Online CDA (for Higher Education) award amount has been revised to a range of $5,000 to $18,000 per unit of 120 hours.

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1 Public Health Management Corporation Southeast Regional Key Request for Proposals for Professional Development and Technical Assistance Services for Fiscal Year 2011/12 General Guidance Part 1 and Part 3 are completed only once for each organization. Part 2 is completed in its entirety for each specialty area in which you are bidding. This will be filled out multiple times if you are bidding for more than one area. We prefer for proposals to be submitted electronically to serkpd@phmc.org but will accept them by fax, mail and hand delivery by 5:00pm on May 4 th, Clarifications All contracts awarded as a result of this RFP will be fee-for-service contracts. Bidders are asked to submit a cost reimbursement budget for program description and auditing purposes. Online CDA (for Higher Education) award amount has been revised to a range of $5,000 to $18,000 per unit of 120 hours. Questions and Answers What is a Master Provider Index (MPI) number? The MPI number is a unique identification number for all DPW licensed or registered child care facilities in the state. A facility MPI number can be found on the lower right corner of the DPW license. Please explain the requirement for PQAS certification. PQAS stands for Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System. PQAS certification of instructors and technical assistants is required for any professional development and technical assistance funded by this contract. This certification allows the practitioners to receive PQAS credit hours for their training/ta. SERK will accept applications with instructors/consultants that do not have current PQAS certification as long as evidence is provided that it will be acquired by July 1, PHMC will only fund PD provided by Certified Instructors, Specialty Discipline Instructors, Faculty Instructors and instructors from organizations with Organizational PQAS. We will not fund PD provided by Affiliate Instructors or Director Instructors. Can we use a PQAS Affiliate Instructor to teach a class? No, SERK will not fund PD provided by an Affiliate Instructor or Director Instructor. What is an Affiliate Instructor and Director Instructor? An Affiliate Instructor is mentoring with a Certified Instructor. The instruction delivered by an Affiliate Instructor must be prepared and delivered through the support of a Certified Instructor who has been approved at the Certified Instructor level for at least two years. Director Instructors can instruct their site staff only in the topic codes for which they ve received PQAS approval. For more information please see the Pa Keys website: 1

2 Is a PQAS instructor required to have a Masters degree? Instructors do not need to have Master s degrees to deliver needs based professional development. Instructors of credit and credential coursework should however have advanced degrees. Does an Organizational PQAS hold for trainers within the organization? Yes, trainers from PQAS Organizations are acceptable to deliver PD. Organizations must meet the recently updated Organizational PQAS requirements. See the PA Keys website for more info: Can we use subcontractors/consultants to expand our capacity? Contractors may use consultant instructors or TA consultants. We are however looking for organizational strength in the specialty area in which you are bidding. Ideally you would only use contractors to enhance an existing organizational strength rather than create one. Furthermore, the SERK believes that we can find cost efficiency and increased accountability by contracting directly with service providers. If you do choose to subcontract services you should address in your proposal how you will ensure cost efficiency and accountability for performance. If the State budget is delayed will that affect the SERK contracts? Yes. All funding contracts that result from this RFP are contingent upon PHMC s receipt of funding from Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL). All award amounts subject to change based on PHMC s final budget from OCDEL. Are we responsible for finding other training locations if we don t own the space? If the proposed PD site is not owned by the bidder, you must be able to show evidence of your relationships with the other locations. Contractors are responsible to manage their own relationships and business practices with host sites. Can the Occupancy line in the budget cover training space? Yes. Who determines who serves what counties? The bidding organizations should propose what counties they wish to serve. Bidders should use the Work Plan to describe these details. When completing the proposal, must we apply with specific cost and number of hours? Yes. Bidders should indicate their desired number of hours and propose a cost for service. PHMC may negotiate both cost and number of hours based on our needs. You must also be able to show your capacity to provide the number of hours for which you are bidding. How many units can an organization bid for? An organization can bid for as many units as they feel appropriate and they have capacity for. Keep in mind that PHMC may negotiate final award amounts and hours of services based on our needs. Please bid only for the number of units which you have the capacity to deliver. Please explain the new flexibility in the cost per unit. We have not found parity cost for contracted services. Each organization has different costs to deliver the services. While our contracts are fee-for-service we are looking for bidders to explain (by using the budget in the proposal) how they determine the fee rate for their services. To what extent, are PD and TA services focused on existing STARS practitioners or other practitioners. 2

