Solicitation Catch. 9-14 Final.docx

COMPETITIVE SOLICITATION

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

RFQ 24-DCYF-CW-080 Caregiver Supports Area 9-14

Project Title: Caregiver Supports Project Phase II

Estimated Contract Performance Period: April 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. Amendments extending the period of performance, if any, shall be at the sole discretion of the Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF).

Response Due Date: All responses must be received in their entirety by 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time January 27th, 2025 as set forth in Section C.1 of this Solicitation Document unless an Amendment is issued modifying the Solicitation Schedule.

Submit Response To: Responses must be submitted to:

Rachel Denney, Coordinator Email: Rachel.Denney@dcyf.wa.gov

Solicitation and Amendments Will Be Posted on WEBS: WEBS Website: https://pr-webs-vendor.des.wa.gov/

Applicable WEBS

952-67/Parenting intervention

Additional Resource: Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) website: www.washingtonptac.org

Table of Content

A. OVERVIEW, BIDDER QUALIFICATIONS, AND CONTRACT TERM

1. Purpose and Background This Competitive Solicitation is issued in order to assist the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) in seeking qualified Contractor(s) to provide assistance to caregivers in supporting a child or youth in their care in accessing needed medical, social, education, and other necessary services.

Inadequate caregiver support has existed within the Department of Children, Youth, and Family (DCYF) operations and have historically and disproportionately affected unlicensed and relative caregivers. These inadequacies can lead to greater placement disruption among the Child Welfare population.

Phase II of the Caregiver Supports Project will implement new Caregiver Supports Contracts that will increase access to placement supports for all caregivers, whether licensed or unlicensed, to better align those supports to the diverse needs of youth and children in out-of-home placement. The new caregiver supports model also aims to increase placement stability, increase the number of children placed with relatives, decreases exceptional cost payments, tailor supports to the needs of the child, and decrease disparities in the allocation of resources.

2. Objective and Scope As part of their proposal, the Contractor should identify:

Goal 1. Ensure all licensed and unlicensed caregivers have access to the appropriate level of support services needed to provide quality care to the children and youth placed in their home.

· Objective: Access to resources at time of placement.

· Objective: Reduce the impact of systemic racial inequity.

· Objective: Parity in resource support for licensed and unlicensed caregivers.

· Objective: Ensure a continuous array of placement supports.

· Objective: Increase caregiver satisfaction and retention rates.

· Objective: Reduce barriers to placement with kinship caregivers who now have support.

· Objective: Decrease exceptional cost payments.

Goal 2. Improve DCYF’s ability to support caregivers with opportunities to expand their knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience that best aligns with the needs of the children and youth.

· Objective: Give caregivers the ability to develop skills to care for the child over time as the child’s needs change.

· Objective: Develop caregiver skills to be able to care for children with higher needs.

· Objective: Increase placement stability and reduce the number of placement episodes.

Scope of work for Phase II of the Caregiver Supports Contract will be to provide placement supports to all licensed and unlicensed caregivers based on the new 1-7 caregiver support levels model and execute procurement for the Caregiver Supports Contract and roll out placement supports for all caregivers for the remaining six catchment areas. Even though caregiver supports participation is not mandatory for caregivers, Contractors still need to demonstrate due diligence in routine outreach and engagement efforts.

Roll Out Timeline by Catchment Area

*no earlier than these dates

3. Partnering with Tribes within Caregiver Support Services

In recognition that Tribes maintain their tribal sovereignty by determining what is in the best interest of their children under their tribal jurisdiction and the caregivers who care for them, DCYF is actively collaborating with Tribes on a government-to-government agreement for caregiver support services. DCYF acknowledges that Tribes have provided caregiver supports in various forms since time immemorial and in alignment with DCYF codes and ethics, Tribes will be provided with options for reimbursement in continuation of delivering caregiver supports services to their children and families.

