Boundless is looking for Partners!

In 2025, Boundless will be creating its 2026-2030 Strategic Plan. We invite the right partners to join us on this journey as we press forward with building a world that realizes the Boundless potential of all people. See below for the RFP details. All proposals due by November 29, 2024.

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Request for Proposals

In anticipation of Boundless’ 2025 Strategic Planning Process which will result in a new 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, Boundless is seeking proposals from individuals or firms which have the capability to provide one or more of the following services to the organization. An individual or firm may provide a proposal for one or more of the services listed, including proposing to provide all the services listed. Both individuals and groups or firms are referred to as “entities” in this Request for Proposals.

Proposals should include:

1.????? The name & contact information of the entity,

2.????? A description of which service(s) the entity is proposing to provide (from the list below),

3.????? Information regarding the entity’s prior experience or subject matter expertise in providing such service(s),

4.????? A brief description of the method the entity would use to provide the service(s), and

5.????? An estimated cost for providing the service(s) the entity is proposing to provide. Total cost should be included in the estimate, including anticipated travel or other costs associated performing the services outlined. (The final costs will be agreed upon by both parties in the contract based on the final terms of the agreement).

Proposals must be received by 5:00 pm, EST November 29, 2024, to be considered. Boundless reserves the right to amend or change the description of the agreed upon service(s), based on mutual agreement between Boundless and the selected partner. A full anticipated timeline of the Strategic Planning project can be found at the end of this request for proposals.

Proposals should be submitted via email to Boundless’ Chief Strategy Officer, Jennifer Riha, at [email protected]

All selected partners for Services 1-3 will be expected to share findings and data with all other selected partners both to inform the work of all partners and to ensure a cohesive final Strategic Plan product.

Boundless will provide internal project management of the overall Strategic Planning process to ensure coordination between selected partners, timeliness of the project, and achievement of the project's goals and objectives.

?Service One: Stakeholder Input

Boundless wishes to seek stakeholder input from employees, persons served, families/ guardians/ caregivers, board members, board committee members, donors, community partners including payers and vendors, other providers, professional trade or advocacy groups Boundless is involved with, and the broader general community of people who are supportive of the services we provide. This should include the gathering of input via surveys, focus groups, and interviews or other effective methods of gathering feedback. Stakeholder input should be reflective of the array of geographies Boundless operates in and services Boundless provides. Areas we wish to gather feedback include, but are not limited to:?

·?????? Satisfaction with the customer service provided by Boundless both externally and internally. This should be based on an objective measurement method, such as the Net Promoter Score/ Employee Promoter Score model.

·?????? Satisfaction with the effectiveness of the services provided by Boundless both externally and internally. Examples of this include: (External): the effectiveness of the treatment or caregiving services provided based on how these services are resulting in the achievement of identified goals and (Internal): the effectiveness of the administrative support services (ex. Technology Helpdesk, Employee Relations, Business Intelligence, etc.) provided to staff within the organization.

·?????? Input regarding gaps in the continuum of care in local communities

·?????? Input on specific suggestions to changes Boundless should consider making. Example: Program offerings that should be ended, models of care that should be updated, marketing or communication strategy changes that should be considered, etc.

·?????? Subjective evaluation of Boundless’ impact in the local communities where we serve and response on perceptions of Boundless’ reputation.

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This input should be de-identified at the individual level, but identifiable at the stakeholder group level, and prepared for presentation to Boundless’ leadership team and board members. This presentation should include both a written report of the findings and a presentation style product (ex. PowerPoint or similar format). The presentation may be provided virtually or in person.

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Potential providers of this Stakeholder Input service should have experience and subject matter expertise in survey question design and survey administration techniques that maximize participation and response rates.

?Service Two: Organizational Strengths/ Weaknesses/ Opportunities/ Threats Analysis (SWOT)

Boundless wishes to engage an external entity to conduct a SWOT analysis of the organization. Areas to include in the analysis include, but are not limited to:

·?????? Business Functions

·?????? Financial Stability

·?????? Organizational Resilience

·?????? Service Offerings

·?????? Market/ Competitive Factors

·?????? Environmental Factors (social perception of the industry, changing customer preferences, demographic shifts, etc.)

·?????? Workforce

?It is important that the organization conducting the SWOT analysis have in-depth knowledge of best practices in health and human services operations and understanding of best practice or emerging business operations models outside this industry. This SWOT analysis should include a comparison of Boundless’ practices and operations to these best practices. A key goal of this analysis is to identify where the organization’s time and financial resources should be directed in the future to improve, build on strengths, mitigate threats, or take advantage of opportunities.

