Request for Applications (RFA) 2017

The State of Connecticut Department of Rehabilitation Services is issuingAddendum 1 to the Community Rehabilitation Provider (CRP)

Request for Applications (RFA) 2017

(CRP_RFA_2017)

CRP_RFA_2017_Addendum 1

Date Issued: October 20, 2017.

Approved: __M.V. 10/20/2017______

Mary Van Ness

State of Connecticut Department of Rehabilitation Services

(Original signature on document in procurement file)

This Addendum must be signed and returned with your submission.

______

Authorized SignerName of Company

The State of Connecticut Department of Rehabilitation Services is issuingAddendum 1 to theCommunity Rehabilitation Provider (CRP)

Request for Applications (RFA) 2017

(CRP_RFA_2017)

Addendum 1 contains eighty-six (86) questions submitted by interested parties and the official responses. All responses shall amend or clarity the requirements of the RFA.

In the event of an inconsistency between information provided in the RFA and information in these responses, the information in these responses shall control.

In the event that a response does not sufficiently clarify a question submitted, please forward that question and response to by October 27, 2017.

Question: What is the correct submission due date?

Response:The last date for submission of Applications is November 10, 2017.

Question: Is this a “one time” RFA or is this an opportunity which will be offered to agencies/organizations again during this year or next year?

Response:This is a competitive procurement that will result in DORS contracts with resultant CRPs. These contracts will remain in place for a minimum of three (3) years and DORS will not be accepting new applications related to this procurement during that time.

Question: We are interested in responding to this RFP to support our work with students in Connecticut, and we were wondering if it is required that we use the DORS curriculum with students?

Response: Yes, the resultant contractors would be required to follow DORS curriculum but it would not include working with students.

Question: If the agency does not haveCARF but does have COA would that be acceptable?

Response: If an agency does not have CARF accreditation (Option 1) they would need to have a qualified Director of Vocational Services in place who meets the criteria listed under Option 2.

Question: Is a Director of Vocational Services requiredwith a CRC certification?

Response: The Director of Vocational Services is not required to have a CRC certification. If she/he has a CRC the required experience is two (2) years (1000 hours/year). If she/he does not have a CRC the required experience is five (5) years (1000 hours/year).

Question: Are there multiple agencies awarded to provide these services throughout the state?

Response: We expect that the result of this procurement will enable DORS to negotiate contracts with multiple community rehabilitation providers.

Question/Concern: We have a Deaf Outreach Program with a Coordinator who provides Case Management, Independent Living Skills, ASL Tutoring and Parenting Skills but does not have the credentials for1000 documented service hours in community based vocational services.

Response:To be qualified, anapplicant needs to meet one of two criteria outlined under Section IV, Part C. If your program is not CARF accredited (Option 1), the only other choice would be Option 2, where your program identifies a qualified Director of Vocational Services who meets the necessary requirements. This includes a CRC certification and two (2) years of experience providing community based vocational rehabilitation services or a Bachelor’s degree and five (5) years of experience providing community based vocational rehabilitation services.

In addition, to provide services to individuals with communication barriers, there are other qualifications listed under Section IV, Part D.

Question:In the 2014 version of the application, a third CRP approval/qualification option was available that included an Executive/Administrative Director responsible for all administrative supervision in addition to a VS Director that was responsible for directing service staff. Are vendors currently operating with the Exec/Admin Director position able to continue using that organization, or will those vendors need to conform to meet one of the two options present in the new solicitation?

Response:There are only two options for being qualified under this procurement. Option 1 is being CARF accredited. Option 2 is having a qualified Director of Vocational Services in placethat is responsible for all administrative supervision of the organization and all services provided under the contract. Any applicant will need to demonstrate qualifications under Option 1 or Option 2.

Question: We are currently CARF Accredited for providing Behavioral Health Services. Do we need to be CARF accredited for Employment and Community Services in order to apply for theCommunity Rehabilitation Provider (CRP)Request for Applications (RFA) 2017?

Response:Yes, if you are applying under Option I.

Question: Is a BSBA in Human Resource Management considered a relevant area for the purposes of this RFA?

Response: Yes.

Question: Work Attachment Referral: Payment offered following referral meeting/ Intake interview? Or following contact with an employer?

Response:Installment for Work Attachment Referral would be payable after the following conditions are met; a referral is made from a VR counselor, the client is seen by the CRP for an initial meeting to discuss services and the client and CRP agree to work together in securing a work attachment.

Question: Onboarding Supports: Must the hours be consistently used at the onset of the CPO? Can the hours be dispersed throughout a certain portion of the CPO?

Response:The majority of the hours are expected to be provided upfront, however, some hours can be reserved for follow-up activities.