Under the Caregiver Supports project, additional caregiver supports are available to Tribes and Tribes can choose how they will participate in this project, which will determine the final size of the catchment area served by the contracted providers.

Tribes can select from the following options:

· Enter into a Caregiver Supports Agreement with DCYF to provide services to caregivers of children under Tribal jurisdiction.

· Tribal jurisdiction children are served by the Caregiver Supports Contractor for the catchment area where the caregiver resides.

Or,

· The Tribe chooses not to participate in Caregiver Support services and will continue to provide their own support services.

Catchment Area Children Count and Count of Children under Tribal Jurisdiction

Catchment

Total Children

Total Tribal Jurisdiction Children

*Potential Totals

*Potential total children served reflects a Tribe’s option to have their children and caregivers served by a catchment area provider.

Catchment Area Map

Bidder shall identify the key personnel it shall utilize in performing this Contract, and their experience and qualifications, as part of its proposal. If awarded a Contract, Bidder shall not make changes to such key personnel during the term of the Contract except as requested or approved by DCYF.

4. Minimum Qualifications

All Bidders must meet the following minimum qualifications:

c. Must have an Executive Director on staff with a physical office located within or adjacent and a reasonable distance to the catchment area being served.

Bidders failing to demonstrate in their Bids that they meet these minimum qualifications will be considered non-responsive and will therefore be disqualified from further consideration.

5. Period of Contract Performance DCYF intends to award up to six (6) contracts for the remaining six (6) catchment areas to provide the services described in this RFQ.

The initial term of the Caregiver Supports contracts:

The term of the Contract may be extended by Amendment up to two (2) times for up to two (2) years per Amendment and will not exceed the date of September 30, 2029 Additional services that are appropriate to the scope of this RFQ, as determined by DCYF, may be added to the resulting Contract(s) by a written Amendment mutually agreed to and executed by both parties.

6. Special Considerations for Catchment Area 14

Catchment area fourteen (14) located in the central northern part of the State of Washington is unique in that it is more rural in nature and has limited urban settings. Additionally, the catchment area covers a wide geographic area and based on current data, a smaller number of children placed in out of home care (See Catchment Area Children Count table above). Based on these factors, any provider awarded this area would be:

a) Insured minimum FTE funding as follows:

b) Work with DCYF to make adjustments to either the caseload standards or standard rate to reflect the distances of families from the home office within the catchment area.

7. Funding

Start-Up Funding Funding for the Contractor to develop and prepare the Caregiver team will made available at increasing amounts starting three (3) months before the expected service start date. This funding will be available based on allowed expenses that are incurred by the Contractor as follows

FTE Start-Up Funding Logic - Percent of total FTEs by position by month available for cost reimbursement

The level of funding for FTEs will be unique to each Catchment area. The funding is defined by the total projected number of children and youth placements anticipated and the modeled workload ratios.

Ramp-Up Funding As outlined in the section above, the Contractor is expected to increase service capacity month on month to reach full-service delivery by the end of the third month. To support this effort, DCYF will make available funding for a fully modeled management team for the first three (3) months of service delivery.

Using the Caregiver Support Fee table in (see Exhibit 1), if the Contractor is in month two (2) of service delivery, has only 250 placements supported, there would only be funding for 2.5 Supervisor FTEs. To support the hiring and on-board work to reach full-service capacity, DCYF will make funding available to support six (6) supervisor FTE. Six Supervisor FTEs, being the maximum amount identified by the catchment size and caseload ratios.

1. FTE Capacity payments – provide reimbursement for the number of authorized Placement Support and Case Aides staff employed.

The FTE Capacity payment represent 48% of total cost (e.g. placement support managers, management, admin, overhead) to support each position.

For example, if the total cost to employ and support a full time Case Aide is $120,000 yearly, the FTE monthly cost is $10,000 (Yearly FTE divided by 12).

The FTE Capacity monthly payment for a Case Aide FTE would be $4,800 (48% times $10,000).

