Bid Detail

21-071 - RFP: Public Employment Equity Plan

Introduction

The City of Springfield recognizes that poverty, unemployment and economic disparity is a long-term stressor that makes its’ residents extremely vulnerable to shocks like increasing and more severe climate and weather events. Public policy that uplifts residents who have traditionally been marginalized and brings about economic equity across the City’s entire population is the only way the City of Springfield can achieve resilience to future shocks.

In order to bring greater equity to Springfield’s environmental justice populations, the City is seeking proposals from a qualified consultant to create a plan that provides the City of Springfield with a better understanding of the barriers to public employment for environmental justice populations and to create a detailed action plan to help the City bridge the public employment gap and create greater economic equity among Springfield’s environmental justice populations.

Scope of Services

The City of Springfield is seeking proposals from qualified individuals, firms, entities and/or joint ventures (hereafter “Consultants”) to provide consulting services to assist the City with developing a public employment equity plan for environmental justice residents with the following areas of focus:

a) Work with residents and stakeholders to develop an in-depth understanding of Springfield’s Environmental Justice populations. With a particular focus on populations that experience two (2) or more environmental justice criteria (See Attachment A);
b) Review existing barriers to employment and financial equity for Springfield’s Environmental Justice populations, with a focus on populations that experience two (2) or more environmental justice criteria;
c) Review long standing open public positions and the requirements/skills needed for those positions;
d) Review the City’s employment outreach strategies as they apply to Environmental Justice populations;
e) Create a plan that lays out the disparities to employment that exist for Springfield environmental justice populations, and provide detailed action steps that will provide the City of Springfield a pathway to bridge the employment equity gap in hiring for City positions. This will include actions necessary for Springfield’s environmental justice populations to obtain required hard and soft skills to successfully obtain open public employment positions.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has defined environmental justice populations as:

• Block group whose annual median household income is equal to or less than 65 percent of the statewide median ($62,072 in 2010); or
• 25% or more of the residents identify as a race other than white; or
• 25% or more of households have no one over the age of 14 who speaks English only or very well - English Isolation.
Please see Attachment A for a map that demonstrates the locations of areas that meet the criteria as defined by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The successful consultant shall have an appropriate combination of the following experience:

1. Has familiarity, knowledge and understanding of Springfield’s environmental justice populations, as defined by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (See Attachment A – Map - Environmental Justice Populations)

2. Has familiarity with the City of Springfield’s resilience strategies, workforce development goals and the overall political and urban landscape of the City.

3. Has a demonstrated ability to engage with residents and stakeholders of Springfield’s environmental justice populations to adequately identify and understand the economic barriers these residents face to obtaining employment opportunities.

4. Has a demonstrated knowledge of innovative workforce development strategies and best practices in public hiring within comparable communities. Particularly programs, policies and actionable steps to reduce disparity and boost employment of environmental justice populations.

Submission Requirements

Separate, sealed written price and non-price proposals are due no later than December 10, 2020 by 2:00 p.m. Any proposals received after this time and date will not be considered and will be returned unopened to the proposer. The submission must be identified with the caption “Public Employment Equity Plan- Bid No. 21-071”
Lauren Stabilo, Chief Procurement Officer
Office of Procurement, 36 Court Street, Room 307
Springfield, MA 01103

A complete submission must be received by the Office of Procurement

By: Friday, December 11, 2020 by 2:00 p.m.

The City reserves the right to waive any informality in the proposal, to reject any or all proposals or to accept any proposal which it deems to be in the best interest of the City.

A pre-proposal meeting will not be held for this project.

Candidates are asked to mail or hand-deliver one (1) original and four (4) copies of both the non-price (technical) and price proposals. All proposals to be considered must be prepared in accordance with the requirements as specified in this Request for Proposals (herein “Public Employment Equity Plan”) dated November 2020.
Inquiries

To maintain a fair and impartial competitive process, the Procurement Office will answer only written questions. Please avoid private communication with any representative of the City’s selection advisory staff regarding this RFP from the release date through the date of selection. Proposers who initiate private communication or attempt to violate the process outlined herein may be disqualified.

