MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR SACRAMENTO COUNTY PROBATION EMPLOYEES

Post Information
Posted At:
Wed, Sep 23, 2026 3:41 PM
Sealed Bid Process:
Yes (Bids Sealed / Pricing Sealed)
Private Bid:
No

1. Introduction
   1.1. Summary

The Probation Department desires to secure a future agreement with a service provider experienced in the delivery of counseling and trauma-therapy services to law enforcement personnel.

The Proposer may subcontract portion(s) of the work, as long as Proposer retains the majority of the work. Any subcontracting will be solely between Proposer and its subcontractor(s). Proposer will remain responsible for all work performed under the awarded agreement, as though Proposer performed all the work. Additionally, Proposer shall remain the sole agent dealing with the Probation Department. If subcontracting is proposed, Proposer shall provide all the relevant information about their subcontractors in responding to the RFP. Subcontracting is subject to prior approval from the Probation Department. Failure to provide the required information may result in disqualification of your proposal.

The contract(s) resulting from this RFP may be for an initial three-year period commencing with execution of the contract by the Probation Department.  For reasons of economy and efficiency, the Probation Department reserves the right to extend contract(s) for two additional one-year periods, for a total of five years, upon mutual agreement. Should a contract be awarded as a result of this RFP, continuance of such a contract for the full period specified shall be contingent upon the satisfactory performance of the Proposer. Continuing or un-rectifiable performance deficiencies may cause the County to cancel any balance of contract.

Rates quoted are firm for the initial three-year period. Thereafter, price increases are negotiable based on COLA (cost of living adjustment), CPI (Consumer Price Index), and must be acceptable to the Probation Department. All requests for price increases must be accompanied by a formal letter of justification no less than ninety (90) days before the expiration date of the contract. Increases to the maximum agreement amount must be submitted and accompanied by a formal letter of justification no less than six (6) months before the expiration date of the contract.

1.2. Background

The Probation Department relies on outside service providers for necessary programs and services, which are not within the scope of services offered by the Probation Department or other county staff.

Sacramento County Probation Department (Probation) employs approximately 675 full-time personnel, both sworn and administrative professionals, who are responsible for serving the complex needs of adult and youthful offenders within the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System throughout the Sacramento County region, while simultaneously enforcing rules of the Court and maintaining community safety.

To enhance the department’s Wellness and Peer Support Program and strengthen the overall wellbeing of employees, Probation invites qualified and interested parties to submit a detailed proposal outlining their experience, approach, and scope of services to provide confidential, culturally competent mental health support to sworn and administrative professionals from the Probation Department.

Examples of a licensed health professional include licensed psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, licensed professional counselor trained in evidence-based practices to address the therapeutic needs of a person working in public safety.

1.3. Contact Information

Any inquiries or requests regarding this solicitation must be submitted via OpenGov. Contact with unauthorized County personnel during the selection process may result in disqualification.

Shelly Cortez
Administrative Services Officer II
8745 Folsom Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95827
Email: prob-contractsandgrants@saccounty.gov
Phone: (916) 875-2458

Department:
Probation

Department Head:
Jamal Rowe
Chief Probation Officer

1.4. Timeline
Release Project Date:
September 23, 2026
Question Submission Deadline:
October 7, 2026, 3:00pm
Question Response Deadline:
October 14, 2026, 5:00pm
Submission Deadline:
October 21, 2026, 3:00pm
Interviews:
Est. November 2026
Intent to Award:
Est. December 2026
Target Implementation Date:
Est. Spring 2027 (pending Board of Supervisors approval)
2. Project Details
2.1. Important Instructions for Electronic Submittal

The County is accepting electronic bid submissions. Bidders shall create a FREE account with OpenGov Procurement by signing up at Sign Up (opengov.com). Once you have completed account registration, browse back to this page, click on "Draft Response", and follow the instructions to submit the electronic bid.

All proposals shall include a table of contents outlining what is included in the document and where they can be found.