3 Needs based PD is open to Keystone STARS, DPW licensed, relative/neighbor and other providers who are considering starting a facility. Support for Credit and Credential PD and TA services is for current Keystone STARS practitioners. With all applications you should demonstrate your access to and expertise in working with the target population. What is the RFP evaluation process? We have a team of reviewers to review Part 2 of each application. SERK staff will review Part 1 and Part 3 for capacity and the budgets. The reviewers will include content experts from multiple departments at PHMC and they will be using a scoring rubric. Each application will be reviewed by multiple reviewers. Are you sharing the RFP scoring rubric? No Where can we find data such as the breakdown of providers in each county? We have posted survey data as well as Keystone STARS participation data on the SERK website ( Can you share data from the Facility Professional Development Plan survey recently conducted by the State? Yes, it is posted on the SERK website ( Has the SERK determined specific needs for the individual Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery County catchment areas by specialty services? Please see posted survey results on the SERK website ( How will the mandatory training on the PA Keys PD Calendar and STARS TA PELICAN be delivered? They will be face to face trainings at PHMC or a partner location. The trainings will be hands-on and participants will have computers to use during the training. How long will these trainings last? These will be one-time trainings for 3-4 hours and all successful bidders will be required to participate. We will provide several dates from which to choose. Under General Requirements, contractors are required to observe 10% of PD offered, who does that? Must they be PQAS certified? Administrators or other instructors in your organization can observe PD. Observers should use the observation tool provided by SERK. Can the 10% observations be built into cost? You may choose to note this cost on your budget. How long will the SERK take to approve an invoice? Does that time include the review of the adherence to terms of the contract? We cannot give an exact time that it will take to approve an invoice because there are multiple variables involved. Typically an approvable invoice (one that is accurate and needs no revision) is approved within 2 weeks of receipt by SERK. Yes, our invoice approval process includes a review of adherence to terms of the contract. PHMC may hold payments if contractors are not in compliance. 3

4 Credit and Credential PD Where does Higher Ed credit-bearing PD fit? Credit and Credential PD, section Part 2B. For higher education organizations, what part of the agency profile (Part 1) must we complete? Complete all as applicable to your organization. When bidding for CDA are there parameters for the number of people and cycles offered? Are you looking for one contractor to do it all or just a portion? You should apply for what you want to offer and have the capacity to provide. We are interested in working with contractors with specialty expertise even if they have only the ability to provide limited PD. In Part 2A, explain the cost per unit to be funded. What is a unit? For Director Credential the unit refers to three 45 hour credit bearing courses. For CDA and the School Age Professional Credential (SAPC) the unit is 120 hours of course work. For the other credit bearing courses the unit is a 45 hour credit bearing course. On page 7, does the Renewals specialty service area under Part 2A include School Age credential renewal? Yes. In Part 2A, are other credit bearing courses still welcome? Yes, if the course delivers ECE credits which helps practitioners move up the career lattice. If a Health and Safety training is offered to a CDA class in addition to the 120 hours, is that a separate bid? Yes, you would complete both Part 2A and Part 2B. On page 7, there is only one Director s Credential specialty area; does that include online and face-toface models? Yes, all models are accepted. Will the SERK consider and fund credentialing courses that are hybrids (combined online and classroom instruction; and combinations of prior coursework and life experience that meet credential requirements) in addition to the defined specialty services outlined in the RFP? Yes. The Director Credential Specialty Area can include hybrids of online and face-to-face courses. We would encourage bidders to submit innovative proposals to best meet the needs of the practitioners. PHMC will reserve the right to fund these alternative models. On page 10, please explain the 10% deduction for dropped enrollment. This is a performance based contract with accountability for outcomes. In order to achieve the desired 4

5 outcomes with credit and credential classes it is imperative that students complete the coursework. The deduction will be taken if 20% of the students in the class do not complete. Can policy be implemented so that the student is expected to pay back the course fee instead of penalizing the organization? No, this contract funds PD organizations and not individual students and therefore the organizations are responsible for performance. Will you take into consideration that online classes have a higher drop out rate? Yes, the number of students required to complete the coursework is lower (12 students) for online coursework. Why are there differences between the minimum number of enrollees for face-to-face and online courses? It has been our experience that regional colleges and universities often limit the online class size. We also are sensitive to the fact that not all students are online-learners and that classes may be smaller as our practitioners develop the skills needed to be successful in an online learning environment. Please note that these are minimum attendance requirements and if you can serve more students in an online class we would encourage you to do so. If the class starts with lower than 20 will there be 10% deducted on first invoice? No, all deductions will be assessed on the second invoice. On page 9 under performance expectations, if our contract doesn t start by July 1 will we still be required to provide 45% of services by December 31st? If PHMC does not get an approved contract from OCDEL in a timely manner we can negotiate this time table. As it stands we are expected to spend 45% of our funds by December 31 st and it is essential that our subcontractors do the same. Typically we expect an executed contract in by mid-july and our contractors should expect the same. On page 9 under performance expectations, 65% of students receiving credentials within 6 months of completion is very hard to do as we don t have control over Council timing. Is it sufficient that we confirm a 65% submission rate of applications to the credentialing organizations? The desired outcome for students participating in credential coursework is that they will receive a credential. While contractors do not have control over the Council of Professional Recognition they do have control over ensuring that students understand the credentialing process, have completed their work and are prepared to submit for their credential as soon as they complete their coursework. Therefore the SERK will measure the performance of this service based on the number of students that receive their credential within 6 months of course completion. The SERK will also support students via Career Advising services. Will you put pressure on the Council of Professional Recognition to process application for CDA? The SERK will triage issues with the individual students and provide them with support if they are encountering challenges. Currently we are seeing that most students are getting their credential within two months of their application to the Council of Professional Recognition. How does Director Credential funding and T.E.A.C.H. intersect? 5