The Capacity payment will be calculated as follows:

· Based on total FTEs and not based per person. For example, two (2) people working part time (.5 FTE each) represent 1 FTE.

· Staff cannot perform other duties. Their work would have to be attested to be only for the Caregiver Placement Support and Case Aide work.

The maximum allowed FTE for each position will be identified for each catchment area and bases on the total number of placements projected for their catchment area. There is no minimum required.

2. Fee-for-Service payments – there will be several elements of the service paid on a fee for service framework.

· Case rate for Placement Support Managers. The case rate will follow the Caregiver Support level identified by DCYF.

· Standard caseload is as follows:

· Hourly rate for Case Aide support services. Each active Caregiver will be eligible for Case Aide services. Caregivers will be pre-authorized an amount of Case Aide services based on the Placement Support level identified by DCYF, identified below:

Funding for both Start-Up and Ramp-Up are cost reimbursement based on incurred costs.

Additional funds may be available for a proposed Amendment to the Contract which results from this RFQ.

a. DCYF shall pay the service provider Contractor on a case rate for service activities in accordance with the DCYF published Contracted Services Fee Table in effect at the time services were provided. The Services Fee Table is as follows:

6. Auxiliary Aids and Services for American with Disabilities Act (ADA) DCYF will provide access to this Solicitation Document to individuals with disabilities. Please contact the Coordinator to request auxiliary aids and services.

If an individual believes that the Department has discriminated on the basis of a disability, please contact the DCYF Solicitation Coordinator.

B. DEFINITIONS

Additional definitions for Contract-specific terms are found in the Sample Contract set forth as Attachment A to this Solicitation and shall apply to those terms as they are used in this Solicitation. The following terms have the meanings set forth below:

8. Client Services – Are services provided directly to DCYF clients per RCW 39.26.010 (4).

C. EXPLANATION OF SOLICITATION PROCESS

1. Solicitation Schedule The Solicitation Schedule set forth below outlines the tentative schedule for important events relating to this Solicitation. Except as modified in an Amendment issued by the coordinator, the dates and times listed through the date of response submission are mandatory deadlines. The remaining dates are estimates and may change without the posting of an Amendment. Failure to meet the response deadline will result in Bidder disqualification.

Negotiate Contract

2/14/2025-3/3/2025

Catchments11&12- July 1, 2025-September 30, 2026

Catchments 13&14- October 1, 2025-September 30, 2026

2. Solicitation Coordinator The Solicitation Coordinator is the sole point of contact for DCYF for this Solicitation. All communication concerning this Solicitation must be directed to the Coordinator listed on the cover page and below of this subsection of this Solicitation Document.

With the exception of the response which shall be submitted as provided in Section D, Proposal Content, Format and Submission, communications with the Coordinator should be sent via email. DCYF may disqualify any Bidder who communicates with anyone in DCYF other than the Coordinator regarding this Solicitation.

Rachel Denney, Coordinator Email: Rachel.Denney@dcyf.wa.gov

3. Posting of Solicitation Documents DCYF shall post this Solicitation, and all Amendments and announcements relating to this Solicitation, on WEBS. WEBS can be accessed at https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/webs/.

All Bidders must register as a vendor on WEBS, using an appropriate commodities code listed on the front page of this Solicitation, and must download this Solicitation from WEBS. This should be done as soon as possible in order for Bidder to receive notifications automatically generated on WEBS, but no later than the date set forth on Section C.1., Solicitation Schedule for Announcement of the Apparent Successful Bidder(s).

4. Amendment, Cancellation and Reissuance of Solicitation

5. Questions and Answers Bidders may send written questions concerning this Solicitation to the Coordinator by the date and time set forth on the Solicitation Schedule in Section C.1. for submission of Questions. Questions should be sent via email and should include the number and title of this Solicitation in the subject line.

DCYF will document all questions received in writing by posting an Amendment to the Solicitation on WEBS. Only Bidders who have properly registered and downloaded the original Solicitation directly via the WEBS system at https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/webs/ will receive notification of Amendments and other correspondence pertaining to this Solicitation.

