Department of Human Services

MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE
FIA/ORA 15-001-S
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
REQUEST FOR GRANT PROPOSALS
311 W. Saratoga Street
9th Floor Conference Room
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
ATTENDANCE:
AGENCY:
Elsa Singleton, Procurement Manager/Officer
Ann Flagg, Director of Maryland Office for
Refugees and Asylees
Martin Ford, Deputy Director, Maryland Office for
Refugees and Asylees

ATTENDEES:
Debbie Austin, DHR
Adrienne Bennett, Office of Refugees and Asylees
Lisa Byrd, International Rescue Committee
Ruben Chandrasekar, IRC
Elizabeth Chernin, Office of Refugees and Asylees
Floor de Ruijter, IRC
Jackie Love-Baker, Lutheran Social Services
Scott Moore, Office of the Attorney General
Mamadou Sy, Lutheran Social Services

Reported by: Carol O’Brocki, Notary Public
Hunt Reporting Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 (10:07 a.m.)
3 MS. SINGLETON: Good morning, everyone, and
4welcome to the Department of Human Resources. I hope
5you don’t mind if I sit. Once again, my name is Elsa
6Singleton, and today we will share information with you
7concerning the request for grant proposals for the
8Administration of the Public Private Partnership. The
9Agency Control Number for this RFGP is FIA/ORA 15-001.
10 Please note that this conference is being
11transcribed. When asking questions, please identify
12yourself for the record each time you ask a question,
13and we would ask that you hold all of your questions
14until the end of the presentation, and then you’ll be
15given an ample opportunity to ask them.
16 I did receive several questions all at once
17last night, so you can ask them now, and anything we
18can’t give you an answer to will be posted on the DHR
19website. In fact, all answers to all questions will be
20posted on the DHR website.
21 As soon as possible after this conference, a

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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1copy of the transcript, all questions and responses, a
2list of attendees, as well as any amendments to the RFGP
3will also be posted on the DHR website.
4 I’d like to do some introductions right now.
5Once again, my name is Elsa Singleton. I’m a DHR
6Procurement Manager and the Procurement Officer for this
7procurement. And to my right?
8 MS. FLAGG: Ann Flagg, Director of the
9Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees.
10 MR. FORD: And I’m Martin Ford, Deputy
11Director, Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees.
12 MS. SINGLETON: And real quickly, if we could
13just go around the room and identify yourselves and your
14organizations.
15 MR. SY: I’m Mamadou Sy. I’m the Director of
16Refugee and Immigrant Services with Lutheran Social
17Services.
18 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Jackie Love-Baker, also from
19Lutheran Social Services.
20 MS. BYRD: Lisa Byrd, the International Rescue
21Committee.

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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 MR. CHANDRASEKAR: Rubin Chandrasekar, IRC.
2 MS. DE RUIJTER: Floor de Ruijter, IRC.
3 MS. CHERNIN: Elizabeth Chernin, Office of
4Refugees and Asylees.
5 MS. BENNETT: Adrienne Bennett, Office of
6Refugees and Asylees.
7 MR. MOORE: Scott Moore, Attorney General’s
8Office.
9 MS. SINGLETON: Thank you, everyone. I would
10like to start now with Section One, which is the general
11information summary statement. The Department of Human
12Resources, Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees is
13issuing this request for grant proposals to provide
14refugee transitional cash assistance and related
15adjustment services to eligible refugees and asylees
16under a public/private partnership in six jurisdictions
17of the Baltimore metropolitan area, and two suburban
18Washington counties.
19 The Baltimore metropolitan area counties are:
20Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll,
21Harford, and Howard counties, and the two Washington

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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1suburban counties are: Montgomery County and Prince
2George’s County.
3 It is the State’s intention to obtain services
4as specified in the RFGP for grants between selected
5applicants and the State. The anticipated duration of
6services to be provided under this grant is ten months,
7beginning on or about December 1, 2014, and ending
8September 30, 2015.
9 The Department intends to make two awards --
10one for the Baltimore Resettlement Center, and one for
11the Suburban Washington Resettlement Center. However,
12the Department could award a single grantee both grants.
13 Applicants either directly or through their
14subcontractors must be able to provide all services and
15meet all of the requirements requested in this
16solicitation, and the successful applicant shall remain
17responsible for the grant performance, regardless of
18subcontractor participation in the work.
19 The sole point of contact in the State for the
20purposes of this RFGP is myself. I’m the Procurement
21Officer and my name and address and contact information