Question: Comprehensive Onboarding Report: BRS timeframe for expectation of report? Will it be directly following the conclusion of onboarding supports or at conclusion of CPO?

Response:The Onboarding Report will be due within 21 days following the conclusion of the Client’s Competitive Placement Opportunity.

Question: Trial Work Experience (TWE): What is the definition of an “existing site”? Is it a site that has been used in the past 6 months? What if there has been a change of management at the site in the past six months or if the site has been used but in a different department with different tasks?

Response: Providers are expected to maintain a representative sampling of job sites with a variety of job opportunities. A fee is paid per referral for the maintenance of these sites. It is the expectation that this will accomplish the rapid placement of clients in assessment sites. The formercriteria of site replication within the past six (6) months are no longer valid. DORS also has the discretionary ability to request specific/new site development if it is necessary for a particular client.

Question: Can we assume that BRS will continue referring to venders for computer training programs? Clerical Evaluations? Vocational Evaluations?

Response:No, not under the scope of this procurement.

Question: Will venders have the opportunity to review referrals or be offered pertinent information about the referral prior to the BRS referral meeting?

Response:Yes, basic information will be supplied prior to the CRP meeting a client. This information includes; the service being requested, type of employment client is seeking (if applicable), geographic area client can access as well as some of the accommodations that the client may need. Prior to referral meeting, no personally identifiable information (PII) will be provided.

Question: Work Readiness Training Program: How many hours will be offered for the Group and Individual Modules?

Response:Work Readiness Modules A and B are each eight (8) hour modules broken up into four (4) hours per day. It is the same for individual and group referrals. Modules C and D each involve eight (8) hours of staff time.

Question: Long Term Employment Supports: Does this program replace EOP?

Response:Yes, Long Term Employment refers to the Employment Opportunities Program (EOP).

Question: How many Letters of Reference are needed for RFA applicants?

Response:Applicant Organization must submit three (3) written reference letters. At a minimum, these must include at least one (1) reference from a director or senior manager of business entities for whom you have provided services identical or similar to those listed in RFA Section IV, Part 2 Structure and Scope Requirements of the Community Based Rehabilitation and Employment Services, A. through E.

Question: Can individuals associated with BRS be asked to provide a Letter of Reference?

Response:Yes, individuals associated with DORS can provide a letter of reference as part of a respondent application as long as the individual is not a member of the evaluation team of this DORS procurement.

Question: Part 2, A-1-e (onboarding services) holds that “Onboarding Services will be authorized at twenty-five (25%) of the total hours of the CPO.” Is there a contemplated maximum number of onboarding service hours? What is the average number of onboarding service hours per CPO that is factored into the department’s modeling?

Response:It is anticipated that Competitive Placement Opportunities will range from 20-40 hours and the onboarding will be 25% of the total hours authorized for the experience (i.e. a 40 hour CPO will equal 10 hours of Onboarding supports).

Question: Will individuals referred for CPO or Job Placement be able to receive work readiness training services if such additional training is deemed a necessary antecedent to the work attachment services/supports?

Response:Yes, however, we anticipate that much of the work readiness activities will be completed prior to the counselor making a referral for a work attachment.

Question: The employment services rates in Part 4 note “$550 per installment” for “work attachment referral.” Does this mean that a payment of $550 would be made upon referral for a CPO, JP, OJT, or TWE, above and beyond the respective installments for each of those other services? To what does the “per installment” refer relative to the Work Attachment Referral?

Response:The Work Attachment Referral is a $550 installment that is paid to the CRP at the time of referral for any one of the work attachments (Competitive Placement Opportunity, Job Placement or OJT Site Development). ‘At the time of referral’ means that the following criteria have been met; a referral was made from a DORS VR counselor, the client and CRP have met and reviewed the service and the client and CRP mutually agree to work together in securing the work attachment.

Question: Notwithstanding the statement that “each module will be delivered over two (2) days”, how many hours of training in total would be expected/required to cover the DRS-established curricula for Modules A and B of the Work Readiness Training Program?

Response:Modules A and B are each provided in four (4) hour increments over the course of two (2) days for a total of eight (8) hours.

Question: How, if at all, does any of this relate to approval for youth or summer youth services?

Response:This procurement has no relationship to youth or summer youth services. All of our services to pre-employment transition youth are handled under separate procurements which are actively in place.

Question: Staff Qualifications (Application Pg. 7): On the application we are requested to state the required education level and experience. However, we look at a combination of education, experience and personal traits in making hiring decisions. For example, for some positions we may hire someone who doesn't have a degree but has years of prior experience or hire someone with a degree with little experience. While we would not hire someone with both no experience and no degree, if we fill out the form based on the above (e.g., minimum experience= none or < 1 year and required education=HS diploma), this would be a highly inaccurate way of reflecting our hiring practices. How would you suggest we handle this?