6 If a Director Credential cohort is support by SERK then those students should not also be receiving T.E.A.C.H. funds for tuition. Under General Requirements for credit and credential PD, explain assessing student s readiness. We want students to be prepared to be successful. Some students will need additional support in literacy and other areas. If a student does not have the basic skills required and the program cannot support them in being successful in the academic program then they should be referred to other resources. We want to provide the credit and credential PD to as many practitioners as possible while ensuring they will be successful and mitigating high drop-out rates. Will the SERK do the readiness assessment? No, we will provide sample tools but organizations will need to determine how they will assess readiness. How do we deliver that message if a student is assessed not ready? The SERK would recommend that the organization let the student know the course is not appropriate for them at this time. You may also refer them to the SERK for TA and career advising support. The TA in turn would connect the person to the appropriate developmental coursework. We envision this being a very small percentage of students. Does the assessment have to occur before the first class? You will have flexibility in how and when it is delivered. It may be done as a part of the registration process or during the first days of the class. Do we report on those that are assessed not ready? Students who you determine are not ready for courses should be referred to the SERK for additional support. Is it the intent that the results and recommendations of the student readiness assessments be made available to SERK personnel by the College? No. We would ask that colleges refer students who do need additional support to the SERK but the college will not be required to release assessment scores or student names to the SERK. Can we see the assessment tool? Yes. A sample tool is posted on the SERK website ( Are credit bearing courses invoiced for monthly? No, invoicing will be based on the class timeframes. How long will the SERK take to approve an invoice? Does that time include the review of the adherence to terms of the contract? We cannot give an exact time that it will take to approve an invoice because there are multiple variables involved. Typically an approvable invoice (one that is accurate and needs no revision) is approved within 2 weeks of receipt by SERK but often sooner. Yes, our invoice approval process includes a review of adherence to terms of the contract. Can second invoices be submitted anytime after the last day of the class up to 15 days? Yes, the second invoice should be received within 15 days of the last day of the class. 6

7 Pertaining to FERPA on page 9, we are limited to the type of information we can share. We can not name names as to who has dropped out and why. The SERK expects that contractors will provide student directory information in compliance with FERPA. We want enrollment information both at the start of the class and at the end of the class. Organizations should provide information regarding drop-outs in a generic non-student specific manner. If health concerns may be a contributing reason for dropping the class, have HIPPA regulations been considered? We are interested in understanding why students drop-out of the courses we fund. We are asking contractors to provide these reasons in a non-student specific manner. There should be no potential for HIPAA violations. What are your expectations on keeping practitioners PA Keys profiles up to date? Organizations will explain the process to students and provide them with direct support in updating their profiles within the first 15 days of the start of course work or during registration activities. In the case students with multiple profiles you would give them the PA Key ( ) number to resolve that issue. Would the SERK consider that the performance hold backs (10%) for student drop-out be assessed against the aggregate based on the total expected completion of the entire contract award for a given specialty service rather than on a class by class basis? PHMC has considered this request and given that funding and invoicing is class by class we will assess performance hold backs in that manner too. Needs Based PD (Part 2B) Each Specialty Service area has multiple trainings listed. For example, Health and Safety includes Pediatric First Aid, CPR, Managing Illness, Mandated Reporter, etc. Can an organization bid to provide only a specific training or must we apply for the entire category Yes, an organization can bid for one or as many of the listed training. You should apply for the training in which you have expertise and that you want to present. Keep in mind that these are suggested training titles and not an exhaustive list of what falls into a Specialty Service. When completing the PD Work Plan (p. 18 #2) must locations be included? Yes, plan to show capacity as specific as possible with date/location/topic. While we understand this is a projected schedule it should be as detailed as possible. Can you explain the expectations for marketing for PD? Marketing is primarily the responsibility of the contractor. The SERK does highlight some PD in our weekly E- Blasts and quarterly meetings with directors in each county. Can we access the STARS practitioner data base to promote PD? The primary strategy for promoting PD is by using the calendar on the PA Keys website. There is also public list of STARS facilities on the PA Keys website ( if you are interested in doing targeted On page 16, the expectation to recruit 20 or more participants for PD events, is that attendance or registered? The expectation pertains to number of participants in attendance. There will also be a quarterly bonus for 7

