Briefing on Proposals on Service Projects to provide Short-term Food Assistance Family and Child Welfare Branch Social Welfare Department 15 December 2008

Service Objective To provide mainly food-in-kind on a short- term basis with a view to helping underprivileged individuals or families tide over temporary hardship arising from the rising cost of living.

Number of Service Projects A total of five service projects over the territory.

One project in each of the following localities (i)Tsuen Wan/ Kwai Tsing, Hong Kong Island and other Islands (including Tung Chung) (ii)Sham Shui Po, Kolwoon City and Yau Tsim Mong; (iii)Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin and Sai Kung; (iv)Shatin, Tai Po and North; and (v)Tuen Mun and Yuen Long.

Applicant Should be able to meet the definition of Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, Cap 112; and Providing welfare service.

Applicants may submit a total of five proposals but should submit one proposal for one locality specifying the locality to be served in the proposal. If applicants are submitting more than one proposal, they should indicate order of priority for the proposals they submit. Under normal circumstances, one applicant will not be awarded more than three service projects.

Applicants may submit a proposal jointly with another organization(s) to operate service project in one locality, but a principal applicant should be responsible for the application.

Target Service Users Individuals and families who have proven difficulties in coping with daily food expenditure including those who are unemployed, those from low-income groups, new arrivals, street sleepers, and individuals or families encountering sudden change and facing immediate financial hardship etc; or

Individuals and families who have not benefited from any of the relief measures announced by the Government earlier this year. Individuals and families may directly approach the Operator or be referred by any department of the Government, non- governmental organization, local organization, Legislative/ District Councillor, school and so on for short-term food assistance.

The Operator should assess - 1)Whether an individual / family has a proven need for short-term food assistance or benefited from any of the relief measures as announced by the Government; and 2)The nature and extent of the food assistance that should be provided to an individual / family (including the level, type as well as duration of food assistance).

Scope of service The Operator has to provide short-term food assistance to target service users residing within the boundary of the locality being served with a Minimum Service Volume which is not less than meal-days service (i.e., persons for a period of six weeks).

The short-term food assistance provided by the Operator to individual service users should be for a maximum of six weeks mainly in the form of dry rations. To meet the direct and special needs of service users, the Operator may also provide appropriate fresh/ frozen food, hot meals, hot meal coupons, baby food, baby formula and so on as part of the six-week food assistance.

Provision of further short-term food assistance after six weeks may be considered subject to review and taking into account individual case merits. No cash should be handed out.

The Operator should promote and develop partnership with local communities and the business sector in operating the short-term food assistance service. The Operator should make referrals to other service units for appropriate welfare services if the service user has long term welfare needs and requires service other than short- term food assistance.

The Operator should have effective measures to publicize the service among target service users and encourage community groups/ district networks to proactively identify and refer the target service users to the Operator for assistance.

The Operator should, in collaboration with the Government and other district organizations, proactively get in touch with needy individuals who have not benefited from the relief measures implemented or announced by the Government over the past year and publicise the food assistance initiative among this group, especially tenants of bedspace apartments, cubicle apartments, rooftop structures, squatter areas etc.

Essential service requirement Needs Assessment The Operator should have mechanism and guidelines to assess the eligibility and needs of target service users as well as the support level to be provided.

should complete assessment and make food assistance arrangement to eligible service users within five working days upon receipt of referrals from referring agencies or self approach of service users. should have detailed arrangement and time frame for serving very urgent and needy cases.

should have concrete procedural steps to process requests/ referrals for food assistance with concrete time frame set for respective steps, including procedures of handling ineligible cases.

Service Delivery should have adequate food processing facilities and concrete food handling guidelines in order to ensure the quality of food items offered to the service users is at a reasonable and safe level.

should have a concrete plan for food collection arrangement, having considered the bulk to be collected by the service users especially for those with special needs such as elderly, disabled etc. should have effective measures, such as bulk purchase, to procure the food items at a lower cost in order to achieve the economic use of project resources.

should have an effective plan to enhance the accessibility of service to the service users. should have a concrete plan on promoting and developing partnership with local communities and the business sector. should have effective measures to publicize the service and get in touch with the target service users.

