City and County of San Francisco

Request for Proposals for Human Services Agencies

(RFP 450)

TO PROVIDE MODIFIED PAYMENT PROGRAM WITH A PORTION OF THE CASE LOAD RECEIVING REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE SERVICES

Date issued: April 16, 2010

Pre-Proposal Conference: April 20, 2010 1:00 p.m.

Proposals due: May 14, 2010 3:00 p.m.

RFP 450 Table of Contents

Page

I. Introduction, Schedule, and Definitions……………...... …………....……….....…...…..…. 3

II. Scope of Work...... ……...... ……………...... …...….... 4

III. Submission Requirements...... …………….…….....….... 7

IV. Evaluation and Selection Criteria...... …….………..…....…..... 10

V. Pre-Proposal Conference and Grant Award...... ……………….…....…...... 11

VI. Terms and Conditions for Receipt of Proposals...... ………….…..…...... 11

.

VII. City Grant Requirements...... …...... …..……….….…...... 14

VIII. Protest Procedures ...... …...………..….…...... 15

IX. Standard Forms………………………………………………………..………………..….……… 15

X. Response Cover Page………………………………………………………………………………17

I. Introduction, Schedule, and Definitions

A.General

The City and County of San Francisco Human Services Agency (HSA) announces its intent to seek proposals from organizations to administer Modified Payment Programs (MPP) to provide supportive financial services to at-risk or formerly homeless individuals in housing units within San Francisco.

This program primarily focuses on supporting housing stability by offering clients who receive local, state or federal benefits a two-party benefit delivery/distribution system that can support housed clients to pay their portion of the rent upon receipt of each benefit payment. These programs offer a percentage of these clients further support to will full representative payee and/or money management case managers.

In the current MPP program, some of the clients are tenants in housing programs that are supported with other HSA grants/contract; some reside in sites/housing programs that do not receive an HSA funding. Currently, there are approximately 600 clients who are residents of nonprofit and privately owned/operated SRO and other low-income housing in the Tenderloin, South of Market and Mission neighborhoods. This program also serves up to 70 clients residing in a scattered-site housing program in the Bayview community. An additional 120 clients are tenants of other small HSA housing programs that do not have MPP services built into the programs. 10 – 15% of the caseload receives full representative payee services, including money management, budgeting, and related support.

This RFP is focusing on the MPP program and the more extensive full representative payee services for between 10 – 15% of the caseload for 600 individual clients. HSA is seeking respondents who will propose how to add a second component to the program regarding ability and additional costs for serving 400 additional clients with 10 – 15% of the caseload having access to full representative payee services.

The successful respondent will propose to serve the current caseload of 600 clients. All new clients as the caseload of 600 has turnover and the potential increase of an additional 400 clients will be referred via HSA-approved Access Points.

The Department expects to make one award through this RFP. Respondent should propose to serve a minimum caseload of 600 clients and provide program expansion and a separate budget column for serving an additional 400 clients. The combined total caseload for any MPP responding agency should be 1,000 total clients with 100 – 150 full representative payee clients as part of that.

The proposed grant shall have an original term of three years, effective from July 1, 2010 (7/1/10) to June 30, 2013 (6/30/13). In addition, the Human Services Agency shall have one option to extend the term for a period of up to three additional years, at the City’s sole, absolute discretion. This service is exclusively funded by City revenue sources Payment for all services provided in accordance with provisions under this grant shall be contingent upon the availability of City funds for the purpose of providing MPP. The City shall not be required to provide any definitive units of service nor does it guarantee any minimum amount of funding for these services.

B.Tentative Schedule

RFP Issue April 16, 2010

Pre-Proposal Conference April 20 2010 1:00 p.m. 1650 Mission Street, Suite 300, San Francisco

Written Questions Due April 22, 2010 3:00 p.m.

Proposals Due May 14, 2010 3:00 p.m. 1650 Mission Street, Suite 300, San Francisco

C. Definitions

Access Points / HSA established process for outreach, identification and referral of a potential client to a specific program covered by this contract. The HSA Housing& Homeless Division establishes program priorities and eligibility with the grantee and identifies the organizations or Access Points that can make referrals along the established guidelines.
CAAP / County Adult Assistance Programs including:
General Assistance (GA), Personally Assisted Employment Services (PAES), Social Security Income Pending (SSIP), County Assistance Linked to MediCal (CALM)
Client / Any individual, couple or family who are active participants in the programs covered by this RFP and the resulting grant with a successful respondent.
DHS / Department of Human Services Within HSA
Grantee / The agency that becomes a contractor for HSA regarding one or more specific programs related to this RFP by submitting a successful proposal and completing the negotiations with the approval of the Human Services Commission.
HSA / Human Service Agency, City and County of San Francisco
MPP / Modified Payment Program
Rep Payee / Representative Payee Program
SRO / Single Room Occupancy hotel
Tenant / Any individual, couple or family who are legal residents in the building and units covered by this proposal. There is a lease agreement between the tenant and property management.
Access Points / HSA established process for outreach, identification and referral of a potential client to a specific program covered by this contract. The HSA Housing& Homeless Division establishes program priorities and eligibility with the grantee and identifies the organizations or Access Points that can make referrals along the established guidelines.