2.2. Scope of Work or Project Details
Security: The following guidelines must be adhered to prior to gaining access to Probation facilities, computers or records. Upon notice from Probation the successful Proposer’s employee(s) do not meet Probation security requirements or have violated Probation security requirements, Proposer shall immediately restrict access to Probation records and replace this employee within twenty-four (24) hours if necessary to meet the terms agreed upon through this process. Probation will confer with Proposer to remedy security concerns. Each employee who comes into contact with sensitive criminal offender record information will be required to:
Pass a background investigation, which will include a criminal history record check;
Review all training information provided and sign all acknowledgements required during the fingerprinting appointment for the security background investigation;
Learn and comply with the security policies and procedures in effect at Probation throughout the term of the contract;
Access and use restricted and/or confidential material only as required for performance of the assigned duties, and disseminate data only to personnel specifically authorized;
Understand the provisions of this section, and a willful violation of state or federal confidentiality laws, is punishable by a misdemeanor. Those in violation of this requirement may be prosecuted to the full extent allowed by law, including the termination of the contract; and
Sign a security acknowledgement prior to commencement of work.
Service Area and Availability: Proposer must propose availability to provide services between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday at various locations in Sacramento County. Availability outside of normal business hours, such as nights and weekends, and service locations outside of Sacramento County, may be included based on service need to address critical and/or traumatic incidents. Proposer should be available an estimated 24-40 hours per week based on service need. 
Provider/Contractor: Proposer must propose to utilize a licensed health professional such as but not limited to a licensed psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, or a licensed professional counselor trained in evidence-based practices and must be able to perform therapeutic interventions as needed, such as but not limited to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT),  Trauma Focus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT),  Eye Moment Desensitization and Processing (EMDR), and/or Prolonged Exposure (PE). 
Target Population: Provider shall provide services to Probation employees, sworn and administrative professionals.
Program Components: The services shall include but not be limited to:
Facilitate post-traumatic incident debriefings with Probation employees within three days of a critical incident. This debriefing may include individual and/or group debriefing session(s).
Provide individual and/or group post incident assessment, counseling or other therapeutic interventions to employee(s) involved in traumatic or critical incident(s). A critical incident is any event, situation, or exposure involving crisis, trauma, violence, disaster, death, serious injury or other stressful circumstances that overwhelms a probation staff and or/other involved individuals’ normal ability to cope which may significantly impact their emotional, psychological, physical, or occupational well-being. 
Conduct individualized assessments, counseling or other therapeutic interventions with employee(s) who may benefit from counseling with a trained trauma psychotherapist either voluntarily or through referral from the Chief Probation Officer or designee.   
Respond to emergency notification and request from Probation 365 days annually as necessary. Respond within 24 hours of a critical incident.
Provide behavioral health and wellness training for Probation employees and/or the department peer support team at a minimum annually.
Assist Probation's Wellness and Peer Support Team as a clinical consultant and support resource.
Collaborate with Probation’s contracted Chaplaincy in coordinating mental and emotional health awareness efforts.
Attend department briefings, wellness activities and conduct onsite visits at various Probation sites.
Conduct voluntary annual wellness check-ins with employees.
Provide employee(s) with linkage to additional supportive services to address their immediate needs.
Report monthly activities and services provided. Report data collection and outcome evaluations ensuring employee anonymity, including utilization and effectiveness. The personal identifying information (PII) of the employee shall be excluded.
Services shall be in-person unless otherwise specified; virtual telehealth may be conducted upon mutual agreement on an as-needed basis and must be approved by Probation. 
Invoice Probation for services provided on a monthly basis by the 15th of each month.
2.3. Basis of Award

This RFP award will be determined by factors other than price alone. The County’s sole purpose in the evaluation process is to determine from among the Responses received, which one is best suited to meet the County’s needs. Any final analysis or weighted point score does not imply that one Proposal is superior to another, but simply that in the County’s judgment the Proposal(s) selected offer(s) the best overall solution for its current and anticipated needs. The County reserves the right to make modifications to any scoring and/or weight structure prior to the evaluation of Responses. The Responses will remain sealed during the evaluation period and will be made available for public inspection upon notice of RFP award.