6. Complaints

7. Minority & Women’s Business Enterprises (MWBE), Small Business, and Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises

a. In accordance with the legislative findings and policies set forth in RCW 39.19, 43.60A.200, 39.26.240 and 39.26.245, the State of Washington encourages participation by Small Business, by veteran-owned business enterprises and by the Office of Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (OMWBE). Participation may be either on a direct basis in response to this Solicitation or on a Subcontractor basis. While the state does not give preferential treatment, it does seek equitable representation from the small, veterans, minority and women’s business communities.

DCYF will be included in the evaluation of Bids, no minimum level of MWBE participation shall be required as a condition for receiving an award and Bids will not be rejected or considered non-responsive on that basis.

b. Minority & Women’s Business Enterprises Participation Bidders may contact the Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE) at http://omwbe.wa.gov/ to obtain information on certified firms for potential subcontracting arrangements or for information on how to become certified. Nothing in this section is intended to prevent or discourage participation from non-MWBE businesses.

The established annual Solicitation participation goals for MBE is 10% and for WBE, 4%, for this type of project. These goals are voluntary. Bidders may contact OMWBE at 360/753-9693 or http://www.omwbe.wa.gov to obtain information on certified firms.

c. Small Business Participation In accordance with the legislative findings and policies set forth in Chapter 39.26 RCW, the state of Washington encourages participation in all of its Contracts by Bidders defined as a Small Business. Participation may be either on a direct basis in response to this Solicitation or on a Subcontractor basis. However, no preference will be included in the evaluation of Bids.

d. Veteran-Owned Business Participation In accordance with the legislative findings and policies set forth in Chapter 43.60A.200 RCW, the state of Washington encourages participation in all of its Contracts by firms certified by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA).

For questions regarding the above go to: http://www.dva.wa/gov/.

8. Cost to Prepare Response DCYF will not be liable for any costs incurred by the Bidder in preparing of a Bid submitted in response to this Solicitation, conducting a site assessment and/or presentation, any other activities related to responding to this Solicitation, and/or submitting a response to this Solicitation.

9. Joint Proposals If Bidders submit a joint response with one or more other persons or entities, these persons or entities must designate a prime Bidder. The prime Bidder will be DCYF sole point of contact through the Solicitation process. If selected as the ASB, the prime Bidder shall sign the Contract and any Amendments and will be liable and responsible to DCYF for all performance under the Contract.

10. Withdrawal of Responses After a response has been submitted, Bidders may withdraw their response at any time up to the response due date and time as specified in Section C.1, Solicitation Schedule. A written request to withdraw the response, signed by an Authorized Representative of the Bidder, must be submitted to the Coordinator. After withdrawing a response, the Bidder may submit another response at any time up to the response submission date and time.

11. Wage Theft Prevention Bidder certifies that Bidder has not, within the three (3) year period immediately preceding the date of release of this Competitive Solicitation, been determined by a final and binding citation and notice of assessment issued by the state of Washington Department of Labor and Industries or through a civil judgment to have willfully violated state minimum wage laws (RCW 49.38.082; Chapters 49.46 RCW, 49.48 RCW, or 49.52 RCW). Bidder attests under penalty of perjury that the foregoing statement is true and correct. Bidder must submit, Attachment B, attached hereto and incorporated herein as though set forth in full.

12. Wage Violations Contractor represents and warrants that, during the term of this Contract and the three (3) year period immediately preceding the effective date of this Contract, it is not determined, by a final and binding citation and notice of assessment issued by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries or through a civil judgment entered by a court of limited or general jurisdiction, to be in willful violation of any provision of Washington State wage laws set forth in RCW Chapters 49.46, 49.48, or 49.52. For purposes of this Section 12 and pursuant to RCW 49.48.082 as now or hereafter amended, “willful” shall mean a knowing and intentional action that is neither accidental nor the result of a bona fide dispute, as evaluated under the standards applicable to wage payment violations under RCW 49.52.050(2).

