Wednesday, July 17, 2013
by the HHS Accelerator Team
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Accelerator is the latest initiative in a series of New York City management innovations aimed at improving how the City does business with thousands of nonprofit providers responsible for delivering health and human services.
The system was implemented as part of an ongoing commitment to support a vibrant and strong provider community capable of responding to the everyday needs of New Yorkers. The Accelerator System’s primary goal is to simplify and speed the contract process, minimizing resources required for procurement and allowing organizations to focus on their overall missions.
The HHS Accelerator System provides both the City and service organizations with a single place to manage relationships; simplifies competition through the central collection of organizational information; and refines Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to focus more on design, scope and budgets.
The Document Vault, a main component of the system, is a secure, Web-based filing cabinet which makes it easy to store documents online and share these documents between partner organizations. Typical documents include those frequently requested by the City and private grantmakers such as certificates of incorporation, organization charts and annual audits.
Grantmakers should encourage service organizations to learn more about upcoming RFPs from various City Agencies, which are now publicized in this central location well in advance of proposal due dates. Consider how new funding opportunities could enhance grantee capacity to deliver quality programs and services! And with the new streamlined, electronic process, it should be much easier to compete. Early planning by grantees, following review of listed RFPs, provides time to build new partnerships and allows for development of even more innovation in programming.
We’re also pleased to provide the AcceleratorAssist program, which creates a space for service providers to receive individual attention while working with the HHS Accelerator System. These training opportunities offer an overview of the system and then a generous amount of time to work in the system with guidance from Accelerator staff. See the bottom of this webpage for more information about AcceleratorAssist sessions in July and August.
To learn more about the HHS Accelerator, visit www.nyc.gov/hhsaccelerator.