Crisis Stabilization Facility

The Crisis Stabilization Facility will offer rapid access to voluntary, short-term residential care to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, as an alternative to a hospital or other more restrictive setting.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 427001-BED
• Department: Human Services
• Department Head: John Schlueter (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-05-21T04:59:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-05-28T04:59:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Program Characteristics (5 pts) —
  1. What is the overall capacity of the proposed Crisis Stabilization Facility (the total number of individuals it can serve concurrently across all payors)? If capacity is differentiated by factors such as gender or acuity level, please explain, and articulate any strategies used to manage these different bed “types” while supporting rapid access for incoming referrals.
  2. Explain the overall staffing structure by indicating the number and type of staff involved in providing services on-site and the number and type of staff available for consultation (by phone/video) throughout a 24/7 period. The model described should reflect the totality of staffing available to support all clients (as identified in question 1.A). If staffing varies by day of the week (e.g., weekdays vs. weekends), explain.
  3. Describe the program’s supervisory structure. To whom does each staff role referenced in 1.2 report? If desired, you may upload an organizational chart in the Vendor Questionnaire section of this RFP to illustrate the supervisory structure, in lieu of a written response. 
• Referral and Access (30 pts) —
  1. Describe the referral and admission process for the program. In your answer, respond separately to each of the items below. If the answers vary based on time of day, day of the week, referral source, or other factors, explain.
     1. Staff roles: What staff roles are responsible for receiving and processing referrals? What staff roles are responsible for making admissions decisions?
     2. Triaging referrals: Describe how the program determines eligibility to receive crisis stabilization services.  For individuals who are found eligible, how does the program approach triage and prioritization, accounting for acuity/clinical status and level of risk of institutionalization? If desired, you may upload a referral form or screening tool to supplement your written response and help illustrate how eligibility and acuity are assessed.
     3. Referral requirements: List the specific information and/or documentation that must be received before an admissions decision can be made and/or before an admission can be facilitated. Identify additional information and documentation that is desirable but that is not required prior to admission.
  2. Describe any exclusionary criteria for admissions. In your answer, respond separately to each of the items below:
     1. Psychiatric Needs: Outline criteria for psychiatric needs that cannot be safely managed at the facility. Identify how this is determined during the referral process, including any standardized assessment tools used.
     2. Medications: Identify any medications (including those related to psychiatric diagnoses, physical health conditions, substance use disorders, and/or withdrawal management) that might hinder admission. Identify any circumstances where an individual not having their medications with them would result in admission being delayed or denied.
     3. Medical/Nursing Needs: Explain how referrals are screened for nursing needs that exceed DHS 83 standards or other physical health conditions that cannot be safely managed at the facility. Define the criteria used and process by which it is determined that an individual’s medical or nursing needs cannot be met.
     4. Other Exclusionary Criteria: List any additional exclusionary criteria, detailing how they are assessed during the admissions process and providing a brief rationale.
  3. What referral sources does your agency view as best positioned to identify and refer individuals who are at risk of institutionalization to the Crisis Stabilization Facility? What steps has your agency taken and/or would plan to take to establish and maintain productive, collaborative relationships with these referral sources?
  4. Considering the role of the Crisis Stabilization Facility in providing rapid access to residential care for individuals in acute crisis, what does your agency identify as the main challenges to addressing such urgent needs? What strategies have been implemented or could be implemented to overcome these challenges?
  5. Describe your approach to facilitating access for clients referred to the Crisis Stabilization Facility in the context of active substance use and/or who arrive intoxicated. If the response differs based on the type of substance involved, please explain those variations.