II. Scope of Work

The Scope of Work is to be used as a general guide and is not intended to be a complete list of all work necessary to complete the project.

The following are work tasks assumed necessary to provide Modified Payment Program and Representative Payee Program within and for the City and County of San Francisco. Respondents to this RFP must propose to provide all of the services stated in Services Requested, of this RFP.

A.Services Requested

Target Populations and Eligibility

The target populations are homeless and formerly homeless single adults and couples (without custody of minor children) and a few families who require assistance via MPP and a portion who require a representative payee program related to finances and rent payments in order to obtain/maintain permanent housing. In order to become a client of the programs covered by this RFP, potential clients must meet HSA-established eligibility requirements and be referred by the HSA Housing & Homeless Access Point system.

Service Categories

Organizations selected through this procurement will be expected to offer a range of services leading to the outcomes

listed in the Outcome Objectives section that follows. The supportive services offered are expected to enable

residents to maintain their housing. Since MPP and Representative Payee services are at times voluntary and always

require maintaining a functional relationship with clients, program models need to include how client engagement is

established and maintained.

Respondents are advised that participation in San Francisco's Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) will be required of the provider and applicable clients served under a contract.

  1. Participate in San Francisco's Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) by entering and updating client information in a web-based HMIS database.
  2. Submit Facility Inventory data to the Human Services Agency during the last week of January. Data will include unit/bed inventory, point in time population count of residents, and general characteristic data of residents. Data is used for reporting mandated by the Federal Government under the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's McKinney-Vento program.

The proposed scope of services should be developed in accordance with the following factors:

  1. Tenant/Client population
  2. Mission of responding agency
  3. Size and location of site(s)
  4. Requirements of established non-HSA funding sources, if any (please identify in budget and budget narrative)

Modified Payment Program

Proposals should cover services for a minimum 600-client caseload and the ability and cost of an expansion with an additional 400 client caseload. Costs should be presented separately for the caseloads of 600 clients, the additional 400 clients and the combined 1,000 person caseload. Proposals should cover the basic MPP services and the ability to offer full representative payee services to a minimum of 100 - 150 of the proposed caseload. Current programs have also included information and referral with short-term support regarding linkages to needed services beyond MPP.

  1. Identify and select MPP and representative payee clients according to HSA-established policies and priorities via Access Points.
  2. Establish, as needed, memorandum of understanding and/or the ability to receive county, state and/or federal benefits on behalf of MPP clients.
  3. Process benefit receipt, rent payments, distribution of remaining benefits to the client in a timely fashion and to support housing stability.
  4. Work with property management, landlords, and when present on-site support services to determine tenant rent, pro-ration of rent where necessary, communication regarding issues that effect rent payments, unclaimed benefits, etc.
  5. Provide referrals to the client related to on-site housing staff, rental assistance, eviction prevention and representation, contacts with benefit providers, and non-MPP services as needed and/or requested by clients.
  6. Provide full representative payee services to 10 – 15% of the MPP clients. Prioritize provision of representative payee services as negotiated with HSA to those who require such service to receive benefits and individuals who have demonstrated that general MPP services are not sufficient to maintain housing stability when benefits are from sources other than CAAP..

Representative Payee Program

For the 10 – 15% of the MPP case load receiving full Reprepsentive Payee Services, Rep Payee Services refers to receipt and disbursement of client entitlement funds based on a budget and disbursement plan mutually agreed upon between client and rep payee.

  1. Identify and select Rep Payee clients according to HSA-established policies and priorities via Access Points.
  2. Establish, as needed, memorandum of understanding and/or the ability to receive state and/or federal benefits on behalf of clients.
  3. Negotiate a budget and disbursement plan that is mutually agreed upon between the client and the grantee that focuses on housing and other stability.
  4. Process benefit receipt, rent and other payments, disbursement of payments to the client in a timely fashion and to support housing stability.
  5. Work with client’s service providers, property management, landlords and (when present) on-site support services, service companies (phone, utilities, etc.) to determine expenses, tenant rent, pro-ration of rent where necessary, communication regarding issues that effect payments, unclaimed benefits, etc.
  6. Provide referrals to the client related to on-site housing staff, rental assistance, eviction prevention and representation, contacts with benefit and service providers, and non-Rep Payee services as needed and/or requested by clients.
  7. Assist clients with recertification and other efforts required to maintain their benefit payments.

B.Objectives

Respondents should state in measurable, quantifiable terms the service and outcome objectives they will achieve in providing these services. The major purpose of objectives is to measure quantity, quality, structure and impact of services. In measuring these areas, a balance should be created between the value of the information and the time/effort required to collect the information. The objectives stated in the proposal may be incorporated as part of the program’s evaluation plan. The objectives should be specified in the proposals to match the services to be provided.

