The Long Beach Homeless Services Division is seeking an easy-to-use solution to manage and track local, state, and federal subcontracts for our for our service providers.
Proposal: Internal dashboard/tool for active contract management. The Homeless Services Division manages a variety of local, state, and federal grant allocations for the Long Beach Continuum of Care, which requires purposeful and data-informed management of contracted services to improve service outcomes. Therefore, our division seeks a technology solution that will enable staff to streamline the contractual and procurement process, set and monitor performance metrics, collaborate with providers, facilitate real-time improvements to service delivery, and collect and report data.
Questions & Answers
General
What is a challenge based procurement?
Challenge based procurement lets us as City staff articulate our challenge without prescribing how we want it to be solved. We are asking for tech vendor insights into how we might solve this challenge. If you think you can help, take 30 minutes and fill out our application.
Will the pilot end after 6 months or is there potential for the pilot to carry on?
The timelines have some flexibility but proposers should not expect for the pilot period to last longer than 6 months. The timeline for the pilot project will be finalized during the project scoping process. For questions on transitioning to a larger scale project, see question 5.
What happens with leftover assets after the pilot process?
Any equipment used will not be retained or considered property of the City or participating authorities. All products piloted as part of the Smart City Challenge will be returned at the end of the pilot and/or the partner is expected to remove them in a timely manner.
How does the city plan to transition successful pilots to larger scale projects?
We will have a robust evaluation process that is meant to assess whether the pilot is meeting the City’s strategic goals. If the City chooses to move forward with a larger contract, there is the potential for the opportunity to go through another competitive RFP process.
Can you provide more information regarding the Smart City Initiative?
More information here: http://www.longbeach.gov/smartcity/pilot-programs/2021-smart-city-challenge/
To learn more, proposers may contact Estefania Zavala, Digital Innovation Program Manager at estefania.zavala@longbeach.gov and Ryan Kurtzman, Smart City Program Manager at ryan.kurtzman@longbeach.gov.
How many hours is the vendor expected to allocate on a weekly basis to the City during the pilot phase?
The hourly expectations and schedule for the pilot project will be finalized during the project scoping process.
Is there a stipend or any funds available for the vendor during the pilot period?
No
If a desired outcome is achieved before the end of the pilot phase can a contract be entered into early?
Yes, after an appropriate and robust evaluation process. If the City chooses to move forward with a larger contract, there is the potential for the opportunity to go through another competitive RFP process.
Who owns the Intellectual Property created?
The solution is owned by the vendor and the City’s data is owned by the City.
Is the City open to accepting solutions that include long-term partnerships with the vendor?
The pilot project should be able to stand alone and should not depend on a long term partnership.
If I own a company that usually consults on these types of challenges, should I apply for just one challenge or for every challenge if I think I have a solution?
We would welcome the same proposer applying to multiple challenges. Please note, however, that if selected to provide a solution for multiple challenges, time constraints may be a challenge.
Will the city permit applications from one company on multiple challenges?
Yes.
Challenge-specific Questions
Will the Homeless Services Division need to conduct direct data entry?
City staff will need to be able to directly enter and modify information into the active contract management solution.
Will the data need to be pulled from other systems in addition to the HMIS? If so, which systems/organizations will need to feed data to the dashboard?
The City currently uses Munis as its financial management system and Clarity for its HMIS. Integration with these systems may be too complex for the scope of this Pilot; however, the City is open to proposals that offer a solution that might consolidate data metrics within a single dashboard.
Has the contractual procurement process already been mapped out?
A condensed version of the current contractual process is drafted in the Homeless Services Bureau’s written policies. A detailed process map can be provided to the selected vendor. The basic process is that funding is subcontracted to service agencies through an RFP solicitation.
Is the solution only for existing/active contracts, or for new contract creation too?
The solution would be for both existing/active contracts and new contracts that the Homeless Services Bureau initiates.
How is the City currently handling active Homeless Services contracts?
The Bureau currently handles contracts manually after they are executed. For instance, contract oversight is assigned to staff who monitor performance, expenditures, and troubleshoot issues with subrecipients. The Bureau currently does not have a technology solution that helps to facilitate the procurement process or allow for active management of these contracts.
If new contract creation is in scope, does the process start once a service provider has been approved and contracts begin? Or during the bid process?
New contract creation begins after the agreement is fully conformed by the City Clerk. This would come after the bidding process and City Council approval. The Bureau would be interested in proposals that can leverage technology into the bidding process, on top of contract creation/monitoring.
Are the contracts usually drafted from scratch, created from a template, submitted by the 3rd party, or some combination?
Contracts are developed in collaboration with the City Attorney who uses a City template.
If created from a template, can sample contract templates in scope for the Pilot be provided?
The template language can be provided to the selected vendor. The scope of work and budget are the main components that vary between contracts.
