REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS – OVERVIEW OF PROCESS

 

Forthcoming  RFP

 

WPRP anticipates issuing a new RFP in calendar year 2007, with funding to begin in calendar year 2008.  If you are interested in receiving information about the new RFP, please use the Join Our Mailing List navigational button to let us know, and we will contact you.

 

Legislative Authority

 

The legislation that created California’s CalWORKs program (AB 1542, Chapter 270, Statutes of 1997) directs the University of California (UC) to assist in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of CalWORKs and other welfare policies and programs. In 1998, UC created the Welfare Policy Research Project (WPRP) to undertake these responsibilities. WPRP is housed in the Office of Research, within UC’s Office of the President, and has a current annual state appropriation of $770,000.

 

In compliance with AB 1542, we administer a research grants program that funds important welfare-related studies sought by state and local officials. The legislation requires that “these grants shall be applied only to research projects requested by representatives of state and local government entities.”

 

WPRP Advisory Board

 

To facilitate this process, WPRP convened a 15-member advisory board comprised chiefly of state and local officials, including two co-chairs (a former Democratic state senator and a former Republican congressman), four state legislators (a Democrat and Republican from both the Assembly and Senate), four senior state agency officials, four county welfare directors, and a public-interest advocate

 

Selection of Research Topics and Questions

 

When there are sufficient funds to launch a significant new study, members of this advisory board and their senior staff submit numerous welfare-related topics in which they are interested. The full advisory board reviews all the topics and selects the one deemed most relevant at that point in time. Board members and their senior staff meet to craft the specific questions that will comprise the Request for Proposal (RFP). 

 

Funding and Length of Studies

 

The research questions posed by WPRP’s board often require original data to be collected in multiple sites over time, which can be expensive in a state the size of California. As a result, WPRP generally plans a new RFP when we can commit at least $2 million to a study of three to four years duration. To date, WPRP’s board has commissioned six studies, ranging from $250,000 to $2.25 million. As of June 2006, WPRP has expended nearly  $4.5 million since the inception of the research grants program, with three grants still active.

 

Who May Submit Proposals

 

Proposals are invited from all qualified bidders, including public, not-for-profit, and for-profit research organizations, and may include partnerships. Schools within the campuses of the University of California, California State University, and Community Colleges are considered separate applicants and may individually submit proposals. 

 

Each proposal submitted is judged on its own merits and against other proposals on the same topic.

 

Prior RFPs

 

For illustrative purposes, we include a link  to our last RFP, issued in 2002, for our ongoing study of five-year welfare time limits in the CalWORKs program. Interested parties can review the content and organization of the information WPRP typically requests as part of a RFP.

 

Research Abstracts, RFP Questions, Period of Funding and Other Details

 

We provide additional information about the studies WPRP has commissioned in a summary table (WPRP’s Research Grantees), including the topics, research organizations, principal investigators, time periods, research abstracts, RFP questions, and research publications.