Outreach and Emergency Overflow Shelter

The Dane County Department of Human Services is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to procure outreach and emergency overflow shelter services for male-identifying individuals experiencing homelessness across Dane County and Mattoon Village, Wisconsin. The primary deliverable is the operation of an emergency overnight overflow shelter capable of serving a minimum of 80 male-identifying guests per night, with proposals exceeding this capacity encouraged. The shelter must operate minimally from November 1 through March 31 annually, with applicants encouraged to extend operations subject to available funding. Secondary services include unsheltered outreach services contingent upon budget availability. Qualified applicants must be registered entities in good standing with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions and must demonstrate creativity, efficiency, and collaboration in their proposals, with preference given to organizations with access to existing facilities and partnerships that leverage additional funding sources. Evaluation criteria are weighted as follows: shelter location (20 points), program strategies and activities (30 points), experience and qualifications (20 points), quality improvement (10 points), and cost (20 points), with cost scoring based on a relative formula where the lowest-cost proposal receives maximum points. Key deadlines include a question submission deadline of March 2, 2026, with responses posted by March 9, 2026, and a proposal submission deadline of March 25, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. via the Dane County eProcurement Portal. The contract shall be effective upon execution through December 31, 2026, with an option for up to four additional one-year renewal terms at the county's discretion.

Dane County applies local vendor preference in scoring, awarding 5 points to Dane County vendors and 2 points to vendors in adjacent counties (Columbia, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, and Sauk). No formal bidders' conference or site visits are mandated; however, the county reserves the right to require oral presentations and site visits from top-ranked proposers. No incumbent vendors or existing contractors are identified in the procurement documents. Successful applicants will be subject to a 15% administrative cost ceiling on all reimbursements. The county anticipates allocating up to $440,000 for these services on a unit-based reimbursement model, where one unit equals one bed-night of overflow shelter. Contracts will be reimbursed based on actual bed-nights provided, making the final award amount dependent on service utilization and the number of renewal terms exercised by the county.