Community mobilization services means to lead and facilitate neighborhood organizing initiatives to prevent and report illegal activity, build law enforcement-community partnerships, and engage youth to prevent violence. Organizations should have experience engaging neighborhood members, community partners, and youth in proven and research-based strategies designed to build community capacity and increase public safety in Pierce County. Examples of community projects include:Neighborhood OrganizingGraffiti MitigationYouth Health and Wellness Programs Youth Leading ChangeCommunity Mobilization & OutreachCommunity Safety TrainingsEvent EngagementOrganizations requesting funding must be able to produce the performance measures/outcomes as detailed per Section 4.2 below.

"Applicant," "Bidder," and "Proposer" mean an organization, agency or provider that submits a formal response to this solicitation."Application," "Bid," or "Proposal" mean a formal response to this solicitation. “CFR” means Code of Federal Regulations.“Client,” "Participant," "Household," or "Member" means an individual (or individuals) who receives services, or is eligible to receive services, under this solicitation.“RCW” means Revised Code of Washington.“WAC” means Washington Administrative Code.

As a Threshold Review, County staff will review applications to ensure the minimum qualifications are met. Acceptable proposals will advance to the formal evaluation process. Proposals will be scored based upon proposers’ answers to the specific questions in the RFP and content of required attachments and supplemental documents.The evaluation of proposals will be accomplished by an evaluation team/committee of County staff knowledgeable of the services in this RFP. All proposals will be evaluated strictly in accordance with the requirements set forth in this RFP and any addendums thereto. Upon the evaluation process, the team/committee will make final awarding recommendations to the Pierce County Executive or Designee. Please note, while evaluators are instructed to review and score proposals based upon the response and not upon any external experience with, or outside perception of, the proposing organization, the County reserves the right to include past contract performance with the County as part of the overall evaluation process.

Pierce County expressly reserves the rights to:Waive any and/or all irregularities in the proposals submitted.Reject any or all proposals or portions thereof.Base awards with due regard to quality of services, experience, compliance with specifications, and other such factors as may be necessary in the circumstances.Make the award to any organization or combination of organizations whose proposal(s), in the opinion of the County, is in the best interest of the County.

In order for an organization to be eligible to submit a proposal under this procurement, the organization must meet the following eligibility requirements:Has an ACTIVE UEI number issued by sam.gov at the time of application.Has a UBI number.Has NOT filed for bankruptcy within the past 7 years.Has NOT been part of any legal proceedings or lawsuits within the last 3 years.

PROPOSERS WHO REGISTER AND DOWNLOAD RFP DOCUMENTS will be automatically added to the FOLLOWERS' list in the County's eProcurement Portal. Notifications for procurement updates, addendum and other procurement information will be sent to all who register on the Pierce County eProcurement Portal.

The County reserves the right to conduct interviews with qualified proposers prior to making a final selection. If interviews are conducted, details and information will be provided prior to any scheduling, if the timeline does not already include an interview date. Interview questions will only include questions associated with the received proposal for clarification and additional details. Interviews will not be added scores, but the evaluation team may revise initial scores with additional information provided during the interviews. The final award would be based upon the review process, interviews, and past contract performance (where applicable).

Pierce County cannot accept late proposals. All proposals are due by the deadlines per the timeline under the procurement. No exceptions shall be made.

An organization must meet the following eligibility requirements to submit a proposal under this procurement:Be a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.Be located within the City of Tacoma. Must have at least 5 years' experience engaging the neighborhood members, community partners, and youth in proven and research-based strategies designed to build community capacity and increase public safety in Pierce County.Must be a current or former recipient of a State Community Engagement grant under RCW 43.330.545.

All submission, timeliness, and content requirements shall be applied equally to all Proposers regardless of any current or previous relationship with the County or the proposer's relationship with the County, County staff, or elected officials. See Pierce County Code 3.12 (Code of Ethics).Proposers not selected may seek additional clarification or debrief, request time to review the selection procedures, or discuss the scoring methods utilized in the RFP process. Appeals are limited to procedural errors in the selection process. In the event no such procedural errors are found to have occurred, the decision of the County shall be final.If a proposer disagrees with the decision, they may register the appeal by sending an email to pcshsprocurement@piercecountywa.gov, within five (5) business days after the notice of selection is sent to the proposer. The appeal must state all facts and arguments upon which the appeal is based. The Director of Pierce County Human Services, or designee, will review the appeal and determine whether the rules and requirements outlined in this RFP were followed, including solicitation documents, the organizations’ proposal, and the facts which form the basis of the appeal. The Director will render a written decision within fifteen (15) days from the receipt of the appeal.