  6. Explain how the program would operationalize the following requirement (from the Needs and Expectations section): “Hold open at all times one (1) Dane County-funded bed for rapid-access referrals from the following sources: Journey Mental Health Center Emergency Services Unit (ESU), the CARES program, law enforcement, and/or same-day referrals of individuals discharging from a state mental health institute on short notice. Transition clients placed into the rapid-access bed into the next ‘general’ bed that opens.” Explain what this would look like in practice and identify at least one anticipated benefit and at least one challenge or unforeseen consequence that might result.
• Program Strategies and Activities (25 pts) —
  1. Briefly summarize 3-4 key strategies, policies, or practices your program uses to foster client engagement and prevent early or unplanned discharges.
  2. Describe the daily programming/group services offered by the facility. Include the types of groups available, the frequency and duration of sessions, the qualifications of staff members who facilitate group programming, and how groups are tailored to meet the needs of clients in crisis. If desired, you may upload a daily schedule to help illustrate this. 
  3. Describe the role of psychiatric prescribing services in the program, including:
     1. Timing: When psychiatric prescribing is available (days and times).
     2. Criteria: What criteria are used to determine whether an admitted client is in need of / is offered psychiatric prescribing services.
     3. Integration: How psychiatric prescribing services are integrated into each individual’s broader treatment plan, including when the client is working with a prescriber in the community (if prescribing services are offered to clients with community prescribers).
  4. Explain how peer services are incorporated into the program’s care model. Include details on the roles of peer specialists and the types of support they provide.
  5. Identify your plan for arranging and providing transportation for clients, including when and how it will be offered.
  6. Describe how the program responds to clients displaying aggression, making threats, experiencing psychosis, or exhibiting other challenging behaviors or symptoms in order to maintain safety while using a least restrictive approach.
• Experience and Qualifications (10 pts) —
  1. Describe the experience and qualifications of your agency to provide programs that are welcoming to clients of all backgrounds and cultures including any explicit plans your agency is undertaking to improve in this area. If describing an agency-level initiative, please be clear as to how it will directly impact the experience of clients.
  2. Describe your experience and qualifications in providing appropriate staff training, policies, and procedures that address the management of escalating behaviors that threaten program and client safety. Please note any particular curricula or approaches used by your agency.
  3. List, and describe with no more than one paragraph each, at least three strategies your agency uses to support employee wellness, combat burnout, and minimize staff turnover.
  4. Explain how your agency develops and supports individuals who hold leadership positions, including supervisors and managers. 
• Quality Improvement (15 pts) —
  1. Describe how your agency will ensure accurate and timely data collection and reporting, including what staff roles will be responsible for collecting the required data points, how and when these data points will be collected, and what staff roles will be responsible for preparing and submitting data to the County.
  2. Identify at least one specific example of a time your agency used program data to implement a program improvement. What data were used, and what change was made?
  3. Describe your process for obtaining client feedback, including method, frequency, and process for review. Provide at least one specific example of a time your agency used client feedback to implement a program improvement.
  4. Describe at least one experience of obtaining feedback from a system partner or related organization, including how feedback was used to implement a program improvement.
  5. Describe a change your agency has made to policy or programming and how it has resulted in a more equitable and inclusive experience for historically marginalized clients (you may draw upon one of the examples from parts b-d, if desired).
  6. UNSCORED QUESTION: Identify 1-3 metrics (other than the performance indicators already identified in Section 3) that you feel could effectively assess the success of the Crisis Stabilization Facility. These metrics should be measurable using data you are already collecting, or that you would be willing to collect. 
• Cost (15 pts) —

