Request for Proposal: Consultant to Plan and Guide the Integration of Health and Community Agencies in East Toronto December 2015
INVITATION TO PROPONENTS: The South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC) and Harmony Hall Centre for Seniors/Call-A-Service Inc.(HH) are seeking applications from consultants to plan, guide and facilitate the integration of our two organizations.
PROJECT DATES: Phase 1: Start Date: January 2016 Completion March 2016 Phase 2: Start Date: April 2016 Completion Fall 2016
We are currently hiring for Phase 1. However it is critical that the consultant consider the aspects of Phase 2.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSAL: January 4, 2016, 1:00 p.m.
INTERVIEWS WILL BE HELD: January 6, 2016
SRCHC CONTACT: Please submit your proposal and direct any communications to:
The Hiring Committee – RFP – Integration South Riverdale Community Health Centre 955 Queen Street East Toronto, ON M4M 3P3
Email: [email protected]
Please ensure to state “Integration” in the subject line of your email if you have questions. CONTEXT
Increasing access to, and ensuring sustainability of, community health and social services needs to be both strategic and pragmatic. The Harmony Hall and SRCHC Boards of Directors and senior staff have agreed to explore voluntary integration of the two entities. Both organizations are focused on ensuring a collegial, transparent, effective and efficient process to positively impact our combined clients, communities, staff and volunteers.
There is strong support from both organizations that increased access to SRCHC services and programs as a result of integration would greatly benefit the individuals and communities HH currently serves. In addition, the opportunity to provide access for additional populations within the HH catchment to SRCHC’s current and/or expanded programming is perceived as a significant benefit.
BACKGROUND
Harmony Hall (HH) was incorporated in 1975 in response to community transportation needs for seniors. Today it empowers and connects seniors 55+ by delivering transportation, recreation and support services in East Toronto. Harmony Hall currently provides services through its Elderly Persons Centres (EPCs) and additional Community Support Services such as Crisis Intervention Assistance and Congregate Dining using Toronto Central LHIN (TCLHIN), United Way, Ontario Seniors Secretariat and City of Toronto funding. Over 600 seniors are served through EPCs at 2 Gower and Crescent Town and the transportation service has over 200 clients. The client group is composed of English-speaking seniors, Tamil-speaking seniors, Bengali-speaking seniors and Cantonese-speaking seniors. Harmony Hall has a staff of 20 (full-time, part-time and casual) and an annual operating budget of around $1 million.
South Riverdale Community Health Centre was incorporated in 1976 and provides a range of integrated primary care and community services to neighbourhoods within East York and East Toronto, as well as regional programs (e.g. diabetes, asthma/COPD, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C) to the broader community and across the TC LHIN. SRCHC serves over 7,500 clients who have barriers to accessing health services and programs. This includes seniors, people with disabilities, the homeless, low-income individuals and families, non-insured, people with complex mental health and addictions issues, newcomers and people who have language and /or cultural barriers to accessing care. Due to the complexity of our clientele, we provide primary care with integrated interdisciplinary teams. This results in more effective and cost-efficient health care delivery. SRCHC provides service at over 90 access points and is working with two Health Links to support collaboration while respecting current referral patterns for people considering East York/Toronto their home. SRCHC has more than 140 employees
Page 2 of 7 ranging from registered health professionals to employees with lived experience. We are a mid-sized multi-service organization with an annual operating budget of $10 M.
SRCHC and HH have a history of collaborating at east-end planning tables. SRCHC provides diabetes prevention and management programming at HH’s 2 Gower Street location and has a working relationship within the Crescent Town high-needs community. Both serve newcomer communities and seniors. SRCHC serves over 7,500 clients via 90 access points including the Crescent Town Club, Crescent Town Health Centre (Family Health Team) and from locations throughout the East York community
The process for exploring collaboration from coordination to full mergers must consider complementary services and include all stakeholders. It requires planning and clear, respectful processes.
This process is financially supported by the Toronto Central LHIN and aligns with its strategic directions of: Designing Health Care for the Future; Achieving Excellence in Operations; Transforming Primary and Community Care; and, Taking a Population Health Approach.
This RFP outlines the phases and deliverables for an experienced consultant(s) to plan and coordinate this voluntary integration process. The successful bidder will work with the Boards of Directors and Senior Management of SRCHC and Harmony Hall.
SCOPE OF WORK Phase 1 (January to March 2016)
Phase 1 (includes three steps)
Step1 – Due Diligence . Review governance and operations (including review of financial statements, funding and accountability agreements, strategic documents, quality improvement plans, human resources policies and any other relevant documents and activities) of SRCHC and Harmony Hall to determine whether integration is beneficial and feasible.