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1is listed in the RFP.
2 And I’d like to talk about something very
3important now -- the proposal due date and time.
4Proposals in the number and form set forth in Section
54.2 must be received by the Procurement Officer at the
6address listed on the key information summary sheet, no
7later than 3:00 p.m. local time on Monday, December 1,
82014 in order to be considered. Please do not be late.
9I cannot accept your proposal if it’s late, even if it’s
10one minute late. The Code of Maryland Regulations will
11not allow me to accept it. So to avoid all of that,
12please be on time.
13 Traffic problems, any other -- I mean, they’re
14good excuses but it’s not going to -- I cannot accept
15your proposal, okay? So please be on time. Even
16personal reasons, I cannot accept your proposal. So
17please be on time. And once again, the proposal due
18date and time is 3:00 p.m. on Monday, December 1, 2014.
19 Applicants mailing proposals should allow
20sufficient delivery time to ensure timely receipt by the
21Procurement Officer. Proposals may not be submitted by

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1email or facsimile, and proposals will not be opened
2publicly. And we ask a favor. If you are not
3responding or you did not intend to respond to this
4solicitation, we ask that you submit a Notice to Vendors
5form, which includes your company information, and the
6reason you’re not going to respond, such as too busy,
7cannot meet the requirements, et cetera. This form is
8located in the RFGP immediately in the front, right
9behind the title page.
10 By submitting a proposal in response to this
11RFGP, an applicant, if selected for award, shall be
12deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions of the
13RFGP and the grant. Any proposer who takes exception to
14these terms may be rejected. A proposal submitted by an
15applicant must be accompanied by a completed bid
16proposal affidavit, and a copy of this affidavit is
17included as Attachment B in the RFGP.
18 I’d like to talk now about Section 1.22,
19Compliance with Laws and Arrearages. By submitting a
20proposal and responses, RFGP, the applicant, if selected
21for award, agrees that it will comply with all Federal,

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1State, and local laws applicable to its activities and
2obligations under the grant. So when you submit a RFGP,
3each applicant represents that he is not in arrears in
4the payment of any obligations due or owing to the
5State, including the payment of taxes, employee
6benefits. If you are it may prohibit you from being
7awarded the grant.
8 Before a business entity can do business in
9the State, it must be registered with the Maryland State
10Department of Assessments and Taxation. It is strongly
11recommended that any potential applicant complete
12registration prior to the due date for receipt of
13proposals. If you fail to do so, it may disqualify an
14otherwise successful applicant from final consideration
15and recommendation for grant award.
16 Section 1.29, Conflict of Interest and
17Disclosure. Applicants shall complete and sign the
18Conflict of Interest affidavit disclosure and submit it
19with the proposal. All applicants are advised that if a
20grant is awarded as a result of this solicitation, the
21successful grantee’s personnel who perform the work

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1under this grant shall be required to complete
2agreements substantially similar to the Conflict of
3Interest affidavit. There is also a non-disclosure
4agreement. All applicants are advised that this
5solicitation and any resulting grants are subject to the
6terms of a non-disclosure agreement, and that’s
7contained in the RFGP in Section J.
8 Section 1.32, Location and Performance of
9Services. The applicant is required to complete the
10location of performance of services disclosure and that
11is Attachment I, and that, too, must be provided with
12the proposal.
13 Section 2, the Minimum Qualifications. There
14is only one, and that is the applicant shall be an
15office or an affiliate of a voluntary resettlement
16agency that is currently providing services under
17Maryland’s Public/Private Partnership.
18 I would like to turn it over now to the
19Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees, and they will
20speak with you regarding the requirements for this RFGP.
21 MS. FLAGG: Thank you, Elsa.

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 MS. SINGLETON: Sure.
2 MS. FLAGG: Congratulations on making it
3through the 105 page solicitation that we have provided
4to you. I think Elsa did a great job covering the basic
5requirements, so I wanted to just touch very briefly on
6the programmatic and outreach requirements that we’re
7looking for.
8 You know, not to regurgitate what’s on here,
9but just to sort of highlight the operational
10requirements we’re looking for to negotiate with the
11Center’s existing landlord, or to find a new space if an
12agreement cannot be reached to maintain services for a
13one-stop center, to manage the space allocation with
14that Center with existing partners, to timely pay the
15Center’s rent and utility expenses, ensure maintenance,
16work with LORA (phonetic) if there are any alterations
17or renovations that will be required, manage the
18security -- fiscal security and information security
19plan for the Center, work with us on any vendor payment
20over $500.
21 Obviously like we’ve done for many years, make

