Developmental Parent-Child Playgroups for Children with Exceptional Needs RFP

First 5 Sacramento is requesting proposals for developmental parent-child playgroups serving children with exceptional needs ages 0–5 in Sacramento County under RFP 2026-RFP-0098, with proposals due November 9, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. via SacCountyEbids portal. All playgroups must utilize the evidence-based Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) protocol and operate in community settings, filtering to organizations with demonstrated expertise in this area.

Eligible applicants include public entities, non-profit organizations, private businesses with current business licenses, faith-based organizations, and lead agencies or fiscal agents located in Sacramento County and currently serving the target population. The program supervisor must hold a master's degree in child development, developmental psychology, or clinical psychology with at least two years of experience in early intervention and family support for children with exceptional needs. Playgroup leaders must be PRT-certified with at least one year of direct PRT experience. The applying organization must demonstrate at least two years of prior experience supporting young children with exceptional needs and their parents or caregivers in interactive group settings.

The scope includes playgroups with a maximum of 8 children per session, meeting at least 60 minutes twice weekly for at least 32 weeks per year. Sessions must run in increments of no less than 8 weeks, may be held at multiple locations, and must include sensory play and family connection activities. Services must continue consistently across all three years.

Total funding is $240,000 over the three-year contract term (July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2030). First 5 Sacramento recommends equal annual budgets across all three years; reasonable increases of up to 2% per year for years 2 and 3 are permitted if justified, but year-1 front-loading is prohibited.

Proposals will be evaluated on organizational capacity, staffing, expertise and experience (30 percent internally, 25 percent by community review), program description and scope (20–25 percent), budget alignment (10–20 percent), and overall feasibility (5–10 percent). A prospective proposers' informational meeting is scheduled for October 22, 2026. Questions are due October 29, 2026. Evaluation concludes by January 8, 2027, with funding recommendations announced January 11, 2027 and final Commission approval February 1, 2027.