WorkForce Central Business Services WIOA & RISE Funded RFP Question / Answers RFP #WIOA-BS

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1 1. Q: For this proposal, what constitutes through the customer lens? business or job seeker? ( customer is used throughout interchangeably) A: Business. 2. Q: Is the Sub Recipient a full voting member of the Business Services Committee or are they just there in a support role? A: Support role along with WorkForce Central staff. The committee is a volunteer committee that doesn t technically vote. A committee will make recommendations to the WDC Coordinating Committee and they determine if there will be a recommendation forwarded to the Workforce Development Council for a vote. 3. Q: In the RFP, the Performance Measure Expectations includes: conduct two job fairs (i.e. JobFest and Career Day.) the scale of these two are large. Assuming the Sub Recipient does two career fairs, would they indeed be a continuation of Pierce County Career Day and JobFest? or will WorkForce Central continue to host Pierce County Career Day and JobFest? a. Will the two events delivered by the Sub Recipient constitute new events? b. What are the expectations in regards to scope of these career fairs? c. Is the Sub Recipient responsible to cover out of pocket costs for such events (venue, marketing, printing, media, etc.), or will those costs be shared or sponsored by the WDC and/or WorkForce Central? A: a. At the moment, it appears that the partners would like JobFest and Pierce County Career Day to continue. This year people said they wanted JobFest to continue and agreed to be part of whatever is needed for it to happen. b. It is the intent that those costs are part of the award although, the awardee should review the allowable costs and cost principles applicable to this grant. As in the case of JobFest this year, you can expect to leverage the costs of the event from sponsors and partners who are more than willing to donate, contribute and make investments, even to the extent of adopting the event in their name. The role of the subrecipient will be to lead and organize the event and bring in appropriate businesses for participation and sponsorship. c. See answer in b. 4. Q: The statement below refers to section IV. B. The section (IV.B) is labeled as Additional Expectations. Should the proposal include narrative regarding section IV.A as well? Would there be additional pages allowed to explain all 20 points of business service delivery?

2 Business Services Worth 40 Points (Max of 10 Pages) The proposer should thoroughly describe how they will deliver to Business Services customers that have been identified in Section IV.B. Please provide the question/request before each answer. A: The narrative should be for Section IV.A. There will be no additional pages allowed. Section IV.B is for additional expectations more like how you do it. 5. Q: Regarding the RISE program, do Adult Services/Youth Services Sub Recipients provide Case Managers who will interact with Business Services to provide BFET participants access to employers who are hiring? a. Is this a team project with partners and other Sub Recipients? b. Who are the partners associated with the RISE program? A: a: The RISE Business Services representative will work with the local RISE partners as the convener to connect the candidates who complete Strategies for Success to employers for work-based learning opportunities. b: The current partners are Career Path Services, TRAC Associates, Pierce DSHS, CARES of Washington, and the Washington Restaurant Associates. 6. Q: Is a business services staff required to be stationed at JBLM? A: No. 7. Q: Since JobFest appears to be focused on those is the Business Services team responsible for managing the entire event including obtaining the location and all related logistics? Or, is the team responsible for engaging employers to participate and perhaps sponsor the event with all other responsibilities assumed by WorkForce Central or another entity such as the provider of youth services? A: See Question No. 4 above for the answer to this question. 8. Q: In the Performance Measure Expectations it says customer-focused services for 250 unique employers. Can you give a little more detail about how we are judging those 250 employers and what is considered serving them? A: The Business Service provider should continue to improve the relationships they have established with the business community in Pierce County - foster a robust and vibrant relationship with our businesses and provide them with workforce development solutions within the scope of your mandate. This will facilitate the ability to evaluate the uniqueness of

