Response to request for proposal and budget justification

Proposals can be submitted prior to the deadline; however, no proposals will be accepted after the deadline. There will be no exceptions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Naya Ba

Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Gray Industries

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

____________________________________________________________________

Gray Industries (GI) is a national manufacturing company that designs, engineers, manufactures, and delivers through just-in-time delivery methods component pieces for a variety of manufacturing organizations throughout the nation. Major customers include Ford, John Deere, and Black & Decker. GI’s 45,000 employees include engineers, machine operators, information systems architects, sales persons, and copyright lawyers along with executives and support personnel. These employees reflect the diversity found in the United States, including a large range of ages, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and genders employees. Employees are located throughout the United States (see attachment A), although GI is considering expanding internationally in the coming years.

The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is for the design of a comprehensive, 8-session Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for GI employees and their household members and eligible dependents. GI’s goal implementation date for this program is March 1, 2021. GI wishes to provide a comprehensive EAP that will meet the needs of its diverse employee body. The program should provide telephone intake, face-to-face assessment, problem solving, consultation, and/or referral for individuals experiencing a variety of occupational or personal problems (e.g., alcohol and other drug abuse, emotional, family and other personal problems). GI believes that all individuals eligible for EAP services should be able to seek them by self-referral, or, in the case of employees, a supervisory/mandatory referral may initiate the process. GI wishes for the vendor to provide support in developing a policy for the EAP and mandatory referrals. Because GI has never had an EAP or work/life program, they are also requesting your explanation and rationale for each service included in your proposal, with references to evidence-based practice or best-practices to support your ideas. Additionally, GI is interested in possibly offering value-added services as a part of their EAP, including work/life, financial/legal, and crisis intervention. If you have additional suggestions for newer services, GI would be interested in hearing about them.

GI is committed to providing the highest quality EAP and will review the proposals with a criteria design based on achieving excellence as compared to reviewing proposals based only on price.

RFP Questions

Organizational Issues

1) Write a formal cover letter to provide an overview to your response. You should also include a table of contents. The easier it is to navigate your document, the easier the reviewer can find your responses.

2) What is your company’s mission statement?

3) Where is your EAP headquartered and why is it located there? Where are your other EAP offices located, including your call center(s)? Provide an organizational chart with each location indicated.

4) Are your services available nationally? Internationally?

5) What EAP program model do you use to provide services? Why? (Note, all EAPs should be external, but can include onsite and/or offsite counselors and offices). Provide your rationale for how you design you program.

Policy and Current Events

1) Describe at least one example of recent legislation (or pending legislation) relevant to GI and their future EAP. Specificity is expected with your response as to the name(s) of the law(s) and a brief description of what is included. Additionally, you should describe the potential impact of the law or public policy for GI and how the EAP can be of assistance in understanding, implementing, or supporting it. Be sure to include references for your work.

2) Describe at least one current event related to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Describe how the event affects the workplace and employees. How might the EAP have a role in working to respond to such an event to support employees from diverse backgrounds who may respond to the event in different ways? How can EAPs support workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives? Describe potential ways in which an EAP an influence the workplace culture to be more inclusive of employees from different racial, socioeconomical, religious, cultural and other backgrounds?

Direct EAP Services

Intake

1) How will you provide GI with immediate access to services 24 hours, 7 days per week? (i.e. call center, outsourced partner?)

2) Describe what will happen when an employee or other covered dependent calls the EAP for the first time. What information will you initially collect on the phone? How will you use this information to inform next steps and possible EAP counseling? How do you ensure privacy of the information collected on the initial call?

3) How do you respond to employees / other callers who call with an emergency situation? What is your definition of ‘emergency’ or other ‘high-risk’ case? What are your operating procedures for defining an emergency and for responding?

4) Do you use any standardized screening measures (i.e. short screening survey) on the phone during triage? Which do you use, why, and when? (Note – you should use at least one for this assignment.) How do you determine the primary presenting problem?

