Background The New York State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS) announces a Discretionary Opportunity (DISC) for qualified entities to provide barbering services to youths at Brookwood Secure Center and Highland Residential Center. OCFS is required to provide basic health, educational, and other needs to at-risk youth placed in OCFS custody. The youth served at Brookwood are male juvenile offenders who, while under the age of 16, committed certain violent felonies and were convicted and sentenced in adult criminal court. Depending upon the sentence, these youth may remain in OCFS custody up to 21 years of age. The youth served at Highland are male juvenile delinquents, between the ages of 13 and 18, and placed with OCFS by New York State Family Courts. Brookwood Secure Center is currently seeking applicants that possess a valid New York State Barbering License (Master Barber preferred) to provide barbering services to approximately 115 youth monthly. Highland Residential Center is currently seeking applicants that possess a valid New York State Barbering License (Master Barber preferred) to provide barbering services to approximately 90 youth monthly. Applicants must agree to provide all tools, materials, and supplies necessary to provide barbering services. The facilities will supply one (1) barbering chair. Please refer to the Scope of Work and Eligibility sections for additional information. OCFS intends to select up to two (2) contractors based on the criteria outlined in this announcement. The purpose of this solicitation is to invite any eligible and interested entities to inform OCFS by submitting a Letter of Interest (LOI). To be considered responsive, your organization’s LOI should be received no later than the deadline specified on the first page of this announcement. This opportunity is authorized under Section 163 of State Finance Law as a discretionary purchase. OCFS intends to contract pursuant to its discretionary purchasing authority under State Finance Law Section 163(6), which authorizes purchases without a formal competitive process in certain circumstances. This funding opportunity is limited to purchases up to the discretionary buying threshold from respondent organizations qualified as: • NYS certified Minority-and/or Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE)• NYS certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB)• NYS Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Please see the How to Respond section for additional information and submission requirements. Scope of Work As a contracted barber at Brookwood Secure Center and/or Highland Residential Center, the expectation is to provide haircuts to all eligible youth. Haircut services provided would include standard and specialty haircuts, as approved by facility staff (i.e. skin fades, skin tapers, and line-up’s). All haircuts must be in accordance with OCFS rules and policies. Certain services are prohibited, including but not limited to hair designs, eyebrow slashes, or any artistic or cosmetic alterations beyond basic grooming. Beard and facial hair removals may be offered, subject to facility approval and additional compensation, which are anticipated to be requested by the youth and paid through their account in the facility’s resident withdrawal financial system. Such haircuts must be completed in the visitation room where the barber chair is located. Haircuts must be provided to all eligible youth monthly. Equipment and supplies must be brought into the facility by the contracted barber only for the duration of services and removed from the facility at the end of each service day; no equipment or supplies will be stored at either Brookwood Secure Center or Highland Residential Center. All services rendered must be fully documented in receipt fashion (i.e. name of services rendered, date of each service, and cost of each service) to enable precise record keeping, tracking of costs, and accurate billing. Services must be rendered at times mutually agreed upon with the Facility Director or designee, as it is necessary for the haircuts to occur at a logical time that fits into the facility schedule. The contractor must comply with established facility security, confidentiality, and other procedures and must be available on a day/time convenient to the facility (e.g., non-school days and/or after-school hours to provide services) which will be subject to change. The contractor will provide haircuts to all eligible residents once during a 30-day period, with no more than one haircut per resident per month. This is estimated to be about 115 haircuts per month at Brookwood and about 90 haircuts per month at Highland, but quantity is not guaranteed. The anticipated quantities are estimates, and payments will be based on the actual number of haircuts provided. The amount of time needed to complete this service may vary from month to month, based on the number of youth needing/requesting haircuts. The result of each haircut and beard/facial hair removal must be found satisfactory by the youth and facility staff, as applicable, to ensure reasonable quality of service is being provided. Completed services deemed by OCFS to be unsatisfactory will be discussed with the contractor and might not be reimbursed, at the sole discretion of OCFS. Applicants may not subcontract any component of the scope of work. Eligibility Criteria Interested parties who meet the following criteria are eligible to respond: Agree to provide the services outlined in the Scope of Work section. Licensed to do business in the state of New York, or agree to become licensed in the state of New York, if selected for award. Be one of the following NYS-certified entity types: Minority-and/or Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Have a minimum of three (3) years of experience providing barbering services to individuals. Possess a valid NYS Barbering License. Provide three (3) professional references, one of which must have been received within the past 12 months, using Attachment 4 – References. Please see the DISC document located on the "Documents" tab for additional information and submission requirements. Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years: The current contract to provide Hair Braiding services at Brookwood Secure Center is C030567 Ruby's Styles LLC. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) SDVOB Goal: 0.00% Minority / Women Business Enterprise contracting goals (MWBE) MBE Goal: 0.00% WBE Goal: 0.00% Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contracting goals (DBE) DBE Goal: 0.00%
