Foster Care Licensing and Kinship Licensing

The South Dakota Department of Social Services' Office of Licensing and Accreditation is seeking proposals for foster care and kinship family licensing services through RFP13688. The procurement seeks qualified organizations to support comprehensive foster care recruitment, training, licensure, and child placement support, with proposals due by April 3, 2025. Key deliverables include conducting pre-licensure and post-licensure training using National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC), completing home studies, managing inquiries, providing placement support, and managing licensing renewals. The contract will initially run approximately one year, ending May 31, 2026, with potential renewals for up to three additional one-year terms. Evaluation criteria will focus on vendor expertise, capabilities, resources, past performance, project locale familiarity, project management techniques, and ability to handle project constraints. Potential vendors may submit proposals for the entire scope of work or specific components like foster care training, with the Department open to partnership approaches. Interested parties can email inquiries to Kirsten.Blachford@state.sd.us with the subject line RFP13688 Inquiries, with no inquiries accepted after a specified date in the Schedule of Activities.

The RFP does not explicitly indicate specific set-aside designations or restrictions on respondent types, though the Department appears receptive to collaborative proposals from multiple agencies. The state estimates needing 11-12 contracted licensing staff to supplement 10 existing state staff, with projected workload including approximately 820 annual basic foster family renewals and 35-40 kinship family renewals. While no incumbent vendors are mentioned, the procurement requires vendors to provide services and store state data exclusively from continental United States data centers. The RFP includes an annual cost proposal template encompassing personnel, operating, equipment, foster care/adoption training, and miscellaneous costs. Though specific budget ranges are not definitively stated, the comprehensive scope and estimated staffing suggest a substantial annual contract value. Implementation may be piloted regionally before potential statewide expansion, indicating flexibility in contract execution and vendor approaches.