Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment Services

The vendor is required to provide to the blind and visually impaired (BVR/BSBVI), a comprehensive statewide needs assessment of the vocational rehabilitation needs of persons with disabilities residing in the state.
- Goals
• Overall performance of BVR/BSBVI
• The needs of individuals with the most significant disabilities, including their need for supported employment.
• The needs of individuals with disabilities from different ethnic groups, including needs of individuals who have been un-served or underserved by the VR program.
• The needs of youth and students with disabilities in transition.
• The needs of individuals with disabilities served through other components of the statewide workforce development system.
• The need to establish, develop or improve community rehabilitation.
• Programs in the state.
• The needs of business.
• The vendor shall present a formal report to BVR/BSBVI for review.  
• After acceptance of the report by BVR/BSBVI, vendor shall present the report, along with relevant PowerPoint slides, to the council, at a scheduled council meeting, and defend its recommendations and methodology.
- Requirement:
• Developing the comprehensive statewide needs assessment (CSNA) plan for information and dissemination.
• Gathering the information.
• Analyzing the results and developing findings.
• Developing the conclusions and potential action strategies.
• Informing state plan goals, priorities and strategies.
• Each of the steps identified above will be detailed below along with the processes and deliverable products.
• The process of defining and establishing goals for the CSNA includes a review of readily available existing information from BVR.  
• Research on information about the state will be gathered and potentially unserved or underserved populations in the state will be identified.  
• The vendor staff will meet with BVR staff to identify specific goals for the CSNA.
• Identifying the rehabilitation needs of individuals with disabilities residing within the state.
• Identifying the rehabilitation needs of individuals with the most significant disabilities, including their need for supported employment services.
• Identifying the rehabilitation needs of individuals with disabilities who are minorities and individuals with disabilities that have been unserved or underserved.
• Identifying the rehabilitation needs of individuals served through other components of the workforce investment system
• The need for the establishments, development or improvement of community rehabilitation programs (CRPS) in the state.
• Identifying the rehabilitation needs of individuals in transition from school to post-school activities including post-secondary education and work, including the need for pre-employment transition services (pre-ETS) for students with disabilities as defined by the workforce innovation and opportunity act (WIOA). 
• Identifying the disability-related needs of businesses in state, specifically those needs related to recruiting, hiring and accommodating individuals with disabilities, in addition to identifying and assessing how well BVR is meeting those business needs.
• In partnership with the state rehabilitation council (SRC), BVR will have the opportunity to define and establish other CSNA goals at the beginning of the CSNA process.  
• A list of participating VR staff, SRC members, and other community members that will participate in the CSNA will be developed during this step of the process.
• Developing the CSNA plan for information and dissemination.
• Vendor will use mixed methods to gather information and complete the CSNA process.  
• Plan for stakeholder involvement throughout the process and will disseminate the information to BVR, the SRC, and other stakeholders as requested by BVR. 
• Vendor will use multiple methods and strategies for gathering information to complete the CSNA.
• The use of existing disability population statistics, disability population estimates from available data, population projections and economic forecasts from federal and state data, state level statistics from other programs and state and local data and reports. 
• The use of existing VR agency data, studies and experience.  
• This information will be gathered from BVR and department staff and provided to vendor
• Vendor staff will conduct two on-site research visits that will include interviews with BVR staff and analysis of the requested data.  
• Each of these visits will be two days in length with one occurring in the north part of the state and one in the south.  
• It is anticipated that vendor will need to conduct two on-site research visits that will last one week in length each.  
• These visits will include individual and focus group interviews conducted with individuals with disabilities, representatives of partner agencies that serve individuals with disabilities, businesses and BVR staff.  
• Participants will be identified and recruited by BVR and the SRC. 
• The purpose of each individual or focus group interview will be to identify the unmet needs of individuals with disabilities in state.  
• The project team will obtain input on how well BVR is meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities in the state and how BVR can increase their effectiveness in meeting the VR needs of individuals with disabilities. 
• The individuals in each focus group are to be informed by BVR or the SRC about the purpose of the group and the nature of the needs assessment.  
• Participation in an individual or focus group interview is strictly voluntary.  
• BVR and vendor staff will work to identify an interview schedule by mutual agreement that ensures the effective utilization of time to complete the interviews. 
• Each focus group should consist of six to ten participants. 
• Each focus group will be completed in approximately two hours by vendor project staff.  In the event that accommodations such as sign language interpreters, other language interpreters, or real-time captioning are required to accommodate focus group participants, BVR will assume responsibility for securing and purchasing the accommodations.  
• Electronic surveys conducted with individuals with disabilities, representatives of partner agencies, businesses and VR staff.  
• Develop initial drafts of the survey instruments which will be shared with BVR and the SRC for revision.  
• Upon finalization of the survey instruments, vendor will develop web-based survey instruments, will share URLs for each survey with BVR, and will develop suggested language to accompany survey distribution messages to individuals with disabilities, representatives of partner agencies, and BVR staff.  In order to facilitate a higher response rate, BVR will distribute the survey link via e-mail messages to the different stakeholder groups.
• Hard copy surveys will be sent to individuals with disabilities that are former, current or potential consumers of BVR services.  
• BVR will be responsible for developing the mailing list for these individuals.  The cost of mailing and return postage is covered in the contract price.
• Analyzing the results and developing findings. 
• Vendor will analyze the data from all the methods and strategies identified above and will triangulate the data in order to identify common and recurring themes. 
• The information will be summarized, and the recurring themes will be compiled and reported by subject area in the final CSNA report submitted to department and BVR.
• In consultation with BVR and the SRC, vendor will develop potential action strategies to address the findings generated. 
• These recommendations will be included as part of the final report.  
• The conclusions and recommendations will be provided by topic or subject area and will include options and alternative ways to accomplish the objectives whenever possible.  
• BVR will use these recommendations to inform the development and completion of the unified state plan.  
• Include recommendations geared specifically to help BVR respond to the requirements for their portion of the unified state plan.  
• The purpose of the CSNA is to inform VR policy development and the country plan specifically.  
• Consult with BVR and the SRC to identify the agency’s priority for the accomplishment of the recommendations contained in the final CSNA report.
- Contract Period/Term: 4 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: July 14, 2025