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1sure that there’s a brochure for each voluntary agency,
2obviously in languages appropriate to the refugee
3population served at the time, ensuring that each client
4has both a PPP participant agreement form as well as a
5family self-sufficiency plan in the file.
6 I think most of you are familiar with how RTCA
7is administered, so I will not go over that in any great
8detail today, but to say that probably the largest
9feature of this scope of work is administration of the
10refugee transitional cash assistance program. So,
11ensuring that eligibility is -- eligibility
12documentation is completed and that payments are made to
13the clients in a timely and accurate manner, and
14ensuring that any conciliation measures or any dispute
15resolutions are managing between the partners and with
16our office.
17 So I think that’s about it -- oh, and of
18course ensuring that sub-agreements are developed with
19each of the other voluntary agencies.
20 A little bit about performance measures,
21because this is something that is somewhat new for those

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1of us who’ve been involved in this program before. We
2are implementing performance measures that are somewhat
3more similar to how DHR contracts with other vendors for
4these types of services, including 100 percent of RTCA
5recipients meet the grantees’ eligibility criteria, some
6reference to error rates -- keeping error rates under
7four percent -- just sort of our standard DHR.
8 We can talk a little bit more as time goes on
9about how those things would tabulated. One hundred
10percent of client payments -- overpayments or
11underpayments are resolved in less than 30 days from
12discovery of error, and 100 percent of clients receive a
13redetermination by the beginning of the fifth month of
14RTCA payment.
15 And I guess just the reporting -- it’s worth
16mentioning the ORR sixth trimester performance reporting
17is a requirement that all of you are familiar with now,
18but ensuring that that gets complied and sent to our
19office by the deadlines listed in this report, the RTC -
20- opening or closing report. And the comment I’ll make
21about that is that we are intending to transition to the

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
Serving Maryland, Washington, and Virginia
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1electronic case management software. So there may be
2some modification over the course of the award with
3regard to how this report will be collected, but that’s
4-- so we wrote this for our current state, which is
5we’re still expecting those opening and closure reports
6to come to our office. But that’s something that may be
7subject to negotiation, you know, over the course of the
8year.
9 Monthly expenditure reports -- we are
10increasing the information we’re requesting in the
11expenditure reports moving forward. We would like to
12see detailed financial information associated, and not
13simple line item charges. So we do want an additional
14level of detail to support the invoicing. Additionally
15we want some documentation and this is, of course,
16subject to negotiated related to staff time and effort
17-- time sheets, et cetera, that can support the salary
18charges that are going to be charged against this claim.
19 And then an annual financial audit report or
20financial review, which is sent to us when you get it or
21when we ask for it. So that’s about it for the

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1reporting. Is there anything I missed overall, Martin?
2 MR. FORD: No, I don’t think so. Ordinarily
3at these meetings we’d have someone -- some agency
4representing someone who didn’t know about refugee
5resettlement, but since this is exclusive to actual
6VOLAGS (phonetic), already operating in Maryland, I
7don’t think there’s much need for background.
8 The only people -- even the people who aren’t
9directly involved in resettlement -- people like Elsa --
10they now are experts in resettling from working through
11this RFP with us. So I want to thank them. Maybe the
12only person who doesn’t know anything is the
13transcriber. But I don’t mean that in a derogatory
14sense.
15 The only thing I would add would be the
16importance in developing your plan -- really digging out
17the Code of Federal Regulations and referring to it and
18making that explicit in stating your plan, because it’s
19so important to what we do.
20 MS. FLAGG: Actually, Martin, I’m really glad
21you mentioned that because that’s another point that’s

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1referenced in here that is extremely important and very
2different from the arrangement in years prior that we
3are requiring that the expenses are in compliance with
4State Letter 1213 (phonetic), which -- we’ve got this on
5here, right?
6 MS. SINGLETON: Yeah, I think so.
7 MS. FLAGG: I think so, too. It’s available
8on ORR’s website, but if you needed a link to it just
9let me know, but it really outlines very specifically
10what charges are allowable in terms of RTC
11administration and, you know, I know we’ve discussed
12this before, but it is substantially more than what we
13had been charging to RTC administration in years prior.
14 So just be sure that whatever expenses and
15services you’re including are referenced and eligible,
16both in the regs but also in supplemental State policy,
17like 1213, issued by ORR.
18 MS. SINGLETON: All right. Anything else
19you’d like to share?
20 MR. FORD: Well, to preface the questions we
21may not have the answers right, but we will. As Elsa

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1will confirm, we will get them to you if we don’t.
2 MS. SINGLETON: Okay. Thank you so much. I’d
3like to talk a little bit about how you should prepare
4your proposal, and I don’t want to bore you but some of
5these items are very important. So if you’ll just be a
6little patient with me. I think that some of your
7questions that I received last night will be answered in
8what I’m getting ready to say.
9 So we’ll start with two-part submission. When
10you submit your proposals, they are submitted in
11separate volumes. So there’s a technical proposal,
12that’s Volume One; and there’s a financial proposal,
13that’s Volume Two.
14 Now, Volume One, the technical proposals, and
15Volume Two, they’re sealed separately from one another.
16It is preferred but not required that the name, email
17address, and telephone number of the applicant be
18included on the outside of the packaging for each
19volume. Each volume should contain an unbound original
20so identified, and four copies. So that would be each
21volume shall contain an unbound original so identified