. Identify major issues and risks that need to be addressed and establish a mitigation plan where necessary.
. Advise on consultation with stakeholders including clients, staff, members, volunteers, politicians, funders, partners and the community to obtain continued input and support.
Step 2 – Business Plan . The boards of directors will make a ‘Go’ or ‘No Go’ forward decision.
Page 3 of 7 o If a ‘Go’, the consulting team will develop: the Business Plan as per the key elements of the TC LHIN Integration Toolkit for Board approval and submission to the TC LHIN
o Develop a Change Management Strategy
Step 3 – Communication Strategy
. Develop a comprehensive community engagement and communication strategy which outlines key messages and timelines for stakeholders, including: clients, staff, volunteers, members, funders, politicians, partners, and the community.
. Ensure the Boards of Directors and Senior Management teams are prepared to deliver the key messages.
. Ensure the community strategy aligns with the ‘Change Management Strategy’ developed in step two.
Phase 2: Integration Implementation
Step 4 – Legal Agreements and Integration Closing
. Advise and work with joint legal team of SRCHC & Harmony Hall to complete the binding legal agreements with legal input and all other deliverables required to close the integration.
Step 5 – Integration of Operations
. Plan and support the execution of all the activities required to successfully combine the operations and achieve the intended benefits.
. Support the continued focus on the Change Management Strategy.
Skills and knowledge of Consultant
. Knowledge of healthcare and community service sectors and the current environment . Knowledge of integration processes and organizational review
Tasks and Deliverables
Page 4 of 7 . Detailed process plan with deadlines . Business plan . Detailed document with findings and analysis
Experience
. Demonstrated experience in organizational integration . Experience in change management, community engagement and communication strategies
Page 5 of 7 INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM PROPONENTS
A brief proposal no more than six (6) pages in length including the following: 1) Profile and resumes of the consultant(s): qualifications, description of relevant experience and style of those who will be doing the actual work, data collection, data analysis, writing, etc. 2) Description of approach and general plan with key milestones and timelines 3) Expected budget for Phase 1 and rationale including: number of days, rates, disbursements, total (including HST) 4) References: minimum of three (3) for similar work . Description of proposed approach and methodologies including a work plan . Outline of and target dates for deliverables 5) Qualifications
EVALUATION CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCESS:
Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria listed below. A joint selection committee from both organizations will manage the selection process.
CONDITIONS:
Cost of preparation SRCHC will not be liable for any costs incurred by the applicants in the preparation of their response to this proposal.
Maximum Value of Proposals: SRCHC will not consider proposals exceeding HST + cost = $45,000 for phase 1.
Submission of Proposals Six hard copies of the proposal must be submitted to the SRCHC contact in hard copy plus one in electronic format and be received by SRCHC by January 4, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.
Communications Interested applicants may direct questions in writing or by email to the SRCHC contact. SRCHC is under no obligation to provide additional information but may do so at its sole discretion. SRCHC reserves the right to distribute the questions and responses to all proponents.
Intellectual Property If selected, the proponent agrees that SRCHC will have exclusive right to the unique intellectual property of this project and the proponent will waive in favour of SRCHC their Copyright Act rights to all concepts, techniques, ideas, information and materials, however recorded, (including images and data) of such intellectual property.
Page 6 of 7 Confidentiality If selected, the proponent will keep all information received to complete this project in strict confidence and use solely to perform the obligations for the purpose of the project. Upon completion of the project all information collected from SRCHC and HH will be returned to SRCHC and HH or destroyed in a manner designated by SRCHC.
Privacy If selected, the proponent will not have any contact with patients/client or patient/client health information for any purpose whatsoever unless expressly authorized by SRCHC or HH members.
No Incorporation by Reference by Proponent The entire content of the proponent’s proposal should be submitted in a fixed form and not be dependent on any external links or documents. The content of web sites or other external documents referred to in the proponent’s proposal will not be considered to form part of its proposal.
Proposal to be Retained by SRCHC SRCHC will not return the proposal or any accompanying documentation submitted by the Proponent.
Reserved Rights of SRCHC SRCHC may, at its sole and absolute discretion, carry out the RFP process as it determines to be in the best interest of SRCHC and to be the most beneficial to SRCHC. Without prejudice to any other right or remedy available to SRCHC, SRCHC may, make public the names of any or all proponents, do nothing, cancel the RFP, reject any or all proposals, accept any proposal in whole or in part and under no circumstances shall SRCHC be liable for any indirect or consequential damages.
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