Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. Regional Contractor/Lead Agent. The Regional Contractor/Lead Agent is the recipient of grant funds and who shall provide leadership and coordination in establishing a collaborative regional consortium for the purpose of ensuring the delivery of VDSS priority array of post-adoption services and supports in each region. (See Appendix I, Virginia Department of Social Services Regional Map). Through this service delivery model, the VDSS intends to make services available and accessible to adoptive families, regardless of where they live in a region, to prevent adoption dissolutions and strengthen families. The Regional Contractor is responsible for the submission of RFP deliverables, subcontracting for additional regional services, supporting the Consortium infrastructure, serving in an advisory/administrative capacity for the Consortium, providing fiscal oversight of VDSS grant funds, collecting and reporting relevant data to internal/external partners, evaluation and quality management implementation and reporting, and management of the region’s information and referral system. 2. Partner Organizations/Consortium Members. Each Lead Agent shall establish a core membership of partner organizations and individuals to be regional consortium members. Consortium members shall consist of representatives from a VDSS regional office, an adoptive family organizations/networks, a Community Services Board (CSB), a Comprehensive Services Act Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT), a local school division, a health care provider, a juvenile justice system, the faith community, post-adoption agency service providers (at least two private non-profit entities), and others who have demonstrated commitment to/involvement in supporting adoptive families. The Consortium members receive guidance from the Executive Committee and Regional Contractor to make post adoption service delivery decisions to maximize VDSS funding and regional resources to ensure services available and accessible to adoptive families in the proposed region. The Regional Contractor is not a voting member of the Consortium and shall not serve as the Chair or Co-chair of the Consortium. The Regional Contractor/Lead Agent shall ensure compliance with consortium membership requirements and maintain collaborative relationships with consortium members toward the organizational goal of establishing the regional consortium as a primary vehicle for coordinated delivery of adoption support and preservation services in the region. In providing regional leadership, the Regional Lead Agent shall also effectively engage practice leaders, advocates, and other key stakeholders toward the goal of establishing and sustaining a comprehensive array of services that are responsive to needs of adoptive families. The Regional Contractor/Lead Agent must effectively orient consortium members to goals and approaches, clearly define advisory roles and responsibilities, identify strategies for ongoing input and communications, and establish a schedule of meetings which must be at least quarterly and may be in person or virtual. The Consortium should appoint two leadership roles from among its membership: Consortium Chair and Consortium Co-Chair. The Consortium Chair leads the Consortium by setting direction, establishing agendas with input from the Executive Committee and Regional Contractor, calling and presiding over meetings. The Chair also leads the membership through its planning process, including development of the Consortium’s infrastructure, strategic areas of focus, and ensures that actions resulting from the planning process are properly assigned, carried out and evaluated for success. Appointment of a second member to serve as Consortium Vice-Chair / Co-Chair is highly advisable to prevent leadership responsibilities for the Consortium becoming overly burdensome to one member and to prevent loss of momentum if the Chair should become temporarily unable to lead. In this structure, roles and responsibilities should be shared equally among the co-chairs. The first meeting of the Consortium shall occur within 60 days from the start of the contract period.