Office for Education

Requests for Qualifications Process Summary

2011 Families and Education Levy

Overview
Evaluation Process
Next Steps

OVERVIEW

The RFQ process was designed to determine which organizations have a track record of successfully achieving positive academic outcomes tied to key Levy outcomes and indicators. No Levy money is awarded through the RFQ process. Schools will compete for Levy funds during the RFI process currently underway and will lay out plans for working with organizations approved through the RFQ process. If an organization is not approved during the RFQ process, that organization would not be eligible to receive Levy funds from a school that is applying for Levy funding through the RFI process. Organizations receiving less than $5,000 per school year in total Levy funds are exempt from the RFQ process.

The RFQ process is pass/fail with no limit on how many organizations can be approved. Once approved, an organization will remain approved for the duration of the Levy, as long as it continues to achieve Levy outcome and indicator results. Organizations that did not submit an RFQ, were not technically compliant, or were not approved this year are encouraged to apply in future years.

There are three categories for the 2013-14 school year RFQs:

• School Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Support
• Expanded Learning Opportunities
• College and Career Readiness and Planning

Each category had its own set of Levy outcomes and indicators. Organizations can apply in more than one category.

The RFQs will be issued in early September 2012 and are due to the Office for Education (OFE) in mid-October. Information sessions for each of the RFQs will be widely announced and held several weeks after the RFQs are released. All questions and answers from the sessions, as well as those e-mailed to OFE, will be posted online.

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EVALUATION PROCESS

1. Technical Compliance:
Each submission is first reviewed for technical compliance to see if it was received by the deadline, whether it was within the required page limit, if it included a data sample, and if it met other requirements in the RFQ.

2. RFQ Evaluation:

• All technically compliant submissions are then reviewed by a panel of at least five evaluators (two from OFE, one consultant, and two external reviewers).
• The RFQ submissions are evaluated using three categories: 1) Key People, 2) Previous Experience, and 3) Tracking to Success. The criteria for meeting qualifications for each of the categories are explicitly stated in the RFQs.
• At least three of the five evaluators have to recommend approval for an organization to be approved. In order for an evaluator to recommend approval, the evaluator must have found that the organization met all of the qualifications for each criterion as laid out in the RFQ.
• Evaluators were given a period of time to individually review the technically compliant submittals and reconvened to discuss the proposals and make final decisions.

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NEXT STEPS

RFQs and optional Requests for Program Information (RFPIs) submitted by all approved organizations are then posted on OFE's Web site so schools can access this information. OFE also works with Seattle Public Schools to host regional meetings between school leaders and approved organizations.