The Department uses open competition to plan and invest in social services for our community. We stagger our competitions by issue area, over multiple years. By focusing on different issue areas at different times, the County can better manage its limited resources.
The Department transitioned to this strategy starting in 2015. It offers several benefits, including:
- We can plan, implement, and evaluate investments on a cycle for each issue area;
- We can improve our responsiveness to our community’s changing conditions and needs; and
- We can promote access, consistency, and transparency for existing and potential contractors.
The table below lists the funding cycles and competition schedule for the Department’s existing issue areas.
| Issue Area | Cycle 1 | Cycle 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of Competition | Funding Years* | Year of Competition | Funding Years | |
| Workforce Development | 2015 | FY16-FY23 | 2023 | FY24-FY28 |
| Youth Development | 2015 | FY16-FY23 | 2023 | FY24-FY28 |
| Safety Intervention Services | 2016 | FY17-FY23 | 2023 | FY24-FY30 |
| Early Childhood | 2014 | FY15-FY24 | 2024 | FY25-FY28 |
| Housing Continuum | 2016 | FY17-FY24 | 2024 | FY25-FY29 |
| Supportive Services for Community Living | 2017 | FY18-FY24 | 2024 | FY25-FY29 |
| Access to Basic Supports | 2017 | FY18-FY25 | 2025 | FY26-FY29 |
| Public Health Social Services | 2018 | FY19-FY25 | 2025 | FY26-FY30 |
| Behavioral Health Social Services | 2018 | FY19-FY25 | 2025 | FY26-FY30 |
*Due to external factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, some Cycle 1 contract terms were extended beyond their original funding periods.
For more information about each issue area’s goals and services, read the summary of the Department's current issue areas.
Although specific dates can vary, in general, the competition timeline usually looks like this:
- A solicitation is released in late winter to early spring (February-April)
- We evaluate proposals in spring to summer (April-June)
- We make funding awards and negotiate new contracts in summer through early fall (June-September)
- New contracts start on October 1st
The Travis County Purchasing Office runs our competitions, usually through a Request for Services (RFS) or a Request for Proposals (RFP) process, on a third party website called BidNet. Each RFS or RFP process will have unique dates to open and close and will specify the available funding and the services included in its scope. In general, applicants should expect to provide detailed narrative responses describing their programs, and backup documents related to administrative and financial information and procedures.
If you are a current Travis County HHS social service contractor in good standing and meeting contract requirements, your contract will continue to be renewed annually for the period stated in your contract. When your issue area is going to be competed, Travis County staff will send you specific, detailed communications, informing you of when your current funding is set to expire, and when your issue area is expected to be competed. We will also notify contractors when solicitations are released.
If you are a social service provider that wants to apply for Travis County social service funding, you can choose to apply for funds in any RFS or RFP that you determine is a fit for your program/services. Each solicitation’s Scope of Services provides detailed information about the services the County wants to purchase under that RFS or RFP. Programs that are a good fit for the Scope of Services of the RFS or RFP are more likely to be competitive for funding than programs that are not a fit for the Scope of Services of the RFS or RFP. If you are a representative of a social service provider, we recommend that you read and carefully consider the Scope of Services for each solicitation, and apply for funds in the issue area(s) that your program aligns with best. Please note that we cannot fund the same services simultaneously in more than one issue area.
For more information about each issue area’s goals and services, read the summary of the Department's current issue areas.
Current contractors can verify their program’s issue area in the Department’s annual Community Impact Report.
Travis County can offer different types of support, depending on whether a solicitation is open. A solicitation is in open status from the time it is posted on BidNet until all resulting contracts are awarded and approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court. A solicitation is closed after contracts are approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court.
While a solicitation is in open status, the following types of support are available:
- Optional Pre-Response Conference: The Pre-Response Conference is a meeting offered by Travis County staff while the solicitation is available online. This meeting is typically hosted 1-2 weeks after the solicitation is first posted. Meeting logistics are published in the solicitation packet. If you are considering applying for funds, the Pre-Response Conference is your only opportunity to ask questions directly to Travis County Purchasing and HHS staff regarding the solicitation while it is open. After the meeting, a copy of the meeting slides, and a written summary of Questions & Answers addressed during the meeting, will be posted to BidNet. If you are thinking about applying for funds through a solicitation, we encourage you to attend the Pre-Response Conference, to read the solicitation in advance, and to bring your questions with you to the Pre-Response Conference.
