One Call, Job Seeker and Business Services RFP 1. With regards to the Request for Proposal for Job Seeker Services is there an option to bid on WIOA Adult and WIOA DLW only or must a contractor provide all services including Employment Services and TAA Services? SEMCA will accept bids for only WIOA Adult and WIOA DW. 2. With regards to the budget, do we include the lease cost? If so, will those figures be provided? If a contractor is bidding on services to be delivered at a location not leased directly by SEMCA, then they should include the lease cost. There should be an explanation of those costs in the budget narrative. There is also a place on the budget worksheet to indicate whether the location is one leased by SEMCA. 3. On page 10, contractor allocations for the current year were provided relevant to the 2016-17 program year; can you state how much of that allocation is for Business Services only? SEMCA does not have a set allocation for Business Services. The amount will depend on the services proposed to be provided by that staff. 4. What are the performance goals for the 2016-2017 contract year in each one of the components? Contractors will be expected to meet or exceed all Federal Performance measures associated with the programs/services which they are bidding on. At this time Performance Measures for the 2016-17 contract year have not yet been finalized. Bidders may choose to propose their own performance levels based on the following measures: WIOA Adult and Dislocated Worker: Unsubsidized employment in the second quarter after the exit quarter. Unsubsidized employment in the fourth quarter after the exit quarter. Earnings after entry into unsubsidized employment measured as median earnings in the second quarter after the exit quarter. Percentage of participants who obtain a recognized credential or secondary diploma during participation or within one year after exit. Percentage of participants who achieve measurable gains in education leading to credential or employment during the program year. Business Services: The proposed WIOA Business Services related performance measure will be a measure of effectiveness in serving employers (potentially including employee retention rates, rates of repeated employer use of program and share of all employers in a labor market served). Employment Services: Entered Employment Of those who are not employed at the date of participation:
The number of adult participants who are employed in the first quarter after the exit quarter, divided by the number of adult participants who exit during the quarter equals, Entered Employment. This measure provides an assessment of program impact on increasing employment for those who were unemployed. Individuals who are employed at the date of participation are excluded from this measure. Individuals who, although employed at the date of participation, have either received a notice of termination of employment, have been issued a notice by their employer that the facility or enterprise will close, or who are currently on active military duty and have been provided with a date of separation from military service, are considered not employed and are included in the measure. Retained Employment Of those who are employed in the first quarter after the exit quarter: The number of adult participants who are employed in both the second and third quarters after the exit quarter, divided by the number of adult participants who exit during the quarter equals, Retained Employment. By defining a positive outcome as employment in the first, second, and third quarters after the quarter of exit, this measure approximates retention for at least six months following program participation. Individuals who are not employed in the first quarter after the exit quarter are excluded from this measure. A positive outcome on the retention measure does not necessarily indicate continuous employment with the same employer. Average Earnings Of those adult participants who are employed in the first, second, and third quarters after the exit quarter: Total earnings in the second and third quarters after the exit quarter, divided by the number of adult participants who exit during the quarter. For the 2015-16 Program Year, the levels were as follows: Entered Employment: Retained Employment: Average Earnings: at least 53 percent at least 79 percent at least $13,200 for the six-month period measured 5. Could you please provide the daily, monthly, and annual call volumes for the One Call center? Average handle time, speed to answer, and type of call would also be helpful. Data will be provided. 6. Please provide the annual and monthly caseload for job seeker services as broken down by MWSC. Data provided.
