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Request for Proposals
For a
Grant Application & Review System
and
Grant Management System
Release Date: March 7, 2023
Deadline for Submittal:
April 10, 2023
5:00 P.M.
Contact: Patrick Seals, Senior Management Analyst
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: (510) 307-8016
City of Richmond
Department of Children and Youth
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INTRODUCTION
This Request for Proposal (RFP) is being issued by the City of Richmond, to identify qualified agencies, firms, project teams or individuals to develop an online grant management system and manage the grant application and selection process for the Richmond Fund for Children and Youth.
Qualified respondents to this RFP may be considered for contracting by other City of Richmond departments or entities for similar scope of terms and services, with qualified respondents eligible for city contracting. The long-term vision is for a unified data management system across the City of Richmond that will: 1) simplify the grant application and reporting process for grantees, and 2) allow staff of various City of Richmond departments and programs to manage the entire life cycle of grants from application to review and award, to ongoing management until the end of the grant term.
Departments and programs that may potentially be interested in respondents to this RFP for future projects may include the: ECIA Competitive Grant, Love Your Block Mini- Grant, Community Services Department Mini-Grant and the Neighborhood Public ART (NPA) Mini-Grant, etc.
Richmond Fund for Children and Youth (RFCY) is a program of the City of Richmond. Being a grant-funding program within the City of Richmond, RFCY's funding for community-based programs and services provides critical support to Richmond’s most vulnerable children, youth and families. RFCY supports approximately 60 program grants totaling over $5 million, who provide direct support to over 12,000 children and youth and parents and caregivers. Funding is dedicated to direct services to children and youth from birth through 24 years of age residing in Richmond.
FUNDING TERMS AND DURATION
Phase I: Richmond Fund for Children and Youth
The term is projected to be July 2023 through June 2024 with op tions for additional renewal. The project will have two deliverables: 1) Grant appli cation and review system and 2) Grant Management System,
Phase II: Other City of Richmond Departments and Programs Qualified respondents to this RFP may be considered for contrac ts initiated by other City of Richmond departments or programs for similar scope of terms and services.
RFP Timeline
1) The City anticipates the tentative schedule of events to be as follows:
Publishing of RFP Tuesday, March 7, 2023, 5:00 P.M
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Submission of Question Deadline Monday, March 20, 2023, 5:00 P.M. Proposal Due Friday Monday, April 10, 2023, 5:00 P.M. Contract Start Date (Proposed) July 1, 2023
PREPOSAL MEETING AND RESPONDENTS’ QUESTIONS DEADLINE
Deadline for Respondents’ Questions: Respondents may request clarification or ask questions about this document by utilizing the City’s BidsOnline Portal. No questions will be answered by other communication methods. A consolidated list of questions and answers will be posted to the to the City’s BidsOnline Portal. Proposers are responsible to review the BidsOnline Portal periodically and incorporate guidance as appropriate.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AND DEADLINE DATE
Proposal Submittal Deadline Date and Time: Monday, April 10, 2023, by 5:00 P.M.
Submittals are due no later than 5:00 P.M. on Monday, April 10, 2023, through the BidsOnline Portal. Please log-in and Register as a New Vendor on the portal and review all the pertinent documents for this Bid Opportunity prior to the online submittal of your proposal.
Proposals not received by the Submittal Deadline will not be considered responsive to this RFP.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
The City of Richmond is interested in soliciting proposals from applicants who can develop and deliver both A) Grant Application and Review System and B) Grant Management System. Applicants who propose for only one of the two deliverables will be deemed non-responsive to this RFP and will not be considered. Proposers should bid realistic costs for the services being offered and consider any government rates, etc.
A) Develop and Online Grant App lication and Review System Develop an online system for prospective grantees to apply in an open and fair application process. The system will support applicants submitting distinct program grants requests in multiple strategies. Complete applications will include agency information, program information, narrative questions responses, detailed budgets, service projections and participant demographic projections. Each strategy may have unique question sets, budget templates, service type projections, and participant demographic projections.
The system will also need to facilitate the review process by giving external reviewers (e.g., 30-35) access to assigned proposals with the ability to review and score. This online application and review system should be fully developed and operational at the projected deployment date.
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The system needs to be user friendly to applicants, staff, and reviewers. System will need to allow for selection of programs for funding and easy transition into a grant management scope of work and contracting/monitoring module for programs.
Development work should include the initial meetings with staff about the needs and desires of the system, plan and curriculum for training staff, applicants, and reviewers, ongoing technical support and post deployment support.