It is recommended that entities proposing to provide the SWOT analysis, also consider proposing to provide the Industry/ Market Analysis, as it is likely that many of the opportunities or threats to the organization are closely tied to Industry and Market factors.

The analysis should be prepared for presentation to Boundless’ leadership team and board members. This presentation should include both a written report of the findings and a presentation style product (ex. PowerPoint or similar format). The analysis presentation should include discussion of how benchmarking was done and what practices or standards Boundless was compared against. The presentation may be provided virtually or in person.

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Service Three: Industry/ Market Analysis

Boundless wishes to engage an external entity with subject matter expertise in the following sectors to perform an Industry/ Market Analysis that recognizes Boundless’ goals of expanding its impact to become a national multi-state provider: ?

·?????? Intellectual and Developmental Disability Services

·?????? Behavioral Health Services

·?????? Specialized Primary Health Services for complex populations

o?? Federally Qualified Health Centers for specialized populations

o?? Other models of integrated primary health services for specialized populations

·?????? Autism Services

·?????? Special Education/ Healthcare Integrated Services

·?????? Home Based Healthcare

·?????? Aging Services

·?????? Vocational/ Employment Services

·?????? Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers

The analysis should include, but is not limited to:

·?????? Analysis of demand/ need

·?????? Market Saturation/ Opportunities

·?????? Market Niches

·?????? Payvider and PE Backed/ For Profit Provider Implications

·?????? Geographic Factors including favorable/ unfavorable potential markets for expansion and growth.

·?????? M&A Activity and Opportunities

The analysis should include, but is not limited to the following geographies:

·?????? Ohio

·?????? Indiana

·?????? Pennsylvania

·?????? Michigan

·?????? New York

·?????? West Virginia

·?????? Kentucky

·?????? Other geographies may be included based on the entity’s subject matter expertise with favorable or unfavorable markets that should be included in the analysis.

?Geographic analysis should include both a report on the environmental factors (funding models, political considerations, market saturation) pertaining to the state as a whole and more detailed information on specific sectors, service niches, and geographies within that state that should be considered separately. (For example, a state may have a poor funding model for IDD services broadly, but a robust funding model for autism services specifically and there may be a geographic section of that state where autism services are in high need).

The analysis should be prepared for presentation to Boundless’ leadership team and board members. This presentation should include both a written report of the findings and a presentation style product (ex. PowerPoint or similar format). The presentation may be provided virtually or in person.

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Service Four: Board Member/ Executive Retreat Facilitation

Boundless wishes to engage an entity to facilitate a 1–2-day offsite retreat which will include participation of executive team members, board committee members, and board members of the organization.

This retreat will include informational presentations (virtual or in person) by external experts regarding the contextualized information gathered through the above services (stakeholder input, SWOT, Market Analysis) including recommendations on how to operationalize the information gathered. The entity/ person proposing to facilitate the retreat does not need to be one of the expert presenters but may be so if that entity/ person also conducted one of the information gathering services.

This retreat will begin with a rough outline/ draft of the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan already created (see Service 5) and will result in agreement on what the finalized version of the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan will include.

The goals of the retreat will include:

·?????? Ensuring all executive team, board committee members, and board members fully understand and support all elements of the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan.

·?????? Reaching consensus on any edits or changes recommended to be made to the rough draft of the plan by the participants.

·?????? Ensuring all executive team, board committee members, and board members fully understand the distribution plan for the Strategic Plan and their expected role in distribution (see Service 5).

An entity proposing to serve as the facilitator should have experience in building rapport, trust, and goodwill with large groups of people. Ability to drive to consensus and maintain a positive, healthy dialogue and debate are critical for this service. The entity providing this service will need to collaborate extensively with the provider(s) of the other service(s) before the retreat to ensure their own full understanding of the information and be prepared to support and “cheerlead” the evolution, innovation, and growth of the organization.

The entity providing this service should ensure that a plan is in place to capture notes and input gathered at the retreat, including that any changes or updates recommended to be made to the final version of the Strategic Plan are captured and incorporated. Boundless may provide administrative support to assist with this notetaking if desired.

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Service Five: Creation of & Distribution Plan for the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan

Boundless wishes to engage an entity to create its 2026-2030 Strategic Plan product. It is anticipated that this will include:

·?????? a multi-page detailed plan that includes a summary of all the information gathered by the information gathering services,

·?????? one or more products (ex. infographics, social media collaterals, pdf/Canva/ or similar product that is an easily distributed summary of the plan). Depending on the product(s) created, multiple versions may be required to ensure the information can be distributed in formats that are developmentally and culturally appropriate to the audience(s).