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1and four copies. So an original technical and four
2copies, and an original financial and four copies.
3 The State’s preference is for the two sealed
4volumes to be submitted together in a single package
5including a label that gives the RFGP title and number,
6name and address of the applicant, and the closing date
7and time for the receipt of the proposals. And all of
8the proposals are addressed to me at the address given
9in the RFP.
10 Now something that’s relatively new is we’re
11requiring that an electronic version -- a CD or a DPD of
12the technical proposal in Microsoft Word format be
13enclosed with the original technical proposal.
14 MS. BYRD: In Excel Word format?
15 MS. SINGLETON: Yes. And an electronic
16version of the CD -- I’m sorry -- an electronic version
17of the financial proposal. Okay? Now here it says it
18can be a Word or a Microsoft Excel.
19 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Do you prefer Excel?
20 MS. SINGLETON: If you would put that in
21Microsoft Excel. It must be enclosed with the original

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1financial proposal. Then we also ask for a second
2electronic version of Volumes One and Two, in a
3searchable Adobe format in case we receive a Public
4Information Act request. And I’m not going to go into
5that right now, but if you have any questions about that
6I can talk to you about how that works.
7 And all pages of both proposal volumes should
8be numbered consecutively, so 1 through 100, regardless
9of what it is, or 1 through 50 -- just consecutively.
10You may either mail or hand-deliver your proposal. If
11you choose to use the U.S. Postal Service for delivery,
12we recommend that you use Express Mail, Priority Mail,
13or Certified Mail, as these are the only forms for which
14both the date and time of the receipt can be verified.
15 In the technical proposal, no pricing
16information is to be included -- in the technical
17proposal. Pricing information is only to be included in
18the financial proposal.
19 I’d like to talk about how your technical
20proposal should be set up. There were some questions
21about the tabs and what should be in each tab, so I’ll

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1try and answer that now.
2 The technical proposal shall include the
3following documents and information, or as specified.
4Each section of the technical proposal shall be
5separated by a tab as follows: The title page and the
6table of contents, that’s submitted under Tab A. The
7Claim of Confidentiality, that’s submitted under Tab A1.
8The Transmittal Letter is submitted under Tab B. The
9Executive Summary, Tab C. The Minimum Qualifications
10document, that’s submitted under Tab D.
11 The applicant’s technical response to the
12RFGP, Requirements and Proposed Work Plan -- that’s
13submitted under Tab E. Tab F will hold the Applicant’s
14Qualifications and Capabilities. Tab G will have the
15Experience and Qualifications of Proposed Staff,
16including Proposed Sub-Recipients.
17 The List of Current or Prior State Grants is
18to be submitted under Tab H. Financial Capability,
19that’s submitted under Tab I. Certificates of
20Insurance, under Tab J. Any subcontractors you intend
21to use will be submitted under Tab K, and any pending

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1legal action will be submitted under Tab L. And under
2Tab M is additional required technical submissions, and
3there was a typo in there, I believe. So it talks about
4a list of documents and it says it should be submitted
5under Tab M, but then it said to submit it under Tab O.
6It’s Tab M.
7 Okay. And the RFP goes into these tabs in
8great detail, but I don’t want to take up the time right
9now reading it word-for-word. So if you have any
10questions about it, please feel free to ask me and I
11will get back to you.
12 The financial proposal, of course, is under a
13separate sealed cover from the technical proposal, and
14as I said, it has an original and four copies. The
15financial proposal contains all price information. The
16applicant shall complete the financial proposal only as
17provided in the financial proposal instructions and the
18financial proposal form itself.
19 I know that the Maryland Office of Refugees
20and Asylees took great pains in preparing the financial
21proposal, so I think they did a great job. So if you

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1have any questions about it, you know, I’m sure they’ll
2be happy to answer them.
3 I’d like to talk a little bit about how your
4proposal will be evaluated. The evaluation of proposals
5will be performed in accordance with COMAR 21.05.03 by a
6committee established for that purpose, and based on the
7following evaluation criteria. The criteria that I’m
8going to explain to you now is in descending order of
9importance, so the most important criteria is first.
10 The applicant’s technical response to the RFG
11requirements and work plan, and I’d like to say a little
12bit about that. I know you all are familiar with the
13work to be done on this RFGP, but it’s important that
14you answer each and every requirement, even if you get
15tired of writing, even if you figure, oh, DHR knows me.
16They know my work.
17 It is not enough to say that you will comply;
18you must say how you will comply to that RFG
19requirement. And it goes into more detail in the RFGP,
20but that’s that basis of it. Just don’t say that you’re
21going to do it -- oh, State of Maryland, I’m going to do