Required Capabilities:
Strategy specific narrative question sets, budget templates, a ctivity projections, demographic projections, upload of key documents.
Ease of customization - Easy us er interface for staff to add, delete or modify fields, uploads, question sets, budget templates and projected services/activities, Staff ability to easily create and save unique administrative reports templates.
The reports templates should be able to analyze data including summing, counting, conditional counting and formatting, and averaging. Ability to assign specific proposals to specific reviewers and track the readers’ progress to completing the reviews and scores.
Staff ability to give questions unique weighted score and set the rating scale for reviewers.
Summarize and analyze all data collected. Ability to perform calculations such as cost per youth served, cost per service hours, average reviewer scores, and other reports for review of proposals.
Ability to transfer applicant data into grant management system. Ability for one organization wit h a single profile to apply to multiple strategies without the need to enter general organizational information each time. Post deployment technical assistance.
Desired Capabilities:
The ability to send email commu nications to applicants and reviewers with the ability to filter recipients.
The ability for external revie wers to register each grant cycle including information on what strategies qualified to review, upload resumes, and identify potential conflict of interest.
Email documents generat ed using data fields (e.g., grant award or rejection letters specifying applicant and award amount.)
Integrate secure signatures (e.g., adobe acrobat).
The ability to map and present ser vice locations overall, by strategy, or for a specific subset.
The ability for one organization wi th a single profile to apply to multiple City of Richmond departments and programs.
The ability for City of Richmond staff to see if the organization is funded by other City of Richmond departments and programs.
B) Develop on Online Grants Management System
The City of Richmond is soliciting a vendor to create a grants management system that
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will migrate approved applicant data into a contracting module, including agency and program information, budgets, participant projections, service projections. The system should also have periodic reporting that includes narrative responses, actual service data compared to projections, and the ability to invoice against the approved budget.
At the program level, grantees will have to create unique participants including demographics information, setup services and activities, and track and report participant level data in services and activities. Certain strategies may have unique service types.
Grantees should also have access to data that is easily understandable such as dashboards tracking RFCY outlined metrics. They should also have some standard grantee level administrative reports and the ability to create customizable reports to analyze their performance year -to-date.
The grants management system should be fully developed and operational by the projected proposal start date. The system should accommodate multiple users per each funded program with varying levels of access. Development work needs to include initial meetings with staff and current grantees about the needs and desires of the system, plan and curriculum for training staff and grantees, ongoing technical support and post deployment support.
Required Capabilities:
Migration of applicant data in to grant management data for approved grantees. The ability for grantees to submit their scope of work, including projected program budget, activities, and client enrollment for city review and approval. The system should track who and when forms are submitted, then auto-generate notices for staff to review what was submitted.
The system should be able to track any requested changes to th e scope of work and be able to keep past versions if the new scope of work is approved. The system should track who and when forms are submitted, then auto-generate notices for staff to review what was submitted.
The ability for grantees to submit progress reports including narrative responses, summary of actuals vs projected services for a period, summary of participants, and invoicing.
Invoicing should be linked to approved budget line items with built-in validations the ability to generate invoice coversheets and calculate advance payment amounts as a percentage of the grant award, the ability to uplo ad supporting
documentation.
The ability to track unique client s in unique services and present that data aggregated and at granular level.
Ease of customization - Easy us er-interface for staff to add, delete or modify fields, uploads, question sets, budget templates and projected services/activities, and actual services/activities data entry.
Data dashboards in real time for users for major program deliverables such as number of youths to be served, service hour intensity, invoiced amount vs grant award. Easy customization of dashboards for different views for different users. The ability for grantees to upload data themselves from other database systems
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they may be using to reduce data entry repetition.
Performance management tools fo r staff including data visualization in real time to see trends overall, by strategy, or for a specific subset of grantees. Staff ability to easily create and save unique administrative reports templates.
The reports templates should be able to analyze data including summing, counting, conditional counting and formatting, and averaging. Staff ability to create, delet e and modify forms, fields, questions, etc. through an easy user interface without the need for outside coding. Access to RFP proposal for st aff and grantees from the grant home page so that staff and grantee can easily view what the program was funded for. Development and implementation of training curriculum and ongoing customer support.
A place to upload documents to fa cilitate the contracting process, such as City of Richmond schedules, business tax license, uploading fiscal attachments, etc. Ability to track multi-year g rantee performance along with annual performance. Post deployment technical assistance.
Desired Capabilities:
The ability to generate and email documents using data fields. Integrate secure signatures (e.g., adobe acrobat).
The ability to analyze data over multiple years.
Integration of maps to get accura te service locations data including the City Council District.
