Regional Workforce Skills Planning Initiative

Regional Workforce Skills Planning Initiative

Request for Qualifications for Regional Planning in Berkshire County

August 1, 2017

MA Governor Charlie Baker has created a Workforce Skills Cabinet (WSC) comprised of the Executive Offices of Labor and Workforce Development, Education, and Housing and Economic Development. The WSC is seeking to build collaborative solutions by aligning economic, workforce, and education systems in Massachusetts with the skill needs of regional economies. A Regional Planning process has been developed to bring together regional partners to collectively determine high priority regional career pathways and to craft collaborative solutions to meet the region’s and the Commonwealth’s jobseeker and employer needs. The goal is to ensure that regional employers, educators, economic development entities,regional planning organizations and workforce training officials are coordinated in a way that creates strong talent pipelines, for both middle-skilled and highly skilled jobs.

The planning process for the Berkshire region is driven by the region’s workforce investment board: The Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, Inc. (BCREB). An estimated $24,000 is available to pay for support of the regional planning activities (please note that additional resources may become available from partner organizations, but this RFQ is for $24,000).

The BCREB is seeking an organization, an individual, or a collaboration of individuals to provide support, including:

Plan and implement up to three working sessions of the Regional Team between September and December 2017 to further explore the Berkshire labor market, and identify areas where the demand for labor exceeds the supply. Facilitate the discussion between the Regional Team (consisting of workforce development professionals, educators, economic development entities, regional planning organizations, and community organizations) in the regional planning sessions leading to an agreement about the labor market gap or gaps the participants will address over the next several years. Research staff from the BCREB and Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development will provide labor market analysis to guide these discussions. (Please note that two such sessions already occurred and this information can be found on the website).

Facilitate an employer/community focus group to gather information that will inform the development of strategies to address labor market skills gaps.

Produce a regional labor market blueprint/plan by the end of January 2018 that includes the following:

A description of key “priority” industries and occupations in the Berkshires based on the report produced by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and analysis conducted by the BCREB.
Identification of gaps in the labor supply that impede productivity and growth.
The gap(s) that will be the focus of the regional plan, the reasons why the gap(s) was selected, and strategies for growing the pipeline to fill the gaps. The strategies should include descriptions of education/ career pathways for the targeted occupations/ industries.
An asset mapping of existing resources and programs that support the growth in the pipelines as prioritized by the Regional Team.
The strategies that would inform the development of education/career pathways for the targeted occupations/industries.
The role and responsibilities of each of the regional planning members in implementing the blueprint. Attached is more information on the current Blueprint Templateprovided by the WSC.

The BCREB will provide assistance to this process through:

Additional labor market research and analysis,
Outreach to businesses for real-time data, and
Editing/proofreading of the final document.

The WSC will also play a supporting role to the regional planning process by providing additional data as requested/needed and to ensure some consistency in the blueprint development across all planning regions. The BCREB will be liaison between all parties and coordinate activities.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development advises that due to potential conflict of interest issues and the perception of an unfair advantage, that any organization participating in the regional planning should not bid on this RFQ.

Please submit the following by noon on August 28, 2017:

A cover sheet listing the organization and the name, phone and email of the lead on the project,
A work plan for completing the project. Please include experience with facilitating meetings, consensus building activities, and compiling strategic documents, and
A description of your qualifications for this project including a description of two similar projects completed by the organization and two references with contact information.

The total submission should not exceed 5 pages (excluding the cover sheet).

SCHEDULE: The following is the schedule of events, subject to change:

DATE(s) / EVENT
August 1, 2017 / Release of RFQ
July 15th 2017, 12:00 noon / Deadline for submitting written questions via email to
August 28th, 2017, 12:00 noon / Responses to RFQ due. Please submit the application by email to: Heather Boulger at the BCREB at .
September 1-13th, 2017 / Review of responses
September 15th, 2017 / Notification sent to all responders
September 20th, 2017 / The BCREB must receive any appeal(s) of the final selection decision

The successful bidder will enter into a contract with the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, Inc. that will begin as early as September 18, 2017 and conclude on January 31, 2018.

APPEAL PROCESS:

An unsuccessful bidder may appeal a decision of the BCREB in which the unsuccessful bidder has reason to believe that the selection process has been violated in a manner that affected the outcome of the procurement decision. Generalized allegations of impropriety or dissatisfaction with the results of the process are not grounds for appeal. An unsuccessful bidder who wishes to appeal must send a written statement that completely describes the grounds for the appeal by the date noted above.

Appeal request statements must be sent by overnight mail, or delivered in person, to:

Eva Sheridan, BCREB Chair

Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, Inc.

66 Allen Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Upon receipt of the appeal, the BCREBChair will conduct an investigation and review of the decision and will notify the appellant(s) via overnight mail within ten (10) working days after receipt of the appeal.

OPEN PROCESS:

Please note that the BCREB will adhere to all state and federal policies that are consistent with WIOA secs. 106(a)(2)(B)-(C) and § 679.550(b) whereas the local planning region will provide adequate opportunity for public input and comment before submitting the plan to the Governor.