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1it. Say how you’re going to do it, and that will cut
2down on the number of questions we have to come back to
3you for.
4 So, once again, the application’s technical
5response is the most important criteria. The next one
6is applicant qualifications and capabilities, and the
7last is experience and qualifications.
8 After completion of the technical proposal and
9the financial proposal evaluation and rankings, each
10applicant will receive an overall ranking. The
11Procurement Officer will recommend award of the grant to
12the responsible applicant that submitted a proposal
13determined to be most advantageous to the State. In
14making this most advantageous determination, technical
15factors will receive greater weight than financial
16factors.
17 That concludes our overview of the RFGP, and
18we’ll be happy to entertain any questions you may have
19at this time.
20 MS. LOVE-BAKER: I’m Lisa. Are you open the
21day after Thanksgiving?

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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 MS. SINGLETON: We are not. The State is
2closed, I believe, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Why
3are you -- I mean, do you need --
4 MS. LOVE-BAKER: I wanted to turn it in early.
5 MS. FLAGG: No, we’re not here.
6 MS. LOVE-BAKER: I may have missed it, but
7could you direct me to Attachment Q, and I’m Jackie
8Love-Baker from Lutheran Social Services.
9 MS. SINGLETON: I sure can. It probably
10doesn’t look the way you think it should look, or the
11way an attachment would look, but it’s the last page of
12the RFP.
13 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Right. I see it right here.
14Thank you.
15 MS. SINGLETON: Okay. And it has the
16landlord’s names for both locations and the square
17footage. Is that good?
18 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Great. Yes, thank you.
19 MS. SINGLETON: You’re welcome. Yes?
20 MS. BYRD: If there’s something that doesn’t
21apply under a tab, do you want -- do you still want the

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1tab there, like --
2 MS. SINGLETON: What did you have in mind, or
3just in general?
4 MS. BYRD: Like the legal action.
5 MS. SINGLETON: Oh, still answer that. So we
6still want a tab and say my organization has no legal --
7pending legal actions or whatever.
8 MS. BYRD: Okay.
9 MS. DE RUIJTER: Well, I have several
10questions, but --
11 MS. SINGLETON: That’s okay.
12 MS. DE RUIJTER: So, the first one is can an
13agency be listed as a subcontractor on one proposal and
14still submit their own proposal? So when you’re talking
15about submitting one proposal, is that as a primary
16applicant?
17 MS. SINGLETON: Are the answers yes?
18 MR. MOORE: Scott Moore, Assistant Attorney
19General. Yes, that’s my understanding and chime in if
20they disagree. It’s my understanding that, yes, you can
21submit one proposal as a primary (indiscernible) or

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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1operation, but also be included in the proposal
2(indiscernible) given the requirements for the sub.
3It’s the recipient agreements.
4 MS. SINGLETON: Okay. Thank you.
5 MS. DE RUIJTER: And then what happens if an
6agency does not provide a Letter of Intent? Can they be
7added to the contract once the award is announced?
8 MS. SINGLETON: Is a Letter of Intent
9required, Scott?
10 MR. MOORE: In some circumstances, it could,
11yes it is. And if we don’t have an answer to that now
12we can just come back to it in writing.
13 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Oh, were you done?
14 MS. DE RUIJTER: Oh, I’m sorry. No, go ahead.
15 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Jackie Love-Baker here again.
16If we’re interested in submitting proposed centers, do
17we need to do two separate proposals?
18 MS. SINGLETON: Yes. You will need to do two
19separate proposals.
20 MS. LOVE-BAKER: And how do you envision the
21transition happening with such a short -- since we’re

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1turning in the contract proposals for December 1st? You
2know, the contract is supposed to go into place that
3day. How do you envision that transferring? Is there a
4way to prepare for that?
5 MS. SINGLETON: The State is looking at its
6options right now, and you’ll be notified as soon as
7possible in writing. So, we’re looking -- correct?
8 MS. FLAGG: Yeah.
9 MS. SINGLETON: We’re looking at that right
10now, and you’ll know in ample time.
11 MS. DE RUIJTER: On the rent space allocation
12plan, what’s the percentage of rent for each center
13that’s allowable to be charged, and related to that,
14what is the basis for excluding rent from the indirect
15cost recovery?
16 MS. FLAGG: What’s the basis for that?
17 MS. DE RUIJTER: Yes.
18 MS. FLAGG: Well, first question first. We
19have not put a cap on the percent of the rental cost
20that can be charged to the project. I’m trying to think
21how to answer this. Yeah, we have not capped it. Let

