Specifications include, but are not limited to: The City of Santa Monica (referred to hereafter as “the City”) is inviting proposals from qualified individuals or firms interested in overseeing the Request for Proposal (RFP) review and scoring process for the City’s Human Services Grants Program (HSGP). The City is making available an amount not-to-exceed $90,000 for an estimated project term of 6-8 months. Services provided through the City-funded programs include, but are not limited to: • Childcare subsidies; • School-based mental health services; • Job training and placement; • Food assistance; • Legal services; • Programs for seniors; and • Homeless services. The ideal facilitator(s) will have technical expertise in: • Facilitation; • Procurement; • Grants management; • Social service agencies; • Program design; and • Program evaluaiton; The facilitator(s) will oversee approximately 40-60 raters to review 50-75 proposals. Raters are expected to represent the diversity of Santa Monica’s social service landscape, including funders, subject matter experts, City Commissioners, nonprofit staff, people with lived experience, and consumers of social services. The facilitator(s) will discuss the proposal review and scoring process with raters before they begin their reviews to ensure all raters have a clear understanding of the process and how to assign points to ensure consistency across raters. The facilitator(s) will divide the proposals by primary service population – youth and families, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, seniors, and other underserved populations – and organize the raters into review groups according to their areas of expertise. Raters will be provided with a copy of the proposals to which they are assigned and the scoring tool to be used when reviewing each proposal. The facilitator(s) will also work with the City Attorney’s Office to identify and navigate any potential conflicts of interest when assigning raters to proposals for review to ensure a fair and impartial process. A conflict of interest here is defined as any formal or informal relationship between a rater and agencies that may apply for HSGP funding that may reasonably compromise the rater’s ability to fairly carry out any assigned duties. Conflicts of interest may be actual, potential, or perceived; may relate to financial or nonfinancial interests; and may also include related interests by close relatives.