3 each employer, understand its skills needs and match with job seekers pool through the WorkSource partners. 9. Q: In the Performance Measures it says 700 job opportunities. How would you track them? A: They will need to be tracked in the new Employment Security WIT database. 10. Q: Is the RISE position currently staffed by a full-time staff member? A: Yes. The staff member is housed (at no cost) at the Pierce North DSHS building. 11. Q: Is WorkForce Central s role basically setting up the work-based learning opportunities and placement for RISE clients? A: Yes. 12. Q: Where will staff be located at WorkSource (1-stop)? - if so what is the monthly cost and what does the cost include? A: The Business Services awardee is required to have staff at the One-Stop Center. In addition, the awardee will be expected to provide outreach services through other affiliate and connection sites as well. The interim One-Stop location at the 3650 Cedar Street (current location of Workforce Central) will have a square footage cost of approximately $18 a square foot. This includes utilities, custodial, common areas, and public Wi-Fi. It does not include Wi-Fi and phone access for employees. It is anticipated that it will be the interim location until July 1, Workforce Central has identified the following equipment that might be made available to the new Adult Services and/or the Business Services subrecipient. This same list was provided to the Adult Services Question and Answers procurement process. This would require further discuss after the successful subrecipient is selected: Desktops and laptops would come with no operating system, aside from the Chromebooks, which would retain the latest version of Chrome after reimaging. For security reasons, anything with a hard drive must be erased before passing on the item. This is a very rough list and no equipment has been visually inspected. There are printers, a plotter, copiers, miscellaneous laptops, desktops and other items that would need to be examined before determining whether they should go straight to surplus or be offered to partners. The items below are in good condition and would be viable in most office settings.

4 60 HP 14 Chromebooks HP charging carts for 30 Chromebooks each 20 HP 8560p laptops with HP charging cart Monitors of various make and size most HP Elitedesk 800 G1 Ultra Slim desktops 2014 The following items are at JBLM/RP6 for the RISE program. These items will remain in place the Business Services subrecipient to use: 30 HP SB 4300 all-in-one desktops HP Elitedesk 800 G Dell monitors 13. Q: Does Pierce County or the WDC subscribe to business data solutions in order to determine what firms are in the county and eligible for business engagement activities, or does WDC expect the awardee or contractor to provide or subscribe to such services themselves? A: WorkForce Central currently subscribes to a Pierce County employment report and maintains a database of area businesses which the provider will have access. Other business area information can be available through local economic development boards and/or the State of Washington. The subrecipient will have to evaluate its data solution needs in order to meet the mandates of this proposal. Procurement of additional data solutions will be a decision of the subrecipient. 14. Q: What sources of business data has WDC used in previous business engagement activities? A: WorkForce Central has a contract with a provider that has a subscription for Pierce County and they currently produce a monthly labor market report. The contract ends December Q: What are the NAICS Codes that make up the state s industry sectors? For example, what NAICS are included in the Healthcare Sector? A: North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the US business economy. The Washington State Department of Revenue can provide the link to the state s industry codes.

5 16. Q: Will WDC be interested in having employer level data that provides indication of firms that are in growth mode versus those in decay? A: It will be extremely important to have first-hand information on the growth mode of business so we prepare our job seekers to match the business skills requirements. It is likewise important to know the condition of a decaying business so we can provide workforce development related solutions and rapid response support if needed. 17. Q: Approximately how much of an FTE will be devoted to Rapid Response? A: Rapid Response is an ad hoc activity that might not require a permanent FTE. However, it is anticipated that the selected Business Services provider will have a standby plan to provide support to a business in cases where rapid response is required. 18. Q: Are there other activities that will be required by the funding source that may have costs that need to be included in our Budget such as the required use of a specific CRM and/or job seeker job readiness/skill assessment? A: The RFP outlines the full requirements of the business services. Job seeker readiness and/or skill assessment tools are available to the provider of Adult/Dislocated Worker/Youth programs. 19. Q: How will fee for service revenue be handled by the Business Services Provider or WORKFORCE CENTRAL? A: Any fee for service derived through the business service activities will be considered Program Income and therefore will need to be reported to WorkForce Central. Program Income will need to be disbursed first before any reimbursement can be made to the provider by WorkForce Central.