Dane County Early Childhood Zones Employment and Education Services

This Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued by the Dane County Department of Human Services seeking a qualified vendor to provide Employment and Education Services through the Early Childhood Zones program in Wisconsin. The procuring jurisdiction is Dane County, and the program will deliver comprehensive services to increase client access and readiness for adult education and employment opportunities in designated geographic areas including Sun Prairie, Marshall, Fitchburg, and portions of Madison. The vendor must serve a minimum of 200 clients annually and deliver approximately 5,200 units of service per year, with one unit defined as one hour of direct service provided by qualified staff. Services will be delivered in clients' homes and community settings and must address three distinct service areas: job/education placement, skill building, and working with employers. The program must accommodate bilingual service delivery, with historical data indicating approximately 48-50% of clients require Spanish-language services. Required qualifications include vendor registration as an entity in good standing with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, and proposals must include a unit rate for direct service hours with no more than 15% of program costs allocated to indirect administrative expenses. Evaluation criteria consist of program context and overview (10 points), program strategies and activities (25 points), staffing (20 points), experience and qualifications (15 points), quality improvement (10 points), cost (20 points), and local vendor preference (5 points). Key deadlines include a question submission deadline of May 8, 2026, proposal submission deadline of June 4, 2026 at 11:59 pm through the Dane County eProcurement Portal, and anticipated award notification in August 2026. The contract will be effective for one year from execution with options to renew for four additional one-year periods by mutual agreement.

The RFP does not specify set-aside designations or restrictions limiting responses to disadvantaged enterprises or other protected classifications. The incumbent vendor is Children's Wisconsin, which historically served 104 clients in 2024 and 96 clients in 2025 with support from approximately 4 full-time equivalent staff, providing a baseline for understanding current service delivery capacity. A local vendor preference is available, offering 5 additional points to Dane County-based vendors and 2 points to vendors located in adjacent counties. The RFP does not explicitly state a budget range or award value; however, the pricing structure is based on unit rates for direct service hours with payment made on a monthly expense reimbursement basis. Based on the requirement to serve 200 clients annually with 5,200 units of service, vendors should anticipate a contract volume significantly larger than the incumbent's historical capacity, suggesting potential budget expansion or increased operational requirements compared to current service levels.