Allegheny County

Department of Human Services

Request for Proposals Q&A

RFP for a Homelessness Continuum of Care (CoC) Strategic Planning Consultant

The New Provider Application is documentation all agencies must complete as the first step to

becoming a DHS Provider. MPER is a DHS system for the tracking and management of DHS

providers and services. You would be given access to MPER only if you become a DHS

Provider, and instructions to access it would be provided at that time. In your Response Form,

please indicate an MPER contact where designated, who would be the point of contact between

your organization and DHS for providing any necessary documentation, if your organization is

selected for the contract award.

2. The portal appears to show a separate section to attach the Budget/Budget Narrative

Form, however, this information is requested in the Response Form. Please confirm if

March 28, 2024

The RFP and Response Form have been amended to include resumes to the list of required

attachments, as outlined in the evaluation criteria.

The amendment is outlined below:

• Partner commitment letters, if applicable

• Resumes for all key personnel

• W-9

• Minority, Women or Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (MWDBE) and Veteran Owned

Small Business (VOSB) documents (see sections 6.1 and 6.2)

Response Form

ATTACHMENTS

details)

• W-9

3. Is it possible to increase the page limit to 20 pages to account for information for

partners? Please also confirm that resumes are not included in the page count.

Any partner commitment letter(s) should be included as a separate attachment in Bonfire and

does not count towards the page limit in your Response Form. Resumes are not included in the

4. What is your agency’s experience with engaging people from the community, whether

people experiencing or have experienced homelessness? What have you tried in the past

and is there any current efforts being made?

The Department of Human Services (DHS) engages community members with lived experience

through forums and other meetings available to the public, and by utilizing our provide network.

Additionally, our Office of Equity and Engagement (OEE) is consistently working on ways to

engage the community. One such tool is Allegheny Engage, where community members can sign

up to share ideas and ask questions to enhance and improve the community now and in the

future.

engagement remains a challenge for us though, so as stated in the RFP, we’re certainly interested

in a Successful Proposer who can assist in this area.

5. Could you provide further information on where the objectives identified in the

“What’s Important to Us” section were derived from? Were they from a previous

strategic plan or was a needs assessment completed for the County?

and further activities and discussions of the CoC and HAB. We consider these objectives

practical, well-informed and evidence-based.

6. What connections or opportunities are there in working with other Allegheny County

departments, agencies, or services in completing this strategic plan?

This strategic plan is for the HAB and CoC, which consists of various stakeholders, such as the

City of Pittsburgh, the City of Penn Hills, local nonprofits, etc. So, while engagement and

collaboration opportunities exist, a strong plan will be responsive to the realities of the CoC and

HAB authorities.

costs will be reviewed for reasonableness, and the final budget and contract terms will be

negotiated with the Successful Proposer.

8. Is there a website where we can locate the contract requirements, such as the

MWDBE/VOSB forms or insurance requirements, that are listed in the RFP?

Yes. Please refer to Section 6: “Contract Requirements for Successful Proposers” of the RFP for

more information on the County’s contract requirements.

9. With the collaborative Proposal approach, a subcontractor must submit a Proposal,

their proof of commitment.

10. Regarding the consolidated information from this office hours, will the Q&A only be on

Bonfire or is there a website where we can access and review the transcript?

Yes, the finalized Q&A from our office hours will be published on the RFP Opportunity Page on

Bonfire and our Active Solicitation Webpage. The Active Solicitation Webpage requires no login

to view documents. Updates to the Active Solicitations Webpage typically occur on Thursdays.

Updates to Bonfire occur more frequently.

11. Can the County provide the results from the 2017 5-year strategic plan?

November 2022 and is the first of its kind in Allegheny County, providing year-round

shelter and wrap-around services to address mental and physical health issues, substance

misuse, and other complex challenges faced by individuals experiencing

homelessness. The vision for the facility centers on dignity and autonomy, safety and

security, harm reduction and trauma-informed care. Its plan and design were informed by

best practices across the country and by experts across sectors – including human

services, health care, government, nonprofit, and public safety. Key components include:

Case management to assess individual needs and match to appropriate resources and

services ; An on-site clinic for physical and mental health services, as well as drug and

alcohol treatment; A drop-in center where people can access hygiene facilities, laundry,

partnership builds trust, resolves problems, and fosters a mutually beneficial working

relationship between all parties that improves service delivery. The Housing Navigators

also expand resources and the pool of landlords willing to work with DHS housing

strong network of 7 publicly and privately funded teams. The network includes specialty

teams to ensure needs presented can be met, including: medical street outreach (e.g., Dr.

Jim Withers of Operation Safety Net is internationally recognized for his work in street

medicine), outreach that incorporates harm reduction strategies; and outreach responsive

to health-related social needs. In addition to regular visits of camps, abandoned buildings,

cars and hidden locations across the county, outreach teams receive information on where

people are located from BigBurgh (a web-app for homeless services), Coordinated Entry,

311, emergency response and law enforcement entities, and community groups. The CoC

facilitates a weekly provider meeting to review a by-name list of unsheltered individuals

and to strategize effective engagement approaches, and the Homeless Outreach

Coordinating Committee (HOCC), a subcommittee of the CoC’s advisory board,

convenes to strategize how teams can better identify, engage, and support those who are

unsheltered.

and rationale, and are open to varying approaches based on the expertise of the proposers and

their corresponding justification. Our own experience suggests that different formats can have

varying strengths, and their utility can also be impacted by the stakeholders being engaged

and/or the topic of discussion. As such, we do not have a predetermined plan for engagement,

though we do anticipate at least some of the engagement to be in-person.

13. Could you confirm that resumes are not counted towards the page count for the

response form?

Correct, resumes are not included in the page count for the Response Form.

15. Are we able to choose a firm that fits MBE and VOSB?

No. You must choose to count an individual firm towards only one of the contract goals – you

17. Our firm would like to partner with a subcontractor that is both a MBE, WBE, and

VOSB. We want to be sure that allocating to them at least 20% of the project budget

18. Is there an estimated contract start date?