ADDENDUM 1
to Request for Proposal (RFP) No. WBA1415
For
CalWORKs Domestic Violence Support Services
2014/2015
Bidder Attendee List and Questions & Answers
10:00am-12:00pmon
February 26, 2014
at
Alameda County Health Care Services Agency
Reach Ashland Youth Center
16335 E. 14th St., 1st Floor
Ashland Community Room (#100)
San Leandro, CA 94578 / 1:00pm-3:00pm
on
February 28, 2014
at
Alameda County Social Services Agency
24100 Amador Street, 2nd Floor
California Poppy (#225/226)
Hayward, CA 94544
NOTE: The RFP Response Package (Exhibit A – Attachment No. 1) has been revised. Please make sure to use the latest version, which is available on either of the websites: or .
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NAME / ORGANIZATION / PHONE # / E-MAIL1 / Cat Logsdon / Family Service Counseling Center / 510-483-6715 x339 /
2 / Kaki Marshall / BOSS / 415-250-8798 /
3 / Christine Lias / BOSS / 408-893-7217 /
4 / Sonja Fitz / BOSS / 510-649-1930 /
5 / Amber Daniels / La Familia Counseling Services / 510-219-9306 /
6 / Dr. Rachel Bayard Cooks / Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family Life and Culture / 510-836-3245 /
7 / Amada Gudińo / FVLC / 510-208-0220 /
8 / Marissa Fernandez / FVLC / 510-208-0220 /
9 / Maria Pittier / Ruby’s Place / 510-581-5626 /
10 / Sophora Acheson / Ruby’s Place / 510-931-5997 /
11 / Esnesta Givens / Ruby’s Place / 510-581-5626 /
12 / Jaclyn Pinero / Bay Area Legal Aid / 510-250-5229 /
13 / Ariella Hyman / Bay Area Legal Aid / 510-250-5229 /
14 / Laneva Johnson / Youth Uprising / 510-777-9909 /
15 / Lisa Jackson / Highland Hospital / 510-437-8319 /
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1 / Question: / Is the grant intended to serve clients referred by CalWORKs or is it open to any Domestic Violence (DV) client?Answer: / Only CalWORKs eligible and CalWORKs clients
2 / Question: / Is the funding intended for clients in immediate crisis in need of safety, or does the target population also include people with DV history who are still facing health/mental health/stability impairment despite being out of the immediate crisis?
Answer: / The DV support services is to aid in removing barriers to employment and to provide support to CalWORKs DV clients to seek and become gainfully employed.
3 / Question: / Do the shelters need to provide the ability to do 24-hour intakes?
Answer: / Yes
4 / Question: / Do shelters need to comply with established “safe house” standards?
Answer: / Yes
5 / Question: / How will the contractor(s) receive referrals?
Answer: / From Alameda County (AC) Social Workers and Employment Counselors (EC)
6 / Question: / How will the contractor know if a participant is eligible for services?
Answer: / From the referrals sent by the AC SW/EC
7 / Question: / Will the release of names of the organization(s) that have expressed an interest in this RFP or attended the two bidders’ conferences be available for possible subcontractor opportunities?
Answer: / Yes, refer to “Attendee List and Questions and Answers”
8 / Question: / Are partnerships (i.e. lead agency w/subs) allowed to apply?
Answer: / Yes
9 / Question: / What are U-Visas? How are they to be identified? Please clarify.
Answer: / The state-only program equivalent to RCA (Federal) is the Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP).
The two-nonimmigrant visas, the "T" Visa, for victims of severe form of trafficking in person, and the "U" Visa, for victims of criminal activity, allow certain immigrants the ability to remain in the United States (U.S.). Under SB 1569, a victim of other serious crime (including domestic abuse) must have filed for or have been granted a U Visa or U Visa Interim Relief from USCIS in order to be eligible for TCVAP (state funded).
USCIS may grant temporary legal status “U Nonimmigrant Status" and work authorization to those who are eligible, which thereby allows the non-citizen to remain in the U.S. and be permitted to work although it does not give them eligibility for federal benefits. An applicant, whom receives approval of U Visa Interim Relief by USCIS, is required to apply for an employment authorization document (EAD) and SSN as a condition of eligibility.
10 / Question: / On pg. 33 – Under Term – please clarify if the term of the contract is three years or one year.
Answer: / A contract period or fiscal year (FY) is 12 months; the contract term is three (3) contract periods or 3 FY.
11 / Question: / Are the VAWA funds also 12-months?
Answer: / Yes
12 / Question: / Should we prepare a separate grant proposal for each category of service if we are applying for both?