Response:We recognize that applicants will have the circumstances described above. This question however, is specific to only exploring the minimum qualifications for job classifications within your organization.

Question: Form D1 (strategy to mitigate communication barriers): We anticipate that the method used to mitigate communication barriers may be subject to change based on a number of factors, including but not necessarily limited to the referral rate, ability to hire staff meeting BRS's communication requirements, staff attrition, etc. While sometimes these types of changes can be anticipated, there will no doubt be instances when there may be little warning (for example, if a qualified staff person suddenly resigns). Are we correct in assuming that BRS will take this into consideration and allow flexibility as circumstances change?

Response: Yes, but resultant contractors will be expected to work expeditiously in refilling the position and keep DORS notified of their progress in doing so.

Question: When filling out this form, Form D1 (strategy to mitigate communication barriers) should our answers be based on what we anticipate having in place as of 3/1/18, based on our goal depending on the number of referrals, or some other criteria?

Response: Responses should be based on what respondents anticipate having in place as of 3/1/18.

Question:Regarding references for Director of Vocational Services: Can you provide some clarification regarding who are required and appropriate references (Pg. 4 of application), specifically: By "director or senior manager of other business entities for whom you have provided services" do you mean other funding agencies, businesses where we have placed clients or some other definition?

Response: In this case “business entities” would mean another business or government organization that contractually purchased same or like services as defined in this procurement from your organization.

Question:Would it be acceptable to request any references from current DORS employees?

Question: Sometimes questions arise only after an entity tries to actually complete the application process and which cannot be anticipated by reading the RFP. In the past, the Official Contact has been able to answer questions after the deadline that are purely technical/procedural and relate to the mechanics of completing the application (for example, when there's been a problem accessing a required form). Will these types of questions be allowed?

Response:Yes, technical and procedural questions related to the application process will be fielded after the question deadline.

Question: Do we have to cover an entire region or can we cover portions of a region? (i.e. Border towns)

Response:It is the expectation that the resultant contractors of this procurement will cover agreed upon regions in their entirety.

Question: If we don’t apply for a region now, will there be opportunities to expand services into another region later?

Response:Expansion beyond the regions negotiated in this contract would be at the discretion of DORS with relation to the operational needs of our program.

Question: When selecting our strategy to mitigate communication barriers, can we select more than one option?

Response:No, for the purposes of this procurement it is necessary to submit your primary strategy that is being proposed to mitigate communication barriers. It should be noted, however, that the additional two remaining strategies will still be available as options under the resultant contract for communication barrier mitigation.

Question: If we select that we will mitigate communication barriers by utilizing a third party translator, are we correct to assume that we will get authorizations for both the direct services being referred and the interpreter reimbursement?

Response:Yes, there would be one authorization for direct services and a second authorization related to the third party translation.

Question: Is there any possibility of negotiating the interpreter rate?

Response:No.

Question: Is DORS able to provide resultant contractors with a list of interpreters and their rates?

Response:No, we are unable to provide third party information.

Question: Are the Work Readiness Trainings- Individual modules going to be the same uniform modules developed by DORS for the Group services?

Response:Yes, the modules or portions of modules that involve client instruction will be scripted by DORS.

Question: It states that the Work Readiness Training- Group modules will be conducted over two days- how many hours are it anticipated for each module to take per day?

Response:Modules A and B are four (4) hours per day for a total of eight (8) hours.

Question: Will the referring counselors be responsible for arranging the groups for the Work Readiness Trainings?

Response:Yes, it is anticipated that DORS staff will arrange the Work Readiness Modules.

Question: Will resultant contractors be able to set a minimum group number for the Work Readiness Training- Group service?

Response:Yes, contractors will have the discretion for conducting services.

Question: What are the expectations for the amount of time an individual should spend at each of the two Information Interviews?

Response:Information Interviewing is a multi-part service which includes; client instruction, opportunity development, at least two (2) informational interviews followed by a brief report. DORS anticipates that each informational interview will range from thirty (30) minutes to one (1) hour.

Question: Is there a minimum amount of time that an individual should be expected to participate during the Job Shadow?

Response:Job Shadowing is a multi-part service which includes; site development, client job shadow experience and a brief report. Actual time of job shadow experience should be four (4) hours.

Question: What are the expectations around the ‘representative’ sampling of trial work sites that a CRP should develop? What industries? How many per industry? If there is a site on the list that isn’t used for a long time, will there be a point in time that it is considered ‘new’ again?

Response: DORS is not specifying the number of sites or positions that need to be developed. The types of sites should be in-line with the local labor market conditions and client referral trends. Resultant contractors will be expected to notify DORS of pre-developed sites available. The sites that fit into this grouping can be used repeatedly for multiple clients and each referral to one of these sites includes the fee to site maintenance.