Below are NRC resources and tools. Click on the links to learn more.
Mayor’s Office of Contract Services
The Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS) manages and supports the policy initiatives of the NRC by designing and implementing technology solutions that drive policy success.
The Mayor's Office of Management and Budget
The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) partners with the NRC to support fiscal policy initiatives. The Administration has made investments in indirect costs, wage increases, model budgets and rate adjustments totaling more than $790 million per year by.
View historical summary of Human Service Sector Investments through Fiscal Year 2020 here.
The City invested and baselined $94 million per year for the Indirect Cost Rate Funding Initiative. Learn more here.
HHS Accelerator
The NRC leverages the HHS Accelerator technology platform to streamline, standardize, and digitize citywide business practices in an effort to make it easier to do business with the City of New York.
Procurement and Sourcing Solutions Portal (PASSPort)
PASSPort is saving providers time and effort by digitizing VENDEX disclosures, streamlining the HHS Prequalification application and centralizing contracting activity. Today, providers can see the status of their contracts and track the steps to registration. The NRC continues to serve as a valued partner of MOCS in the development and design of PASSPort.
HHS Cost Manual and Indirect Rate Guidance and Investment
The City of New York Health and Human Services Cost Policies and Procedures Manual (“Cost Manual”) standardizes cost definitions and indirect cost rate policies to promote greater accessibility to City contracting. The FY20 Adopted Budget established an indirect cost rate funding initiative based on the Cost Manual which was funded at $94 million per year. The City of New York is the first big city in the United States to implement comprehensive cost definitions and claiming flexibility in health and human service contracts.
More information on the indirect cost rate funding initiative including full policy and supporting documentation can be found here.
Timely Registration of Renewals, Extensions, and New Contracts
Before the introduction of digital contracting through PASSPort, the City worked with providers to identify opportunities to streamline, digitize, and standardize the collection of documents for human services renewals, extensions, and new contracts with the goal of realizing more timely registration and enhanced transparency. The policy change demonstrated strong success with ACS, DFTA, DHS, DOHMH, DOP, HPD and HRA having 90 percent of contracts ready for registration with the Comptroller’s Office at the start of Fiscal Year 2020. The strong performance was repeated again in Fiscal Year 2021.
See the registration timeline.
Advance Payment on Contracts
Contracts are eligible for advance payments of at least 25% of their annual budgets at the start of the fiscal year. Advance payments improve cash flow and can support new program start up. In Fiscal Year 2017, the City adopted the NRC recommendation that all health and human service contracts be eligible for advance payments of at least 25% of their annual budgets, at the start of each fiscal year. These advances are now issued automatically upon contract registration and budget approval. Agency recoupment should occur no sooner than 6 months before the end of the contract period. The number of recoupment payments should at least equal the number of months of advance and should not be required through a single payment.
The City leveraged this policy to provide liquidity to the sector during the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about how the City and nonprofits worked together during the pandemic here.
Automatic Budget Modifications
Providers have long requested more budget flexibility to respond to shifting needs on the ground and maintain steady cash flow. Using data from HHS Accelerator, the NRC recommended, and the City implemented, automatic budget modifications for health and human service contract budgets up to 10% without pre-approval or delays in invoicing. Modifications may be made between categories of Personnel Services (PS) and Other Than Personnel Services (OTPS), maximizing budget flexibility.
Financial Management — Reporting Functionality in HHS Accelerator
This conversation and tutorial delivers helpful guidance about leveraging the reporting capabilities of HHS Accelerator Financials to support your organization’s fiscal management and planning.
Watch the video here.
Universal Use of HHS Accelerator Financials
HHS contract budgets are now managed through HHS Accelerator Financials, which enables advance payments to be requested and approved within minutes, budget modifications to be made quickly and simply, and invoices to be approved and paid within five days.
Automatic Exemption from HireNYC Human Service Rider
Human service contracts with less than $250,000 in annual Personnel Service (PS) spending are automatically exempt from the HireNYC Human Service Rider, thus eliminating the requirement that providers expressly request an exemption.
The HireNYC rider can be found here. Business Link offers services that support nonprofits in identifying and recruiting qualified job candidates.
Digital Subcontractor Approvals and Template
The streamlined HHS subcontractor approval process reduces delays in contracting by eliminating written approvals and duplicative data requests and leveraging the City’s technology platforms, including HHS Accelerator. At the request of providers, the City now offers a subcontracting agreement template that providers may use for subcontracting on HHS contracts.
The full policy can be found here.
The subcontractor agreement template can be found here.
Digital Audit Process with Standard Definitions
Nonprofit Engagement in RFP Development
The Guide to Collaborative Communication with Human Services Providers outlines best practices and guidance for enhanced, earlier, and more frequent communications between the City and providers during program design and the RFP process.
The Guide to Collaborative Communication can be found here.
Guidance for Performance-Based Contracting
The Guide to Performance-Based Contracting For Human Services Contracts provides a roadmap for City agencies to consider performance-based budgets when designing programs and offers guidance in identifying and using data to develop milestones and payment details. Should a City agency choose to adopt a performance-based budgeting model, the Guide provides support in using data to develop milestones and payment.
The Guide to Performance-Based Contracting can be found here.
Standard Human Service Contract
The NRC, in collaboration with the New York City Law Department, streamlined and clarified the standard human services and performance-based contracts, strengthening privacy provisions, aligning language with state and federal guidance, and responding to operational feedback from nonprofit providers.
The contracts can be found here.
Streamlined DOHMH Claims Verification
The Division of Mental Hygiene within Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) implemented a series of streamlining efforts for claims verification to relieve administrative burdens for providers. Their work was influenced by the principles of the NRC.
The full policy can be found here.