State of Colorado Issues Social Media RFP

Purpose:

The purpose of the Request for Proposal (RFP) is to solicit proposals as part of a competitive process in which CDHS will contract with multiple organizations, at the State’s discretion, to develop and implement an Outreach Plan for Colorado. All State selected organizations will undergo final approval by USDA via the approval of the Colorado Outreach Plan by Federal Nutrition Services.

Each organization must be able to provide mandatory elements:

• Provide direct application assistance (through PEAK) to potentially eligible individuals, including assistance with obtaining required documentation, and / or provide informational activities to potentially eligible individuals.
• Create, implement, and conduct FA outreach for potentially eligible persons and community partner organizations that can lead persons to SNAP Outreach partners.

As part of the proposal process, organizations will have the opportunity to present their outreach methods. Organizations must demonstrate how their strategies meet mandatory components, while also demonstrating flexibility in plan design.

Background:

The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) oversees the management and administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as the Food Assistance Program (FAP) in Colorado. The SNAP is the largest nutritional assistance program in the nation and allows low- income individuals and families to supplement their food purchases.

Scope of Work:

The overarching objective of conducting outreach for the Food Assistance Program is to increase participation among potentially eligible but not enrolled (EBNE) populations throughout the state of Colorado. By increasing awareness about the SNAP and reducing barriers in the application process, Colorado can reach more low-income families.  CDHS envisions the increase of SNAP Outreach to serve 18,000 people annually with application assistance and 54,000 people with information about the SNAP. Colorado will achieve this by developing a network of statewide providers that can leverage a combination of in person and telephonic application assistance in both urban and rural areas. The goal of this five year RFP is to identify additional providers who can help to increase Colorado’s in-person and/or telephonic application assistance for SNAP. Each year, Colorado hopes to see an increase to the capacity of applying agencies to recruit more sub recipients and/or identifying new regions to conduct outreach to.

Requirements for the Food Assistance outreach plan:

• Provide application assistance as a primary goal while maintaining a cost per application in line with the historical average in Colorado of $141-$171 in total costs (not just 50% reimbursement). It is anticipated that first time partners may face higher costs as they initially develop their program’s strategy or in the event a partner elects to focus their efforts on a singular hard to reach population. In these instances, higher cost per application estimates will be considered with the expectation that costs will be gradually reduced to align with those of established providers during subsequent years.
• Submit at least 500 SNAP applications on behalf of potentially eligible Coloradans.
• Provide application assistance through the Colorado online Application system, PEAK via a specialized portal given to vendors. Organizations should be familiar with PEAK and/or computer based application assistance. All applying partners must agree to utilize this system for future outcomes and evaluation tracking and provide manual information as requested. Additional evaluation and outcomes information may also be included if desired by the agency.
• Provide outreach to communities in targeted regions on basic SNAP eligibility criteria utilizing gap maps, U.S. Census poverty data, and other research to define how an organization will target those potentially eligible individuals. This could include aforementioned sources for targeting or include data sharing with other agencies to identify potentially eligible individuals.
• Offer clients assistance with documentation collection so that county offices can make an eligibility decision effectively and efficiently. Utilize PEAKPro system for all documentation transmittal to county offices.
• For vendors operating phone assistance, clearly explain how in person assistance will be linked to and/or partnered with in tandem with call center.
• Implement partnerships within communities utilizing the SNAP Outreach sub recipient framework to allow smaller community based organizations to provide SNAP Outreach under selected vendors.
• Outreach plans should detail organization’s plan for years one through five and show goals for growth each year.

Due Date:

April 27

Address:

Colorado Department of Human Services

Attn: Roman Hernandez

North/Central Procurement Office

1575 Sherman Street, 6th Floor

Denver, CO 80203

Firms that integrate social media and PR well include Finn Partners and Ketchum PR.