Okaloosa County BOCC — April 19, 2016 — CareerSource Okaloosa 2016-2020 Plan for County Commissioners Review — reading text

operate its one full service centers located in Okaloosa County in Ft. Walton Beach; and, satellite center in Walton County in DeFuniak Springs. Additionally, the CareerSource Board will operate the CareerSource Mobile Business Center to deliver off-site services to the residents and businesses of Okaloosa and Walton Counties. The CareerSource Board will continue to make its CareerSource Mobile Business Center available to Workforce Florida Inc., Board and the Department of Economic Opportunity in the event of a national or state emergency. Competitive Process for Awards to Service Providers The CareerSource Board may elect to competitively procure components of services or special projects if the Board deems it to be in the best interests of effective and efficient delivery of services. The CareerSource Board process for awards for service providers will be as follows: The CareerSource Board believes in and practices open and full competition in order to procure the best services possible at a reasonable price. The process includes advertisement in the local newspapers, website, workforce regions within Florida, and direct notification through the yellow pages if the vendor list for services is found to be limited. Written notification of Intent to CareerSource Okaloosa Walton April 30, 2016 73 | P a g e Issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) is sent to each addressee on the Vendor list with instructions on how to request a copy of the solicitation. In an effort to continually improve the solicitation process and to ensure open and free competition, the CareerSource Board has a policy of conducting periodic surveys of vendors who request copies of the solicitation and then do not submit proposals or bids. This is done to determine if the process discouraged competition or if other factors were the primary reasons for the decision not to submit a proposal or bid. Information gained from the surveys is factored into improvement of the solicitation process. The final selection of Service Providers is made by the CareerSource Board following a recommendation from an appointed Ad-Hoc Selection Committee named by the Chairman of the CareerSource Board. The staff of the CareerSource Board is charged with the responsibility of certifying the integrity of the solicitation process was met by ensuring that all requirements of the RFP are met in each proposal, that the proposal was received by the published deadline, and that the proposal was responsive to the RFP. After the proposals have been received and deemed responsive by the Board staff, the proposals are provided to the named members of the Ad-Hoc Selection Task Force for review, evaluation, and rating. The Ad-Hoc Task Force then meets in an open and advertised public meeting to complete the evaluation and rating process. The Ad-Hoc Task Force will report its results and make a recommendation to the full CareerSource Board for selection of the Service Provider/s. The Competitive Solicitation process includes a provision for any proposing agency to protest the decision of the Ad-Hoc Task Force or the CareerSource Board. The final decision is made by the CareerSource Board. (3) Expanding access to employment: Please describe how the local board, working with entities carrying out core programs, will expand access to employment, training, education and supportive services for eligible individuals, particularly eligible individuals with barriers to employment, including how the local board will facilitate the development of career pathways and co-enrollment, as appropriate, in core programs, and improve access to activities leading to recognized postsecondary credential (including a credential that is an industry-recognized certificate or certification, portable, and stackable). WIOA §108(b)(3) USDOL’s vision for WIOA and the Workforce System presents an extraordinary opportunity to improve job and career options for our nation's workers and jobseekers through an integrated, job-driven public workforce system that links diverse talent to businesses. It supports the development of strong, vibrant regional economies where businesses thrive and people want to live and work. To realize this vision, the CareerSource Board will revitalize the CareerSource One-Stop system to be characterized by three critical hallmarks of excellence: a. The needs of business and workers drive workforce solutions; b. CareerSource Centers provide excellent customer service to jobseekers and employers and focus on continuous improvement; and CareerSource Okaloosa Walton April 30, 2016 74 | P a g e  c. The CareerSource system supports strong regional economies and plays an active role in community and workforce development. While all of the three elements are important to an effective and efficient workforce system, this response focuses on the second of the three hallmarks of excellence; and how CareerSource will expand access to employment, training, education and supportive services for eligible individuals, particularly eligible individuals with barriers to employment. This effort will require a complete relook at the entire CareerSource workforce system. The CareerSource Board will facilitate this review which will include input from CareerSource partner agencies. This review will require input from education and business on the development of career pathways and how to improve access to activities leading to recognized postsecondary credential, including industry-recognized credentials that are portable and stackable. This review will require