28
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1me just leave it there, okay? The basis for making that
2exclusion on calculation of ICR is just this needs
3discretion.
4 MS. DE RUIJTER: Okay. And then what is the
5maximum or minimum amounts that may be paid to clients
6in employment incentives?
7 MS. FLAGG: We did not give a (indiscernible)
8to that intentionally, so that is to be considered, you
9know, this is an opportunity. We’ve been doing it the
10same way for a very long time. This is an opportunity
11for you to present another strategy, and we may have to
12negotiate if the cost is too high. But we wanted to
13invite the opportunity for everyone to just give us
14their best idea.
15 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Is there a difference between
16a subcontractor and a sub-recipient, or are those
17interchangeable terms?
18 MS. FLAGG: They should be interchangeable,
19but this would be a sub-recipient because we’ll enter
20into a grant, not a contract with the prime, correct?
21 MR. MOORE: Scott Moore, Assistant Attorney

29
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1General. As used in the proposal itself, sub-
2recipient/subcontractor are used interchangeably.
3 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Do we need details on the IT
4plan? Jackie Love-Baker here again -- or, I mean, how
5detailed do want in that in the proposal? It doesn’t
6really say we need to -- it says --
7 MS. FLAGG: It says one needs to be developed
8for the facility -- that we will develop -- hang on.
9 MS. LOVE-BAKER: I think you did say that, but
10I just wanted to double-check that you didn’t want more
11of a plan --
12 MS. FLAGG: Develop and institute is in the
13scope of work. So I think the best guidance is exactly
14what Elsa pointed to earlier, which is it’s not enough
15to say “we’re going to do this.”
16 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Okay. So you do want a
17developed plan, not just that we will do this, but that
18there would be something specific?
19 MS. SINGLETON: I would answer that question
20to the best of your ability that would meet the
21requirements of the RFGP. What you propose -- what is

30
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1your plan as far as IT is concerned that you believe
2will meet the requirements of the RFGP. Does that help?
3 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Yes.
4 MS. SINGLETON: Okay.
5 MS. LOVE-BAKER: It’s hard when we’re not
6writing the contract now to know what all of the details
7are to address that. We’re coming sort of from --
8 MS. FLAGG: Again, I think it’s Elsa’s best
9advice. If you can’t tell us specifically what you
10would do tomorrow, this is how we would implement a plan
11to ensure that that deliverable has been achieved,
12right, with as much detail as you think is appropriate
13to inform us.
14 MS. DE RUIJTER: Yes. Floor de Ruijter here.
15 MS. FLAGG: It’s a dueling question. I love
16it.
17 MS. DE RUIJTER: Just about the insurance
18requirements, I think it noted in the RFP that these
19would be -- we would send them five days after the
20award. But then you mentioned that under the tab that
21we had to submit, you know, some specifics. So I was

31
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1just wondering what the specific insurance requirements
2were for the proposal itself.
3 MS. SINGLETON: That is in the RFP.
4 MS. DE RUIJTER: Right. So my question is
5during we need to submit that during the proposal or is
6it stated that we need to five days afterwards?
7 MS. SINGLETON: Oh, no, that’s -- the
8insurance is five days after. That doesn’t have to come
9with the proposal. I’m 99 percent sure, but I’ll
10confirm that. I will confirm that.
11 MS. LOVE-BAKER: This should be an easy
12question. I’m Jackie Love-Baker. I think this is an
13easy one. Do we actually need to bind tabs labeled by
14letter and then to put each section behind those tabs?
15 MS. SINGLETON: Well, that’s what I’ve seen in
16other proposals -- in other requests for proposals.
17Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve seen.
18 MS. LOVE-BAKER: When will the Center
19coordinator or receptionist positions be posted?
20 MS. FLAGG: So we can talk about that. That’s
21sort of -- as far as I’m concerned, that’s more related

32
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1to the current situation. We spoke about this a little
2bit last week. So if we can table that, since it’s not
3relevant to this. But long story short, I think
4(indiscernible) of a month posted today or yesterday.
5 MS. SINGLETON: Question?
6 MS. DE RUIJTER: Yes, I do.
7 MS. SINGLETON: Are these the ones you sent in
8last night?
9 MS. DE RUIJTER: Yes.
10 MS. SINGLETON: Oh, okay. We’ll do our best.
11 MS. DE RUIJTER: Okay. Does Moore (phonetic)
12restrict RTCA payment monthly to check only or would the
13EBT or the local pay cards be acceptable?
14 MS. FLAGG: That’s a fantastic question. I
15have no -- we will get back to you. I don’t have any
16issue with that in principle, but what I don’t know is
17if there is -- I would have to check to see if there is
18any regulation guiding that.
19 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Is there any way to get more
20details on the lease, the rent amount, in determining
21payments?