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Attachment I – Sample Regional Workforce Skills Blueprint Template (July 2017)

Introduction:Across Massachusetts, economic growth is constrained by a labor shortage while jobseekers are looking for work. Bridging the gap between the skills and experience of individuals and the needs of the employers seeking to hire is the work of the Regional Planning Core Team. Regional teams will create a shared understanding of regional priorities and strategy for investments related to industries and occupations in the region.

The purpose of this document is to offer a guiding template to support the economic, workforce and education organizations in a region charged with creating a Regional Labor Market Blueprint.

This plan confirms the Team’s decisions about priority areas for investment, and shared priorities reflecting the application of the criteria to analyze our local data.

Process: In 2015, Governor Baker convened the Workforce Skills Cabinet in order to align the Executive Offices of Education, Labor and Workforce Development, and Housing and Economic Development toward a comprehensive economic growth agenda. The Cabinet is charged with creating and implementing a strategy to ensure that individuals can develop and continuously improve their skills and knowledge to meet the varying hiring needs of employers in the Commonwealth. The WSC kicked off the regional planning process across 7 regions in spring 2017, and convened each of the regions.

Through the development of the WSC Regional Blueprint, key stakeholders will work together to:

Describe the Core Regional Planning Team
Understand Economic, Education and Workforce context for the Region
Develop criteria for identifying priority industries and occupations
Identify Priority Industries and Occupations that align to shared criteria
Asset map existing resources and resources for growth in the pipelines prioritized by they Team
Develop shared strategies to expand talent pipelines prioritized by they Team
Measure and build shared accountability for results across Team members

Blueprint Template: This template provides a guide for Regional Teams to utilize in building a final Blueprint. The goal of the template is to create consistency in the information contained in the final products across the seven regions while maintaining the opportunity to reflect regional differences.

Timeline: Regional Teams will convene to discuss labor market information, regional context, assets and gaps and shared strategies over the Summer/Fall of 2017. The Workforce Skills Cabinet will convene Regional Teams in the Fall (Dates: TBD) to support progress. Final Regional Blueprints will be available in January of 2017.

Impact: The Regional Labor Market Blueprints will guide the work of regional partners to address talent gaps and needs in the region. The process and Blueprint can help to:

Coordinate and leverage a variety of localized efforts across three systems that may be focused on the same businesses, occupations or industry pathways (e.g. WIOA local programming and MOU activities, WCTF programming, small business development, Manufacturing sector initiatives, Urban Agenda strategies, Working Cities etc)
Improve connectedness between employers (generally who are not sure where to turn) and education/workforce systems.
Develop new state level strategies and/or align existing state-level resources to respond to regional priorities or common priorities that emerge across all seven regions.

Introduction

Describe the process of creating a regional plan.
Regional Planning Team. Describe the different partner organizations brought together to be a part of the Regional Planning Team (K-12 District, Vocational Technical School, Community College, State University, Workforce Development Board, Massachusetts Office of Business Development, Regional Economic Development Organization, Regional Planning Authority, and more).
Individual Name / Individual Title / Organization Name
Regional Planning Process. Describe your region’s process to develop Labor Market Blueprint.

Where are we now?

Describe the current state of your region, including an analysis of industries, occupations, demographic shifts, and gaps between employer demand and employee supply.
Regional Context
Utilize the information provided through state data sets and additional local analysis to highlight the region’s unique geography, communities, population growth/change, education demographics, workforce history, high-level industry trends, etc.
Describe critical trends in population change in next decade that impact the workforce.
Describe critical trends in regional demographics that impact the workforce. Age, education, etc
Describe past and currenthigh-level industry trends impacting workforce needs (i.e. growing, declining, emerging industries).
Describe critical trends in occupational employment history in the region (i.e. growing, declining, emerging occupations).
What are the top three challenges facing the region’s business and industry over the next five years?
Industry Demand Analysis (NAICS)
Utilize your region’s criteria and labor market data (i.e. data packages and excel tool) developed for the regional planning teams to explore the following questions in discussion and develop consensus for each section.
What top three industries are most important to the region’s economic success and why?
What three industries currently face the most significant workforce development challenges?
Occupational Demand Analysis (SOC)
Utilize your region’s criteria and labor market data (i.e. data packages and excel tool) developed for the regional planning teams to explore the following questions in discussion and develop consensus for each section.
What are the top occupations or occupational groups in which the region is facing the most significant employee shortages?Utilize the regional occupational list that ranks of 3, 4 and 5 star occupations for the region and determine those with significant shortages based upon the “supply” data for the region, input from business, organizations and other input.
Which occupations offer a “career pathway” for workers to move to higher skills and wages, especially workers starting at entry-level? (Add 1 or 2 star occupations not included above that are entry-level yet important because of a career pathway or cluster.)
Workforce Supply
Using the regional planning data tool and packages, review information on existing unemployed workers, graduates coming from educational pipelines and other data on workforce supply.
What are the most significant (top three) broad labor supply challenges and opportunities facing the region over the next five years based on the existing workforce in the region (e.g. retirement and aging of population, low high school graduation rate, education or workforce skills of existing labor pool, limited language proficiency, etc)?
Based upon UI Claimant population, what is the region’slargest supply of unemployedworkers by job type?
What are the characteristics of unemployed and under employed workers in the region?
Describe the universe of the region’s existing pipelines of new workers (credentials) across public and private secondary and post-secondary institutions.
Highest and lowest number of new graduates by credential/CIP?
How does retention of graduates in your region influence supply?