The ability to map and present ser vice locations overall, by strategy, or for a specific subset.
The ability for multiple City of Richmond departments to share uploaded contract documents such as City of Richmond schedules, business tax license, uploading fiscal attachments, etc.
The ability for City of Richmond staff to see if the organization is funded by other City of Richmond departments and programs.
Client management system to track unique clients across multiple RFCY programs and/or various City of Richmond departments and programs. Overall, the system should be:
Accessible through a web browse r with no software to download or hardware to install.
User friendly for both Richmond Department of Children and Youth (RDCY) staff and grantee staff to easily access key data, both visually and in report form. Easy and affordable to make future changes to accommodate the changing landscape of grant requirements and deliverables.
Cost effective in terms of ongoing operating costs e.g. license, support services, customization, etc.
Mobile friendly
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THE PROPSAL
The proposal should be concise, well organized, and demonstrate the proposer’s qualifications and experience applicable to the project. The proposal shall be limited to no more than twelve (12) pages (8.5 inches x 11 inches), inclusive of graphics, forms, pictures, photographs, dividers, etc. but not of cost proposal, resumes, required forms, certifications, front and back covers, or letters of commitment from sub-consultants. The required font size is 12 point, with minimum left and right margins of one-inch, and top and bottom margins of 0.7 inches.
Each proposal will adhere to the following order and content of sections. Proposal should be straightforward, concise and provide “layman” explanations of technical terms that are used. Emphasis should be concentrated on conforming to the RFP instructions, responding to the RFP requirements, and on providing a complete and clear description of the offer. Proposals, which appear unrealistic in the terms of technical commitments, lack of technical competence or are indicative of failure to comprehend the complexity and risk of this contract, may be rejected. The following proposal sections are to be included in the Respondent’s response:
A. Respondent Cover Letter
A cover letter, not to exceed two (2) pages in length, should summarize key elements of the proposal and shall:
Confirm that all elements of th is RFP have been reviewed and understood;
Include a statement of intent to perform the services as outlined; Express company’s willingness to enter into an agreement under the terms and conditions prescribed by this RFP, which may include, insurance requirements, Sanctuary City Compliance Statement, and in the sample Standard Service Agreement and all other required forms attached.
Submit a written description and brief history of the company’s experiences, qualifications and successes in providing services described herein. Please indicate the number of employees, client base and location of offices.
Indicate the address and teleph one number of the Respondent’s office located nearest to Richmond, California, and the office from which the project will be managed.
Confirm that Respondent has a min imum of three (3) years verifiable California experience.
Stipulate that the proposal pri ce will be valid for a period of at least 180 days.
Identify a single person for cont act during the RFP review process; and
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Cover letter shall be signed by an authorized official of the company.
B. Background and Project Summary Section
The Background and Project Summary Section should describe your understanding of the City, the work to be done, and the objectives to be accomplished. Refer to scope of services for this RFP.
C. Methodology Section
Provide a detailed description of the approach and methodology to be used to accomplish the Scope of Services of this RFP. The Methodology Section should include:
1) An implementation plan that describes in detail (i) the methods, including controls by which your firm manages projects of the type sought by this RFP; (ii) and any other project management or implementation strategies or techniques that the respondent intends to employ in carrying out the work.
2) Detailed description of effort s your firm will undertake to achieve client satisfaction and to satisfy the requirements of the "Scope of Services" section.
3) Detailed project schedule , identifying all tasks and deliverables to be performed, durations for each task, and overall time of completion.
4) Detailed description of s pecific tasks you will require from City staff.
Explain what the respective roles of City staff and your staff would be to complete the tasks specified in the Scope of Services.
D. Staffing and Timeline
Describe the proposed Project team organization, including identification and responsibilities of key personnel. Include resumes of the Project team assigned to this project. Indicate role and responsibility of prime consultants and all sub- consultants. If applicable, indicate how local firms are being utilized to ensure a strong understanding of state and local laws, ordinances, regulations, policies, requirements, and permitting.
Provide a proposed approach with projected timeline (including trainings and technical support) to conduct and complete the scope of work.
E. Firm Qualifications
The information requested in this section should describe the qualifications of the
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firm, key staff and sub-contractors performing projects within the past five years that are similar in size and scope to demonstrate competence to perform these services. Information shall include:
1) Key staff that participated on named projects and their specific responsibilities with respect to this scope of service. 2) A summary of your firm’s demons trated capability, including length of time that your firm has provided the services being requested in this Request for Proposal.
