The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) announces the anticipated release, in mid-June 2009, of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for administering the three New York State Citizen Review Panels for Child Protective Services. One proposal will be selected to coordinate the administration of all three Citizen Review Panels (CRPs). The grant award will be made to the applicant that achieves the highest scoring criteria and demonstrates best value. Outcome, criteria and deliverables will be included in the RFP.

Each of the three Citizen Review Panels (representing Western New York, Eastern New York, and New York City) has 13 members: seven appointed by the governor, three by the senate, and three by the assembly.

CRPs are authorized to review policies and procedures to evaluate how effectively agencies discharge their child protection responsibilities. They are authorized to hold public hearings and/or provide for public outreach and comment, and to issue an annual report setting forth activities of the panel as well as findings and recommendations.

Please note that a link to the RFP will be made available on OCFS’s website, which will take you to the Online Bidders’ List: https://ocfsws.ocfs.state.ny.us/obl/. If you wish to receive announcements of future OCFS procurement opportunities and be able to download solicitation documents, you must register on the OBL. Questions and Answers will also be posted here. If you choose to register, you will be prompted to provide certain demographic information about yourself and the organization or government agency you represent, along with identifying the service categories which you are interested.