CareerSource to refocus its strategy on how services are delivered: a . First and foremost, the staff at the CareerSource centers will provide excellent customer service to jobseekers, workers and e m ployers. Staff will focus on continuous process improvement, i.e., CareerSource staff and partners provide jobseekers, including individuals with barriers to employment, such as individuals with disabilities, with the skills and credentials necessary to secure and advance in employment with family-sustaining wages. b. Secondly, CareerSource staff, using improved processes, will enable employers to easily identify and hire skilled workers and access other supports, including education and training for their current workforce. c. Thirdly, the CareerSource Board will ensure rigorous evaluations and support continuous process improvement of CareerSource staff and centers by identifying which strategies work better for different populations and ensuring training providers remain accountable for performance; ensuring high-quality integrated data informs policy makers, employers and jobseekers’ decision making; and, ensuring training providers are accountable for performance using the data and evidence. d. Finally, the review will ensure the CareerSource network and partner programs are organized to provide high quality services to individuals and employers. CareerSource Board and partners will increase coordination of programs and resources to support a comprehensive system that seamlessly provides integrated services that are accessible to all jobseekers, workers, and businesses. (4) Key Industry Sectors: Identify how the LWDB plans to better align its resources to support and meet the training and employment needs of key industry sectors in the local area. Describe policies adopted or planned for aligning training initiatives and Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) to sector strategies and demand occupations. WIOA §134(c)(1)(A)(v). CareerSource Okaloosa Walton April 30, 2016 75 | P a g e The One-Stop Center network and partner programs are organized to provide high-quality services to employers. The CareerSource Board, through the Business Competitiveness Council, CareerSource Business Services Team, and partners will increase coordination of programs and resources to support a comprehensive system that seamlessly provides integrated services that are accessible to all jobseekers, workers, and businesses. The Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act’s (WIOA) support for sector strategies encourages the growth of sector partnerships as a proven industry-driven strategy for advancing workers and addressing employer skill needs. WIOA’s emphasis on job-driven investments that directly connect training to employment should provide more people with jobs and employers with a skilled workforce force. The CareerSource Board will continue to use a variety of service strategies to better align its resources to support and meet the training and employment needs of key industry sectors in the LWDA 2. The CareerSource Board has continued to emphasize the continued improvement of employer services as one of the top priorities for the 2017-2020 Program Planning Years. The Business Competitiveness Council will recommend to the CareerSource Board any new policies regarding employer and business services including opportunities for employed worker or incumbent worker training. One strategy is to increase the number of recruiting agreements with the employer customers. Having these agreements in place allows CareerSource to be more responsive to assist employers with their hiring needs. CareerSource will build on its adoption and implementation of relationship-building marketing strategies with employers. These strategies includes personal contact, attending select business meetings, telephone, written, and electronic communication, follow-up for all job listings, referrals, and follow-up on new hires. This key relationship-building component will help to build on the trust already developed between the employer customer and the CareerSource Business Services Team. This relationship component will also help to raise the employer customer’s confidence level in CareerSource and the workforce system, knowing that the Business Services Team is committed to providing quality services; and the workforce system is capable of meeting the hiring needs of employer customers. The Business Services Team’s account representatives will become familiar with their industry sector in order to gain and retain credibility and to provide effective and valued services to its employers. Another strategy is to develop and implement a CareerSource Sector Strategy Operational Plan for Business Services, including methodology for targeting industries, employers, occupations; methodology for assignment of employer representatives for maximum effectiveness and efficiency; and designation of organizations for participation for networking and promotion of sector strategies. The CareerSource Board maintains membership and involvement in organizations such as chambers of commerce, Economic Development Council (EDC) in Okaloosa County and Economic Development Alliance (EDA) in Walton County, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and other employer organizations. The CareerSource Business Services Team will provide a copy of the CareerSource Sector Strategy Operational Plan including all established performance goals to the Executive Director for review and input. The Plan will be reviewed for any necessary modifications and presented to the Business Competitiveness Council for review and/or approval. CareerSource Okaloosa Walton