TPCH 2015 PROJECT RATING & RANKING PROCESS
TUCSON PIMA COLLABORATION TO END HOMELESSNESS
CONTINUUM OF CARE
2015 NOFA Programs
TPCH PROJECT RATING & RANKING PROCESS WITH PERFORMANCE EVALUATION, MONITORING AND IMPROVEMENT PLANS.
Approved October 6, 2015
Table of Contents
I. Overview 1
II. 2015 Local Rating & Ranking Process 3
III. What’s NEW for the 2015 Renewal Scoring, Rating Ranking Process 5
IV. Renewal Project Rating Process 7
V. Renewal Project Methodology & Scoring Charts 8
VI. Specific Scoring Tool Instructions 11
VII. Priority Ranking Strategies 11
VIII. Required, Non-Scored Information 11
IX. Performance Improvement Plans 12
X. Technical Assistance and Contact Information 13
Appendices
A. TPCH 2015 Rating Tool emailed with Rating & Ranking Process instructions
B. NOFA Renewal Project Evaluation Project Appeals Form 14
C. FY 2015 Rating & Ranking Target Population & Eligibility Form 15
D. Sample Match/Leverage letter 16
I. OVERVIEW
Each year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) publishes a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for Continuum of Care (CoC) funds for housing programs and services for people who are experiencing homelessness. HUD’s CoC Program serves as a major source of funding for the wide array of homeless services and supportive housing in Tucson/Pima County, Arizona. The Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH) is the coordinating body for HUD’s AZ-501 Tucson/Pima County Continuum of Care.
In HUD Fiscal Year 2014, there were 32 projects awarded a total of $8,634,226, including 31 renewal projects (among them HMIS, and Planning), and 1 new project.
Although the available amount of funding is expected to be sufficient to fund anticipated eligible renewal projects in FY2015, HUD will continue to require Collaborative Applicants to rank all projects, except CoC planning and United Funding Agency (UFA) Costs, in two tiers. HUD requires projects to be placed into a Tier 1 equaling 85% of the CoC’s Annual Renewal Demand (ARD), and a Tier 2 equaling 15% of ARD plus any bonus project application or applications for up to 15% of ARD. HUD has also stated that it will individually score all projects placed in Tier 2. To ensure that TPCH has the opportunity to prioritize projects in the event that HUD is not able to fund all renewals, an objective process for project scoring (rating) and priority ranking strategies has been established and is detailed in this document.
TPCH will review every housing and services projects requesting renewal funding through the HUD CoC NOFA process. This document outlines the submission of project information for renewal projects under the FY2015 HUD NOFA and the process used to evaluate and prioritize renewal projects, reclassified projects, new projects and HMIS as indicated in that NOFA. To ensure the CoC consolidated application is competitive and fully funded, TPCH reserves the right to amend these requirements and/or issue additional requirements as needed.
The process and rating tool results included in this year’s NOFA response are being used to develop ongoing performance evaluation, monitoring and individual project improvement plans to support the success of each HUD grant recipient.
II. 2015 Local Rating and Ranking Process
Each year’s HUD NOFA details the requirements for applying for CoC Program funding. HUD requires that each project application is reviewed, rated and ranked in order of priority by a group of community stakeholders. In Tucson/Pima County, the group of stakeholders is TPCH, with assistance from an objective Independent Review Panel.
This document details the rating and ranking process and placements into HUD-required Tier 1 and Tier 2.
This year, HUD has mandated the following composition of the two tiers.
· Tier 1 is to be composed of the highest scoring renewal projects that total 85% of the TPCH Annual Renewal Demand or ARD as defined by HUD. A project at the bottom of Tier 1 may have a renewal amount that would exceed the ARD, but the amount exceeding the ARD would be considered to be in Tier 2.
· Tier 2 is to be composed of projects totaling 15% of ARD, including any reclassified or reallocation projects, plus a bonus project or projects totaling up to an additional 15% of ARD. These include projects which the community agrees it needs but for which the funding amounts exceed 85% of the ARD.
The expected results of the process are: creating Tier 1 and Tier 2 for the annual HUD application through performance evaluation; and also implementing ongoing performance monitoring, improvement and support within TPCH.
The TPCH Board, based on the advice and recommendations of the TPCH Standing Committees, established criteria for TPCH to use to review and evaluate existing projects eligible for renewal as part of the 2015 HUD NOFA for Continuum of Care homeless assistance projects.
In 2015, HUD has indicated that no planning grants are to be included in the scoring/rating and ranking process and placement into tiers.
On September 29, 2015 the TPCH Board of Directors decided that the process for ranking all projects in tiers, with up to $7,247,292 in Tier 1 and the remaining $1,278,934 in Tier 2, will be first by priority with preference to projects within each priority that demonstrate the use of housing first through their project eligibility submission, and then by rating score.
Priorities set by the TPCHBoard of Directors are:
1. HMIS
2. Projects dedicated to CH (verified on 2015 HIC for renewals.)
3. Projects prioritized to CH (verified on 2015 HIC submission document)
4. Youth PSH
5. Family RRH
6. Youth TH
7. DV TH
8. New contracted projects, unrated
9. Reallocated & reclassified projects
10. Remainder of renewal projects in scored order
11. Bonus Project(s)
The following will be exempted from the rating process.
• Projects that have not yet completed a full operating term and submitted a full Annual Performance Report (APR) to HUD for their first contract year.
• Projects that have reclassified or reallocated their housing type since submitting their most recent APR and that therefore cannot be properly evaluated on their performance as a reclassified project.
• The HMIS Grant.
For all other grant recipients, the application process for 2015 renewals includes two phases.