3) Provide at least three (3) refe rences that received similar services from your firm in the past 3 years. The City of Richmond reserves the right to contact any of the organizations or individuals listed. Information provided shall include:
a) Client Name and contact info
Telephone & e-mail address
Address
b) Description of services provided including contract amount c) Project start and end dates
F. Cost Information
Provide the total direct and indirect costs to complete all tasks identified in the scope of services. Even if the method of payment to proposer will be a fixed fee, a detailed cost breakdown shall be provided identifying:
1) The number of staff hours and hourly rates for each professional and administrative staff person who will be available to the City; 2) All other direct costs, such as materials and reproduction costs; and 3) Sub-consultant services, if needed.
If project work exceeds one-year period, indicate if the proposed rates are fixed for this entire time frame or specifically include how the rates will be adjusted in year two and three of a contract. These rates will also be used to negotiate costs for other projects (including optional tasks) that may be assigned. No additional funds will be paid above and beyond the original quote given by the selected Respondent.
G. Value Added Services
Please provide any additional services of benefit not specifically required herein, which the Respondent offers to provide.
H. Respondent Assignme nt of Sub-Contract
The resulting contract shall not be assigned, transferred, or sublet, in whole or in
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part, without the prior written approval of the City of Richmond. If Respondents intend to subcontract any portion of the resulting contract, they must describe their process for selecting such subcontractor(s) and the quality control measures that the Respondent will employ to ensure that any subcontractor complies with the provisions of Respondent’s contract with the City.
I. Previous Contracts with the City of Richmond
The Respondent shall submit a list which indicates all prime contracts and/or amendments awarded to the proposer by the City of Richmond for the last three (3) years. The list shall include a short description of the Project, the Project scope of work, award date, completion date, name of the City of Richmond’s assigned Project Manager, and contract value.
J. Exceptions to this Request for Proposals
The Respondent shall state whether or not it takes exception(s) to this RFP, including but not limited to the City of Richmond’s Standard Services Agreement – RFP (Attached). If the Respondent does take exception(s) to any portion of the RFP or contract, the specific portion to which exception(s) is taken must be identified by section number and explained. Requests for changes or additions to sections of City of Richmond’s Standard Services Agreement must be shown by requesting deletion of specific words and/or by providing new requested contract language. Requests for complete replacement of the City of Richmond’s Standard Services Agreement for another contract will not be granted. Failure to make exceptions to the RFP or Standard Services Agreement within the proposal will be deemed a waiver of any objection. Exceptions will be considered during the proposal evaluation process.
K. Statement of Impartiality and Disclosure
The nature of this Project requires an impartial unbiased approach on the part of the Respondent’s team. This proposal shall include a statement declaring that the Respondent’s and sub-consultants are not currently, and will not, during the performance of these services, participate in any other similar work involving a third-party with interests currently in conflict or likely to conflict with City of Richmond’s interests. Additionally, proposer is required to disclose any pending or active investigations or litigation that may affect the reputation or ability of the proposer to carry out the Project.
Rejection of Proposal Essentials
The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, whether or not minimum qualifications are met, and to modify, postpone, or cancel the RFP without liability, obligation, or commitment to any party, firm, or organization. In addition, the City reserves the right to request and obtain additional information from any candidate submitting a proposal. A proposal may be rejected for any of the following reasons:
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Proposal received after designated time and date.
Proposal is incomplete or does not contain the required elements, exhibits, nor organized in the required format.
Proposal considered not fully responsive to this RFP.
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH: RIGHTS AND
RESERVATIONS
By submitting a proposal, an applicant authorizes RDCY to verify any information the proposal contains. At any time before a contract is issued, RDCY may conduct site visits, interviews, and/or undertake other means to verify applicants’ provision of services before making a final contract determination. RDCY has the right to disqualify applicants whose proposals present false, inaccurate, or incorrect information or are incomplete in any fashion.
If an inadequate number of proposals is received, or the proposals received are deemed nonresponsive, not qualified, or not cost effective, the City may at its sole discretion reissue the RFP.
PROCESS FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS
All proposals shall be reviewed to verify that the Respondent has met the minimum requirements. Proposals that have not complied with requirements, do not meet minimum content and quality standards, or take unacceptable exceptions to the General Terms and Conditions of the Service Agreement, will be eliminated from further consideration. Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by an evaluation committee comprised of City of Richmond personnel.
