Community Services Employment Training, Inc. (CSET)
Request for Proposal for Senior Legal Services
1—Introduction
CSET is a private, nonprofit agency that strives to strengthen youth, families and communities.
We provide a variety of programs to achieve this mission, including operation of seven Senior
Centers located in Tulare County. One component of this program is Senior Legal Services.
CSET’s Senior Services Program is funded by the Kings/Tulare Area on Aging for the current
fiscal year, July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014.
We are seeking proposals from qualified entities that may be interested in serving as a
subcontractor to provide legal services to seniors age 60 years and older residing in Tulare
County, California. Anticipated funding for the Senior Legal Services component is $50,000 for
fiscal year 2013-2014. Awards are contingent upon availability of state and federal funds.
2—Program Goal
The goal of the Senior Legal Services component is to provide legal information, advice,
counseling, and judicial representation by an attorney or other person acting under the
supervision of an attorney, who is a member of the California State Bar. The goal of legal
services is to ensure the rights and entitlement of older persons by providing or securing legal
assistance.
3—Area to be Served
Services must be provided within Tulare County, California. Preference will be given to an entity
that has an existing presence in Tulare County.
4—Scope of Service
4.1
The successful applicant will provide the following services as the legal services
provider:
• Legal Assistance: To provide legal information, advice, counseling, administrative
representation, and judicial representation to an individual or to a group by an
attorney.
• Community Education/Advocacy: To educate groups of older persons, their families,
friends, and community organizations/facility staff on rights, benefits, and
entitlements for older persons either residing at home or living in an institutional
setting.
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4.2
Legal services provider shall implement a plan to provide legal services and community
education/advocacy that include the following topics:
• Income maintenance (SSI and Social Security);
• Healthcare (Medi-Cal, Medicare, Qualified Medicare Beneficiary-QMB, long term
care issues, and private health insurance), including the coordination of assistance to
clients with the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP),
which is operated by the Kings/Tulare Area on Aging;
• Housing (tenant rights, evictions, foreclosures);
• Elder abuse (financial, physical, emotional);
• Incapacities (managing affairs, counseling, Durable Power of Attorney/healthcare);
• Counseling on Wills and estate planning; and
• Other legal services as appropriate.
4.3
Legal services provider shall, with the approval of CSET and K/T AAA, set priorities for
the categories of cases for which it will provide legal representation in order to
concentrate on older persons with the greatest economic and/or social need. The provider
will give preference to those seniors with no other options, provided needed legal
services are within the service areas delineated in Section 4.2.
4.4
The legal services plan must include provision of legal services for an estimated 1,086
hours annually:
• At out-stations in Tulare County communities (e.g., senior centers, senior housing
complexes, nutrition sites, etc.)
• To institutionalized, isolated and homebound elderly residents of Tulare County,
either by phone, e-mail, on-line resources, or in their homes, as needed to meet client
needs
4.5
Legal services must be provided in compliance with the statewide standards for legal
assistance as promulgated by the California Department of Aging. For additional
information, please refer to:
http://www.aging.ca.gov/PM/PM05-19(P)/legal_assistance_guidelines.pdf
4.6
Legal services provider shall ensure service quality and maintain professional standards
by:
• Providing case management, including establishing a system of filing, record
keeping, docket control, and updating case activities;
• Providing for the supervision of legal workers by an attorney;
• Establishing a system of review to evaluate the quality of legal work, determine what
pertinent issues have been identified, to assure the timely handling of cases, and to
ensure that clients are involved in establishing case objectives and are kept informed
of developments in the case.
• Setting optimum caseloads for legal workers based on their experience and
specialization;
• Providing training for legal workers based on responsibilities and skills; and
• Ensuring the confidences of clients are preserved from unauthorized disclosure.
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4.7
Legal services provider shall coordinate advocacy efforts with the state-designated Long
Term Care Ombudsman Program.
4.8
Legal services provider shall make efforts to involve the private bar in legal assistance
activities.
4.9
Legal services provider is encouraged to provide a match of 11.77%. Cash and/or in-kind
contributions may count as match, if such contributions are used to meet program
requirements. Any matching contributions (cash or in-kind) must be verifiable. Matching
contributions must be used for allowable costs in accordance with the Office of
Management and Budget (0MB) cost principles.
5—Procurement Timeline
Dates are subject to change as deemed necessary by CSET:
• Publish Public Notice of RFP
July 23, 2013
• Deadline for submission of questions
July 29, 2013
(e-mail questions to carla.calhoun@cset.org)
• Bidder’s conference
July 30, 2013 – 3:30-4:30pm
• Proposal Submission Deadline
August 13, 2013 – 4:30pm
• Evaluation of Proposals
August 14-16, 2013
• Announcement of Intent to Award
August 19, 2013
• Deadline for submission of Appeals
Five days following announcement
• Start date for contract(s)
September 1, 2013
6—Proposal Content and Format
Each submission must include one original and one additional copy of the following:
• Proposal Cover Sheet (Attachment A)
• Proposed Budget (Attachment B)
• Program Narrative, responding to all questions in Section 9, maximum 10 pages
• Supplemental materials, as described in Section 9, maximum 5 pages
The following instructions must be followed. Proposals that do not meet these requirements will
not be reviewed.
