The State Youth Committee recommended and the State Workforce Development Council approved assigning delivery of the youth framework component to the state’s grant recipient/fiscal agent, the Idaho Department of Labor as allowed in the NPRM §681.400. All intake, assessment, completion of individual service strategies, case management and follow-up services will be provided within the One-Stop offices by Idaho Department of Labor staff.

During PY16, annual contracts were established with Idaho Department of Labor WIOA Youth Program providers with the expectation of performance requirements. In addition to the WIOA Sec. 116 measures, they were to be evaluated on their service to individuals with barriers to employment and according to incidence of population (demographics), and reviewed by the Youth Committee to ensure that the Idaho Department of Labor continues to meet performance accountability measures.

In selecting the Idaho Department of Labor as its WIOA Youth provider, the state initiated a competitive procurement process for qualified service providers for selected youth elements. However, its assessment of the process noted the following:

a) Lack of Competition

The state Division of Purchasing instituted its standard procurement process with the Youth Services RFP, which included website postings and issuance of a news release to over 200 media contacts around the state. In response to the funding opportunities announced for each of the six geographic areas of the state, four areas had only one applicant and two areas had two applicants. For all six areas, the Idaho Department of Labor was selected as the youth program element service provider.

b) Duplicate Administrative Functions

The competitive process requires a formal set-aside of a portion of local WIOA Youth funds for the specific Youth program element services identified in the RFP. After a service provider is selected for each of the six geographic areas, funds are awarded through a grant agreement and tracked separately from other local WIOA Youth funds. The Administrative Services Division of the Idaho Department of Labor assumes the task for grant agreement development and monitoring, as well as fiscal tracking and budgeting of the six additional grant agreements’ resources.

Taking this assessment into account, the state’s Youth Committee recommended to the Workforce Development Council that the Youth RFP contract be terminated and the state’s grant recipient, the Idaho Department of Labor, be designated as the state’s comprehensive WIOA Youth program service provider as allowed under the provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act’s Final Rule at 681.400. This section clarifies that the competitive procurement provision discussed in the Act (Sec. 123) is only applicable if the local board (please note, Idaho’s Workforce Development Council functions as both a state and local board) chooses to award grants or contracts to youth program element service providers other than the grant recipient. The intent of this flexibility is to allow local boards to determine how WIOA youth program elements can be most efficiently and cost-effectively provided.

With this change to the WIOA Final Rule, the Council determined that the designation of the grant recipient as the Youth program element service provider was the most appropriate course of action for the state, beginning July 1, 2017, rather than continue with the Youth RFP contracts issued earlier.

Outcomes

Compliance with federal performance guidelines, which provide specific levels of performance for WIOA program outcomes, is critical. Performance indicators may be added or revised to meet federal and state requirements.

a. Percentage of participants who are in education or training activities, or in unsubsidized employment, during the second quarter after exit from the project.

b. Percentage of participants in education or training activities, or in unsubsidized employment, during the fourth quarter afterexit from the project.

c. Median earnings of participants who are in unsubsidized employment during the second quarter after exit from the project.

d. Effectiveness in serving employers.