  Points for cost will be awarded using a relative formula. The pricing proposal with the lowest Dane County levy request will receive the maximum number of points for this section and other proposals will be scored proportionally according to the calculation shown below, except that any pricing proposal with a Dane County levy request exceeding the amount of levy available will receive zero points for this section.

  (Lowest Proposed Levy Request ÷ Respondent’s Proposed Levy Request) × Maximum Cost Points Available = Score

  In plain language: among proposals with a county levy request that is equal to or lower than the amount of available county levy ($693,312) the proposal with the lowest county levy request earns all available points. Other proposals earn fewer points based on how their cost compares to the lowest. For example, if your proposal costs twice as much as the lowest proposal, you would receive about half of the cost points. Proposals with a county levy request that is higher than the amount of county levy available will receive zero points for this section.

• Local Vendor Preference (5 pts) —

  Per Dane County ordinance, a local Dane County vendor automatically receives five (5) points toward the evaluation score.

  Vendors located within the counties adjacent to Dane County (Columbia, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, or Sauk) automatically receive two (2) points toward the evaluation score.

  Locally Operated Vendor means a supplier or provider of equipment, materials, supplies, or services which has an established place of business within Dane County and whose business is registered and authorized to do business in the State of Wisconsin. An established place of business means a physical office, plant, or other facility. A post office box address does not qualify a vendor as a Locally Operated Vendor. Dane County Ordinance 25.04(5)

Submission Requirements

• PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS (up to 5 points)
• Capacity (required) —

  What is the overall capacity of the proposed Crisis Stabilization Facility (the total number of individuals it can serve concurrently across all payors)? If capacity is differentiated by factors such as gender or acuity level, please explain, and articulate any strategies used to manage these different bed “types” while supporting rapid access for incoming referrals.

• Staffing (required) —

  Explain the overall staffing structure by indicating the number and type of staff involved in providing services on-site and the number and type of staff available for consultation (by phone/video) throughout a 24/7 period. The model described should reflect the totality of staffing available to support all clients (as identified in question 1.A). If staffing varies by day of the week (e.g., weekdays vs. weekends), explain.

• Supervisory Structure (required) —

  Describe the program’s supervisory structure. To whom does each staff role referenced in 1.2 report? If desired, you may upload an organizational chart in the Vendor Questionnaire section of this RFP to illustrate the supervisory structure, in lieu of a written response.

• Section uploads —

  If desired, you may upload an organizational chart here.

• REFERRAL & ACCESS (up to 25 points)
• Referral and Admission Process (required) —

  Describe the referral and admission process for the program. In your answer, respond separately to each of the items below. If the answers vary based on time of day, day of the week, referral source, or other factors, explain.

  1. Staff roles: What staff roles are responsible for receiving and processing referrals? What staff roles are responsible for making admissions decisions?
  2. Triaging referrals: Describe how the program determines eligibility to receive crisis stabilization services.  For individuals who are found eligible, how does the program approach triage and prioritization, accounting for acuity/clinical status and level of risk of institutionalization? If desired, you may upload a referral form or screening tool to supplement your written response and help illustrate how eligibility and acuity are assessed.
  3. Referral requirements: List the specific information and/or documentation that must be received before an admissions decision can be made and/or before an admission can be facilitated. Identify additional information and documentation that is desirable but that is not required prior to admission.
• Exclusionary Criteria (required) —

  Describe any exclusionary criteria for admissions. In your answer, respond separately to each of the items below:

  1. Psychiatric Needs: Outline criteria for psychiatric needs that cannot be safely managed at the facility. Identify how this is determined during the referral process, including any standardized assessment tools used.
  2. Medications: Identify any medications (including those related to psychiatric diagnoses, physical health conditions, substance use disorders, and/or withdrawal management) that might hinder admission. Identify any circumstances where an individual not having their medications with them would result in admission being delayed or denied.
  3. Medical/Nursing Needs: Explain how referrals are screened for nursing needs that exceed DHS 83 standards or other physical health conditions that cannot be safely managed at the facility. Define the criteria used and process by which it is determined that an individual’s medical or nursing needs cannot be met.
  4. Other Exclusionary Criteria: List any additional exclusionary criteria, detailing how they are assessed during the admissions process and providing a brief rationale.
• Partnership with Referral Sources (required) —

  What referral sources does your agency view as best positioned to identify and refer individuals who are at risk of institutionalization to the Crisis Stabilization Facility? What steps has your agency taken and/or would plan to take to establish and maintain productive, collaborative relationships with these referral sources?

• Rapid Access (required) —

  Considering the role of the Crisis Stabilization Facility in providing rapid access to residential care for individuals in acute crisis, what does your agency identify as the main challenges to addressing such urgent needs? What strategies have been implemented or could be implemented to overcome these challenges?

• Active Substance Use (required) —

  Describe your approach to facilitating access for clients referred to the Crisis Stabilization Facility in the context of active substance use and/or who arrive intoxicated. If the response differs based on the type of substance involved, please explain those variations.

• Rapid-Access Bed (required) —

  Explain how the program would operationalize the following requirement (from the Needs and Expectations section):

  “Hold open at all times one (1) Dane County-funded bed for rapid-access referrals from the following sources: Journey Mental Health Center Emergency Services Unit (ESU), the CARES program, law enforcement, and/or same-day referrals of individuals discharging from a state mental health institute on short notice. Transition clients placed into the rapid-access bed into the next ‘general’ bed that opens.”

