The Children’s Services Council of Leon County (“CSC Leon”) seeks to establish, through this Invitation to Negotiate (“ITN”), a contract(s) for capacity building services to support community providers’ ability to respond to funding applications issued by CSC Leon more competitively. Responses are due by 12 p.m. on November 28, 2022.
The vendor or vendors selected will be responsible for the providing the following service lines:
- Technical Assistance for Grant Seekers: customized technical assistance to potential applicants for community funding to meet the specific expectations of summer and priority funding solicitations.
- Communities of Practice for Unselected Applicants: develop a Community of Practice with applicants not selected for funding in each cycle to determine training and technical assistance needs (e.g., budgeting, data collection, evaluation planning, etc.).
The goal of this opportunity is to expand the ability of CSC Leon to assist the provider community in building its capacity to meet funding and reporting expectations of CSC Leon’s competitive funding processes. CSC Leon has allocated up to $150,000 for the duration of the Contract and reserves the right to retain more than one vendor to achieve the objectives outlined in the ITN.
This ITN is a method of competitive solicitation under CSC Leon’s Purchasing Regulation. Those interested in submitting a Response are to comply with all terms and conditions described in this solicitation located at https://cscleon.org/announcements/.
The ITN identifies two distinct service provisions in the SOW. Respondents are permitted to submit service proposals for one or both Service Lines.
The ITN process is divided into two phases: the evaluation phase and the negotiation phase. During the evaluation phase, CSC Leon evaluates all Responses by service area, except those deemed non-responsive, against the evaluation criteria to establish a competitive range of Responses reasonably susceptible of award. CSC Leon then selects one or more Respondents within the competitive range by Service Line with which to commence negotiations.
The negotiation phase involves negotiations between CSC Leon and one or more Respondents whose evaluated Responses were determined to be within the competitive range by Service Line. During this phase, CSC Leon may request revised Responses and final Responses (best and final offer or “BAFO”) based on the negotiations.
Final contract terms will be established during the negotiation phase. Once negotiations have concluded and BAFO(s) received and reviewed, CSC Leon will hold a Negotiation Team public meeting to recommend Contract(s) award. The CSC Leon Governing Council will take up the recommendation at a public meeting and make the final decision concerning Contract(s) award.
CSC Leon will host a virtual informational session via Zoom on October 24 at 11 am ET for any vendor interested in submitting a response. This session will be recorded and made available for public viewing. The purpose of the session is to communicate the intent, vision and ideal timeline for this RFP.
Submit all questions about the RFP in writing to the Purchasing Official via email (procurement@cscleon.org) by 12:00 PM ET on November 10, 2022. CSC Leon reserves the right to accept or reject any or all requests for clarification, either in whole or in part, and may require requests to be clarified or supplemented through additional written submissions. Respondents will be notified of the rejection of their request for clarification.
Please note, any person requiring a special accommodation due to a disability should contact the Purchasing Official.
All Respondent communications regarding the RFP shall be limited to the Purchasing Official. There shall be a “quiet period” between the date the RFP is advertised and the date the recommended award (or cancellation) has been announced. During the quiet period, no one acting on Respondent’s behalf may engage in any written or verbal communication or other attempts to influence anyone else at CSC Leon regarding this RFP, the merits of the Respondent, or whether CSC Leon should award the Contract to the Respondent. Any unauthorized contact may disqualify the Respondent from further consideration.