The City also reserves the right to require modifications follow-up with requests for additional information, including, but not limited to, follow-up interviews. The City may request Best and Final offers based upon improved understanding of the offers or changed scope of service. The City will negotiate with that respondent to determine final pricing, and contract form. Because this proposal is negotiable, all pricing data will remain confidential until after award is made, and there will be no public opening and reading of Proposals. Overall responsiveness to the RFP is an important factor in the evaluation process. The criteria upon which the evaluation of the proposals will be based include, but are not limited to, the following:
Understanding of services to be provided and ability to provide requested services. (10%)
Ability to meet the needs of City. (25%)
Project schedule and depth of s taff available to perform services. (20%) Experience of firm and key individuals in performing this type of service. (15%) References from clients for whom similar work was performed. ( 5%)
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Cost. (20%)
Quality, clarity, and respons iveness of proposal. (5%)
Interview/presentations
Respondents may be requested to give an oral presentation/demonstration on the proposal, which would include a detailed analysis of how each of the RFP requirements would be addressed should Offeror receive the award. The demonstration shall be conducted at no cost to the City. The purpose of the presentation is to verify the vendor’s capability, suitability, and adaptability to the performance requirements stipulated in this solicitation.
The City will schedule the interview date, time, and location with the successful finalists.
If the vendor fails to participate in the interview on the specified date stipulated, the City may elect to reject the proposal or to re-schedule at its discretion.
Respondents are not guaranteed an opportunity to have an interview. Respondents may be eliminated from consideration based solely on inability to meet minimal requirements and/or review of written proposals. The City shall be the sole judge of the acceptability of the proposal in conformance with the specifications and its decision shall be final.
Respondents will be given at least two (2) weeks advance notice if required to make a presentation. If required these presentations may take place at the following location via a virtual meeting platform (i.e., MS Teams, Zoom) or:
City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA 94804
If special accommodations are required in order to participate, please contact RDCY team at [email protected] no later than three (3) days before the event.
CONTRACT AWARD AND NEGOTIATIONS
1) The selection process will include an initial screening of the responses based on required elements. All qualified written responses will then be evaluated and ranked. The Department has the option of conducting oral interviews as part of the evaluation process.
2) The final selection of all contractors for projects, based upon the written response (and possibly an interview), will be made by the Richmond Fund for Children and Youth
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3) The contract amount (including reimbursements) shall be a not-to-exceed amount, to be established based upon a mutually agreeable Scope of Services and fee schedule.
4) The City will withhold the final 10% of the contract amount pending successful completion of work.
5) Upon successful completion of the negotiations, the City Administrator will award the contract to the selected contractor.
6) The selected contractor will be required to enter into a contract that contains similar terms and conditions as in the standard agreement. Please note that the City Attorney’s Office is typically not inclined to make any modifications to the standard agreement terms and provisions.
7) Upon award the City will issue a Notice to proceed.
8) The selected contractor and its other members will be required to maintain auditable records, documents, and papers for inspection by authorized local, state and federal representatives. Therefore, the contractor and its other members may be required to undergo an evaluation to demonstrate that the contractor uses recognized accounting and financial procedures.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
This RFP does not commit the City of Richmond to award a contract, to defray any costs incurred in the preparation of a proposal pursuant to this RFP, or to procure or contract for work. The City of Richmond may reject a proposal without providing the reason(s) underlying the declination. A failure to award a contract to the proposer with the lowest cost proposal shall not constitute a valid cause of action against the City of Richmond. The City may investigate the qualifications of any respondent under consideration, require confirmation of information furnished by the respondent, and require additional evidence or qualifications to perform the Services described in this RFP. A proposal may be rejected for any of the following reasons:
Proposal received after designated time and date.
Proposal not in compliance with the City of Richmond Local/Small Local Business Enterprise Program.
Proposal is incomplete or does not contain the required elements, exhibits, nor organized in the required format.
Proposal considered not fully responsive to this RFP
The City reserves the right to:
1. Reject any or all proposals.
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2. Issue subsequent Requests for Proposal.
3. Postpone opening for its own convenience.
4. Remedy technical errors in the Request for Proposal process.
5. Negotiate with any, all, or none of the Respondents.
6. Solicit best and final offers from all or some of the Respondents.
7. Select one or more Respondents.
8. Accept other than the lowest proposed fees.
9. Waive informalities and irregularities in proposals.
Insurance Requirements
The City of Richmond requires consultants doing business with it to obtain insurance, as shown in RFP Attachment 2. The required insurance certificates must comply with all requirements of the standards as shown and must be provided within fifteen (15) days of issuance of the Notice of Intent to Award and prior to the commencement of any work on the Project.
Business Licenses
The successful Contractor and all subcontractors used in the work will be required to hold or to obtain a City of Richmond business license for which the fee will not be waived.
END OF RFP