Answer: / Yes
13 / Question: / Which organization(s) has the existing contract on this grant?
Answer: / Collaborative: Family Violence Law Center (fiscal lead), A Safe Place, Building Futures with Women and Children, International Institute of the Bay Area, Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, and Tri-Valley Haven for Women.
VAWA: International Institute of the Bay Area
14 / Question: / Who got this grant previous years?
Answer: / See answer for #13
15 / Question: / Who holds the existing contract? Who is currently providing this service?
Answer: / See answer for #13
16 / Question: / Can the current contractor reapply or are they ineligible?
Answer: / Yes, the current contractor can reapply.
17 / Question: / If it is fee for service, how will we bill?
Answer: / CORRECTION, this will not be fee-for-service. The service billing will be line-item.
18 / Question: / Is the expectation that one agency and partnership provide assessment, shelter, employment services or is it probable that the winning bid would coordinate care (i.e. can go to another shelter if no room is available in Contractor’s shelter)?
Answer: / The expectation is that a collaborative between agencies be established to provide the various DV support services outlined in this RFP.
19 / Question: / How many participants annually will be served?
Answer: / This number is based on available funding and the details of how many is negotiable during the contracts process phase.
20 / Question: / Does the $375,000 include funding for the shelter beds? How many beds?
Answer: / Yes. The number of beds is negotiable during the contracts process phase.
21 / Question: / How many contracts will be awarded?
Answer: / Two contracts: One for the Collaborative Support Services and a second for the Violence Against Women Act services.
22 / Question: / How many shelter beds were available last year?
Answer: / SSA does not currently know how many beds were available, as availability of beds was managed by each contractor. This information was not being tracked in the previous contract.
23 / Question: / How many shelter nights total were used last year?
Answer: / 905 individuals or 597 families used 15,790 nights of stay in a shelter
24 / Question: / How many clients were serviced with support services last year?
Answer: / Collaborative:
- 905 individuals or 597 families used 15,790 nights of stay in a shelter
- Legal Consultation service to 209 families
- Legal Representation service to 96 families
- Legal Consultation service to 44 families
- Legal Representation service to 49 families
25 / Question: / How many referrals were there last year?
Answer: / SSA made 212 Legal Referrals and 65 Shelter Referrals in the last contract period.
26 / Question: / How many VAWA representations does the current VAWA Contractor do per year?
Answer: / For FY 12/13, 84 one-on-one consultations and 51 legal representations.
27 / Question: / Not all agencies have CalWIN access. When the collaborative reports results, will the subcontracting agencies need to provide client names to the lead agency or will they be given their own access to the CalWIN system, so we don’t need to worry about signing releases to share client names across agencies?
Answer: / Most of the information needed for client tracking will be provided by the SW on the referral. CalWIN access is not necessary. However, if the need does arise, an MOU can be established for limited CalWIN access.
28 / Question: / Page 8, Direct Services (1) “Act as onsite liaison…” Is this required or a suggestion? Is this onsite as SSA?
Answer: / This is a requirement by the agency winning the bid.
29 / Question: / Page 8, #2 – What type of assessment needs to be completed? Bio/physcho-social? Lethality?
Answer: / Refer to page 18 to a web link for a list of tools. Just include one tool in addition to the regular tools, if not already being used.
30 / Question: / Can an agency self-identify clients vs. only taking referrals?
Answer: / All referrals will come from the SW/EC. If an agency identifies a possible client they must refer them to a Social Services Agency (SSA) SW for an assessment and wait for the SSA referral as confirmation for services.
31 / Question: / Are agencies required to already have DV services in place or can we plan and create the program?
Answer: / Yes
32 / Question: / Will the CalWORKs participant be referred and be required to participate in services?
Answer: / Yes
33 / Question: / What is the required length of employment placement and how long will the agency be required to track this outcome?
Answer: / Unknown at this time, each case is different and this would vary according to the client’s need.
34 / Question: / If we are applying for the DV Support Services and are including legal services for immigrants under VAWA as part of our collaborative work, can the agency providing these services also apply for VAWA DV Support Services?
Answer: / Yes, although the client cannot be claimed under both contract service categories. This information will be captured on the reporting tool.
35 / Question: / What are the Results Based Accountability (RBA) metrics specifically for the legal services piece?
Answer: / Legal services are not a separate entity detached from RBA. SSA is looking at client outcomes as servicing the whole client. Refer to pages 18-20.
36 / Question: / What is the purpose of the validated intake? Domestic Violence provides and have tools to the services we provide and because we are a collaborative, our different services require different types of assessment.