·?????? This should also include a template for annual action planning and reporting for each year’s action items in support of achieving the multi-year Strategic Plan.

A “rough draft” version of this plan and related materials will be required to be completed before the Retreat, as it will be the working document used throughout the retreat. This will be created in collaboration with the Boundless executive team and the assigned Boundless project manager. A final version of this plan and related materials will be required to be created after the Retreat, based on any agreed upon edits or changes made at the Retreat.

In addition to creation of the Plan and its related materials, the entity proposing to provide this service must also provide a Distribution Plan that includes effective processes for distributing to, driving understanding of, and gaining support for and adoption of the plan by:

·?????? Staff

o?? Executive

o?? Leadership

o?? Middle Management

o?? Front Line Workers

·?????? Persons Served

·?????? Caregivers, Guardians, and Family Members

·?????? Board Members

o?? Board Committee Members

·?????? Donors

·?????? Stakeholders

·?????? Other Community Provider Partners

·?????? Payers

·?????? Vendors

·?????? General Community Members

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Additional Information:

Boundless is a 501c3 family of non-profit companies providing care, services, and treatment to individuals and families with needs related to Intellectual or Developmental disabilities, Behavioral Health conditions, and autism spectrum disorders across the state of Ohio. Boundless provides a wide continuum of care to these populations. Boundless is certified, licensed, contracted, or nationally accredited to serve through multiple systems of care including Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services, Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Aging, and the Ohio Department of Medicaid. Additionally, Boundless is contracted to provide services paid for by over 100 commercial managed care plans, all Medicaid Managed Care Plans, developmental disability boards, children’s services departments, other local partners and funders and many grantors. It is recommended that an entity proposing to provide one or more of the services sought familiarize themselves with the organization and its complexity.

Boundless has been a very fast-growing organization over the past 7 years and has evolved rapidly into a regional and national thought leader in its sector. The Boundless 2026-2030 Strategic Plan and process should reflect this openness and commitment to innovation, responsiveness to change, and growth. Boundless believes it is critical at this juncture to again seek to view both the organization and the world around it with fresh eyes and objectivity as we look into the next 5 years. Through these efforts we will advance our mission of “Building a World that Realizes the Boundless Potential of all People.”

Based on the Boundless executive team’s expertise in this field, several areas of focus which we believe should be considered, incorporated into, or reflected in the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan have been identified. Familiarity with these areas of focus should be used to help guide survey or stakeholder feedback session question design, the SWOT analysis, and the Market Analysis. These include:

·?????? Growth:

o?? The Vision for Why

o?? Mergers, Acquisitions, & Affiliations

o?? Strategic Organic Growth

o?? Change Management

·?????? Financial Sustainability that creates opportunities for innovation and investment

·?????? Business and Program Operation Structures that are scalable & based on compliance, quality, and best practice

·?????? Adoption of technology & data advancements that drive efficiency and excellence in both business operations and services delivered

·?????? Talent Development, Workforce Models Innovation, Succession Planning

·?????? New or Evolved Service Delivery Models and Programs in response to changing needs, demands & resources while staying true to our Whole Person/ Whole Life Care Model

·?????? Organizational Culture, Employee, & Customer Experience

·?????? Ability to Impact Public Policy including the Regulatory and Funding Environments

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Boundless Timeline of Strategic Planning project:

October 2024-Issuance of the Request for Proposals

November 29, 2024-Response Proposals Due

December 11, 2024-Partnership Selections Announced

By December 31, 2024—Contracts with Selected Partners Signed

January 2025—Work with partners begins, Full Strategic Planning Project Plan completed with selected partners by Boundless Project Manager

Week of February 16, 2025—Check in partners to review early data findings and begin to categorize findings into pillars

February 24, 2025—Executive Team Strategic Planning Meeting 1

Outcome: First Rough Draft of the Strategic Plan

June 20, 2025—All data and reports due from partners providing Services 1-3

June 27, 2025—Executive Team Strategic Planning Meeting 2

Outcome: Second Rough Draft of the Strategic Plan

July & August 2025—Preparation of materials and presentations for the Board & Executive Strategic Planning Retreat

August 15, 2025—Board & Executive Retreat Planning Finalized

August 22, 2025—Templates for Strategic Plan final products, Annual Action Plan Templates, and Dissemination Plan Due (Service 5)

Tentative September 19 or 26, 2025—Board & Executive Strategic Planning Retreat (Service 4)

Outcome: Final Draft of the Strategic Plan (Service 5)

October, November, December 2025: Plan Dissemination (Service 5)

Tentative October 10, 2025—Boundless Management Strategic Plan Celebration & Learning Day

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