REQUEST FOR LETTERS OF INTEREST Community Based Grants Fiscal Agent Services

Transcription

1 REQUEST FOR LETTERS OF INTEREST Community Based Grants Fiscal Agent Services Announcement Date: Monday, October 5, 2015 Deadline: Friday, October 16, :00PM Total Funding Available: Year 1- up to $16,000; Year 2- up to $24,000; Year 3- up to $32,000 Description: Funding will be provided to one agency to provide fiscal agent services for up to 3 years for the Community Based Grants (CBG) Program. Eligibility: Non-Profit Agencies in Sacramento County who can provide fiscal agent services for small grants. Interviews with Selected Applicants: Week of November 2, 2015 Notification of Funding: Monday, November 16, 2015 Recommendation for Funding: Monday, December 7, 2015 Contract Term Begins: January 1, 2016 Contact: Kim Kendzior , [email protected] Invitation to Submit Letter of Interest: The First 5 Sacramento Commission is seeking to contract with one agency to provide fiscal agent services for the Community Building Grants Program. Community Building Grants (CBG) support the Commission s goal of increasing social capital for families with children ages 0 through 5 years old in high need communities. Community Based Grants Background: The CBG Program promotes increased social capital or connections in the community by providing small grants up to $5,000 to groups of parents, grandparents or caretakers to implement activities that bring families with young children together to network, support each other, and build relationships. Additionally, these group activities promote the health and wellbeing of children in an effort to ensure all children are ready to enter kindergarten. CBG applicants prepare and submit an application which is reviewed and evaluated to ensure activities are appropriate and will reach children at highest risk. Applications must be submitted by a group of at least three individuals per proposed grant. Applications that pass the review process are recommended to the Commission, which makes a final determination regarding funding. Grantee groups and projects are accepted by the Commission based on the merits of the application submitted. Grants will typically be funded for 12 months. The funding for the first round of applications will be from January 1, 2016 to December 31,

2 Scope of Fiscal Agent Services: The Fiscal Agent will work as a liaison between the Commission and funded community groups throughout Sacramento County. In addition, the following activities are required: Agreement with Grantees The Fiscal Agent must enter into agreement with grantees to ensure they comply with Commission and grant requirements. Payment Processing The Fiscal Agent will release no more than 10% of available funds to grantees on a monthly basis. Funds must be spent in accordance with the grantee s approved budget. Grantees are required to submit original receipts on a monthly basis to the Fiscal Agent before the subsequent advance is released. The Fiscal Agent will reconcile expenses and submit receipts and invoices to Commission staff. Some projects may have a provision for nominal stipends or payments to grant leaders or independent contractors; these amounts are invoiced separately from reimbursement requests. The payment process for each grant is as follows: Fiscal Agent 1. Receives fees of 40% for each grant. Grantee 2. Issue funds up to 10% of grant funds to each grantee for start-up costs within 2-3 business days of receipt of fees from the Commission. 5. Fiscal Agent receives, reconciles and approves expenditures. 6. Submits invoice with documentation to First 5 (documentation includes monthly log of expenditures, funds released and balance of advance grant funds). 8. Upon approval of 1 st round of expenditures, releases next round of payment (10%) to the grantee within 2-3 business days. 3. Receives 10% of the budget for start-up expenses. 4. Submits receipts of expenditures to Fiscal Agent. 7. Submits request for next round of payment for expenditures. 9. Submits 2 nd round of receipts of expenditures to Fiscal Agent. Payment process repeats until the end of the grant cycle, up to 12 months 2

