The San Diego Workforce Partnership (Workforce Partnership) is launching new courses for the Workforce ISA Fund in 2020 and is looking for educational partners who can provide training services for up to 100 students a year.
ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
The San Diego Workforce Partnership is a 501(c)(3) non-profit jointly chartered by the City and County of San Diego to administer federal job training funds. The Workforce Partnership’s budget is $30M, employs over 75 FTEs and administers a network of contractors and services providers that service approximately 25,000 people each year. The organization has been recognized as the leading workforce board in the field of over 550 agencies by the National Association of Workforce Boards. Our organization’s mission is to empower job seekers to meet the current and future needs of employers in San Diego county. We strive to promote economic mobility and growth for our communities through five strategic pillars:
- Job quality
- Family-centered solutions (2Gen)
- Outcome based funding
- Inclusive business growth
- Population-specific interventions
For additional information, please visit workforce.org.
Background
The Workforce ISA Fund is a part of our outcome based funding pillar and currently pays for participants to take 9–12-month certificate classes at UC San Diego Extension. The Fund also provides job placement, internship, mentorship and other support to help participants land a job in their chosen field. Students who participate in the Fund sign Income Share Agreements. In these contracts they agree to pay back the Fund a % of their income once they are making more than $40,000 a year.
To date, the Workforce ISA Fund has been supported with charitable donations and grants from the Strada Educational Network, The James Irvine Foundation and Google.org. More information about the fund can be found at workforce.org/isa.
Project Scope
We created the Workforce ISA Fund to provide professional education options to those in San Diego who are currently unable to access these resources due to limited finances. Our focus is on high growth and priority occupations that will provide participants with jobs that pay over $40,000 a year after completing their education and asking successful students to “pay it forward” back into the fund for the next generation of students. The current classes that are offered through UCSD Extension are Java Programming, Front-End Development, Business Intelligence and Digital Marketing.
In this procurement, we encourage potential educational partners to present one or more options for courses that we could offer prospective students. These students will attend these classes as part of a ‘cohort’. The educational provider should determine the size of the cohort in their proposal, which should be based off their capacity and the likelihood of finding the participants employment after graduation. Proposals that center around training for one or multiple of our ‘Priority Jobs’ sectors will be prioritized over others. Our report on priority jobs can be found here.
Our initial partnership with UC San Diego Extension has allowed the Workforce ISA Fund to raise more than $3 million in funding for their programs. We seek to use these RFB as an opportunity to raise new funds and so your ability to help us do so will be a key part of any successful bid.
Key Dates
- Request for Bids Release: August 30, 2019
- Webinar/Q&A session: September 13, 2019 at 11 a.m. PST
- Responses due: October 15, 2019
- In person Bidder presentation days: November 5/6, 2019
- Bidders will be selected and notified by November 29, 2019
- Estimated project start: March 1, 2020/ July 1, 2020/ October 1, 2020 (reflects tentative course start dates)
- Estimated contract period: 9-18 months
Webinar
Please register for Workforce ISA Fund RFB here on Sep 13, 2019 at 11 a.m. PDT.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Response
In no more than 10 pages, please respond to the following questions and return via email to isa@workforce.org before October 15, 11:59 p.m. PST, 2019. No exceptions.
Partners may propose multiple classes for any number of participants up to 100. Class sizes should be no smaller than 10 people and no larger than 25.
- Please describe your institution and the lead staff’s qualifications and experience.
- How many years’ experience does each member of staff have delivering this course.
- What credentials do they have.
- Please include any relevant industry experience.
- Please describe the course(s) that you would like the Workforce Fund to consider. Include:
- How long have you been running the class for.
- The research basis for why you provide this training
- How many students you can serve
- What industry specific research do you use to determine the curriculum? Please show that research validates your class schedule.
- Any prerequisites necessary for the course.
- Any student success services that you will provide (e.g., career placement services)
- Cost per student, and whether price decreases if certain number thresholds are met
- Please outline your track record with this course. For example
- How many people currently take it every year? What is the pass rate? What are your typical demographics? What type of educational background do your current graduates have?
- Please outline how you currently recruit for the program
- Outline your current assessment criteria and how you screen interested participants.
- Please describe specific tools, frameworks, and/or curriculum you plan for each of these classes.
- Please outline your fundraising plan.
- What funding streams do you currently have access to that can be leveraged for this program?
- What institutions/individuals do you have a track record of raising money from? Are these viable sources of funds for this project? If so, when and how would you engage them.
- Would your institutions fundraising department be involved in this effort? If so, please detail their recent KPIs.
- How does the Workforce Partnership fit into this fundraising structure? What do you need from us and when?
- Please describe the outcomes that your classes have achieved. This should include but is not limited to:
- The % of students hired within 6 months of completing the classes.
- The average salary of graduates.
- Leading companies that hire from your class
- Any other job market information that is relevant to this program.
- Please describe the evaluation approaches your institution uses to assess program success and continuously improve coursework. How long have these approaches been in place?
- Fee structure – ISAs are structured to align the incentives of students, financing, and training providers. To that end, SD Workforce Partnership is looking for bidders who will structure payments around students’ progress through their classes by putting their own capital at risk. For example, we would like to see proposals that do not recoup 100% of their costs until students are placed and retained in jobs paying above $40,000. If the students succeed, the provider will be paid. Bidders who can work within this structure will be awarded additional points in evaluation.
The review committee may seek further clarification on any or all responses. Clarifications may be requested in the form of verbal communication via telephonic, electronic e-mail communication or a request for an in-person presentation of the response. We reserve the right to seek clarification with some providers and not others.
RFB respondents who may be invited to present their response to the reviewing committee must be willing to do so with no expectation of reimbursement. The purpose of in-person review presentations would be to seek further clarification of information contained within the response.
If you have questions about this RFB, please submit them to isa@workforce.org and we will respond within 3 business days.
**Please note**
- The Workforce Partnership will not reimburse submitters for any costs associated with a vendor’s response to this RFB.
- This RFB does not obligate the Workforce Partnership to enter into a contract with one or more bidders.