This section identifies suggested service and outcome objectives that are of interest to the Department. Respondents may include additional objectives in their response packages with clear information regarding how these outcomes will be measured and tracked. DHS will negotiate with the successful respondent to define specific objectives and how these objections will be measured and tracked during the term of the grant agreement, prior to finalizing the grant award process.

Service Objectives:

Modified Payment Program:

  1. Follow HSA and other benefit source policies and guidelines in acting as a two-party recipient with the client for benefit payments.
  2. Pay clients portion of the rent in a timely fashion.
  3. Provide clients with rent receipts.
  4. Make referrals to other services or providers based on issues presented by clients or identified based on clients’ actions.

Representative Payee Services:

  1. Assist 100% of Rep Payee participants to establish a budget. Adjust budgets and disbursement plans as needed.
  2. Provide rent and other payments, as well as disbursement of benefits directly to clients according to mutually agreed upon budgets in a timely fashion.
  3. Assist 100% of Rep Payee clients in the completion of continuing disability reviews and/or in the re-determination process in order to maintain benefits.
  4. Provide clients with rent receipts and regular accounting of benefits and disbursements.
  5. Provide referrals and short-term linkage support to clients related to services that are not directly part of maintaining benefits, budgeting and money management,

Tenant Demographics:

  1. Provide data regarding client demographics to be reported annually or as negotiated to HSA.
  2. Data will include total client count, client age, gender, ethnicity, disability status (when available), prior homeless status (to be recorded once upon initial entry into program) and source of tenant income.

Outcome Objectives:

Housing Retention and Stability:

  1. The percentage of clients placed while in the program that remain in the program for 30 days.
  2. The percentage of tenants housed while in the program that remain housed one year later.

Income:

  1. Report the number of clients who applied and the number who obtained SSI benefits during each reporting period. (MPP Program only)
  2. Report the number of clients who left local county benefits programs (CAAP) and how many switched to other benefit programs (and likely remained in the MPP program) or became employed (and likely left the MPP program).
  3. Report annually the number of tenants who maintained or increased their income over the year since their last recertification/income verification.

Client Satisfaction:

  1. Report outcomes of annual client written survey including:

a)Percentage of clients who can identify how, where and/or to whom to seek assistance and/or register a complaint or grievance.

b)Percentage of clients who are satisfied with services.

III. Submission Requirements

A.Time and Place for Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be received by the timeline specified in Section I.B. Postmarks will not be considered in judging the timeliness of submissions. Proposals may be delivered in person and left with a Contract Manager with the Human Services Agency Office of Contract Management at 1650 Mission Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94103 or mailed to:

Stella Chu, G500

Office of Contract Management

San Francisco Human Services Agency

1650 Mission Street, Suite 300

San Francisco, CA 94103

Electronic PDF proposals should be e-mailed to:

Respondents shall submit one (1) original hard copy and a PDF copy of the proposal clearly marked with the RFP number and titleto the above location. Proposals that are submitted by fax will not be accepted. Late submissions will not be considered

B.Format

Please use recycled paper, print double-sided to the maximum extent practical, and bind the proposal with a binder clip, rubber band, or single staple, or submit it in a three-ring binder. Please do not bind your proposal with a spiral binding, glued binding, or anything similar. Please use tabs or other separators within the document.

For word processing documents, it is preferred that text be unjustified (i.e., with a ragged-right margin) and use a minimum of 11-point serif font (e.g., Times Roman, and not Arial), and that pages have margins of at least 1” on all sides (excluding headers and footers).

C.Content

Organizations interested in responding to this RFP must submit the following information, in the order specified below:

Table of Contents

Each proposal package should contain a complete table of contents showing page numbers. All pages in the package must be numbered consecutively, and major sections must be indexed.

1. Cover Page - Introduction and Executive Summary (use RFP 450 form #1)

Submit the cover page signed by a person authorized to obligate the organization to perform the commitments contained in the proposal. Submission of this document will constitute a representation by the organization that the organization is willing and able to perform the commitments contained in the proposal.

Briefly describe your understanding of the characteristics of the consumers to be served under this RFP, their needs, and issues involved in providing the service to them. Briefly describe your proposed service design to meet their service needs. Briefly describe the agency’s minimum qualifications (refer to Section IV. A. of this RFP). Briefly describe any subcontractors proposed, if any.

2. Project Approach

Provide the following information in your proposal for both Modified Payment Program and Representative Payee Program:

a)Describe the general service operations and the specific service components to be provided (be sure to

address all applicable items listed in Section II. Scope of Work). Describe in-program services and referral services

b)Describe coordination efforts with landlords and property managers (and other service providers for Rep Payee Programs) regarding payments.

c)Describe current coordination with sources of client benefits.

d)Describe the proposed model for notification to and support of clients whose benefit payments are interrupted or discontinued.