NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation; Prevention of Blindness Program
[29 Pa.B. 5876] The Department of Labor and Industry, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, announces that competing applications to provide a Prevention of Blindness Program in each of six Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services districts will be accepted. Funding for this competition is under the auspice of the Pennsylvania State Board of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, which will serve as administrator and fiscal agent for the grants awarded under this competition. Applications will be written to accomplish the following area of emphasis:
To provide a Prevention of Blindness Program in each of six Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services (BBVS) districts in 24 counties where there are currently no organized local prevention services. The Prevention of Blindness Program shall include the following services: Pre-school Vision Screening; Adult Vision Screening; Eye Safety Programs in schools, industries, businesses, community organizations and senior centers; Public Education in all areas served; Follow-up and Referral; and Data Collection.Service Information
The goal of this competition is to enable the provision of Prevention of Blindness services as emphasized previously. Further, grants awarded as a result of this competition will present a prevention program which maintains a viable organizational and physical presence in the geographic areas to be served during the contract year in order to enhance flow of referrals, delivery of services, implementation of follow-up and coordination of information and feedback.
OVR is seeking a contractor(s) who will provide a Prevention of Blindness program in those counties that currently possess no organized, ongoing prevention program. These counties will hereafter be referred to as ''uncovered.'' The geographic distribution of uncovered counties is as follows:
Eastern PA
Geographic Area # 1
Philadelphia CountyGeographic Area # 2
Bradford County Susquehanna County Carbon County Tioga County Monroe County Wayne County Pike County Wyoming County Schuylkill County Geographic Area # 3 Cumberland County (part) Franklin County Western PA
Geographic Area # 4 Centre County Geographic Area # 5 Armstrong County Geographic Area # 6 Cameron County Forest County Clarion County Jefferson County Clearfield County McKean County Crawford County Potter County Elk County Warren County It is anticipated a minimum of two awards will be made, one in each of the eastern and western parts of the State, subject to receipt of acceptable applications to do so. Interested parties will submit applications proposing services in either Eastern PA or Western PA sectors as identified above. Funds will be awarded for these purposes based upon OVR's acceptance of 1) the applicant's understanding of the service needs in the area, 2) and the applicant's plan for addressing those needs.
Application Information
Applications that are complete and conform to established specifications and that are received by close of business (5 p.m.), Wednesday, January 5, 2000, will be accepted for review. Applications submitted after this date and time will be ineligible for consideration.
Applications will be evaluated by a panel of reviewers convened for that purpose. Applications will compete to provide services as described in either the Eastern or Western parts of the Commonwealth. Applicants will be competing only against others making application in the corresponding area.
The effective dates for the contract will be July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001. Final awards made through this competition are subject to the approval of the Executive Director, Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Eligible applicants include private not-for-profit, for-profit, and public organizations/institutions. Organizations or individuals demonstrating compliance with the terms of this announcement may apply to participate in this competition.
A complete application package which includes more detailed information is available by calling Cathy Mills at (717) 783-3462 (TDD: 783-8917) (1-800-442-6351 [Voice] or 1-800-233-3008 [TTY]) or writing to the following address: Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Infrastructure Services Section, 1320 Labor and Industry Building, Seventh and Forster Streets, Harrisburg, PA 17120, FAX: (717) 783-5221, e-mail: cmills@dli.state.pa.us, Attention: Cathy Mills.
Preproposal Conference
A preproposal conference to deal specifically with technical questions regarding applications will be held for applicants on Wednesday, November 17, 1999, starting at 1 p.m. in the Conference Room, Harrisburg District Office, Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, 2923 North Seventh Street, Suite B, (Uptown Plaza), Harrisburg, PA 17110-2124.
Copies of the application package will also be available at this conference. Persons expecting to attend should advise Cathy Mills, no later than 1 week prior to the conference, of any special accommodations that may be required in order for them to fully participate in the preproposal conference.
JOHNNY J. BUTLER,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 99-1924. Filed for public inspection November 12, 1999, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