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HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 MS. SINGLETON: We would definitely have to
2get back to you on that one. Do you know?
3 MS. FLAGG: Is that -- that’s in the tab
4included in the budget, right, Lisa? Didn’t we leave
5that line so it’s not considered -- is that --
6 MS. CHERNIN: No. The rent and utility they
7have to provide. The only thing they will want in the
8RTCA payments are predictions, but the rent and
9utilities.
10 MS. FLAGG: So we’re definitely going to have
11to get back to you on that.
12 MS. SINGLETON: You have more?
13 MS. DE RUIJTER: I have more, yes. Is it a
14requirement of a resettlement agency to be located
15within the Center to receive funding or be part of a
16partnership?
17 MS. FLAGG: The requirements that we’ve laid
18out are just that it’s an affiliate active in the State
19of Maryland.
20 MS. DE RUIJTER: Okay. And then the self-
21sufficiency plans and other supply documents, are both

34
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1prime and sub-grantees required to use this format for
2the self-sufficiency --
3 MS. FLAGG: So the format that we provided, I
4wouldn’t be comfortable to negotiate with the grantee,
5but I would want the same format used by all partners.
6Right?
7 MS. SINGLETON: Yeah.
8 MS. DE RUIJTER: And then the (indiscernible)
9rotation, can a resettlement agency participate in a
10(indiscernible) rotation but not be a sub-grantee?
11 MS. SINGLETON: Do you want to --
12 MS. FLAGG: No, I just -- maybe I don’t
13understand the purpose of the question. How could an
14agency -- an agency would have to be a sub-recipient for
15the clients that they would be serving in a rotation to
16receive cash assistance. So it doesn’t -- I can’t see a
17circumstance where that would be advantageous to anyone.
18 MR. CHANDRASEKAR: I mean, there are
19circumstances where an agency may not wish to be a sub-
20grantee or particular prime -- could not respond to
21their requests to give information, right? So in other

35
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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410-766-HUNT (4868)
1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1words, if we request information as a prime as a
2(indiscernible) and the agency does not respond to your
3requests, and we get the award, what happens?
4 MS. FLAGG: We would talk about that when the
5time came, if the pre-cash would not -- could not be
6received by the agency. I mean, there would need to be
7a legal instrument and we are not in this ten-month
8period doing any direct contracting with anyone outside
9of the prime.
10 MR. CHANDRASEKAR: Yeah. I think that just
11needs to be clarified so everyone works together.
12 MS. FLAGG: And the other thing I was going to
13say about that is if there are current issues with the
14current grant -- if that’s an issue with the current
15grant, then we’ve got two weeks to deal with that --
16three weeks, or whatever. So if this is an issue we
17don’t need to wait for a new award. Do you know what
18I’m saying?
19 MR. CHANDRASEKAR: I’m not sure.
20 MS. FLAGG: We don’t need to wait for a new
21award to deal with a current sub-recipient that you had

36
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1no difficulties managing.
2 MR. CHANDRASEKAR: I see.
3 MS. FLAGG: The point is is if there is a --
4if you have an instrument in place right now with that
5agency and you have an issue, then let’s deal with it
6right now, sort of separate from the new -- or before we
7enter into the new award.
8 MR. CHANDRASEKAR: Okay.
9 MS. LOVE-BAKER: My question is quite minor
10after to that. I’ll give you the easy one. I just
11wanted to clarify whether or not Attachment J should
12merely be -- the NTA should really be labeled G1, and J
13is the PP Participant Agreement. I know. It’s
14technical but when it comes up --
15 MS. SINGLETON: Can I confirm that with you
16and get back to you?
17 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Absolutely.
18 MS. SINGLETON: Because I have your question
19on the transcript, so I’ll get back to you on that.
20 MR. MOORE: Scott Moore, Attorney General’s
21Office. The MBA has, I guess, described in Section One,

37
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1it references a bad attachment label. I believe it’s
2Attachment J in Section 1 is actually Attachment G.
3That’s a typo.
4 MS. LOVE-BAKER: Great. Thank you.
5 MS. DE RUIJTER: A question about background
6checks. Is that -- could you confirm that more funding
7cannot be used for background checks as the -- I can
8read the Section 3.33, “Grantee shall secure at its own
9expense a Maryland State Police and/or an FBI background
10check.”
11 MS. SINGLETON: Please confirm that more
12funding cannot be used for background checks.
13 MS. FLAGG: More funding through this award?
14Yeah. I mean, it says at the agency’s own expense.
15 MS. DE RUIJTER: Okay. So, my last question
16is, you know, since the contracts end at the end of
17November and this is due on December 1st, how quickly
18will the decision be made and will funding be
19retroactive to December 1st?
20 MS. SINGLETON: The speed of the decision
21depends upon the amount and the complexity of the