EAP Initial Assessment and Short-Term Counseling

1) Are face-to-face EAP services available onsite for employees? If so, please describe. Do you also offer off-site locations if requested? Are you currently providing web-based services for employees?

2) Include your EAP company’s criteria for and philosophy of short-term, problem resolution / counseling services. Clearly indicate which EAP cases will be seen in brief counseling and which cases are more appropriate for referral. Provide examples. How do you see the difference between EAP and traditional out-patient mental health services?

3) What different modalities of EAP counseling do you offer (i.e. phone, web, face-to-face)? How do you determine the types of cases that would be appropriate and inappropriate for each within an EAP?How are you accommodating requests for services during the COVID-19 pandemic?

4) What standardized assessment tools do you use for the comprehensive initial assessment? Why do you use these measures instead of other measures available? Do you use them with all clients? During which sessions? Why did you select these for GI? (Note – you must include at least one standardized measure for this assignment.)

5) Describe your formal referral process. When does this occur? (Remember that a formal referral in an EAP is a recommendation for professional health or mental health services that cannot be provided within the EAP. This may be for a medical or psychiatric consultation or referral to in-patient or out-patient therapy, or for substance use treatment). Describe your EAP’s rationale for determining the appropriate level of care and the type of referral resource used. How do you ensure standardized service at all locations and with all of your EAP counselors (i.e. quality assurance)?

6) Do you supplement face-to-face EAP sessions and/or formal referrals with informal community referrals or other supportive resources within the community (i.e. 12-step groups, wellness education, etc.)? If yes, please describe how supportive resources are used to complement EAP direct services.

7) Describe your follow-up procedures for all clients and discuss why follow-up is so important for EAP services.

8) Describe your no-show/late cancellation policy.

9) Who owns the EAP records? Where are they stored? What is your procedure for destruction of records?

10) Please include as an appendix a sample EAP paperwork packet that would comprise a client’s EAP file. This should include a Statement of Understanding form, Privacy form, Release of Information form, Intake form, Assessment form with standardized measures, Case closure form, and any other forms that you use in your EAP. All should be referred to within the body of your final paper and described in the first few responses to questions in this section.

Organizational Services and Services for Managers and Supervisors

1) Describe the services your EAP offers to managers and supervisors. Include how you work with managers about supervisory referrals to the EAP for employees.

2) What services can you provide to managers and supervisors if a crisis occurs in the workplace? What can you provide to employees, managers?

3) Describe your web-based services. What is included in your web services (i.e. self-screening, tip sheets, etc)? Why?

4) Describe the additional work/life services that you can offer, including legal, financial, child and older adult care resources and referrals, wellness and/or health promotion. Does your company provide these services directly or sub-contract with another vendor to provide such services? Why or why not?

5) Do you provide Drug-Free Workplace (DFWP) consultation and support to management? If so, please describe.

6) Do you offer DOT/SAP evaluations? If so, please describe.

EAP Implementation and Promotion Plan

1) Describe your program implementation plan and include a detailed visual timeline for development and implementation in the appendix. You need to also include a written description of your plan, not just a figure/table.

2) Describe the ongoing EAP program promotional efforts that you would recommend GI to support throughout the year. What promotional materials do you have available? Why should GI use them? Can you customize materials for GI? Provide an example (or multiple examples) of some of your promotional materials.

3) What employee education seminars do you offer? Can you develop new educational seminars based on the needs of the workplace? How will you work with GI management to determine the needs of the workplace?

EAP Staffing

1) Who will be the Account Manager for GI? What is their role during implementation of the EAP and in the management of the contract? Describe their credentials and experience.

2) Who else will be working on the GI account and what will be their primary role and function(s)? What are their credentials? Be sure to list credentials for all dedicated (and partially dedicated) EAP personnel (intake counselors, EAP counselors, clinical supervisor, psychiatric consult, legal consult, administrative support, crisis intervention specialists, trainers, coaches, wellness nurses, etc. – this will vary based on how you design your program). Remember, the EAP’s consulting psychiatrist and lawyer are there to consult with the EAP about complicated cases and legal issues, they are not available for consultation with GI employees. The latter would be done through referrals out of the EAP and use of your legal/financial work/life services.