8 contractors who have attendance of 21 or more participants at 80% of their PD events for that quarter. Can we argue that 20 is too high for Competency Level 3 classes? There are fewer practitioners at that level. We appreciate that this may be the case for some PD. We will not penalize organizations when less than 20 participants attend such an event. Is there a penalty for low attendance? No, there is no penalty for low attendance however this will reflect on contract performance. What s the intention for the new Family Practitioner STARS Orientation, can anyone provide this training? Anyone contractor who attends the Professional Development Instructor Institute (PDII) will be able to provide this training. However, it will be important to coordinate with the SERK when scheduling trainings as we will continue to provide this training. Ounce and Work Sampling instructors must attend a Professional Development Instructor Institute (PDII), what is that? OCDEL schedules and provides the PDII sessions for these and other required PDII trainings. The information is available on the PA Keys website ( We do not have a schedule for future Ounce or Work Sampling PDIIs at this time. Our role is to inform our partners as PDIIs become available. What does it mean/take to become a Mind in the Making Facilitator? Can this be accomplished by the start of this contract? Mind in the Making Facilitators are certified by the PA Key at the completion of the PDII for this content. There are no planned PDIIs for the Mind in Making series at this time. For needs based health and safety playground TA, do you want certified people? Yes, all PD contractors must be PQAS certified. See questions in general questions section. On page 13, Innovative Approaches, is there a percentage expectation between ECE and SACC training? No, bid for your capacity and expertise. Where does Race Matters fit? Under Innovative Approaches to PD. In the Specialty Service of Promoting Healthy Lifestyles would you consider models focused on the practitioner needing to take care of themselves? Yes, these are suggested modules but not limited. Technical Assistance Is accreditation TA separate from STARS TA? The purpose of all STARS TA services is to help sites meet the Keystone STARS Performance Standards. Accreditation refers to working with accredited programs, not TA to achieve accreditation. Who is responsible for recruiting for TA? 8

9 The SERK is responsible for recruiting sites for TA and then referring them to contracted partners. The existing process will continue next fiscal year. All referrals will come to the SERK. Ideally we want to see the referrals come from the Specialists with in-depth knowledge of sites needs and plans. If a practitioner calls a TA organization directly for services then what is the process? TA partners may give a practitioner a TA request form to complete and have them submit it to the SERK. What is TA for career advising? Career advising has two components. The first is additional support for practitioners to attain credentials such as CDA, SAPC and Directors Credentials. The second is working with directors who need to understand the career lattice for staff and career advising on PD for their staff. What are the reporting requirements for Career Advising TA? Data will be collected on the Other TA reporting form and tracking successful completion and attainment of a CDA, SAPC or Director Credential for individuals engaged in this service. On page 22, under Performance Expectations for Career Advising, who will track this? The SERK and the TA partner will have shared responsibility in data gathering. The SERK will chare reports received from the Council of Professional Recognition and the PA Key on credential attainment. Is the priority for Career Advising degree completion? Degree completion is one of the priorities for Career Advising. This TA will also support sites in developing sustainable professional development plans to help staff progress on the Career Lattice. Does career advising on the career lattice include teacher certification? Teacher certification is a best practice for Keystone STARS staff. Career Advising may include supporting teachers in the certification process but is not the primary focus. Is career advising part of STARS TA? No, Career Advising is considered Other TA and has some different reporting requirements from STARS TA. In regards to Regulatory Referrals, sometimes they request other areas of TA in addition to Supervision. Can we do additional TA and if so, how many hours? Given limited resources, Regulatory Referrals will focus on delivery of the supervision training. If additional TA is necessary, the site should be referred for STARS TA. Do you get TA requests for things such as inclusion in the class room? Not frequently as inclusion is not an explicit Keystone STARS performance Standard. If the request is served through the STARS TA system, we must align each request to STARS performance standards. Each STARS TA Action Plan goal is tied to these standards. There are some cases where inclusion work may be appropriate but this assessed on a case by case basis. A TA consultant working with business practices has special skills but may not be PQAS certified. Must they be PQAS certified? Yes, all TA consultants must have PQAS certification. 9