  Explain what this would look like in practice and identify at least one anticipated benefit and at least one challenge or unforeseen consequence that might result.

• Section Upload (optional) —

  If desired, you may upload a referral form or screening tool to supplement your written response to 2.1.2 above, Triaging referrals.

• PROGRAM STRATEGIES & ACTIVITIES (up to 25 points)
• Engagement (required) —

  Briefly summarize 3-4 key strategies, policies, or practices your program uses to foster client engagement and prevent early or unplanned discharges.

• Programming / Group Services (required) —

  Describe the daily programming/group services offered by the facility. Include the types of groups available, the frequency and duration of sessions, the qualifications of staff members who facilitate group programming, and how groups are tailored to meet the needs of clients in crisis. If desired, you may upload a daily schedule to help illustrate this. 

• Prescribing (required) —

  Describe the role of psychiatric prescribing services in the program, including:

  1. Timing: When psychiatric prescribing is available (days and times).
  2. Criteria: What criteria are used to determine whether an admitted client is in need of / is offered psychiatric prescribing services.
  3. Integration: How psychiatric prescribing services are integrated into each individual’s broader treatment plan, including when the client is working with a prescriber in the community (if prescribing services are offered to clients with community prescribers).
• Peer Services (required) —

  Explain how peer services are incorporated into the program’s care model. Include details on the roles of peer specialists and the types of support they provide.

• Transportation (required) —

  Identify your plan for arranging and providing transportation for clients, including when and how it will be offered.

• Challenging Client Behavior (required) —

  Describe how the program responds to clients displaying aggression, making threats, experiencing psychosis, or exhibiting other challenging behaviors or symptoms in order to maintain safety while using a least restrictive approach.

• Section Upload (optional) —

  If desired, you may upload a daily schedule to help illustrate the daily schedule you have described in response to 3.2 above.

• EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS (up to 10 points)
• Welcoming all (required) —

  Describe the experience and qualifications of your agency to provide programs that are welcoming to clients of all backgrounds and cultures including any explicit plans your agency is undertaking to improve in this area. If describing an agency-level initiative, please be clear as to how it will directly impact the experience of clients.

• Staff training & strategies (required) —

  Describe your experience and qualifications in providing appropriate staff training, policies, and procedures that address the management of escalating behaviors that threaten program and client safety. Please note any particular curricula or approaches used by your agency.

• Staff retention (required) —

  List, and describe with no more than one paragraph each, at least three strategies your agency uses to support employee wellness, combat burnout, and minimize staff turnover.

• Staff development (required) —

  Explain how your agency develops and supports individuals who hold leadership positions, including supervisors and managers.

• QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (up to 15 points)
• Data collection/reporting (required) —

  Describe how your agency will ensure accurate and timely data collection and reporting, including what staff roles will be responsible for collecting the required data points, how and when these data points will be collected, and what staff roles will be responsible for preparing and submitting data to the County.

• Program Improvement example (required) —

  Identify at least one specific example of a time your agency used program data to implement a program improvement. What data were used, and what change was made?

• Client feedback (required) —

  Describe your process for obtaining client feedback, including method, frequency, and process for review. Provide at least one specific example of a time your agency used client feedback to implement a program improvement.

• Partner feedback (required) —

  Describe at least one experience of obtaining feedback from a system partner or related organization, including how feedback was used to implement a program improvement.

• Agency quality improvement example (required) —

  Describe a change your agency has made to policy or programming and how it has resulted in a more equitable and inclusive experience for historically marginalized clients (you may draw upon one of the examples from parts b-d, if desired).

• (UNSCORED QUESTION) Metrics of success (required) —

  Identify 1-3 metrics (other than the performance indicators already identified in Section 3) that you feel could effectively assess the success of the Crisis Stabilization Facility. These metrics should be measurable using data you are already collecting, or that you would be willing to collect.

• COST (up to 20 points) —

  Points for cost will be awarded using a relative formula. Please enter your agency's proposed number of beds in the pricing proposal section of this application, along with the associated daily rate.
  