7. Can you more clearly define public entity as discussed on page 3 under Solicitation, component number 2 Job Seeker Services? Eligible (public) entities are defined as a Unit of State Government; Unit of Local Government; University or College; Community College; special unit of government; School District or Intermediate School District. 8. Both Career Development Facilitators (CDFs) and Career Coaches are referenced in the RFP. Do you consider these titles/positions the same/interchangeable? Which title do you prefer that we use in our proposals? Yes, they are interchangeable. It is preferable to use Career Development Facilitators in the response. 9. For entities that opt to bid for both Job Seeker and Business Services, do you want a completely separate proposal submitted for Business Services, or do you want that fully integrated into the narrative of a single proposal as long as the proposal clearly states that it is for both? If you are bidding to provide both services, a single integrated proposal is preferred but the details should clearly indicate which activities apply to which service. 10. We understand that separate budgets are required for Business Services and Job Seeker Services. How does SEMCA envision the funding for Business Services, in terms of the overall impact on WIOA and Wagner-Peyser? As is currently the case, WIOA and Wagner-Peyser fund both Business Services and Job Seeker services as permitted under state and federal policies. 11. Page 20 Required Program Activities Front Desk/Reception we assume this takes the place of current Greeter position please confirm. A definition is provided on page 20 21 of the proposal. As long as your definition of greeter fulfills all the responsibilities in this definition, the answer would be yes. 12. Page 20 Required Program Activities Partnerships/Letter Of agreement/mou Could you please offer some clarification on the partnerships? In the context of this RFP, a partner would only be an organization other than the bidder who would be responsible for fulfilling the contractual obligations of the bidder e.g. sub-contractor. 13. If this is to include entities not funded directly by SEMCA (Veterans Representatives or MRS), those local reps/entities may not have authority to enter into such agreements. If the agreement would be with another SEMCA provider for a particular site, what happens if that provider ends up not being selected/funded? Not applicable based on the answer above. 14. Or what if two providers end up in direct competition for services at a specific site? Are these agreements to address financial issues between the entities (i.e. rent, security, phones/internet,
etc.)? Would providing proposed/general Letter of Agreement format suffice, or must these be signed at the time of proposal submission, even before they become formal MOUs? MOU s referenced in the RFP will be finalized after the contractor selection process is completed, before the program year begins but are not required at the time of RFP submission. 15. Page 23 Assessment The second bullet references trained staff (who are certified if necessary). Is that a reference to any particular certifications contractors are to use, or just a general statement in case an assessment requiring certification is put in place? This is a general statement in case an assessment requiring certification is put in place. 16. Page 33 Proposal Submission Requirements do you want all the hard copies in binders, or just the original, with the other fastened by a clip or rubber band? All copies in binders, with the signed copy clearly identified. 17. Page 35 RE: Proposal Narrative instructions Is there a page limit? No. 18. Page 38 Budget and Financial Capability, first bullet, second sub-bullet Please clarify participant expenses. Is this just supportive services? 19. This question involves both RFPs: In both RFPs, SEMCA states that Debra Kinde is the EEO Coordinator (page 14 Youth RFP, page 51 Job Seeker/Business Services RFP), however in the Youth RFP, there is an Exhibit B which is a "Equal Opportunity is the Law" form; on this form Sonya Grant is listed as the Equal Opportunity Officer. What is the difference in these two titles; how are their roles different and when to we contact one instead of the other? The sentence referencing Debra Kinde was included in error in both proposals. Exhibit B will be added to the Workforce Development Services RFP. 20. Would you ever support it if an entity just bid for job seeker services or just bid for business services? 21. Do you want the whole document reprinted and turned in, or just the responses to the questions and supporting documentation/budget? Please submit just the responses to the questions and supporting documentation/budget. 22. Who signs on 42, 43, and 44? Agency Director or County Chairman of the Board of Commissioners?
