San Luis Valley Region 18 Opioid Settlement Governance Council

Request for Proposals (“RFP”)

RFP No. 2023-01

Overview:

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office (the “AG”) was part of a national lawsuit suing pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic and each state was awarded Opioid Settlement Funds to deal with the opioid epidemic. The AG worked with local governments to develop regions in which the Opioid Settlement Funds would be disbursed each year. The guidelines for services that can be provided with the Opioid Settlement Funds come from the

terms of the national settlement. See https://coag.gov/opioids/colorado-opioid-abatement-council/ for more information. Region 18 is composed of board members of six (6) counties in the San Luis Valley: Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache. There is a governing Board, called the Region 18 Opioid Settlement Governance Council which is the decision-maker over how the Opioid Settlement Funds will be distributed within the region.

Goals and Objectives:

Region 18’s goals are to focus on prevention, peer support professionals and recovery housing related to the Opioid Epidemic in the first two years of funding. The region is rural, so access to services and resources for those affected by opioid use disorder and misuse is the ultimate focus goal and objective. A priority for Region 18 is providing services in all 6 counties within the region.

The region will utilize this RFP process to provide grant money to providers for training and supervision (during/after the certification process) and coordination of peer support professionals, as well as providing peer support programming for the six counties. Region 18 is mindful of not duplicating behavioral health services but leveraging this funding to go further in their communities. Quarterly reports to the Region 18 Board shall be required as a condition of accepting the grant.

Timeline:

Proposals will be accepted until May 31, 2023, at 5:00 pm. No proposals received after the deadline will be considered or accepted.

Grant:

The award will not exceed $30,000 per year, for two years from July to June, starting from FY 2023 - FY2024. This will be prorated the first year. Possible awards may be awarded after the two years depending on needs, success, and Regional 18 council’s 2-year plan.

Place of Delivery:

To be eligible, all proposal documents must be submitted to Lori Laske, Region 18, Chair, via email at:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by the above deadline.

Evaluation:

Region 18, through its fiscal agent, Rio Grande County, shall award the contract to an Applicant based on the evaluation criteria contained within this RFP. The RFP Review Committee, composed of designated voting members of the Region 18 Board, may request additional

information from Applicant(s) through follow-up questions and/or a formal interview before recommending contract awards to the Region 18 Board.

Reservation of Rights:

Region 18 and its fiscal agent, Rio Grande County, reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals, to waive informalities, and to reserve any request for proposals. Region 18 and its fiscal agent, Rio Grande County, also reserves the right to award the contract as it deems fit to best serve its interest, including partial awards. Any unexpended funds awarded shall be returned to Region 18, through its fiscal agent, Rio Grande County. All decisions made are final.

Required Information:

1) Name of the Organization;

2) Mailing Address;

3) Applicant Contact Name and Title;

4) Applicant Contact email and phone number;

5) Applicants are encouraged to submit a most recently approved audit or financial review for the past year.

6) No more than 2 Letters of Support;

7) RFP’s must contain the following language, signed by the Applicant or Applicant’s Representative: “Applicant hereby certifies and warrants that all statements and representations, including all sources and uses of funds, made in this RFP are true and correct and may be relied upon by the Region 18 Board.”

8) Proposed annual budget

Questions to be addressed by the RFP:

1) Brief description of your proposed program and how it meets the unique needs of the San Luis Valley region.

2) For existing programs, please explain how your program will be expanded, the amount of funding requested and why additional funding is required.

3) How does your organization plan to champion the peer support professionals? 4) What is the preliminary timeline estimate for your program?

5) How does your plan address the diverse needs of populations specific to Region 18 (LGBTQ+, BIPOC, immigrants, rural communities, low income, youth etc.)?

6) Will this program be utilizing “braided” funding streams (utilizing funds from other sources in conjunction with the Opioid Settlement Funds)? If so, please explain.

7) What are the anticipated outcomes of your program after applying this funding? How will you measure those outcomes? What does success look like?

8) Provide evidence of a proven track record providing existing or similar services.

9) Are there potential challenges that may hinder your ability to implement the program/project? If so, how will you address those?

10) Please provide a description of the number of peer professionals you anticipate working with, the programming for peer support outreach/activities in each county, the frequency of peer events, etc.

Evaluation Criteria:

All RFP responses shall be evaluated based on the answers to the questions provided above and the following criteria:

1) Length of time providing the service.

2) Your successes in providing your current services.

3) Ability to serve all 6 counties.

4) Timeline for providing the service.

5) Ability to address the diverse needs of Region 18.

6) Existing infrastructure.

7) Anticipated outcomes.

8) Financial stability of the organization and program.

9) Ability to braid funding.

10) Sustainability of the program.

11) Proposed budget.

12) Ability to further the goals of the 2-year plan, as described in the “Goals and Objectives” section above.

13) Understanding of the unique needs of communities in the region