  The response with the lowest cost will receive the maximum number of points available for this section. All other proposals will receive a proportion of the cost points according to the following calculation:

  (Lowest Proposed Cost ÷ Respondent’s Proposed Cost) × Maximum Cost Points Available = Score

• Budget Backup (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• LOCAL VENDOR PREFERENCE (up to 5 points)
• Local Vendor Preference (required) —

  Select a Local Vendor Preference:

  Vendors located within Dane County automatically receive five points toward the evaluation score.

  Vendors located within the counties adjacent to Dane County (Columbia, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, Sauk) automatically receive two points toward the evaluation score.

  Vendors located outside of Dane County of the 7 counties adjacent to Dane County would choose "No Preference".

  NOTE: A post office box address does not qualify as an established place of business.

• VENDOR INFORMATION —

  Please answer the following questions completely. This section of your agency's response is not scored.

• W9 Upload (required) —

  Upload your company's W9 form.

  NOTE: The W9 is required to be signed within the past 12 months

• Agency UEI number:
• Registration with Wisconsin DFI (required) —

  At the time of contracting with the Department of Human Services, agencies must be registered entities in good standing with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

  Please check this box to indicate that your agency is registered or will be registered in good standing with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. 

• Please explain. (required) —

  You've indicated that your agency is not and will not be registered with Wisconsin DFI. At the time of contracting with the Department of Human Services, agencies must be registered entities in good standing with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

• Fair Labor Practice Certification (required) —

  Has your company been found by the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") or the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission ("WERC") to have violated any statute or regulation regarding labor standards or relations in the seven years prior to the date this bid submission is signed?
  
  If yesis answered, a copy of any relevant information regarding such violation is required to be uploaded with your bid submission.
  

  Additional information about the NLRB and WERC can be found using the following links:
  www.nlrb.gov and http://werc.wi.gov.

• Cooperative Purchasing (required) —

  Reference Guidelines - Section F.

  Does your company agree to furnish the commodities or services of this bid to municipalities and state agencies?

• Designation of Confidential and Proprietary Information (required) —

  Please specify what information you wish to designate as confidential and proprietary. Please identify section/ pages/ topic /documents, etc.

  NOTE: Pricing sections cannot be designated as confidential and proprietary.

  If nothing will be designated, simply type "None" in the section below.

• RFP ADDENDA
• I understand that if any addendum is issued I will have to acknowledge the posted addendum. (required)
• If an addendum is posted after I have submitted my proposal response and the resulting addendum requires action to be taken either in the Specification Section or Pricing Section, I understand that: (required) —

  1. I will have to unsubmit my proposal response.

  2. I will have to acknowledge the posted addendum.

  3. I will have to take action in responding to the changes on either the Specification Section or Pricing Section.

  4. I will then have to resubmit my proposal response.

  Further instructions on addendum(a) postings can be found here.

• SIGNATURE DECLARATION
• Solicitation Response Declaration (required) —

  In submitting and confirming this solicitation response, we certify that we have not, either directly or indirectly, entered into any agreement or participated in any collusion or otherwise taken any action in restraint of free competition; that no attempt has been made to induce any other person or firm to submit or not to submit a solicitation response; that this solicitation response has been independently arrived at without collusion with any other vendor competitor or potential competitor; that this solicitation response has not been knowingly disclosed prior to the opening of bids to any other vendor or competitor; that the above statement is accurate under penalty of perjury.

  Further, by submitting this solicitation response, firm agrees with all the terms, conditions, and specifications required by the County in this solicitation and declares that the corresponding solicitation response and pricing are in conformity therewith.

  I have read and understood the entire document.

  I declare under penalty of false swearing under the law of Wisconsin that the foregoing is true and correct.

• Signed on: (required) —

  Write in month, day, year and city/state in which the submission occurred.

  Example: June 27, 2025 in Madison, WI

• Electronically signed by: (required) —

  Provide First Name, Last Name and Title

• Project Description (required) —

  Please provide a brief description of the intended purchase.

• Pricing table required? (required) —

  Always select "Yes" unless this is a Highway WisDot Design Project

• External Pricing Document? (required) —

  Is an external pricing document being used?