• 8.5 x 11 inch white paper, printed single sided
• 12 point type, double spaced
• 1 inch margins
• Paper clip the original and staple the copy
Supplemental materials are excluded from these formatting requirements.
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7—Delivery Instructions
Proposals must be received at CSET’s Visalia office – located at 312 NW 3rd Avenue, Visalia,
CA 93291 – no later than August 13, 2013 by 4:30pm. Proposals sent by fax or e-mail will not
be accepted. A postmark of Aug. 13 is not acceptable.
Important Notice: All proposals must be delivered to Community Services & Employment
Training; Inc. (CSET) during normal business hours, which are 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday
through Friday. We will not accept proposal packages on weekday holidays. No other office is
authorized to accept proposals. We will not be responsible for proposals delivered prior to or
after normal business hours, or to any other office.
8—Evaluation Process
Each proposal will be screened by CSET’s Proposal Review Team to ensure it meets the
delivery, content and format requirements specified in this RFP. Proposals that do not pass the
initial screening will not be rated. The Proposal Review Team will evaluate each proposal that
passes the initial screening using identical rating criteria. Scoring will be based on a maximum of
25 points.
The rating criteria are:
•
•
•
•
•
Currently providing specified services in Tulare County and have offices within Tulare
County (0-5 points).
Demonstrated success in providing services specified in Section 4 for seniors (0-10
points).
Demonstrated ability to track clients and services provided, provide timely reports, and
effectively coordinate services with funding sources (0-5 points).
Demonstrated excellence in customer satisfaction (0-2 points).
Experienced with the provisions of the Older Americans Act and California Department
of Aging program guidance (0-3 points).
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9—Program Narrative
Please respond to all of the following questions. Page limit: 10 pages, double-spaced.
1. Do you currently have an office(s) in Tulare County? If yes, please provide the office
locations.
2. Do you currently offer the services described in Section 4 within Tulare County? If yes, how
long have you provided the services?
3. Describe your capacity to carry out each task described in Section 4 within the program
period.
4. What is your experience in tracking and reporting on the clients and services delivered?
5. Do you survey or gather information on customer satisfaction with your services? If yes,
describe the level of customer satisfaction with your services. Describe how you incorporate
customer feedback to improve your services.
6. What is your business volume?
7. What is your average cost per unit of service (1 hour = 1 unit of service)?
8. Describe your experience and knowledge of the Older Americans Act and programs of the
California Department of Aging.
Please provide other supportive documents to be considered with your proposal, such as
examples of your case management, record keeping, docket control, and reporting system.
Supplemental materials shall not exceed 5 pages.
Direct questions to:
Carla D. Calhoun, Deputy Director, 559.732.4194, ext. 639, carla.calhoun@cset.org
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Attachment A
Cover Sheet
Name of applicant:
Contact person:
Address:
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail address:
Type of applicant
(check one):
Public
Agency
Private
Non-Profit
Other
(specify):
Total unduplicated number of people to be served (estimate):
Total funds requested:
Total match contribution:
$
$
Please check yes or no for each of the following questions:
Yes
No
1. Member in good standing of the California Bar?
2. Can you provide a certificate of insurance for $1,000,000 of general liability
with CSET and K/T AAA specified as an additional insured upon contract
award?
3. Can you provide proof of worker’s compensation insurance coverage prior to
contract approval?
4. Are you able to enter into a cost reimbursement contract, invoicing and
reporting on a monthly basis?
5. Will you sign a Confidentiality Statement upon contract award?
6. Are your services accessible to people with disabilities?
I understand that CSET reserves the right to modify specifics of this proposal at the time of
funding and/or during the contract negotiation process. Furthermore, I understand that no
obligation exists until a written contract has been signed by CSET and the individual authorized
to sign contracts on behalf of the applicant. This contract will be executed in anticipation of
receipt of funds from the State of California. Should funds not be granted, all terms of the
agreement become null and void. Additionally, should funds be discontinued by the State,
contracts will be terminated immediately without liability to CSET.
Name:
Title:
Signature:
Date:
To check a box electronically, double-click on the box, select black as the Fill Color, and click OK
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Attachment B
Budget Sheet
A fillable PDF budget form is attached to this package. Proposers are free to use Excel or other
programs to produce their proposal budgets, using the line items in the PDF as a guide. The PDF
is available at www.cset.org.
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