Agencies Must Submit the Following for each Project by October 16, 2015:
Phase 1. Renewal Project Rating Information
ð A cover page that indicates agency and project name, grant number that is eligible for renewal and includes the requested total amount for each budget category and the total number of beds / units as reported on the 2015 Housing Inventory Chart (HIC).
ð The most recent APR, in PDF format, as submitted to HUD through E-Snaps
ð Including the page summary bearing the submission date.
ð A completed TPCH 2015 Rating Tool as emailed with these instructions.
ð Match/Leverage Letter copies – A separate letter signed by each on agency on their letterhead detailing the dollar amounts for cash and/or in-kind value along with source of matching funds and additional leveraged funds, identified separately with dollar amounts and/or in-kind, being committed to each project for the renewal term. See sample letters in Appendix C.
ð A description of no more than 750 characters of the project’s target population and eligibility requirements. See Appendix B.
ð A copy of the de-obligation letter for the previous grant year, if applicable.
Additional information will be collected and used in the Rating Process.
• The HMIS Lead will submit information on Point In Time Count (PIT) participation, and HIC accuracy and timeliness, and on dedication and prioritization of beds for use by persons meeting the definition of chronically homeless as reflected on the HIC.
• The Governance & Planning Committee and TPCH administrative staff will submit information on TPCH meeting attendance and voting membership.
Phase 2. HUD Project Application:
· HUD Project Application – completion of HUD required project sections of the federal application required for submittal in e-snaps. Visit https://www.hudexchange.info/e-snaps/guides/coc-program-competition-resources and click on CoC Program Competition – Project Applicants for resources and instructional guides related to the FY 2015 CoC Program Competition.
III. What’s NEW for the 2015 Renewal Rating and Ranking Process?
This year’s rating process relies on objective data and is heavily weighted upon project outcomes, evaluated by the housing intervention provided (that is, by project type). All renewal projects that have submitted an APR for their current housing type to HUD in the past 12 months will be scored by the outcomes accomplished during the last completed contract year as reflected in that APR plus the additional information described above and included in the attached rating tool.
Applicants will fill out the attached tool, using their most recently submitted APR. Prior to submission to reviewers, an independent group of University of Arizona graduate students will check the accuracy of the completed tool, remove or cover the project’s identifying information, and assign a review number before forwarding to the Independent Review Panel.
Projects will first be ranked by score and reviewed by housing type, allowing the Independent Review Panel to compare performance among projects by housing type.
Projects will then be ranked and reviewed in a combined list by score, allowing the Independent Review Panel to compare performance overall across the continuum.
The Independent Review Panel will create the Tier 1 and Tier 2 required by HUD according to the community priorities adopted by the TPCH Board of Directors and outlined in VII, beginning on page 11. During the ranking process and creating of Tier 1 and Tier 2, the anonymized description of each project’s target population and eligibility requirements may be provided to Independent Review Panel members to assist in aligning rankings and tiers with community priorities.
Those projects with the lowest scores for their housing types will be referred to the TPCH Performance Evaluation and Monitoring Committee for development of a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).
On the next page (page 6) are the 2015 point allocations.
2015 RENEWAL PROJECT RATING scored criteriaCATEGORY / Criteria / "X" = APPLICABLE TO
PSH / RRH / SH / TH
PROJECT OUTCOMES
Housing Stability / X / X / - / -
Housing Stability / - / - / X / X
Total Income from all Sources / X / X / X / -
Total Income from all Sources / - / - / - / X
Non - Cash Benefits / - / - / X / X
Non - Cash Benefits / X / X / - / -
All Category Points / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60
Applicable
Total Score
GRANT ADMINISTRATION
Funds Used / X / X / X / X
Data Quality / X / X / X / X
Leverage / X / X / X / X
Renewal application / X / X / X / X
All Category Points / 32 / 32 / 32 / 32
Applicable
Total Score
COC
PARTICIPATION / Voting Membership / X / X / X / X
HIC Submission / X / X / X / X
PIT Sheltered Count / X / X / X / X
PIT Street Count / X / X / X / X
Category Score / 8 / 8 / 8 / 8
Possible Points / SCORE
Project Outcomes / 60 / 0
Grant Administration / 32 / 0
CoC Participation / 8 / 0
TOTAL / 100 / 0
IV. Renewal Project Rating Process
The following outlines key steps and aspects of the 2015 project rating process:
1. Renewal Submission and Threshold Review
Submission protocol and schedule:
• Dropbox accounts will be created for each Project. Agency representatives must create a Dropbox account and accept the invitation.
• All submissions to the Project Drop boxes and e-snaps will be reviewed for completeness after 5:00 p.m. on October 16, 2015 and notices of missing or incorrect information will be emailed to the Project Contact Person.
• If documentation is found to be missing or an obvious error is discovered, the agency will have until the close of the business on October 18, 2015 to submit the corrected documentation to their Dropbox.
2. Project Rating
Projects will be evaluated based on measures detailed in Section V. Project Scoring Methodology and an overall project score / rating will be determined. Evaluation methodologies and ranges for each measure are detailed in Section V.
Review and evaluation will consist of: submitted project materials; reports from the HMIS Lead on PIT count participation, HIC/PIT submission timeliness and accuracy, and bed dedication and prioritization on the HIC; and information on meeting participation and voting membership from the Governance & Planning Committee and TPCH administrative staff. The TPCH Independent Review Panel will review all submitted information and issue a project score rating. In the case of projects with the same score, the Independent Review Panel will use the percent of exits to permanent destinations to break the tie. If a tie still exists, the Independent Review Panel may select other criteria.
Communication of preliminary evaluation results and rating will be posted on the TPCH website (www.tpch.net) and project names, overall scores/ratings and rankings will be emailed to the full TPCH electronic distribution list.