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Basic Information

Reference Number

0000327163

Issuing Organization

Boulder County

Owner Organization

Housing and Human Services

Solicitation Type

RFP - Request for Proposal (Formal)

Solicitation Number

7505-23

Title

Cash Assistance Program: Application Assistance and Payment Platform Provider

Source ID

PU.AG.USA.1520.C15639926

Details

Location

United States, Colorado, Boulder County

Piggyback Contract

Description

Purpose/Background

Scope Of Work:
Project Overview

The Direct Cash Assistance to Families with Young Children Pilot Program is a project in which funds from Boulder County’s ARPA allocation will be administered to selected, eligible low-income families with children ages birth through three (3) years old on a monthly basis for a twenty-four-month period. As a population disparately impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic, specifically those who live in lower income and vulnerable household, these funds have been modeled after the expanded Federal Child Tax Credit, and funding amounts will be $300 per month, per child ages birth through three years old.

Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services (BCDHHS) anticipates distributing a total of $5,000,000 through monthly cash transfers from 2024-2026 to parents of approximately 725 children residing in Boulder County.

Rooted in the Social Determinates of Health, the Direct Cash Assistance to Families with Young Children Pilot Project aims to measure short, mid, and long-term level outcomes that may demonstrate improved wellbeing for children and the entire family unit.

Immediate outcomes may include:

Increased ability to meet basic needs.

Intermediate outcomes may include:

Improved economic stability (i.e., increased ability to withstand financial hardship and crisis)
Improved health and well-being
Increase in employment choice and satisfaction.

Long-term outcomes may include:

Improved quality of life via
- economic mobility, financial stability (greater financial stability and economic resilience)
- increased capacity for social and community involvement and subsequent protective factors such as the ability to handle other priorities in life, spend quality time with loved ones and caregiving.
Increased access to early childhood education and improved child development
Decreased number of community members at risk of requiring intervention level supports related to child welfare, substance abuse treatment, and mental health crisis services.

BCDHHS is seeking proposals from application and payment platform partners for the Direct Cash Assistance to Families with Young Children Pilot Program.

Tasks

The application and payment platform partner will conduct application screening, participant selection, and payment facilitation of the Direct Cash Assistance funds over the 24-month duration of the Pilot Program. Generally, the application and payment platform partner will work under the supervision of BCDHHS staff, and in coordination with staff to accomplish payment activities. Specific tasks are:

Build and implement an application consistent with pre-defined eligibility and verification criteria to be used directly by applicants and community-based organization staff to support assisted applications. The application must be available in multiple languages to be defined by BCDHHS.
Provide automated or manual review processes to assess if applicants meet the required eligibility requirements and the provided verification documents are consistent with defined standards.
Support a lottery process to select individuals from overall pool of eligible applications and maintain a waiting list of non-selected individuals who may be given a spot based on enrollment progress.
Provide SMS, phone and/or email communication directly with applicants regarding the status of their application, selection, and payments. Communications must be provided in multiple languages to be defined by BCDHHS.
Provide portal/dashboard for BCDHHS staff to monitor applications, view status updates, locate applications, and review key performance indicators related to project implementation.
Facilitate direct distribution of payments to pilot program participants once per month for the duration of the program (24 months). Multiple payment options (including replacement processes) should be defined, including those available and accessible to community members who may be unbanked, underbanked, or face systemic barriers in accessing traditional financial systems.
Enroll selected pilot program participants, including collecting required documents, obtaining signatures for program consent forms, and ensuring protection of all personal identifiable information.
In partnership with BCDHHS staff, develop appropriate training materials and resources to support individuals and community-based organizations with application completion, submission, and error triaging.
Provide required reporting to BCDHHS staff, which may include, but is not limited to, individualized data based on application data fields, payment types, payment amounts, payment date, returned payments (i.e., bounced), communications, etc. If determined necessary during program design, collect aggregate, and anonymize Pilot Program participant spending data and transfer spending data to Research Partner. Final reporting requirements will be defined by BCDHHS staff, in consultation with selected vendor.
Provide support to BCDHHS staff, community-based organizations, and pilot program participants as necessary throughout program duration. Support may include, but is not limited to, being available to troubleshoot issues related to application, enrollment, participant communications, payment methods, etc.
Meet periodically with BCDHHS staff during disbursement period to review Pilot Program status.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Additional activities may arise throughout the course of the Pilot Program.