This should be determined by your organization. The signatory must be authorized to sign the documents. 23. Budget we re told one page per program, but our staff don t work exclusively in neat little categories. If they are going to work in a multitude of programs, how do you want this to be documented? Another example are program managers/director. We spread costs to all programs. Please provide a budget based on a percentage of FTE per the Staff Worksheet included in the proposal. 24. Each question does not get its own page anymore, so how do you want it formatted? After Executive Summary, Program narrative, you want it to read A., 1. bullet points, right? There is no limit to the amount of space to use, as long as you address all aspects of the question, correct? It says to use shall or will, but if you are referring to what you ve accomplished in the past, we will need to use past tense. Our actual response portion starts on page 34? Your response should reference the question number but not include the question. Correct tense should be used. 25. Do you want headings left justified? Can the heading be bolded? Do you have a font preference other than no smaller than 11 point font? All proposals must be typed using a word processor, using a font size of 11 or larger with a minimum of 0.7 inch margins. Bidders must put information in every space provided. If a space is not applicable the bidder should put N/A. All proposals must be printed in black ink. Use of lists, bullets, charts and other diagrams is encouraged. 26. All bullet points must be addressed, correct? This is not listed to give ideas or direction on how to respond (number, bullet, circle ) The RFP says number and label your responses to correspond with the numbers in each section. 27. Are you considering Extended Services in the One Stop to included RESEA? This question is unclear as there is no reference to extended Services in the RFP. 28. How do you know when an MOU is needed? We have community members coming in for Info Sessions, workshop presentations, but no MOU. We have one with Catholic Charities, Salvation Army harbor Light, and MEP. MOU s referenced in the RFP will be finalized after the contractor selection process is completed, before the program year begins but are not required at the time of RFP submission. 29. Do we write in WIOA language or use WIA? (First statement in Executive Summary) Or, should we just say Job Seeker Services and Business Services? Proposals should use Job Seeker and or Business Services to describe the services they are bidding to provide.
30. Does the response have to be in the same order as the bullet points which serve as a guide for the required content or are the bullet points there to serve as topics to include? All content identified in the bullet points of each section should be covered within the response to that section. 31. For the One Call/Job Seeker/Business Services bidders conference, may we receive current fiscal year performance data for the relevant programs and existing contractors? Yes this data has been provided. 32. Page 12, paragraph 3 of the RFP talks about contractors assisting with development of a more robust web presence. Does SEMCA anticipate that this will include site- or program-specific websites, and if yes, will contractors be responsible for building these? SEMCA plans to enhance their current web pages with site specific information and would seek input from contractors. Job Seeker Services 33. Pg. 19 - Under Job Seeker Services, it states that Bidders may choose to bid on one or more activities, as they deem appropriate. But then on Pg.20, under Program Design it states that Proposals must contain all of the Required Program Activities. Must all bidders for the Job Seeker contract be Merit Based Staff as ES is a Required Program Activity? Or, can a bidder only bid on one or more activity? SEMCA will accept bids for only WIOA Adult and WIOA DW. As stated on page 20, if the proposer does not provide a required program activity, then the proposal should state with whom the proposer will work to provide the activity and how the participant will be assured access to the required program activity. 34. Pg. 20 - Does the Front Desk position have to be merit staff? Is this position now part of WIOA staff? No, the position does not have to be merit staff and could be part of WIOA staff. 35. Pg. 24- Resource Rm. Assistance Can these activities be provided by non-merit staff just as we have been doing with WIA/WIOA funds for the last 2 years? Certain functions must be provided by merit based staff as described in the RFP, other functions may be provided by non-merit based staff. 36. Pg. 28 Is job placement the responsibility of the job seeker provider instead of the business services provider? Job placement is the responsibility of both the job seeker and business services staff. Assessment 37. Pg. 22 - Will there be one provider for the entire MWA or one provider per service center?
Final system configuration will be determined by the proposals received and what is in the best interest of our customers. Career Coaching 38. Pg. 25 - Basic Career Services Will the contractor awarded this services be responsible for coaching Wagner-Peyser and WIOA customers Basic Career Services are provided by the Job Seeker contractor to all job seeking customers. 39. Pg. 28 Is the contract cost reimbursement or performance based? Cost Reimbursement Funding Questions: 40. How much funding is available per center for job seeker services? To be determined 41. How much funding is available per center for business services? To be determined 42. How much funding is available for each activity within those two categories? To be determined 43. Do bidders need to include costs for any one-stop operation expenses? This is not an RFP for a one-stop operator. 44. Is it SEMCA s intention to fund one provider to coordinate business services for the entire SEMCA Region or can contractors bid for business services by center or by geographic location? Contractors may bid for business services by center. 45. Can contactors bid for business services by occupational cluster? No. 46. Will the Business Services Contractor also be responsible for facilitating placement opportunities for WIOA Youth, Vets and Path customers?