RIOC Board Approves $100 Thousand For Roosevelt Island Youth Program To Continue Operating Youth Center For Six Months - Withdrawn RIOC Youth Center RFP Scoresheet Results Revealed

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board of Directors approved an expenditure of $100 Thousand to the Roosevelt Island Youth Program (RIYP) during the February 16 RIOC Board meeting. According to this RIOC staff memo in support of the RIYP funding:

TO: Board of Directors / Susan G. Rosenthal

FROM: Sean Singh, Grant Writer

DATE: February 13, 2017

RE: Authorization to Extend Grant Funds to the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, Inc.

RIOC seeks authorization to extend grant funds for the first six (6) months of FY 2018 to the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, Inc. (“RIYP”), the current operator of the Roosevelt Island Youth Center. RIOC intends to release a competitive Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for a Youth Center Operator before the expiration of this period.

This period will also be used to schedule and commence general rehabilitation of the Youth Center, to address leaks on the roof and terrace, ADA-compliant restrooms, remodel the kitchen facilities, mechanical/electrical/plumbing upgrades, and finishes — resulting in a more safe and attractive space for the Island’s youth.

The grant will require detailed information regarding programing, attendance, staffing as well as a six month budget of all funds necessary to operate the Center.

Based on the foregoing, RIOC requests the Board’s approval to disburse $100,000 in grant funds and enter into a six month grant agreement with the RIYP in order to ensure the continued operations of the Youth Center.

As previously reported, RIOC issued a September 21, 2016 Roosevelt Islands Youth Center Operator RFP (RFP)

Image From RIOC Youth Center RFP

which attracted three bidders - the current operator RIYP,  Island Kids and the Roosevelt Island Center of Community Developemt (RICCD). RIOC's RFP scoring of the applicants resulted in a tie between 2 bidders. RIOC did not reveal the names of the tied bidders to the public or the bidders themselves.

On January 23, RIOC announced that the two tied applicants would be further evaluated to determine the winning RFP bid but subsequently withdrew the RFP on January 27.  On February 1, RIOC President Susan Rosenthal reported the reason for withdrawing the Youth Center RFP was:

... members of the Roosevelt Island community have submitted numerous communications to RIOC generally questioning the legitimacy of the review that resulted in a tie. Some communications included disparaging remarks about bidders. All such communications, attempting to influence the RIOC review committee while the RFP is pending, are inappropriate and are prohibited by State Finance Law. These communications, among other things, caused RIOC to withdraw the RFP on January 27, 2017.....

Also, the terms of the RFP (page 17) state that RIOC may withdraw the RFP at any time at it's sole discretion.

To date, the Youth Center RFP applicants did not know who the tied bidders were or the RFP scoring results.

Until now.

The RIYP and Island Kids were tied for first place with 241 points. RICCD scored 230 points.

Scoring criteria was based upon  4 separate categories:

• Experience (up to 30 Points),
• Management & Operation Plan (up to 30 Points),
• Financial Capability (up to 20 Points) and
• Interview (up to 20 Points)

(Pages 15-16 of the RFP)

for a total of 100 possible points.

The scoring was done separately by the 3 RIOC staff members listed below and added together for total results.

Reviewer Shelton Haynes (Vice President Operations)

Roosevelt Island Youth Program

• Experience - 29 Points
• Management & Operation Plan - 26 points
• Financial Capability - 14 Points
• Interview - 13 Points
• Sub Total Total - 82 Points

Roosevelt Island Center Of Community Development (RICCD)

• Experience - 28 points
• Management & Operation Plan -  28 points
• Financial Capability - 6 points
• Interview -  14 points
• Sub Total - 76 points

Island Kids

• Experience - 29 points
• Management & Operations Plan - 29 points
• Financial Capability - 15 Points
• Interview - 16 Points
• Sub Total - 89 Points

Kevin Brown (Deputy Director Public Safety Department)

Roosevelt Island Youth Program

• Experience - 26 Points
• Management & Operations Plan - 24 Points
• Financial Capability - 14 Points
• Interview - 16 Points
• Sub Total - 80 Points

Roosevelt Island Center For Community Development (RICCD)

• Experience - 24 Points
• Management & Operations Plan - 26 Points
• Financial Capability - 6 Points
• Interview - 17 Points
• Sub Total - 73 Points

Island Kids

• Experience - 22 Points
• Management & Operations Plan - 22 Points
• Financial Capability - 15 Points
• Interview - 15 - Points
• Sub Total - 74 Points

Lada Stasko (Assistant General Counsel)

Roosevelt Island Youth Program

• Experience - 28 Points
• Management & Operations Plan -  26 Points
• Financial Capability - 14 Points
• Interview - 11 Points
• Sub Total - 79 Points

Roosevelt Island Center For Community Development

• Experience - 26 Points
• Management & Operations Plan - 29 Points
• Financial Capability - 6 Points
• Interview - 20 Points
• Sub Total - 81 Points

Island Kids

• Experience - 27 Points
• Management & Operations Plan - 20 - Points
• Financial Capability - 15
• Interview - 16
• Sub Total - 78 Points

Here is the RIOC Youth Center RFP Scoresheet.

RIOC Youth Center RFP Scoresheet

and February 16 RIOC Board meeting discussion



approving $100 Thousand 6 month expenditure to RIYP. RIOC Director Michael Shinozak was the sole vote not to approve the RIYP funding.