Deliverables

Application and payment Provider task deliverables will include the following:

Develop application based on eligibility and verification requirements
User test application with individuals recommended by BCDHHS
Provide review of all applications against eligibility and verification requirements
Facilitate applicant/participant communication via SMS, phone and/or email
Facilitate receipt and management of all program applications
Define payment distribution mechanism(s) acceptable for focus population
Support lottery process to select eligible applicants and manage waitlist of non-selected individuals
Facilitate monthly payment distribution to selected participants
Provide support to triage application, selection, payment, and other related issues
Develop portal and/or dashboard for County staff and community-based organizations to monitor required data
Provide reporting functionality for BCDHHS research and evaluation partner based on mutually agreed upon performance indicators and data
Provide training to BCDHHS staff on application, payment methods, platform, etc.
Maintain all program data, documents, and signatures, including ensuring protection of personally identifiable information and maintaining best practices related to data security.

Reporting Obligations

The application and payment platform partner will report directly to the BCDHHS ARPA Project Manager, who will serve as the BCDHHS staff program coordinator. Reporting activities and expectations will include:

Maintaining a shared spreadsheet or other document tracking the progress of deliverables, on a document-share platform that enables access to both staff and pilot project management consultants.
Participation in project calls and virtual meetings as necessary (likely a combination of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly based on the timeline and deliverables) with other BCDHHS staff, project management consultants and/or partner agencies.
Maintain summary of application and payment activity through portal or dashboard made available to BCDHHS staff and project management consultant.
Flag communications and payment issues for follow up or triage by BCDHHS staff via incident reports.
Ensure access to list of contact persons for all issues to ensure customer support inquiries are directed to the appropriate representative.
Maintain and provide accounting records as specified by the BCDHHS staff and in alignment with ARPA funding reporting requirements.

Schedule

The Consultant’s tasks and reporting will be carried out from Fall 2023 through 2026, with the final contract completion to be determined based on the final project timeline.

1. Develop application based on eligibility and verification requirements: Month 1
2. Develop reporting and dashboard functions: Months 1-2
3. Training of BCDHHS staff and partners: Month 2
4. Participant applications and lottery selection: Months 3 – 4
5. Participant verification and enrollment: Month 5
6. Project tracking and evaluation: initial disbursement month through to exit

Funding Details
Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services is seeking applications from all interested parties. The maximum amount of funding available for an application and payment services is approximately $400,000.00

Written Inquiries

All inquiries regarding this RFP will be submitted via email to the Boulder County Purchasing Office at purchasing@bouldercounty.gov on or before 2:00 p.m. August 21,2023. A response from the county to all inquiries will be posted and sent via email no later than August 28,2023.

Do not contact any other county department or personnel with questions or for information regarding this solicitation.

Submittal Instructions

Submittals are due at the email box only, listed below, for time and date recording on or before 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time on September 18, 2023. Vendors must answer whether line-item pricing information submitted with a bid is confidential or closely held.

Please note that email responses to this solicitation are limited to a maximum of 50MB capacity.

NO ZIP FILES OR LINKS TO EXTERNAL SITES WILL BE ACCEPTED. THIS INCLUDES GOOGLE DOCS AND SIMILAR SITES. ALL SUBMITTALS MUST BE RECEIVED AS AN ATTACHMENT (E.G. PDF, WORD, EXCEL).

Electronic Submittals must be received in the email box listed below. Submittals sent to any other box will NOT be forwarded or accepted. This email box is only accessed on the due date of your questions or proposals. Please use the Delivery Receipt option to verify receipt of your email. It is the sole responsibility of the proposer to ensure their documents are received before the deadline specified above. Boulder County does not accept responsibility under any circumstance for delayed or failed email or mailed submittals.

Email purchasing@bouldercounty.gov; identified as RFP # 7505-23 in the subject line.

All RFPs must be received, and time and date recorded by authorized county staff by the above due date and time. Sole responsibility rests with the proposer to see that their RFP response is received on time at the stated location(s). Any responses received after due date and time will be returned to the proposer.

The Board of County Commissioners reserves the right to reject any and all responses, to waive any informalities or irregularities therein, and to accept the proposal that, in the opinion of the Board, is in the best interest of the Board and of the County of Boulder, State of Colorado.

Contractors and their employees, subcontractors, and agents must comply with all federal, state, and local laws, regulations, ordinances, orders, and codes, as well as Boulder County policies, guidelines, and protocols.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): If you need special services provided for under the Americans with Disabilities Act, contact the ADA Coordinator or the Human Resources office at (303) 441-3525 at least 48 hours before the scheduled event.

Dates

Publication

08/08/2023 12:26 PM MDT

Question Acceptance Deadline

08/21/2023 02:00 PM MDT

Questions are submitted online

Closing Date

09/18/2023 02:00 PM MDT

Contact Information

Boulder County

303-441-3525

purchasing@bouldercounty.gov

Buyer Preferences, Guidelines & Requirements

General Requirements

- Insurance Required

Bid Submission Process

Bid Submission Type

Physical Bid Submission

Additional Bidding Instructions

Submittal Instructions