Rq14973 Starting Point Sole Source

Cuyahoga County is pursuing a sole source procurement with Starting Point, legally known as the Child Care Resource Center of Cuyahoga County, Inc., to manage out-of-school time resource and referral services. This initiative, overseen by the Cuyahoga County Family and Children First Council, is valued at 1,650,000 dollars and is supported by a unique tripartite funding model involving the State of Ohio, the Cleveland Foundation, and Cuyahoga County. The contract is justified as a sole source award due to Starting Point's unique regional capacity, its established infrastructure under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5104, and a lack of other responsive vendors since 2017. The scope of work focuses on youth from kindergarten through high school graduation across Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Lake Counties. Key deliverables include expanding program capacity by approximately 4,000 slots, implementing literacy and job readiness initiatives, and maintaining comprehensive resource and referral and dosage tracking data systems. Starting Point is also responsible for providing professional development for providers and conducting quality monitoring of funded agencies. Performance is governed by Cuyahoga County and Ohio state procedures rather than federal regulations, with final acceptance based on quality assurance monitoring and adherence to state-approved child care resource and referral standards.