Where do we want to go?

Describe the collectively developed criteria, industry and occupational priorities, vision, mission, and goals for your region.
Criteria for Priority Industries/Occupations
The regional kick-off meetings with the WSC suggested a number of foundational criteria to prioritize industries and occupations, including existing job openings, jobs with low barriers to entry, jobs that lead to career pathways, and occupations with high demand (current openings, short/long term projections), and self-sustaining wages.
STATE CRITERIA
High employer demand
High demand and high wage (4-5 Star Occupations)
Talent Gaps (Ratio of Supply to Demand)
Career Pathways / REGIONAL CRITERIA
What additional criteria are important to your Regional Planning Team?


Priority Industries and Occupations
Using your regional context and mutually-agreed upon regional criteria, list your priority regional industries and occupations or occupational groups.
List your 2-3 priority industries by 2-digit NAICS. Where you choose to prioritize an industry that does not fit neatlyinto a 2-digit NAICS code (i.e. creative economy), note where it would best fit (i.e. Arts and Recreation) and describe the portion of the 2-digit industry you are prioritizing. For each selection, write a brief justification of your choice.
List your 3-5 priority occupations or occupational groups by SOC code (4-8 digit, as necessary). Include a short description justifying your choices. The region should start with the list of top occupations identified in the previous section (green) that included 4 and 5 star occupations, occupations that are part of a career pathway (but may be lower stars), and a further prioritization of those occupations on the list experiencing a constricted “supply” of workers or new graduates with necessary skills (credentials, degrees, apprenticeships etc) for occupations. For each selection, write a brief justification of your choice.
Assets
For each of the selected priority industries and occupations (purple section), articulate existing assets and gaps in capacity.
Credential Asset Mapping Tool. For priority industries and occupations that require credentials, use the Credential Asset Mapping Tool in Attachment 1 to demonstrate assets and gaps for each priority industry and occupation.
Non-Credential Asset and Gap Analysis. For priority industries and occupations that do not require a credential, describe what existing assets in the region can meet the employer demand, and where systemic gaps prevent meeting employer demand.
Vision, Mission, Goals.
Using your articulated priority industries, occupations, and existing assets, articulate your broader vision, mission, and goals.
Vision. State 2-5 things that you hope will be true in your region 10 years through the lens of education, workforce development, and economic development to address the priority industries and occupations identified in the Blueprint. Consider questions such as: which industries will thrive? What are the living standards and educational levels of your population?
Mission. State what each set of core partners has agreed to do in order to achieve your vision. What will educational partners do? What will economic development partners do? What will workforce development partners do? (For example: Our education partners will focus resources on expanding career awareness and exposure, as well as the quantity and variety of education programming in priority industries X, Y, and Z. Please note these are broad mission statements rather than specific strategies, below).
Goals. Describe your shared goals. Note that goals listed here should be ones that cannot be accomplished without participation of players from multiple entities and across two or three of the systems.
By 2018, we will…
What new programs, initiatives, or policies would you like your team to enact or create that are related to your priority industries and occupations? / By 2020, we will…
What are the results that you will achieve by those initiatives and/or programs and policies? For example, how many new workers, reductions in labor shortages, or industries will be stabilized? / By 2022, we will…
What are the longer-term results that you will achieve by those initiatives and/or programs and policies? For example, how many new workers, reductions in labor shortages, or industries will be stabilized?

How do we get there?

Describe the strategies you will jointly employ to align the work of multiple systems around your shared vision, mission, and goals.
Shared Strategies
While each system may make changes in individual programming to align with the region’s priorities, all systems will need to commit to shared changes in the following areas, stated below. Describe how your region will work collaboratively in the following two areas.
Continuous Communication. How often and in what way will you meet to review progress towards shared goals and make course corrections?
Shared Measurement Systems. What data and measurement systems will you rely on to support shared understanding of how well you are meeting your goals and making progress towards a shared vision?
Other. If relevant, what other shared strategies will the region adopt to ensure progress towards the common agenda?
Mutually Reinforcing Activities
To ensure that the work each partner is doing is supportive of the common agenda, describe the specific activities regional partners have committed to doing.
Education. Describe the changes in programming, recruitment, retention and placement strategies, assessment, tracking, or other strategies specific educational partners have committed to in order to meet shared regional goals.
Workforce Development. Describe the changes in programming, employer relations, recruitment, retention and placement strategies tracking, or other strategies specific workforce development partners have committed to in order to meet shared regional goals.
Economic Development. Describe the changes in economic development strategy that economic development partners have committed to in order to meet shared regional goals.

Conclusion

Conclusion. Describe any closing remarks, next steps, or considerations.