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Our Mission
“Magnify the influence and contribution of
nonprofit business in Santa Clara County.”
| News - August 2007 News - July 2007 News - June 2007 News Events Current SVCN Position Statements - SVCN Position Regarding the County Budget - SVCN Position on the RFP Process - Request for Nonprofit Access to the Mental Health Department - SVCN Statement on the City of San Jose Community Center ReUse Strategy |
SVCN Position on the RFP Process Over the past several years, SVCN has worked successfully as an advocate and voice for nonprofits contracting. One of our goals has been to establish and implement standardized and streamlined approaches across the many systems that work with our nonprofit agencies. Our recommendations are based on hundreds of hours of dialogue with government representatives and nonprofit leaders about their experiences. This proposed process has been adopted and used in various ways at the County, City of San Jose and FIRST 5 Commission. We have learned that clarity and fairness in the RFP and contracting processes promotes effective partnership between the funder and nonprofit providers and, most importantly, improves service systems for vulnerable community residents. Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits Position Paper on RFP and Contracting SVCN recommends the following standards and processes to ensure an effective, efficient, and fair RFP and contracting processes. The recommendations herein are based on the experiences of many of our member agencies Basic, Standardized Information All organizations eligible to apply for funding need access to the same information and opportunities to understand clearly the nature of services to be provided and the requirements and expectations of those selected to provide the services. Basic, standardized information should be accessible to all. Ensuring a common language and understanding of service models among providers who serve across several systems and share clients improves service delivery and promotes coordination. All information should be posted on the funding entity’s website. SVCN recommends Publish how much total funding is available to be contracted out for a specific program; post the exact funding or a range of funding that is available for service provision. Post the RFP on the funding entity website at least seven days prior to the bidder’s conference or mail it, whichever is most appropriate Establish a current list of potential contractors including all current contractors with the funding entity; use this list for distribution and notification of all RFP’s etc. (Henceforward referred to as the Contractor List.) Clearly stated desired outcomes and guidelines for the program/services described in the RFP. Clearly define the scope of service in the RFP. Clearly define all contract reporting requirements in the RFP. Clearly define the contract monitoring expectations with the RFP. Clearly define unallowable vs. allowable costs and reimbursement procedures in the RFP. All information that amend, add, correct etc is disseminated to the Contractor List in timely manner information Calendar and timelines The length of time needed to respond to RFPs varies considerably, but it is important to have established guidelines. SVCN recommends: Maintain consistent timelines between notification, distribution of the RFP, the bidder’s conference and RFP due dates for all RFPs. Establish a minimum 3-4 week turn-around timeline after the bidder’s conference for standard proposals. RFP’s that require extensive collaboration, subcontracting, partnerships etc. for service delivery should have 5-6 weeks. (These timelines are dependent on the execution of a timely Bidder’s Conference, which we discuss below.) December is a very busy service month for the nonprofit community, we request that RFP deadlines are not scheduled between December 15th and January 5th. Bidder’s Conference A formal bidders’ conference must be held to review the RFP and address questions that arise. SVCN recommends that: Bidders’ conferences need to occur at least seven working days after the release of the RFP’s to allow for contractors to learn the specifics for each RFP. Applicable and responsible staff should be present at each bidder’s conference including any staff that has authority for implementation of the RFP or program. Questions and answers discussed at the bidder’s conference should be mailed or emailed to the Contractors’ List and all potential contractors and as well as posted on the funding entity website. If questions occur that cannot be answered at the bidder’s conference there should be a 3-day turn around to respond to bidders. The questions and answers should be forwarded to the Contractors List and posted on the funding entity website. Scope of service, reporting requirements, and monitoring expectations for the program should be clearly defined and reviewed at the bidder’s conference. Following the bidder’s conference a staff person should be appointed to be the point person for questions from potential bidders. This provides consistency with the information. A staff person should be available to answer all RFP questions within 24-48 hours. We prefer ongoing access to information during the RFP process. Questions should be accepted up to the date the RFP is due. We believe this allows for new providers who may not be familiar with the system of care to have access to be able to respond to the RFP as well, provides bidders with complete knowledge of what is expected in the RFP. Questions and answers should be posted on the RFP website. Review panel and proposal scoring The process for evaluating proposals must be clearly stated and communicated to all potential bidders. Review panels must be clear of conflict of interest. A clear point system for scoring proposals is essential to ensure fairness and objectivity, and provide constructive feedback to unsuccessful bidders. SVCN recommends that: The proposal review panel(s) must be comprised of individuals without conflict of interest, consistent with ethical practice. Review panel(s) include community participants and subject-matter experts. These experts should understand our local community context and service systems. No individuals should be included on the review panel who are from agencies (either board members, volunteers, current clients or staff) that are bidding on the RFP being reviewed. Review panelists must receive training necessary to ensure inter-rater reliability and fair and consistent review and application of RFP requirements, criteria, and scoring. Training should include a review of the program development and planning processes relevant to the proposed services. The process for scoring the proposals should be clearly defined in the RFP, reviewed at the bidder’s conference, and included in review panel training. There should be only one review panel for each RFP to ensure consistency in ratings and minimize appeals. A clear point system for scoring proposals should be used. Final scores should be published. Notification and award of contract Timely communication with successful and unsuccessful bidders is an important part of the process. SVCN recommends: Written notification to a successful contractor should be within two days of award. There should be a clear policy that is communicated to all successful contractors re: who is expected to sign the contract. Notice should be sent to all bidders and indicate contract amounts and any available matching revenue, fund or grant. Notification to sign a contract should be a minimum of three days prior to signing. Collaborations/consortiums Various entities that fund nonprofit organizations are encouraging those with similar missions and services to consider collaboration, consortiums, and even mergers. These can be positive strategies but forced collaborations do not work. If the funding entity is considering promoting these strategies in this context, please refer to the attached SVCN position paper. Other Other contracting issues related to contract negotiations, terms, and processes that have come to SVCN’s attention are addressed below. SVCN recommends that: There should be a clear process and timeline for appealing contract awards. A process should be developed in advance of negotiations that delineates what happens if negotiations with the selected provider are unsuccessful. Requirements that were not in the RFP should not be added to the final contract. The contract negotiation process should not allow significant changes in the nature and/or costs of the proposed program/services that are inconsistent with the RFP. Termination of all contracts should be 30 days with a clear plan for client transitional care. All forms should be available for downloading in accessible formats from the website or through email. Budget spreadsheets should be formatted and available in Microsoft Excel not embedded as a Word document. Training should be provided to ensure contractors are clear about billing, reimbursement, and payment timing processes. Contract reimbursements should be timely and when possible the funding entity should establish a direct deposit payment program. |
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