Psychiatric Nursing Program

The Colorado Department of Corrections is requesting proposals for a Psychiatric Nursing Program to provide dedicated psychiatric nursing services across two correctional facilities under RFP 20270000032, with proposals due October 30, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. MST (extended from October 11 via Modification #2) and public opening November 2, 2026.

All nursing staff must hold active, unencumbered Colorado registered nurse licenses with dedicated, verifiable inpatient psychiatric nursing experience and proven clinical experience serving substance use disorder populations. This is a capability filter established in Modification #1 to the personnel requirements.

The scope spans two parts: Part 1 establishes five psychiatric RNs at Denver Women's Correctional Facility providing seven-day-a-week care to the 65-bed Therapeutic Community and 48-bed Residential Treatment Program using 13-hour, 20-minute shift rotations; Part 2 covers specialized nursing for a 16-bed Substance-Induced Psychosis unit at Centennial Correctional Facility in Canon City with similar schedules. Core duties include medication administration, compliance monitoring, patient education, clinical therapy facilitation, multidisciplinary collaboration, and urine analysis testing. Primary goals are enhancing integrated medical and psychiatric services and increasing medication adherence to 80%. Contractors must complete mandatory CDOC training including Prison Rape Elimination Act guidelines, HIPAA regulations, and 32-hour in-person Defensive Tactics certification (renewed annually).

The contract runs November 30, 2026 through June 30, 2027, with options to renew for up to four additional one-year periods, not to exceed five years total. Invoicing is bi-monthly for services rendered at up to 40 hours per full-time equivalent per week, travel exceeding 50 miles, and mandatory training costs; hourly rates must include all indirect costs such as supervision, equipment, and onboarding. Offerors must be registered in Colorado CORE and provide insurance certificates, including general liability and professional liability at $1 million per occurrence. Responses to written inquiries will post by October 16, 2026 (estimated). Notice of Intent to Award is extended to December 30, 2026; contract execution is anticipated February 1, 2027. No guaranteed quantities or dollar amounts are provided. All proposals submit electronically via bidnetdirect.com/cdoc; late submissions are not accepted. CDOC reserves the right to award to multiple offerors or reject all proposals.