The County will not reimburse organizations for any costs involved in the preparation and submission of responses to this procurement or in the preparation for and attendance at subsequent interviews.

The expected outcomes for this funding are listed below:Decrease illegal activity as indicated by number of police reports filed and reported illegal activity in Pierce County neighborhoods.Increase community engagement and participation in crime prevention activities.Reduction in youth violence involvement and behaviors.

The Washington State Interlocal Cooperation Act, Ch. 39.34 RCW, authorizes public agencies to cooperatively purchase goods and services if all parties agree. By responding to this RFP, Consultants agree that other public agencies may purchase goods and services under this solicitation or contract at their own cost and without Pierce County incurring any financial or legal liability for such purchases. Pierce County agrees to allow other public agencies to purchase goods and services under this solicitation or contract, provided that Pierce County is not held financially or legally liable for purchases and that any public agency purchasing under such solicitation or contract file a copy of this invitation and such contract in accordance with RCW 39.34.040.

All questions must be submitted within the County's eProcurement Portal, under the Question & Answer Section no later than 2:00 pm on Friday, April 10, 2026. Proposers must be registered in the eProcurement Portal software in order to submit questions, receive addenda and notifications, and ultimately submit a proposal.

Organizations should be aware that any records they submit to the County or that are used by the County even if the organization possess the records, may be public records under the Washington Public Records Act (RCW 42.56). The County must promptly disclose public records upon request unless a statute exempts them from disclosure. Organizations should also be aware that if even a portion of a record is exempt from disclosure, generally, the rest of the record must be disclosed. Exemptions are narrow and specific.Organizations should clearly mark any record they believe is exempt from disclosure.

Pierce County, in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 252, 42 U.S.C. 2000d to 2000d-4 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, subtitle A, Office of the Secretary, Part 21, nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs of the Department of Transportation issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises as defined at 49 CFR Part 26 will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in consideration for an award.

The initial period of performance of any contract resulting from this procurement is expected to be 18 months. The County reserves the right to extend these services for an additional 24-months to the successful applicant if additional funding is made available during the 2028/2029 biennium, per Section 3.5 below.

The total value of this procurement is $150,000 in Miscellaneous Current Expense funding. The County anticipates awarding a single contract from this procurement. The County reserves the right to make no awards, based on the quality and scope of proposals received, available funding, and identified service needs.The County may negotiate budgets and service levels to ensure the most effective use of funds and equitable coverage across providers. The County reserves the right to adjust award amounts at its sole discretion.Additional federal, State, or local funds may become available during the contracting cycle and allocated through this solicitation. Funding may only be awarded for the same scope of services as described in this solicitation. It is important to note, any contract awarded as a result of this procurement is contingent upon the availability of funding. If at any time during the term of the contract the funding relied upon for the contract is reduced, modified, or eliminated, or if the funding terms are modified, the County reserves the right to amend the contract as appropriate or to terminate the contract.

Follow instructions carefully - if attachments are provided under this procurement, they are to be utilized as part of the proposal - do not replace or use the organization's own format, as the proposal may be deemed "non-responsive" or "not eligible." All proposals are evaluated on the completeness and quality of the content. Only those proposers providing complete information as required will be considered for evaluation. The County will not contact the organization for correction of proposals and proposers are strongly encouraged to carefully review their proposals for completeness and accuracy before submitting. For proposals to be considered responsive and move to the review process, the proposer must, under Section 7, RFP Questionnaire:1. Acknowledge all required "confirmations."2. Complete all required attachments, to include uploading any supplemental documents.3. Submit the following materials as part of the proposal. The accepted file types include, .pdf, .png, .jpeg, .docx, .xlsx, and other MS Office formats. Please label all attachments as listed below.Proof of Eligibility - Grant Recipient (Question 6.4)MOUs / Contracts / Agreements (Question 8.4)Budget Worksheet (Question 8.6)4. Acknowledge and confirm each addendum and notice issued under this procurement. The system will not allow final submission unless all required confirmations are checked.By submitting a proposal, proposer agrees that all documents, reports, proposals, submittals, working papers, or other materials prepared by the organization pursuant to this procurement shall become the sole and exclusive property of the County, and the public domain, and not property of the organization. The organization shall not copyright, or cause to be copyrighted, any portion of said items submitted to the County because of this procurement.Only electronic submittal via the County's eProcurement Portal shall be accepted for this procurement. No hard copies, emails, or fax submittals shall be accepted.

Proposals must be received by the Procurement & Contract Services Department before 2:00 pm on Friday, April 17, 2026. The proposer is responsible for submission of proposal before the deadline. The County shall not be responsible for late submittals. Exceptions will not be made for proposers who miss the submission deadline, and no proposals will be accepted via email.