In order to provide prompt answers to questions, the Springfield Procurement Office requests that all proposers submit written questions. Questions must be received in writing only at the City of Springfield Office of Procurement not later than 4:00 pm on December 1, 2020. Questions must be emailed or faxed. The Office of Procurement fax number is (413) 787-6295 or email lstabilo@springfieldcityhall.com. The Procurement Office will compile written answers which will be emailed back to all Proposers who requested a copy of the RFP, no later than December 4, 2020.

Revisions and/or Addenda to the RFP

The City reserves the right to revise the RFP and/or to issue addenda to the RFP. The City also reserves the right to cancel or to reissue the RFP in whole or in part, prior to execution of an agreement. In the event it becomes necessary to revise any part of the RFP, addenda will be provided to all parties on record with the Chief of Procurement Officer of the City as having received the RFP from the City.
Each Proposer shall acknowledge receipt of all addenda, and include such addenda in their proposal.

Submission Requirements for Non-Price (Technical) Proposal

The Consultant’s RFP submission shall include Form A along with a letter of transmittal, signed by an individual(s) authorized to bind the prospective Consultant contractually. The letter must state the RFP submission will remain valid for ninety (90) days from its submission date and thereafter until the prospective Consultant withdraws it, until a contract is executed or until the procurement is terminated by the City, whichever comes first.

All information pertaining to the prospective Consultant’s qualifications and approach to meeting the requirements of the RFP response shall be organized and presented in the prospective Consultant’s submission. The instructions contained in this RFP must be strictly followed. Accuracy and completeness are essential. Omissions and ambiguous or equivocal statements will be viewed unfavorably and will be considered in the evaluation.

All response requirements must be submitted for each party comprising the prospective Consultant’s organization, firm, or joint venture as well as any sub-consultants and sub-contractors.

The City may reject any and all submissions that do not meet the requirements set forth.

RFP Submission Contents

The Consultant’s RFP submission shall contain the following information in the sequence presented and under a separate heading:

1. Describe the prospective Consultant’s general understanding of the scope of services and the key issues associated with preparation of the Equity in Public Employment Plan. In addition, include statements covering the prospective Consultant’s proposed process for completing the required tasks and describe any unusual conditions or problems the prospective Consultant believes may be encountered.

2. Provide a detailed plan describing how the prospective Consultant plans to carry out the services requested within this RFP.

3. Include summary résumés of key personnel proposed to staff this project and descriptions of comparable projects performed by the personnel to be assigned to this work. For each such key employee, indicate whether such employee is to be assigned on a full-time or part-time basis. If an employee is to be assigned part-time, indicate the percentage of his or her time that will be devoted to this project.
4. Provide the names, addresses and telephone numbers of clients for whom the prospective Consultant has performed work similar to that proposed and who may be contacted as references. Preferably, references should include municipalities or governmental agencies similar to the City and should include the recent similar projects previously mentioned. Must provide a minimum of three references.

5. Include a project organization chart and a staffing scheduling chart indicating present and future staffing commitments for the prospective Consultant. The staffing scheduling chart should show current projects as well as future planned projects and how this work will be staffed.

6. Should include a detailed description of all related projects, experience and ability that will demonstrate compliance with the experience and expertise the City is requesting.

7. Required Forms, properly executed - Note that forms for items are provided with the RFP package:
a. Request for Proposal Form Completed and Signed (coversheet)
b. Tax Certification Affidavit (must be notarized)
c. Non Collusion/Fraud Statement
d. Affirmative Action (MBE/WBE Form 3)

The City of Springfield supports the goal of twenty percent minority and women participation in all contracts. No questions will be answered unless received by the Chief Procurement Officer at least 7 days prior to the expiration of the time set for submitting bids or proposals. The Chief Procurement Officer reserves the right to waive any informality in and to reject any or all bids if it is in the public interest to do so.

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