Advancing Healthy Lifestyles Coalition and Conference

The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health, is seeking a contractor to facilitate the Advancing Healthy Lifestyles Coalition and annual Conference through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process. The primary objective is to support a multi-sector initiative focused on reducing obesity and chronic diseases, bringing together approximately 300 organizations. The selected vendor will be responsible for comprehensive coalition and conference facilitation services, including planning, coordination, and execution of coalition activities and an annual conference. Proposals will be evaluated on a 100-point scale, with key criteria including Qualifications (30 points), Methodology (25 points), Response to Scope of Services (20 points), Staffing Ability (10 points), and Budget/Cost (15 points). The solicitation timeline includes a proposal due date of April 8, 2025, at 1:00 PM EDT, with questions from potential bidders due by February 27, 2025. The initial contract term is one year, with the potential for four optional one-year renewals, creating a total possible contract period of 5 years. The anticipated award notification date is April 23, 2025, with a project start date of July 1, 2025.

The state actively encourages participation from minority, women, veteran, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, demonstrating a commitment to diverse vendor participation. Vendors must maintain specific insurance coverages, including commercial general liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 in aggregate. While no specific budget amount is explicitly stated, the RFP requires detailed cost proposals aligned with the project's scope of work, with indirect costs limited to 12% of the total budget. Monthly usage reports and quarterly subcontractor diversity reports will be mandatory for the selected contractor. The budget submission must cover three primary components: Coalition Facilitation, Conference Facilitation, and PANO Administrative Support, with bidders required to provide detailed budgets including hourly staff rates and external costs for each component. Vendors will need to demonstrate significant expertise in coalition building, event management, and public health initiative coordination to be competitive in this procurement opportunity.