including selecting the Business Unit/state agency you expect to do business with.

• Complete the questions by clicking the applicable drop-down or list item responses and provide additional explanation/comments where needed.

• Upload required documents on the “Required Documents” page. This constitutes your “Prequalification Application.” “Optional Documents” are not required unless specified in this

RFP.

• Input required “Contacts” information.

• Specific questions about the prequalification process should be directed to the agency contact listed in the section entitled “Contact Information”, or to the Grants Management Team at:

HelpDesk@sfs.ny.gov.

Submit Your Prequalification Application

• After completing your prequalification application, on the “Submit” page you can review your information and certify the authorization attestation.

• When you are ready to submit the prequalification application for state agency review, click the “Submit” button. Once submitted, the screen will say “Pending Editor Review”.

• If expedited review of your prequalification application is desired, please send an email request to the agency contact listed in section entitled “Contact Information” and identify your organization by including your organization name, Federal EIN, and SFS Vendor ID. It is recommended that you submit this request for expedited review before the Recommended Deadline to Prequalify noted in the section entitled “Calendar of Events”.

• Your prequalification application will be routed to a Prequalification Specialist for review. If your Prequalification Specialist requests modifications, you will receive an email notification.

• Requests for modifications should be addressed by the vendor and submitted for review without delay.

• Once your prequalification application has been approved, you will receive an email notification that you are now prequalified to do business with NYS and are eligible to submit bid responses to request funding.

https://esupplier.sfs.ny.gov/psp/fscm/SUPPLIER/?cmd=login&languageCd=ENG& https://upk.sfs.ny.gov/UPK/VEN101/FILES/Grantee_User_Manual.pdf mailto:HelpDesk@sfs.ny.gov

Vendors are strongly encouraged to complete this process as soon as possible or by the timeframe specified in the section entitled “Eligibility Criteria” to participate in this grant opportunity. Prospective applicants are responsible for monitoring their prequalification status on SFS. OCFS cannot be held responsible in the event an applicant fails to submit their Prequalification Application for review in a timely manner, or if the documents uploaded by the applicant to their Prequalification Application are found deficient.

Evaluation Process

An internal review by OCFS will confirm eligibility. This solicitation is not a guarantee or promise of funding. Available funding to support this initiative will be limited to the amount(s) appropriated in the enacted budget for this purpose and will be awarded to those interested organizations that are deemed to meet the eligibility requirements and are determined by OCFS to be suited for the program.

OCFS will rank and fund applications as follows:

1. Applications are sorted by region.

2. Eligible applications are funded in the order received.

3. Awards are issued by rotating through the regions in round-robin order.

4. If a region has no eligible applications, OCFS may reallocate the award to another region.

5. Awards continue until all available funding is exhausted.

OCFS may require additional information from an organization before deciding whether the interested organization is eligible. If OCFS requests additional information, it must be provided within three (3) business days from request or as otherwise directed in the request.

Upon determination of eligibility, OCFS will notify eligible organizations of their status and the proposed award amount (if any).

OCFS Reserved Rights

OCFS reserves the right to withdraw, amend, or postpone this solicitation, without notice and without liability, to any applicant or other party, and may exercise these rights at any time. In addition, OCFS reserves the right to:

• place a monetary cap on the funding amount made in each award;

• change any of the schedule dates stated in the solicitation;

• make an award under this solicitation in whole or in part;

• disqualify any applicant whose conduct and/or response fails to conform to the requirements of this solicitation;

• reject any response if, in the sole discretion of OCFS, it determines the applicant is not a responsible vendor;

• request all applicants who submitted responses to present supplemental information clarifying their proposals either in writing or by formal presentation;

• direct all organizations who submitted responses to prepare modifications addressing solicitation amendments;

• make funding decisions that address and maximize compliance with the outcomes identified in this solicitation;

• fund only one portion, or selected activities, of the selected applicant’s response and/or adopt all or part of the selected applicant’s response based on federal and state requirements;

• eliminate any solicitation requirements unmet by all applicants, upon notice to all parties that submitted responses;

• waive procedural technicalities, or modify minor irregularities, in responses received, after notification to the applicant involved;

• correct any arithmetic errors in any proposal, or make typographical corrections to responses, with the concurrence of the applicant;

• negotiate with the eligible applicant(s) prior to award;

• require that all responses be held valid for a minimum of 365 days from the closing date for receipt of applications, unless otherwise expressly provided for in writing;

• fund any or all of the responses received in response to this solicitation. However, issuance of this solicitation does not commit OCFS to fund any proposals. OCFS can reject any proposals submitted;

• make inquiries of third parties, including but not limited to applicant’s references, regarding the applicant’s experience or other matters deemed relevant by OCFS. By submitting a response to this solicitation, the applicant gives its consent to any inquiry made by OCFS; and

• where applicable, require awardees to participate in a formal evaluation of the program to be developed by OCFS. Awardees may be required to collect data for these purposes. The evaluation design will maintain participants’ confidentiality and recognize practical constraints of collecting this kind of information; and

• reject any extraneous terms, alternate activities/work to be performed, added conditions, or exceptions stated by applicants within their response. This includes, but is not limited to, proposed changes to the standard terms and conditions of the resulting agreement(s).

Award Documents

By submitting a response to this solicitation, the respondent agrees with all terms and conditions of the State of New York Appendix A.

The agreement will consist of the following:

1. New York State Purchase Order

2. Appendix A

3. Attachment 1 – Application and Budget Request Form

Contact Information

Primary contact:

Director of Contracts Office of Children & Family Services 52 Washington Street Room 202S – Procurement Unit Rensselaer, NY 12144 funding@ocfs.ny.gov

Submit to contact:

Director of Contracts Office of Children & Family Services 52 Washington Street Room 202S – Procurement Unit Rensselaer, NY 12144 funding@ocfs.ny.gov

Attachments

Please see the following attachments to this announcement, which are available on the New York State Contract Reporter website at https://www.nyscr.ny.gov or the OCFS website at https://ocfs.ny.gov/main/contracts/funding/.

• Attachment 1 – Application and Budget Request Form*

* Required attachments must be completed and included with your response submission.

mailto:funding@ocfs.ny.gov https://www.nyscr.ny.gov/ https://ocfs.ny.gov/main/contracts/funding/