Administrative arrangement and internal control The Operator should have a concrete plan and effective plan to minimize the administrative cost in operating the service project in order to maximize the cost- effectiveness of the project. should keep complete, accurate and up-to-date records of each service user.

Performance indicators Output Standard Output IndicatorMinimum Level 1Number of service users served Percentage of referrals with assessment completed and assistance arranged within five working days upon receipt of referrals / self approach of service users 80%

Outcome Standard Outcome IndicatorMinimum Level 1Percentage of service users indicating that their temporary hardship has been relieved upon receiving the assistance 80% 2Percentage of service users indicating satisfaction towards the performance of Operator upon receiving the assistance 80%

The Operator is requested to propose tools for measurement of the outcome standards. The Operator may indicate additional output/ outcome and the level of attainment expected to be achieved in their proposals.

Fee Charging The Operator should provide the food assistance to eligible service users free of charge.

Control Mechanism The Operator is required to comply with the requirements as laid down in the Service Specification, the Service Agreement as well as the Operators proposal and supplementary information, if any, as agreed with SWD.

SWD reserves the rights to apply monitoring methods: announced and unannounced visits at periodic intervals examination in details the performance indicators, compliance with the mandatory requirements, service quality, area of concern / complaints and outcome etc

The Operator is required to submit: statistics and supplementary information on a monthly basis on the performance indicators and additional / new items pledged other relevant information as required in a prescribed format and time frame

The Operator is also required to submit income and expenditure statement on the operation of the service project on annual basis and a final statement no later than six months after the end of the project the statement should be audited by a Certified Public accountant whose name appears on the gazetted list of Certified Public Accountants

The SWD will not provide premises to the Operator in delivering the service The Operator shall be responsible for providing appropriate premises at his own costs in delivering the services Premise, furniture and equipment

The Operator may apply for a maximum of HK$2.5 million, if required, as one-off set up cost including: fitting out of premises purchase of food storing / processing equipment as well as minor furniture and equipment items transportation arrangement for food collection and delivery and other relevant expenses Such requests should be indicated in the proposal. SWD will consider the request and approve the allocation on a need basis.

Funding A service fee of HK$12 million will be allocated to the Operator for each service project to meet the operational expense of the service project. The service fee shall be inclusive of food cost, personal emoluments including Provident Fund for staff, insurance, rent and rates and administration cost related to the Service Project.

The staff and administration cost incurred by the Operator in operating the service project should not exceed 15% of the service fee (i.e. HK$1.8 million).

Payment Arrangement Upon approval of application and signing of a Service Agreement, the first payment of 10% of the service fee (i.e. HK$1.2 million) and the one-off set up cost as approved shall be made to the Operator in advance. The remaining service fee shall be paid in nine installments with each installment equals to 10% of the service fee (HK$1.2 million).

The first installment shall be paid to the Operator after it has completed 10% of the Minimum Service Volume as proposed by the Operator and after the Departments acceptance of such portion of the services. Each of the subsequent installments shall be paid to the Operator after the Departments acceptance of the satisfactory completion of further 10% of the minimum service volume.

Implementation Schedule 8 December 2008Invitation of proposal 15 December 2008Briefing session 5 January 2009Closing of submission of proposals January 2009Vetting of proposals By end of January 2009Announcement of results By end of February 2009Commencement of service projects

Assessment of application A Vetting Committee will be set up by SWD to assess the proposals. The assessment will be based on the quality aspects of the proposals including - knowledge and relevant experience of the agency premises to be used for operating the service proposed budget

understanding of the service needs and estimated service demand in the locality(ies) to be served overall service design strategy to promote and develop partnership with local communities and the business sector

management design value-added proposals other merits of the proposals

SWD reserves the ultimate right in the allocation of the service projects. If no suitable application is selected after assessment of the proposals, SWD reserves the right to re-invite proposals.

Submission of Proposal Applicant should submit five hard copies and one soft copy of each proposal on or before 5 January 2009 (Monday) at 5:00p.m. to the following address by hand: Family and Child Welfare Branch (Attn: Miss Maria Lau) Social Welfare Department Room 721, Wu Chung House 213 Queens Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Enquires Mr. Gary Cheung Senior Social Work Officer (Family)1 Tel No.: Ms Maggie TAO Social Work Officer (Family)4 Tel. No.: