RFQ for Forensic Psychological and/or Psychiatric Evaluators

Allegheny County, on behalf of its Department of Human Services (DHS) child welfare office (the Office of Children, Youth and Families, or CYF), and the Fifth Judicial District of Allegheny County, Family Division (Children’s Court, Adult Division and/or Juvenile Probation) (henceforth referred to as the Court), are seeking licensed and credentialed Qualified Applicants to conduct forensic psychological and/or psychiatric evaluations of children and families involved in dependency, delinquency and custody proceedings. A forensic psychological and/or psychiatric evaluation (henceforth referred to as a Forensic Evaluation) is defined as the neutral and objective investigation of facts and evidence in a structured manner in anticipation of a proceeding or the consideration of a specific legal question in connection to a court proceeding. A Forensic Evaluation may include clinical and other related interviews and collection of written or oral collateral information including existing records, psychosocial assessment, other psychological testing and/or psychiatric evaluation, depending on the nature of the legal question at hand.

Applicants may be individuals or a group practice with multiple practitioners (henceforth referred to as a Single Provider). Applicants may have expertise in one, two or all three areas: Dependency Cases, Delinquency Cases and Custody Cases. Qualified Applicants will be eligible to be selected to perform Forensic Evaluations pursuant to referrals from either the Court or DHS.

The majority of referrals to Qualified Applicants will be for Forensic Evaluations pursuant to a Court order or a Court-related need. DHS and the Court anticipate the need for approximately 2,000 Forensic Evaluations, inclusive of all three case types, each year. Qualified Applicants will not be guaranteed a set number of forensic evaluations. Evaluations will be assigned based on the designated case type, expertise in any specialized subject area, availability to complete the evaluation and submit a report in a timely fashion and geography and hours of operation that accommodate the family’s needs.

The County intends to qualify one or more Applicant(s) through this Request for Qualifications (RFQ). Current providers are not pre-qualified and must submit a Proposal and be qualified in order to continue performing Forensic Evaluations for the entities issuing this solicitation