Answer: / Best practice tools that are valid and reliable. The validated tools are specific to the DV assessment. So legal providers will not have this info , but the shelter providers will. All in all, this info comes back to the one lead agency who is responsible for making sure all the data is in order before submitting it to SSA.
37 / Question: / How many grants will be awarded?
Answer: / See answer for #21
38 / Question: / Do we need to divide the $375k in any particular way between the client assistance fund (CAF) and staffing?
Answer: / Although the CAF is not the primary focus for DV support services for this RFP, the allocations are negotiable during the contract process phase.
39 / Question: / Is the $375k per year or for the entire 3 year period?
Answer: / Based on funding availability and performance, the $375K is per year.
40 / Question: / If there are is only $375k total available for the collaborative contracts and there are three (3) year contracts, how much will each contract be? Are they all the same?
Answer: / There will only be one contract per category. For the Collaborative DV Support Services, the $375k funding is annual, but based on funding availability and performance.
41 / Question: / Is a collaboration required if we can provide all services and meet the objectives and decide not to partner/collaborate, does this affect our application?
Answer: / A collaborative is required.
42 / Question: / Who are the current providers for both the collaborative and the immigration piece?
Answer: / See answer for #13
43 / Question: / Under Exhibit B – Bid Form, what does “subcontracts” mean?
Answer: / As one agency will be a fiscal lead, subcontracts refers to collaborative members.
44 / Question: / Do MOU’s or letters of intent have to be submitted with the RFP?
Answer: / No
45 / Question: / Are signatures from collaborating agencies required anywhere in the application?
Answer: / Yes, signatures from collaborating agencies are required. The Exhibit A – Attachment No. 1 will be revised to include additional pages for this. Please refer to Addendum 1.
46 / Question: / The RFP says that all clients need to be identified by a CalWIN number. Does that mean we can no longer provide Client Assistance Funds for CalWORKs-eligible clients (who are not actually on CalWORKs), who obviously will not have a CalWIN number?
Answer: / The inclusion of CalWIN data is new to the DV support services process. This does not mean a CW eligible DV client cannot be provided CAF benefits. Where the CalWIN number is needed on the reporting document enter pending. Once the CalWIN information is available, promptly update this to SSA.
47 / Question: / Not all agencies have CalWIN access. When the collaborative reports results, will the subcontracting agencies need to provide client names to the lead agency or will they be given their own access to the CalWIN system so we don’t need to worry about signing releases to share client names across agencies?
Answer: / Yes all subcontractors in contract with FVLC will need to provide the lead agency with release statements. On the SSA side, the CW DV client provides a signed release statement before a referral is made, allowing SSA to have the ability for information sharing.
48 / Question: / Two of the agencies in our collaborative are governed by attorney-client privilege, an area of confidentiality law that is broader than other areas. Those agencies will not be able to provide SSA with the CalWIN numbers for clients unless the client has signed a specific release allowing information about the legal services they received to be shared with SSA. Those agencies can make every attempt to obtain these releases but it may not always be possible. Can an exception be made for agencies providing legal services?
Answer: / The CalWIN case number is provided on the referral form. As noted in answer #47, the CW DV client has already signed a release form with SSA. What SSA is asking is that the contractor fill-in the columns of data that correspond with an individual’s CalWIN case number and because SSA is the referring agency, the client has already granted SSA that sharing privilege when the client signed the disclosure statements. This agreement with clients upfront, allows for that communication here on the data piece.
49 / Question: / Will the information we provide be entered into the client’s CalWIN entry? How will that be used?
Answer: / No, SSA will not enter this data into CalWIN. The data that is compiled on the spread sheet is to be evaluated by SSA’s Program Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) and used to assess performance, as it is the SSA’s goal for contracts to be performance driven.
50 / Question: / What is the purpose of the validated intake? Domestic violence providers have tools that gather information relevant to the services we provide and because we are a collaborative our different services require different types of assessment.
Answer: / The purpose of the validated intake is to use tools that have been proven, to be effective (valid and reliable) in assessing the mental health components of domestic violence. It is best practice to use valid and reliable tools for assessment in the field of mental health. SSA is only asking for the use of tools in the Compendium guide, most of which are mental health tools. SSA is not expecting anyone who isn’t licensed to screen for such factors, to use these tools. These tools are to be used by clinicians. If a client is receiving legal services, there is no need for the legal representative to do such an assessment, since it is not in the legal rep’s scope of practice to conduct a mental health screening. The use of such tools is for clinicians and shelter staff.
NOTE: The RFP Response Package (Exhibit A – Attachment No. 1) has been revised. Please make sure to use the latest version, which is available on either of the websites: or .
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