Background

The Corporation of the City of Mississauga (the “City”) invites bids from qualified consultants for provision of an Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP).

Brief Scope of Work

The successful bidder will provide complete program services for all eligible City employees, retirees, their spouses/partners and dependents during the contract term. 

The EFAP will provide eligible program users (City employees/retirees and their eligible family members) who are experiencing substance use issues and/or mental health problems, who require crisis intervention services, or who require general counselling, with confidential and professional counselling services in a cost effective and professional manner. The successful bidder will also provide broader wellness services (e.g. nutritional, legal, financial advice) to employees.  

Within the available pool of professional counsellors who may provide mainstream counselling services, there will be those with the skills and experience to work with first responders (i.e. fire fighters).  As well, it is expected that the pool of counsellors in our region is very diversified and skilled to support various individual needs of our employees (e.g. indigenous, black, 2SLGBTQ+, and various religions and cultures). 

EFAP will provide support to the workplace on an as needed basis (e.g. debriefs following traumatic incidents, management consultations, peer support, team support, wellness seminars, training, or specialized counselling support through a workplace referral). 

Please refer to the Statement of Work Section of this RFP for more details on scope and requirements of the City.

Bidders must demonstrate that they meet the following criteria to be considered:

1. Approximately five (5) years (or more) experience providing EFAP services to large, complex organizations with over 5000 employees including first responders;
   
    
2. Ability to provide in-person counselling services using multiple modalities (i.e. in person, online, telephone).  In person services within the city of Mississauga and the surrounding Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including Hamilton, where our employees reside;
   
    
3. Ability to provide immediate access to live qualified intake personnel who will assess a Client’s eligibility and level of severity over the phone via toll-free telephone line, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days per year; toll-free line will immediately connect to live intake counsellors (not an answering service). 
   
   
   If the intake personnel is not a qualified professional counsellor, those assessed as high risk on intake will be provided immediate access to professional counsellor for further assessment and support;
   
    
4. Web-based service options e.g. educational material, accessing services, online counselling options;
   
    
5. Robust outcome evaluation process and reporting to measure client satisfaction and demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions.

Schedule A and Schedule B

• Schedule A - Cybersecurity Impact Assessment Questionnaire 

Software must be compatible with the City’s information technology environment. Refer to Schedule A included with this RFP package.

• Schedule B - Personal Information Assessment Questionnaire

The bidder's practices/solutions must be acceptable to the City, which the City will determine at its sole discretion.  Refer to Schedule B included with this RFP package.

Contract

The contract between the City and the successful bidder will be the City’s Professional Services Agreement (Appendix B), substantially in the form included in the Documents section of the submission portal.

The City will contract only with the bidder who is selected and approved for award. It is the responsibility of the bidder to ensure that they have assembled the appropriate team (including sub-consultants where necessary) to carry out the required services. Sub-consultants proposed by the bidder must be eligible for participating in City contracts (i.e. they have not been banned under City policy). 

Contract Term 

The Contract with the successful bidder will be for a five (5) year term, starting on approximately Tuesday, July 1, 2025 and ending on Sunday, June 30, 2030 (“Contract Term”). 

The Contract may be extended at the sole discretion of the City for an additional term of up to five (5) years subject to satisfactory supplier performance, pricing and successful negotiations of both parties.