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ITN 2025-05 The Children's Trust Book Club

The Children’s Trust Book Club offers free, monthly books by mail for children living in Miami-Dade County from birth through their 5th birthday. Parents register for monthly books in English or Spanish, along with special sets of Haitian Creole language books. Mailings include a parent guide with activities, information and suggestions on how to share the book with their children. Currently, the Book Club serves almost 50,000 young children throughout Miami-Dade County, with a membership goal of 60,000 by the start of the new funding cycle. This competitive solicitation will seek one or more vendors to provide the following services in support of the Book Club: content development, book buying, fulfillment (packaging and mailing) services, digital content creation, and related community events to engage book club families. 

Book Club Tentative Timeline 

  • Release Date – February 3, 2025 

  • Bidder's Conference and Application Training – February 10, 2025

  • Pre-Application Deadline – March 3, 2025

  • Application Deadline – March 10, 2025 

  • Debriefing Period – March 27-28, 2025 

  • Site Visit/Interview Period – April 24, 2025 

  • Selection Announcement – May 2, 2025

  • Board of Directors Review – June 16, 2025

Click here to view the interview schedule.

Bidder's Conference and Application Training (Monday, February 10, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.)

My Applications

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Timeline

RELEASE 2/3/2025 10:00 AM
BIDDERSCONFAPPTRAIN 2/10/2025 1:00 PM
PREAPPDEADLINE 3/3/2025 5:00 PM
QADEADLINE 3/3/2025 5:00 PM
APPDEADLINE 3/10/2025 5:00 PM
DEBRIEFIGSTART 4/1/2025 8:00 AM - 4/2/2025 5:00 PM
INTERVIEWSTART 4/15/2025 8:00 AM - 4/25/2025 6:00 PM
RECOMMENDATION 5/2/2025 5:00 PM
BOARD 6/16/2025 8:30 AM