- Question and Answer Support for Open Solicitations: For any open solicitation that is posted online, you may submit questions in writing through BidNet or to Purchasing staff up to the question deadline. For each RFS or RFP process, the question deadline is published in the solicitation packet. Travis County staff will answer your questions in writing and post the questions and answers to BidNet so that all potential applicants receive the same information.
- Technical Support with Solicitations: Applicants may contact the Travis County Purchasing Office for questions about a specific solicitation or for general assistance with solicitations. For technical support with BidNet, please contact BidNet customer support (Telephone: 800-835-4603, Email: [email protected]). The Purchasing Office strongly recommends that if you plan to apply for funds through a solicitation, you aim to submit your proposal on BidNet at least 1-2 days before the due date, so that you will have extra time in case you need technical support. (We unfortunately cannot give individual extensions on submission deadlines for technical reasons.)
If you are a representative of an agency that has applied for funds through a solicitation which is still in open status, do not contact anyone at Travis County about the solicitation other than the Travis County Purchasing Office. Any other contact with Travis County staff or elected officials about an open solicitation may disqualify the proposal from consideration for award.
For questions that are not about an open solicitation, you may contact Travis County HHS or Purchasing staff for general information via the contacts listed under “I have more questions. Who should I contact?”
If you are a current Travis County HHS social service contractor, we will send you a notification when a solicitation is released for your issue area. We send these notices via email to the staff you have listed on your contact forms.
We also send solicitation announcements through newsletters and other communications for established social service networks and collaborations, such as One Voice Central Texas, the Community Action Network, and various local community groups that focus on specific issue areas or populations. Joining a local community group or collaboration in your issue area is a great way to stay informed about relevant issues, events, and opportunities.
If you are interested in Travis County funding opportunities, we encourage you to set up a BidNet account here: Travis County - Bid Opportunities and RFPs. You can customize your account to receive email notifications based on your selected industry commodity codes. (We do not have the ability through BidNet to make your email notifications specific to County departments.)
Lastly, you can view all of Travis County’s posted solicitations on the Travis County Purchasing Office’s solicitation webpage, where you can search by bid number, title, or keyword.
If you have applied for Travis County funds through a past solicitation that is now closed (meaning all of its contracts have been awarded and approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court), you may request to review your evaluation results through the Travis County Purchasing Office. This option is available to all applicants, whether your proposal was funded or not. Some applicants find this helpful to inform or strengthen their future application efforts.
Sometimes applicants request their results before the solicitation has closed. Please note that Travis County staff cannot discuss the results of a solicitation until it is closed. If you request your evaluation results while a solicitation is still in open status, we won’t be able to give you your results until the solicitation is closed. We appreciate your patience.
Sometimes applicants have questions about other proposals outside of their own (for example, they may be curious about who else applied, why they were or were not funded, etc.). Beyond the information that Travis County posts publicly about the solicitation’s funding awards and resulting contracts, we cannot discuss other applicants or their proposals with you. We can only share evaluation results with you that are related to your application and proposal. We also cannot discuss the details of future solicitations as this creates an unfair advantage to other applicants.
Please contact the Travis County Purchasing Office to request a meeting to discuss your evaluation results. You can reach out to the Purchasing Office contact person listed in the solicitation, or call 512-854-9700. Please be prepared with the solicitation number.
If your proposal is funded and your agency is awarded a contract, the obligations of that contract include, but are not limited to, the following responsibilities:
- Participate in contract negotiations with Travis County staff and be responsive to our questions and requests.
- Deliver your programs and services in a way that is consistent with the contract.
- Submit your monthly requests for payment with all required information according to County schedules. Payment requests are based on reimbursements of actual program expenditures.
- Submit your quarterly performance reports with all required information according to County schedules. This usually includes output and outcome data, aggregate client zip code data, and aggregate demographic data.
- Complete annual tasks for renewing your contract.
- Participate in Travis County monitoring visits.
- Notify Travis County of any changes to your program’s services or key staff.
- Respond to any ad-hoc questions or requests from Travis County staff.
For general questions about Travis County Health and Human Service’s social service investments, please contact HHS staff at: HHS_R&[email protected]
For general assistance from the Purchasing Office, please call 512-854-9700, or find individual staff contact information in their staff directory.
For questions about an open solicitation, please only contact the staff person from the Travis County Purchasing Office who is listed in the solicitation or call 512-854-9700. If you represent an agency that has applied for funds or are acting on their behalf, contacting other Travis County staff or elected officials about the solicitation may disqualify the proposal from consideration for award.
