The City of Alameda posted three different requests for proposals (RFP) in search of partners for their Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) Pilot Program. The city is soliciting an implementation partner, a financial partner and a research partner for the pilot program.

According to the implementation partner RFP, the implementation partner will be tasked with finalizing the program design, creating an advisory board, recruiting program participants and organizing and facilitating the application and selection process. The RFP states the implementing partner should have previous experience working with low-income households in Alameda. Also, the organization must show a capacity to provide a range of implementation services related to the pilot program, including but not limited to outreach and recruitment, applicant intake and determining eligibility, communications, media, and stakeholder management. Also, the implementation partner will provide benefits counseling to program participants at the beginning and end of the program.

The financial partner will conduct payment facilitation of the GBI funds over the 24-month duration of the program. The financial partner will define payment mechanisms, provide enrollment/payment options for undocumented participants, provide training to city staff and the implementing partner on enrollment process and financial product.

The research partner will, among other things, work with the other partners to develop an online application and enrollment process, develop additional research questions and analysis that measures the potential effects of the program on participant’s mental health, public health and overall well-being, and create a final report based on the data received.

The research partner will have established social science research experience working with low-income households. A research component of the program is important to secure benefits waivers so that program participants do not risk losing benefits from other assistance programs, according to the RFP. The city is working with the advocacy and research organization Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI) as a consultant on this project.

Prospective partners are required to submit their proposal applications by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7. The city will conduct interviews with the applicants the week of Sept. 19 and the three partners will be selected the week of Sept. 26.

Each proposal will be judged based on the organization’s proposed work plan, its experience, its timeline and budget proposal, and its ability to meet the city’s contract requirements. Each proposal will be judged on a 100-point scale.

On May 17, 2022, the Alameda City Council directed staff to develop a GBI program focusing on low-income residents (“City Council Approves Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot Program,” May 26; https://alamedasun.com/news/city-council-approves-guaranteed-basic-incom...). The pilot program will give 150 low-income households in Alameda monthly payments of $1,000 for 24 months, starting in spring of 2023. The city will appropriate $4.6 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act 2021 to finance the program. Alameda received $28.68 million of the pandemic-relief fund in 2021.

The council approved the plan with a 3-2 vote. Councilmembers Tony Daysog and Trish Herrera Spencer voted against the plan.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for any city to be throwing $4.6 million dollars at a limited handful of just 150 households,” said Daysog at the meeting. “I don’t think this is proper for this City Hall to do.”

Councilmember John Knox White supported the program.

“We want this to be a pilot, not in that it’s just a short term…we want this to actually add to the volume of knowledge that is being collected and developed across the country,” said Knox White.

The city anticipates distributing GBI funds in the Spring/Summer 2023. To review each RFP, visit www.alamedaca.gov/BUSINESS/Bid-on-City-Contracts.