Q & A

Fiscal
Hello, In 2023 we filed a 990 Postcard. Are we eligible to apply for the Book Club opportunity? Thank you, Shera
Please upload any tax document filed with the IRS that reflects the agency's financial statements.
I am a for profit organization. I do have a 2023 Tax Return and I am active on Sunbiz. If I send in my Tax Return for my company from 2023 does that count as a qualifying financial document?
Please upload any tax document filed with the IRS that reflects the agency's financial statements.
General
Just Right Reader submitted five separate pre-applications for the components; 1. Book Buying, 2. Haitian Creole Content, 3. Fulfillment Services 4. Digital Content Curation, and 5. Member Activations and Programming. Can you confirm that you received all five pre-applications? I am resending this because it appeared that the portal timed out and I want to make sure that the question was submitted. Please disregard if this is a duplicate. Thank you!
A notification following each reapplication submission is sent to the user. Separately, once the preapplication is reviewed and a determination is made, a second notification is sent to the user.
Just Right Reader applied for all five Children's Trust RFP components #ITN 2025-05. However, when we go to Trust Central, we only see an application for Book Buying and Book-Related Content Development. Does this mean we only qualified for this component, or will we see other components in the application Trust Central once we submit it for Book Buying and Book-Related Content Development?
Each of the 5 components in the Book Club ITN requires its own preapplication. Once the reapplication is approved, then the organization can submit an application for that component. This must be repeated for each of the 5 components of the Book Club ITN. The Bidders Conference recording is available for review on the website.
We understand most of the titles on the core book list are Scholastic titles. Do you have an existing relationship with Scholastic, or are you looking to purchase the titles from a reseller?
The vendor selected for the Book Buying and Book-Related Content Development component of the ITN will be responsible for procuring the books at an appropriate rate.
We understand most of the titles on the core book list are Scholastic titles. Do you have an existing relationship with Scholastic, or are you looking to purchase the titles from a reseller?
The vendor selected for the Book Buying and Book-Related Content Development component of the ITN will be responsible for procuring the books at an appropriate rate.
I cant seem to type on or fill in this application any further than the pre application. It is not allowing me to. Are there further drop downs? I am currently copying and typing on a word document for now.
Please make sure that you are clicking on the modify button on the top left hand side (next to View Application) before trying to type. If you continue to have technical issues, please contact helpdesk@thechildrenstrust.org.
Can multiple vendors be chosen for one component?
The solicitation is being issued as an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) to allow the flexibility to negotiate with one or more responsive vendors with demonstrated relevant expertise, especially when the desired services may not be of best value when provided by only one vendor, but rather by combining the strengths of multiple vendors into a coordinated effort. The Trust reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to negotiate with any bidders for any implementation components, to combine and/or eliminate components, and to award a portion of the funding to different vendors to obtain the results that best meet the Book Club support needs.
What is the expectation for vendors regarding the Book Club Branding Toolkit?
All materials generated for Book Club from a branding perspective must use the Book Club Branding Toolkit which is updated periodically and provided by The Children's Trust.
Was the Bidder's conference & application training recorded? If so, when will it be available to view as registrants outside of the US could not access the Zoom meeting.
Thank you for reaching out! I am sorry to hear you were not able to join the Bidder's Conference and Application Training. The session was recorded and we will be posting the video on our website by the end of this week. Please check the grants page periodically to see the recording.
Can I submit an application as an individual, not incorporated or without an agency>
Eligible applicants include governmental entities, not-for-profit, for-profit and faith-based organizations providing services within Miami-Dade County.
Can we submit an application without a Sunbiz FEI #? How do we get a Sunbiz # and Canadaian company obtain one?
Yes, if your organization has a United States Federal ID number, you can apply with that instead of a Sunbiz FEIN number.
Services - Book Club ITN 2025
For Book Purchasing, the costs for book procurement are historically captured in a combined “purchasing support cost”, that includes expenses related to costs associated with procurement including logistics, which are the total costs of doing business. Therefore, can this collective cost be detailed under the Operating Costs allocation? It will be listed separately, along with book calculation costs, and guide curation costs. Administrative costs will not be requested and a zero will be entered
Please refer to the Budget Operating Costs Allocation instructions. Enter the total amount requested for operating expenses that support the proposed implementation component. Refer to the Budget Manual link above for operating cost expense categories (i.e., utilities, supplies, equipment, etc.).
We understand there are 61 books on the Children's Trust core book list. Will you consider proposals to increase/change the list of available titles?
When a current title in the library is no longer available, the selected vendor must select a content similar book replacement and update or create the accompanying book-related content for the new book. Based on past trends, up to 10 percent of book titles may need updating or replacement annually due to lack of availability (i.e., up to six new books selected per year with associated content updates).
With regard to Component 3: Fulfillment Services, are you looking for vendors to source the books listed in the Book Club Catalog of Books?
The fulfillment services include inventory storage, packaging, mailing, returns. The vendor selected for the fulfillment services implementation component will provide storage for up to three months of inventory, thus allowing for bulk purchasing and reducing the cost of shipping of books. More information can be found under Fulfillment in the Book Club ITN.
Are you looking for titles outside the Book Club Catalog of Books?
The current catalog of book titles in the Resources section of this solicitation will remain. Maintenance of the selection of book titles will be required of the Book Club catalog for English and for Spanish. For the Haitian Creole component, The Trust has gradually developed a library of what will include 10 Haitian Creole book titles. In the new funding cycle, this implementation component involves continued discount purchasing of the existing library of titles, as well as the expectation to add two new titles annually,
Can a single vendor be chosen for multiple components?
The solicitation is being issued as an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) to allow the flexibility to negotiate with one or more responsive vendors with demonstrated relevant expertise, especially when the desired services may not be of best value when provided by only one vendor, but rather by combining the strengths of multiple vendors into a coordinated effort.
Hello. With regard to Component 3: Fulfillment Services, does this apply to each vendor's ability to meet the fulfillment requirements for their own materials, or is the vendor required to meet fulfillment services for all vendors?
The selected vendor for the Fulfillment component may need to work with multiple vendors including the vendor awarded for the Content & Book Buying component and the Haitian Creole Content & Book Buying component. The Fulfillment vendor will also be responsible for printing and mailing all Book Club materials generated for the packages children receive. This includes books and collateral materials such as the parent reading guides. Please refer to the ITN for a more detailed breakdown.

Accessibility Statement

The Children’s Trust is committed to providing a fully accessible website experience. If any users of assistive technologies are experiencing any difficulties in using this website please do not hesitate to contact The Children’s Trust at 305-571-5700 or by e-mail at accessibility@thechildrenstrust.org.
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