With the passage of SB 1020 in 2012, the County was required to create a Local Innovation Subaccount intended to promote local innovation and county decision making. Revenue deposited in this “Local Innovation Fund” must be used to support local needs, and the law provides the Board of Supervisors with the authority to fund any activity that is otherwise allowable for any of the underlying accounts that fund the innovation subaccount. Beginning with fiscal year 2015-16, any revenue deposited in the Local Innovation Fund each year will come from transferring 10% of the revenue received from the State in the form of growth allocations for the 1) Community Corrections, 2) Trial Court Security, 3) District Attorney and Public Defender, and 4) Juvenile Justice Subaccounts (these are the four source accounts for the Local Innovation Fund).
Because each year’s growth revenue is allocated to the County in the subsequent fiscal year, in fiscal year 2016-17 the County’s first deposit of $119,186 was made into the Local Innovation Fund from the requisite 2015-16 growth allocations. This fiscal year the County expects another $186,607 to be deposited in the Local Innovation Subaccount based on the 2016-17 growth allocation projections. This additional deposit means the County’s expected Local Innovation Fund balance for the current fiscal year is $305,793.
In September 2016, the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) of the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) discussed the development of recommendations for the use of Local Innovation Fund revenue. This matter was then forwarded to the CCP Community Advisory Board (CAB) for their input on the recommendations. The matter was considered once more by the QAC in November 2016 as CAB continued to formulate its input on the recommendations.
After the County Administrator’s Office of Reentry and Justice (ORJ) was created in January 2017, the ORJ began working with CAB to determine recommendations for the use of revenue in the Local Innovation Fund. In June 2017 CAB recommended that this revenue be used to fund a capacity building project. CAB recommended a project where a cohort of AB 109 funded community based service providers would be guided through a self-assessment of needs related to organizational development. The cohort would then be provided individualized assistance to help participating agencies build capacity in the critical areas identified through the self-assessment process.
The ORJ received CAB’s input, developed additional considerations, and returned to the QAC in September 2017 where it was agreed that the ORJ would conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) process for the allocation of up to $250,000 to be split between a capacity building project as envisioned by CAB, and an innovative reentry program to compliment the array of reentry services currently offered. On October 4, 2017, the ORJ published RFP #1709-252 for “Local Innovation Fund Projects.” The RFP provided up to $75,000 in funding for a “Capacity Building Project” to be implemented from January 2017 – December 2017, and for up to $175,000 for an “Innovative Reentry Program” that would start in January 2017 and could end as late as December 2018. A Bidder’s Conference was then held on October 17, 2017, and streamed online as a webinar. Final responses to the RFP were due November 8, 2017, and Panels were convened the week of November 12, 2017 to review the submitted responses and provide the County with contract award recommendations.
Panel Process and Recommendation
Once the submission deadline passed, the ORJ conducted a technical compliance review of each proposal, and as a result all submitted proposals were forwarded to the appropriate Panel for review. Each Review Panel scored the response(s) submitted using a consensus scoring process that produced a single final consensus score for each proposal.
There was only a single response, from Social Policy Research Associates, for the Capacity Building Project Review Panel to score. The consensus score for this proposal was 51.5 points out of 100. Based on this score, the Panel recommends that the County not award a contract for these services at this time.
There were five proposals submitted to the Innovative Reentry Program Review Panel for scoring. After an initial review of all proposals, the four agencies who submitted the highest scoring proposals were then invited for an interview with the Review Panel. Each of these agencies accepted the invitation, and once these interviews were complete the Panel finalized their scores as follows: (scoring out of 115 points possible, and full scoresheets are attached)
Based upon these results, the Review Panel recommends awarding a one year $75,000 contract to Fast Eddie’s Auto Tech Training, and a contract for $175,000 over two calendar years to the Richmond Workforce Development Board.
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Remaining Local Innovation Fund Revenue
If the recommendations of the Review Panels are both approved by the Board of Supervisors, there will still be at least $55,793 of unallocated revenue in the Local Innovation Fund in the current fiscal year. Because efforts to establish a Capacity Building Project were the result of recommendations from CAB, the ORJ recommends this remaining revenue be allocated for a Capacity Building Project. With this Committee’s direction, the ORJ would make efforts to determine why the previous procurement process was less effective than desired, and make sure these issues are addressed in an appropriate subsequent attempt to find a provider for these services. The ORJ would then report back to this Committee with the result of these renewed efforts. |
| 1. ACCEPT the Review Panels’ recommendations that the County:
a) Not award a contract for a “Capacity Building Project” at this time,
b) Award a contract to Fast Eddie’s Auto Tech Training for $75,000 for the period January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, and
c) Award a contract to the Richmond Workforce Development Board for $175,000 for the period January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019.
2. DIRECT staff to utilize the remaining FY 16-17 revenue of Local Innovation Fund for a “Capacity Building Project.” |