13. Pay Equality Contractor represents and warrants that, as required by Washington State law (Laws of 2019,Chap. 415, §225(4)(f)), during the term of this Contract the Contractor agrees to equality among its workers by ensuring similarly employed individuals are compensated as equals.

14. Worker’s Rights Pursuant to the Washington State Governor’s Executive Order 18-03 (dated June 12, 2018), DCYF is seeking to contract with qualified entities and business owners who certify that their employees are not, as a condition of employment, subject to mandatory individual arbitration clauses and class or collective action waivers.

15. Most Favorable Terms DCYF reserves the right to make an award without further discussion of the Bid submitted. Therefore, the Bid should be submitted initially on the most favorable terms which the Bidder can propose. DCYF does reserve the right to contact a Bidder for clarification of its Bid.

The Bidder should be prepared to accept this RFQ for incorporation into a Contract resulting from this RFQ. Contract negotiations may incorporate some or all of the Bidder’s Bid. It is understood that the Bid will become a part of the official Solicitation file on this matter without obligation to DCYF.

16. Announcement of Successful Bidder(s) DCYF shall announce the ASB(s) via email on the date indicated in Section C.1., Solicitation Schedule. All announcements of ASB(s) are subject to the negotiation of a Contract satisfactory to DCYF.

1. Ethics, Policies and Law This Solicitation, the evaluation of responses, and any resulting Contract will be made in conformance with applicable Washington State laws and policies.

Specific restrictions apply to contracting with current or former state employees pursuant to RCW 42.52. Bidders should familiarize themselves with the requirements prior to submitting a Response. Bidders must include information regarding any current or former state employees who are employed by, or subcontracted with Bidder in Attachment C-1, Administrative Requirements Response.

D. PROPOSAL CONTENT, FORMAT AND SUBMISSION

Bidders shall submit their responses utilizing the forms set forth on Attachments B and C to this Competitive Solicitation. Each attachment represents a separate section of the response. Failure to complete and submit all required attachments, and to sign them, if applicable, may result in Bidder disqualification. Responses should be neatly typed in 12-point font, using proper grammar, spelling and punctuation and should be submitted in the following order with each section of the response clearly labeled.

1. Attachment B - Certifications and Assurances (Required) All Bidders must submit a completed Certifications and Assurances in the form and with the minimum contents set forth on Attachment B, which must include all of the required acknowledgments and information. The Certifications and Assurances must be signed by an individual authorized to bind the Bidder contractually.

2. Attachment C - Bidder Response Form (Required; Portions Scored) Using Attachment C, Bidders must provide answers to the questions set forth on the Bidder Response Form to demonstrate satisfaction of administrative requirements and, as applicable to this Solicitation, their qualifications, approach and proposed pricing to provide the services as outlined in this Solicitation, including the sample Contract set forth on Attachment A. The number of points allocated to each answer is indicated next to the question.

Attachment C-1, Administrative Requirements Response-Required Attachment C-2, Bidder Response Form-Scored Must include Letters of Reference-Required.

Must include proof of physical location in catchment area you wish to serve.

The Bidder Response Form is posted separately from this Solicitation Document in Microsoft Word format. Except for limits that are noted on the Bidder Response Form, Bidders may utilize as much space as is reasonably required to respond to each question, provided all questions are repeated and remain numbered and ordered as set forth in Attachment C. If additional pages are needed, they should be attached to the page containing the initial portion of the response to a question and should be marked clearly to indicate that they provide a continuation of Bidder’s answer to a specific numbered question. Bidders should not submit product brochures, white papers, and customer testimonials, cut sheets, or other pre-prepared materials in response to any of the questions.

Bidders must submit complete, well-organized explanatory answers that address all of the specific questions asked in the Bidder Response Form. Bidders should not assume that Evaluators will be familiar with their businesses before conducting the evaluation.