RFP Opening: On the date and time specified, Responses will be sealed and not available for public inspection until the award is announced.
Proposal Selection: The award of a contract or purchase order may be made to the Proposer(s) whose Response best meets the County of Sacramento’s requirements and represents the best value. The County will determine which Proposal provides the best value and whether it is in the interest of the County to accept the terms proposed in the Proposal. The County reserves the right to request additional written or oral information from Proposers in order to obtain clarification of their Responses. The County reserves the right to determine which specific Proposal to accept, even though such a selection may result in an overall higher cost. The judgment of the County as to which Proposal best meets the County’s requirements and results in the lowest overall cost shall be final.
Rejection or Correction of Responses:
The County reserves the right to reject any or all Responses if none of the submissions are responsive to its needs. This RFP is not an offer to buy. Minor irregularities or informalities in any Response, which are immaterial or inconsequential in nature, and are neither affected by law or a substantial variance with RFP conditions, may be waived at the County’s discretion whenever it is determined to be in the County’s best interest.
All Proposals will be evaluated by the Evaluation Team (ET). The ET will be composed of Sacramento County Probation staff and other parties with subject-matter expertise in related services as identified in this RFP. The ET will recommend an award in accordance with the evaluation criteria set forth in this RFP.
All contact between Proposer(s) and the County during the selection period (from release of RFP through award of contract) must be through the designated contact person, who is identified as associated with this RFP. Attempts by Proposer(s) to contact members of the ET or employees of the County of Sacramento without initially coordinating through the designated contact person may result in disqualification of Proposer(s).
The ET will evaluate each Proposal meeting the qualification requirements stated below. Any Proposal that is unrealistic in terms of the technical or schedule commitments, lack of previous experience in the operations of a large, urbanized government jurisdiction, or unrealistically high or low in cost, will be deemed reflective of an inherent lack of technical competence or indicative of a failure to comprehend the complexity and risk of the County’s requirements as set forth in this RFP.
Proposals in response to this RFP must be complete. Proposals that do not include all Mandatory signatures and submittals and that do not address each of the items listed in the Scope of Work will be considered nonresponsive, rated “fail” in the Evaluation Criteria and receive no further consideration.
Proposals passing the criteria above will be reviewed by the ET to determine the most qualified Proposal. The ET will consider information from sources that include, but are not limited to:
The Proposer’s written Response;
Demonstrated experience evaluating Proposer’s services of comparable size and complexity;
Oral presentation/interview, if necessary; and
Information provided by references.
Rating Criteria: The following criteria will be assigned weights of importance by the ET. Each Proposal will be rated by the ET on each criterion.
Agency Qualifications: Proposer has the appropriate organizational capacity, qualifications and experience to provide the proposed services described in their Response.
Program Proposal: The proposed services address targeted behaviors and include appropriate core elements, assessments and treatment plan. The description of the intended program outcomes and measurements will demonstrate outcome achievement and includes the program evaluation elements outlined in this RFP.
Service Cost Sheet: Proposer’s costs for services will be judged for both specific elements and the entire project.
Risk Assessment Questionnaire and Financial Stability: Successful Proposer's financial ability to perform under an awarded contract, as measured by the required submittal of financial information described in the Detailed Requirements section of this RFP.
Customer References

Note: ALL specifications, terms and conditions and appendices of this RFP will be included in any resulting contract.

3. Vendor Questionnaire / Consultant Compliance Forms
4. Certification of Independent Contractor Status*

"I hereby certify that the Contractor/Consultant firm employs five or more full-time employees. "Full-time," as defined by the Internal Revenue Service, means persons employed for 20 or more hours per week, and excludes temporary employees whose term of employment will be less than one (1) month. This certification satisfies the Internal Revenue Service criteria for treatment of the above-named Contractor/Consultant as an independent contractor, not an employee for tax withholding purposes."

Yes, I certify that the firm has five (5) or more full-time employees.
No, I certify that the firm does not have five (5) or more full-time employees, and th

Attached documents:
• A - Sample Agreement RFP No. 2026-002
• B - Sacramento County Minimum Insurance Requirements RFP No. 2026-002
• C - SAC JUSTICE PORTAL USER AGREEMENT FORM