Are these templates in both Microsoft Word, as well as PDF?
Yes, the templates can be provided in any format.
Do back and forth negotiations/edits primarily happen in Microsoft Word?
Yes, the City Attorney typically works with a legal representative from subrecipient agencies to draft out the language and come to an agreement.
Who is involved in the contract process? Internally/externally?
Depending on the amount of the contract, the typical City stakeholders are the Homeless Services Bureau, City Attorney, Risk Management, and the Purchasing Division. City Council and City Manager approvals are required for awarded contracts and the City Clerk then conforms them into their system. During the bidding process, representatives from the Homeless Services Advisory Committee and the Continuum of Care Board help recommend funding awards.
Does the City accept both digital and wet signature?
The City Attorney requires wet signatures for all city contracts.
Is the preference to transition to purely digital signature as a part of this Pilot?
It is uncertain if digital signatures will be accepted for the Pilot as the City Attorney requires wet signatures from any signatories.
What digital signature platform is the City currently using?
Adobe E-Sign is the only platform the Bureau is using for non-contractual documents.
Should there be a notification process in scope for when a contract renewal is approaching (e.g., 90 days out, 60 days out)?
Yes. The Bureau would like notifications for contract renewals and expirations at various intervals.
In terms of the dates/numbers, how many active contracts are there?
The Bureau currently manages approximately 25-30 active contracts, each varying in terms, amounts, funders, and requirements.
How many internal approvers are there for a given contract type?
Contracts require approvals from the Homeless Services Officer, Continuum of Care Board, Health Department Director, City Attorney, City Manager, City Council, and City Clerk.
How many signatories (both internal and external) for a given contract type?
Only signatures from the City Manager, City Attorney, and awarded vendor appear on the executed contract.
How many contract types are there?
Most contracts follow the same template developed by the City Attorney. Major variations would include funding source, grant requirements, scope of work, and budget.
How many are included in this initial Pilot scope?
The Pilot scope would include contracts with grant funds from HUD, the State of California, and LA County.
Would the City like to include a clause library (pre-approved provisions) in scope for this Pilot?
Yes, the City can include this in the Pilot scope.
What data needs to be collected and reported on?
Some key data elements that should be captured in the solution include expenditures, funds available, time to signature, and service outcomes.
What performance metrics is the City looking to focus on?
The City intends to focus on a variety of performance metrics related to contracts management including contract efficiency (cycle time, vendor/service trends, contract value), annualized contract value (return on investment), compliance, time to signature, and other metrics that will be further defined.
For feedback loop, how would this be collected? By those receiving the services?
The solution should have opportunities for subrecipients to provide feedback to the City in terms of how their subcontracts are managed to troubleshoot any issues and improve business operations moving forward.
Are these contracts subject to record retention schedules?
Yes, the Health Department likely has a record retention policy that must be adhered to in managing the contracts.
If so, could the various retention schedules be provided?
Yes, the defined retention schedules can be provided to the selected vendor.
What role does the HMIS play in the current state of the Contract Process?
The City uses HMIS to capture universal and common data elements for clients as defined by HUD.
What is the desired integration/communication between the proposed solution and the HMIS? As well as the other local data systems?
The contractual process currently does not integrate with HMIS, but the City is open to proposals that offer a solution to monitor both financial and performance metrics within the active contracts management platform.
What are the other local data systems that the City would like integrated with the pilot solution?
There are currently no other local data systems that is intended to integrate with the Pilot solution. The City; however, does use Munis as its financial management system and Clarity for its HMIS.
What is the breakdown of user roles and number of users for this pilot solution?
We are unable to provide a clear estimate of users. However, the application would be utilized by various outreach workers from the Health Department, nonprofit partners, residents, and persons experiencing homelessness who have access to the Internet. We would like to have a number of administrators from the Health Department who have read/write access, can modify settings in the backend, and can populate new services/resources into the application. This may be 3-5 assigned administrators. All other users would only need general view-only access.
What is the number of Service Providers?
The number of service providers ranges each year with approximately 20-30 agencies.
Should they be able to review contracts and participate in contract processes?
Yes, the service agencies should be able to review and comment on drafted contracts in the solution.
What is the number of City Staff?
The Homeless Services Bureau will have approximately 5-7 staff involved in contracts management.
What is the number of Service Recipients?
We would need to generate a report to get a clear estimate of service recipients, which we can later provide to the selected vendor.
Who are the other stakeholders/City departments that would be involved in the pilot solution?
If possible, other City stakeholders that should be engaged in the solution include the City Attorney, Purchasing Division, and Technology and Innovation Department.
Data Analytics, Data Collection, Health and Human Services, and Process Improvement
Budget Not Determined Yet
RFP Bus
April 9 through May 7, 2021 at 6:00 PM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
© 2020 Long Beach. All rights reserved.