Use of Attachment C assures that Bidder responds to specific questions in space immediately below those questions and helps to avoid confusion among Evaluators about the question that is being responded to. Failure to use the form set forth on Attachment C, and failure to respond to all questions and/or failure to submit any documents requested in the Bidder Response Form may result in Bidder’s disqualification.

If Bidder is awarded a Contract, DCYF will require the Bidder Response Form to be incorporated, in whole, by reference, into the Contract.

3. Proprietary Information/Public Disclosure Materials submitted in response to this Solicitation shall be deemed public records as defined by RCW 42.56. All responses and accompanying documentation shall become the property of DCYF upon receipt, and will not be returned.

The Bidder’s response must include, on Attachment C, a statement identifying the pages of its response, if any, which contain information the Bidder considers proprietary. Each page claimed to be proprietary must be clearly marked by stating the word “Proprietary” printed on the lower right hand corner of the page. Bidders must be reasonable in designating information as proprietary or confidential. Bidders may not mark their entire Response proprietary. Doing so will not be honored and will disqualify your Response from further consideration.

If DCYF receives a request to view or copy a Bidder’s response, DCYF will respond according to applicable law and DCYF’s policy governing public disclosure. DCYF will not disclose any information marked “Proprietary” in a response without giving the Bidder ten (10) calendar days’ notice to seek relief in superior court per RCW 42.56.540. Bid submissions and Bid evaluations are exempt from disclosure until DCYF announces the ASB

4. Prebid Conference A Prebid conference is scheduled to be held on 12/03/24 at 1pm, Pacific Time. The location of the Prebid conference is virtual. All prospective Bidders should attend; however, attendance is not mandatory. Prebid conference will be recorded.

Meeting ID: 261 176 810 513 Passcode: FVVRRa

Or call in (audio only) Dial in by phone +1 564-999-2000,,446660051# United States, Olympia

(833) 322-1218,,446660051# United States (Toll-free) Find a local number Phone conference ID: 446 660 051#

DCYF will be bound only to DCYF’S written answers to questions. Questions arising at the Prebid conference or in subsequent communication with the Coordinator will be documented and answered in written form. A copy of the questions and answers will be posted in WEBS.

5. Submission of Responses Bid responses must be stored in an acceptable electronic format as set forth in Section 5, below. Bid responses must be emailed directly to the Coordinator at the email address provided on the cover sheet of this Solicitation. Bid responses must be received by the Coordinator in their entirety on or before the due date and time set forth in Section C.1., Solicitation Schedule, unless a posted Amendment to this Competitive Solicitation changes this due date and time. Bidder’s completed version of each of the Attachments B and C to this Solicitation shall be included as a separate attachment to the Bidder’s email(s).

Bidders assume all risks for the timely submission of the response. Bidders are responsible for allowing sufficient time to ensure timely electronic receipt of their response by DCYF. DCYF does not assume responsibility for problems with the Bidder’s email or network. However, if DCYF email is not working properly, appropriate allowances will be made.

DCYF will not accept late responses. Late responses will be automatically disqualified from further consideration, unless the DCYF’S e-mail is found to be at fault. DCYF will disqualify any response and withdraw it from consideration if it is received after the response submission due date and time. All Bids and any accompanying documentation become the property of the DCYF and will not be returned.

6. Acceptable Electronic Formats for Submission of Responses Attachment C, Bidder response Form, should be submitted in Microsoft Word. Other Response documents must be formatted in Portable Document Format (Adobe Acrobat PDF) or Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Spreadsheet documents must be submitted in Microsoft Excel and in a live, unprotected file that includes all formulas, macros, and computations that are relied on or used to calculate any rates or values presented therein. When scanning documents to be submitted in PDF format, scanner resolution should be set to at least 200 dots per inch.