38
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
Serving Maryland, Washington, and Virginia
410-766-HUNT (4868)
1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1proposals that we receive. We are well aware of the
2time frame, and we are pursuing an aggressive time frame
3to get this completed on time. However, as I said
4before, we are looking at other options and you will be
5notified if we decide to do anything differently. But I
6couldn’t give you an exact date.
7 MS. FLAGG: Yeah, to the question about
8retroactive, we don’t -- yeah, as Elsa said, we’re
9exploring options, but it is not at all our intent to
10leave anybody holding the bag on the expenses for the
11interim time. So the question of the instrument for how
12we will deal with that is still being decided, but we’re
13not going to leave the current grantees stuck with the
14expenses, if we have to push this back a few days back.
15All right? Anything else?
16 MR. SY: Yes. Mamadou Sy from Lutheran Social
17Services. My question relates to the 3.23. Obviously
18an administration --
19 MS. FLAGG: Reference what again? I’m sorry?
20 MR. SY: 3.23.
21 MS. FLAGG: 3.23, okay. Yep?

39
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 MR. SY: Secure a letter of intent from each
2(indiscernible) stating that they intend to provide RTCA
3services to refugees and help settle (indiscernible) in
4relation of the grant. So if we were to jump to the
5(indiscernible) that does not submit it on time for us
6to be able to include it in our proposal?
7 MS. FLAGG: So that is -- I would say if you
8have any -- submit what you have, and if there were
9challenges to that you can describe those challenges.
10That’s not something that we can -- that’s something
11that we can deal with during a negotiation period.
12 MS. SINGLETON: Once again, you know, just
13answer to the best of your ability. Answer each
14requirement thoroughly and say how you will comply with
15that. If you have -- you can write exactly what you
16just said, okay, and then we will come to you for a
17clarification.
18 Any more questions? Well, if there are no
19more questions -- do you have one more question?
20 MR. SY: I did have one. I just wanted to get
21to that section. It’s regarding negotiating with the

40
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1existing landlords. This is Mamadou from Lutheran
2Social Services. So do we -- do you want us to have a
3plan prior to -- and be part of the submission, or do
4you want -- or this should happen once an award has been
5made, in terms of outreaching to those current landlords
6and reaching for extension or looking for other options?
7 MS. SINGLETON: Is the RFP silent on that?
8 MS. FLAGG: It just says you should do it,
9right? It doesn’t say before submission or upon
10submission?
11 MS. SINGLETON: Let me consider that.
12 MR. SY: Okay. Because it’s kind of hard for
13us to establish the goals --
14 MS. SINGLETON: Exactly. I understand.
15Additional questions?
16 MS. FLAGG: Elsa will still take your
17questions.
18 MS. SINGLETON: Well, if you have no more
19questions at this time, that will conclude our Pre-
20Proposal Conference for today. Yes, you can send me
21your questions. You have my contact information if you

41
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
Court Reporting and Litigation Support
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1think of anything else.
2 I want to remind you the closing date and time
3for proposals is Monday, December 1, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.,
4and I thank you for your interest in doing business with
5the State. Have a great day.
6 (At 10:59 a.m. the meeting concluded.)

42
HUNT REPORTING COMPANY
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1-800-950-DEPO (3376)1 CERTIFICATE OF NOTARY
2I, CAROL O’BROCKI, the officer before whom the foregoing testimony
3was taken, do hereby certify that the witness whose testimony
4appears in the foregoing transcript was duly sworn by me; that the
5testimony of said witness was taken by me by stenomask means and
6thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under my direction; that
7said testimony is a true record of the testimony given by said
8witness; that I am neither counsel for, related to, or employed by
9any of the parties to the action in which this testimony is taken;
10and further, that I am not a relative or employee of any attorney or
11counsel employed by the parties hereto, nor financially or otherwise
12interested in the outcome of the action.
13 This certification is expressly withdrawn and denied upon the
14disassembly or photocopying of the foregoing transcript of the
15proceedings or any part thereof, including exhibits, unless said
16disassembly or photocopying is done by the undersigned court
17reporter and/or under the auspices of Hunt Reporting Company.
18
19 _____________________________
20 CAROL O’BROCKI
21 Notary Public in and for the
22 State of Maryland
23My Commission Expires:
24