3) How do you identify affiliates to contract with for your EAP referral network? What credentials and experience do you require for each EAP counselor? What types of specialties do they have, if any? Describe the diversity of your affiliate network – how can you ensure the counselor make-up will reflect GI’s employee make-up and/or requests for services?

4) What type of clinical supervision is available to EAP staff members? Who provides the supervision and when does it occur for each case? What consultation is provided to EAP affiliates (non-employees)? Who provides the consultation? How and when is this provided for each case?

Quality Assurance and Outcome Measures

1) What are the minimum requirements for off-site counseling offices? (i.e. ADA compliant, soundproof, record keeping, etc.)

2) How do you define EAP utilization? Do you have one or multiple definitions you use? What should GI expect for average EAP face-to-face counseling utilization based on your company’s experience?

3) How do you ensure quality services are provided to each client who contacts the EAP? Describe your quality assurance and evaluation procedures in-depth. Include client satisfaction, management consult satisfaction, and training satisfaction (if applicable). Sample satisfaction forms and/or questions asked by telephone would be useful in your proposal.

4) What standardized outcome measures (other than customer satisfaction) do you use for assessing clinical outcomes of EAP services? Describe how you measure outcomes of clinical service (note - these can be based on your standardized measures used at the initial assessment and asked again at case close).

5) What standardized outcome measures (other than customer satisfaction) do you use for assessing workplace outcomes – not clinical outcomes. Describe the rationale for such outcomes and provide support from the literature as to why you selected such measures (Hint – See work on the Workplace Outcome Suite for examples).

6) How often would you provide reports to GI? (i.e. quarterly, annually, etc.) What information does your company typically include in a standardized report? Be specific with your response.

7) What performance guarantees, if any, would you be willing to provide and why? (optional)

Operating Budget and Budget Justification

(Note – This should be submitted separately from your RFP technical proposal)

1) Include a full staffing chart reflecting all full- and part-time EAP staff and consultants. Indicate salary and benefits for each position, as well as the number of person(s) and location. For contracted personnel (affiliates, legal advisor, etc.) provide hourly rates as contracted employees will not receive benefits.

- Account Manager

- Clinical Supervisor

- Intake Counselors (EAP staff)

- Staff Counselors (employed by your EAP)

- EAP Affiliates (contractors to your EAP)

- Administrative Staff (employed by your EAP)

- Advisors – legal consultant, psychiatric consultant, etc.

- Consultants (if used), i.e. trainers, crisis intervention professionals, executive coaches, wellness nurses, etc.

2) Provide a capitated (per employee/per month and per employee/per year) rate for EAP services for GI. Provide a detailed line-by-line budget that reflects how this rate was obtained. Be sure to indicate what services this rate includes.

On a separate page/section of the budget, provide rates for EAP value-added services (optional services), such as work/life, financial/legal, SAP/DOT consultation, wellness, etc. Do NOT include these services in the capitated rate above; rather, provide a revised capitated rate on this page if GI were to opt for all value-added services, in addition to the traditional EAP services described above.

3) Budget Justification: For services that are bundled or not clear on the line-by-line budget, you should include a narrative section (1-2 pages) for the budget justification that tells GI how much each service costs and what is included in such costs.

ATTACHMENT A

Los Angeles, CA 12,000 (3 shifts)

San Francisco, CA 8,000 (2 shifts)

Washington, DC 100

Chicago, IL 6,000 (2 shifts)

Burlington, MA 100

Landover, MD 500

Albany, NY 2,500

New York, NY 10,000 (3 shifts)

Columbus, OH 100

Houston, TX 5,000 (2 shifts)

Philadelphia, PA 500

Seattle, WA 100

Spokane, WA 100