NOTE: DCYF cannot receive emails that are larger than 30MB. To keep file sizes to a minimum, Bidders are cautioned not to use unnecessary graphics in their responses. If your response approaches or exceeds 30MB, you must break it up and send it by more than one email so that no single email exceeds 30MB.

7. Alternative Submission Methods Bidders wishing to request an alternative method for submitting their response must contact the Coordinator at least ten (10) days before the response submission date. No alternative submission method will be accepted unless agreed to by the Coordinator in writing prior to the response deadline.

E. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

1. Bid Responsiveness; Administrative Review All responses will be reviewed by the Coordinator to determine compliance with administrative and minimum qualification requirements and instructions specified in this Solicitation. DCYF may reject a response as non-responsive at any time for any of the following reasons:

The Coordinator may contact any Bidder for clarification of the response. If a response is deemed non-responsive, it shall be removed from further consideration. DCYF shall notify non-responsive Bidder(s) of this determination and the supporting reasons.

If a response meets all administrative and Bidder qualification requirements and submittal instructions, DCYF shall continue with the written evaluation and, if applicable, the oral evaluation.

DCYF also reserves the right, however, at its sole discretion to waive minor administrative irregularities.

2. Errors in Bidder Response Bidders are responsible for all errors or omissions contained in their responses. Bidders will not be allowed to alter response documents after the deadline for response submissions.

DCYF reserves the right to contact any Bidder for clarification of Response contents. In those cases, where it is unclear to what extent a requirement has been addressed, the evaluation panel may, in their discretion and acting through the Coordinator, contact a Bidder to clarify specific matters in the submitted response.

3. Evaluation for Executive Order 18-03 (Contractors without Mandatory Individual Arbitration for Employees) Note: Preference cannot be more than 5% Pursuant to RCW 39.26.160(3) (best value criteria) and consistent with Executive Order 18-03 – Supporting Workers’ Rights to Effectively Address Workplace Violations (dated June 12, 2018), DCYF will evaluate bids for best value and provide a bid preference in the amount of five (5) points to any bidder who certifies, pursuant to the certification attached as Attachment B – Bidder Certification and Assurances, that their firm does NOT require its employees, as a condition of employment, to sign or agree to mandatory individual arbitration clauses or class or collective action waiver.

4. Evaluation Criteria and Scoring of Responses

a. Following the administrative review, Responsive Bids will be evaluated using the following weighting and points:

Caregiver Supports Contract

Technical/Management

170 Points

Sub-Total for Written Evaluations

Executive Order 18-03 Certification

5 Points

Total for Written Evaluations

175 Points

Oral Presentations/ Demonstrations/ Interviews (Optional-if needed for a tie breaker).

Total

5. Scoring method for Management/Qualifications Experience

a. If a score is 20 points per question then 20 points = excellent, 15 points = good, 10 points = fair, 5 points or less = partial answer to the question. 0 points = did not answer the question.

b. If a score is 15 points per question then 15 points = excellent, 12 points = good, 9 = fair, and 6 points or less = partial answer to the question. 0 points = did not answer.

c. If a score is 10 points per question then 10 points = excellent, 8 points = good, 6 points = fair, 4 point or less = partial answer to the question, 0 points = did not answer.

d. If a score is 5 points per question then 5 points = excellent, 4 points = good, 3 points = fair, 2 points or less = partial answer to the question, 0 points = did not answer.

6. Written Evaluation Procedure

7. Oral Presentations May Be Required

a. Oral presentations, if considered necessary by the DCYF, may be utilized in selecting the winning Bid. DCYF, at its sole discretion, may elect to select the top-scoring Bidder (s) from the written evaluation for an oral presentation and contact the top-scoring Bidder (s) to schedule a date, time and location for an oral presentation. Commitments made by the Bidder at the oral interview, if any, will be considered binding.

b. The score from the oral presentation will be added to the written score to determine the ASB.

8. Letters of Reference Bidders must submit three (3) Letters of Reference which demonstrate their ability to provide services as described in this Solicitation.