3 Training and Technical Assistance In collaboration with Commission staff, the Fiscal Agent will provide training and technical assistance to grantees prior to and during the grant period to ensure compliance with grant expenditure policies. Training and technical assistance may include, but is not limited to: Assist grant applicants with preparing the budget portion of the application if needed. Meet and train grantees at the beginning of the project to explain policies and procedures of the payment process. Have regular contact with grantees, (monthly at a minimum) to ensure proper documentation for invoices and reports is submitted. Address questions or concerns of the grantees regarding expenditures or payments. Other Responsibilities Recognizing that some group members may have transportation challenges, the Fiscal Agent must be willing to travel throughout the county to pick up receipts and deliver checks to grantees if necessary. Additionally, the Fiscal Agent must provide insurance for grantees special events and issue 1099 forms annually, if needed, as required for stipends and independent contractor payments. Should the grantee be unable to complete the project, the grantee must repay any unspent funds to the Fiscal Agent. If the grantee is unable to repay the advance, after several attempts to collect and close monitoring by the Fiscal Agent, the Fiscal Agent may lose funds advanced to the grantee. The Fiscal Agent will inform the Commission of concerns early in the process and all attempts to collect from the grantee. Funding Amount: Charges for fiscal agent services will include $2,000 for each $5,000 grant. In Year 1, which will be a pilot year, the Fiscal Agent will receive up to $12,000-$16,000 for the funding of 6-8 grants. Year 2 will be up to $24,000 for 12 grants, and Year 3 will be up to $32,000 for 16 grants. To assist with grantee cash flow, the Fiscal Agent will advance 10% of grant funds to the grantee from fees paid to them by the Commission. The Fiscal Agent may request to be reimbursed for additional out-of-pocket cost to their agency to obtain and maintain all insurances required of CBG projects by the Commission. Reimbursement of insurance costs will be part of the Commission s contract with the Fiscal Agent in addition to the 40%. Minimum Qualifications: 1. Have one or more locations in Sacramento County. 2. Experience in providing training and monitoring for community groups. 3. Experience in working as an intermediary for fiscal agent services. 4. Experience in working with diverse community groups throughout Sacramento County. 5. Experience in working with First 5 programs. 6. Demonstrated capacity to include increased workload due to the requirements of CBG. 7. Able to issue funds to grantees in 2-3 business days. 8. Willingness to travel throughout Sacramento County to meet with community groups for training, pick-up and delivery of expenditure documentation and payments. 9. Willingness to provide oversight to the grantee bookkeeper to ensure deadlines are met. 10. Able to secure insurance on behalf of grantees, as needed, for events. 11. Able to sustain loss of advance funds if grantee does not repay the balance of the advance. 12. Ability to communicate with diverse grantees and provide technical assistance and problem solving to gather necessary documentation. 13. Must be accessible to grantees and Commission staff. 14. Must have credible status as an entity and a commitment to public service. 3

4 Timeline: Date October 5 October 16 Week of November 2 November 16 December 7 January 1 Activity Release of the Request for Letters of Interest Letters due to the Commission office by 4:00 p.m. Interviews with Selected Applicants Notification of Recommendation for Funding Recommendation to the Commission for Funding Fiscal Agent Contract Begins Letter of Interest Instructions and Content: This section describes the required format and content for submission of the Letter of Interest. Failure to follow the prescribed format may result in rejection of the Letter of Interest. 1. Format: a. The letter must include the agency s name, address, telephone, fax, and address and the primary contact person s name, title, and address, telephone, fax and address (if different from agency s information). b. Limit letter to 3 pages. 2. Summary of Qualifications- Provide the following information in your Letter of Interest: a. Address how your agency meets the minimum qualifications. b. Describe why your agency is interested in providing fiscal agent services for the CBG Program. c. Overview and timeline of how you would complete these services. Contract Requirements: The selected agency will be required to enter into a standard Commission contract that includes the submission of the following: Contractor Certification of Compliance Form with Court-Ordered Child, Family and Spousal Support and Contractor Identification Form Anti-Tobacco Policy and Certification Form Annual Non-Supplantation Certification Form Agreement to Policies Certification of Insurance Selection Process: Members of the Commission s CBG workgroup will review letters to ensure they meet all requirements of this request. Staff will contact applicants who meet the eligibility requirements to arrange an interview the week of November 2 nd. Submission Requirements: Please submit Letter of Interest to the Commission office no later than 4:00 p.m. on October 16, 2015 by mail (regardless of postmark), , fax, or hand-delivery. Letters received after the submission deadline will be returned unopened. First 5 Sacramento Commission Attention: Julie Gallelo, Executive Director 2750 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 330 Sacramento, CA FAX: [email protected] 4

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