Request for Proposals for Kansas Statewide Legal Needs Assessment

Project Name: Kansas Civil Legal Needs Assessment - Statewide

Responses Due: November 22, 2024, 5:00 PM

Kansas Legal Services, Inc.
712 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200
Topeka, KS 66603

Contact for questions about RFP: noltem@klsinc.org

Matthew Keenan, Executive Director
keenanm@klsinc.org
785-233-2068

Purpose:
The needs assessment will be used as a key strategic planning tool to help:

• Allocate resources effectively.
• Track and improve client and case outcomes.
• Identify and prioritize the most pressing legal needs of low income client-eligible populations.

This assessment will focus on:

• Determining whether or not predominant civil legal issues are adequately addressed.
• Understanding the legal needs of minority populations.
• Identifying underserved populations and access barriers.
• Assessing demographic and trend changes affecting legal needs.
• Evaluating service duplication and consolidation opportunities.

Organization Overview:
Kansas Legal Services (KLS) is dedicated to meeting the civil legal needs of low income people throughout the state through our eleven field offices. We help with a wide range of legal issues including consumer, elder law, family law, housing, access to benefits, and legal barrier resolution. We offer a full range of legal assistance, including information and referrals, counsel and advice, legal clinics, a full-resource public website, and direct legal representation

Description of Services:
The selected consultant will be responsible for:
A. Coordination of a fully completed written Civil Legal Needs Assessment following, at minimum, the outline below:

• An executive summary;
• Description of design and methods used;
• Results of quantitative and qualitative data collection from surveys, interviews, focus groups, relevant datasets, etc.;
• Analysis of civil legal services needs and strengths;
• Project findings;
• Recommendations; and
• Support appendices.

B. Data Collection, Design, and Analysis:
The consultant will design all relevant surveys, interview questionnaires, and facilitation guides necessary to collect and analyze data regarding the civil legal service needs within the KLS service area.

The consultant will also be expected to either administer all interviews, surveys, and focus groups, or, where appropriate, effectively train staff/volunteers from KLS to undertake some of the surveying/interviewing.

Upon reviewing several other civil legal needs assessments that include rural populations, KLS tentatively prefers a “mixed-methods” approach. Ideally, the needs assessment will incorporate the below-listed data sources (but we remain open to the consultant’s guidance).

Surveys, Interviews, and/or Focus Groups (whichever is most effective) of the following:

• Board members, executive leadership, attorneys, and support staff at KLS;
• Judges, court clerks, administrators, and other relevant court staff/officials;
• Members of the state bar association and local bar associations;
• Existing/recent KLS clients;
• Existing/recent self-represented low-income civil court consumers (those who have represented themselves in court without seeking out services from KLS);
• Potential clients (e.g. those eligible, but not yet using free civil legal services for whatever reason), including those in minority populations which we anticipate oversampling;
• Staff from other legal, complementary organizations providing civil legal aid on a no-cost or low-cost basis to potential clients; and
• Staff from non-legal, complementary organizations serving the same eligible client population (e.g. homeless shelters, victims’ service providers, caseworkers, and other social service providers).

Trend Analysis of Open and Closed Cases at KLS. Review of a random selection of civil cases opened between 2020-2024 by client legal issue and geographic distribution, and a review of cases closed by legal issue, level of service provided, and geographic distribution.

Trend Analysis of Civil Law Court Cases by Client Eligible Population. Some eligible clients are not aware of our services or choose to represent themselves, rather than seek free legal counsel. An analysis of self-represented court cases (2020-2024) will help identify how KLS can better reach out to potential clients and educate and prepare low-income residents who wish to self-represent.

Demographic Analysis (using existing publicly available data sources). Gather and review demographic data about the service area’s eligible client population, including estimated number, geographic location, racial, gender, age, disability, and ethnic composition, and other characteristics mapped in relation to availability of existing civil legal services for the state.

C. Respondent/Contractor Presentation:
The consultant shall provide at least one in-person presentation, including opportunity for questions, to KLS at the end of the engagement highlighting the needs assessment process, findings, recommendations, and answering questions.

Consultant Responsibilities

 In addition to conducting the needs assessment, the consultant will receive support from KLS in the form of: 

• Access to relevant client databases and past case records;
• Assistance from KLS staff for data collection, where necessary;
• Provision of any publicly available demographic data for analysis; and
• KLS will collaborate with the consultant to ensure all necessary information is available to facilitate the successful completion of the assessment.

Project Budget: $35,000 

The project budget is $35,000. This amount should cover:

• Consultant fees, including hourly rates;
• Travel expenses and any necessary materials;
• Administrative costs, including software or licenses needed for the assessment; and
• All other relevant expenses related to the project.

Selection Criteria 

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria (with approximate weightings): 

• Expertise in needs assessments and project management (35%).  
• Relevant experience and past performance (25%). 
• Proposed solution and methodology (20%).
• Cost-effectiveness and budget alignment (20%).

The consultant will be selected solely by the judgment of KLS. The final decision is the sole decision of KLS and the respondents to the RFP have no appeal rights or procedures guaranteed to them. The consultant selected will be evaluated in part on the ability to deliver products on time and within budget, and their demonstrated understanding of the solution required based on their responses and subsequent interviews.

Process
Following receipt and review of the proposals selected, the consultant(s) may be invited to an interview at KLS’ sole discretion based on evaluation of each consultant's proposal. KLS reserves the right to reject any and all responses, and to waive any irregularities of information in the evaluation process. The selected consultant(s) will be given an opportunity to present their proposal in detail. Those directly responsible for the design of this project will be expected to attend. Although KLS may conduct interviews to select among the final candidates, it is not KLS’ intent to seek extensive clarification of the proposals received.

Therefore, it is to the benefit of the consultant(s) to provide an explicit, detailed, and complete discussion of the work in the proposal.
The proposal should be organized in the following manner with the subject headings and sequence indicated.

• Introduction
• Experience and Past Performance
• Organization and Personnel
• Proposed Solution(s) - Based on Description of Services
• References
• Pricing, Hourly Rates, and Other Fees

Any questions regarding this RFP must be submitted by email to KLS by November 15, 2024, by 5:00 P.M. CST.

Please send questions to Melissa Nolte at noltem@klsinc.org. All questions will be answered promptly. Responses to inquiries that substantially or materially change the RFP will be made available to all prospective consultants.

Please submit complete proposals to Melissa Nolte at noltem@klsinc.org by November 22, 2024, by 5 P.M. CST.

Project Deliverables
All recommendations identified during this engagement will be documented and reviewed with KLS’ management. All deliverables produced during the engagement are for the sole use of KLS and will remain the property of KLS.

Additional Information
All costs associated with responding to this RFP are the sole responsibility of the responding consultant. 

Submitted responses to this RFP become the property KLS. KLS reserves the right to use any and all ideas included in any response without incurring any obligations to the responding consultant or committing to procurement of the proposed services.

RFP respondents may find it useful to review the following links and documents before submitting a proposal.

• A. Legal Services Corporation’s website section on Comprehensive Needs Assessment & Priority Setting: https://www.lsc.gov/i-am-grantee/model-practices-innovations/plan-strategically/comprehensive-needs-assessment-priority-setting
• B. The Legal Services Corporation’s performance criteria that incorporate its grant oversight experience with the American Bar Association (ABA) standards for the provision of civil legal aid is described under the “Performance Area One” section at the following link: https://www.lsc.gov/our-impact/publications/other-publications-and-reports/lsc-performance-criteria