SNAP and TANF Employment and Training and Technical Assistance Program

The Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Family and Community Services, Office of Workforce Development is offering the SNAP and TANF Employment and Training and Technical Assistance funding opportunity as a competitive state-funded initiative. The program is intended to modernize, strengthen, and expand Illinois' Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Employment and Training and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training systems. IDHS seeks one skilled technical assistance partner capable of supporting a statewide systems-change initiative that improves program operations, provider capacity, participant experience, workforce alignment, fiscal stewardship, data use, monitoring, and performance management. The initiative is designed to create a more cohesive and consistent statewide E&T system and to support measurable improvements in participant engagement, employment, earnings, and long-term economic mobility. The selected partner will carry out three integrated phases of work. Phase 1, Learning and Discovery, includes a statewide assessment of program, fiscal, contracting, data, provider performance, workforce alignment, geographic access, service gaps, participant experience, SNAP E&T intermediary operations, provider readiness for 50-50 reimbursement, and existing data system use. Phase 2, Infrastructure, includes updated TANF and SNAP E&T policy and operational manuals, redesigned referral and case management workflows, standardized participant and provider tools, fiscal guidance, training systems, quality standards, monitoring frameworks, and continuous improvement structures. Phase 3, Strengthening Performance and Accountability, includes four statewide in-person convenings, training modules, statewide performance standards, contract-aligned metrics, dashboards, monitoring protocols, post-convening reports, and a transition and sustainability plan. The work is also expected to strengthen provider recruitment in underserved areas and expand geographic access to services. Approximately 850,000 dollars in state funding is available, and IDHS anticipates making approximately one award, with an individual award of up to 850,000 dollars. Cost sharing or matching is not required. Indirect costs may be charged when the organization has an appropriate negotiated indirect cost rate or elects an applicable de minimis rate through the Illinois indirect cost process; an organization may also elect not to claim indirect costs. Sub-recipient agreements and budgets must be pre-approved by IDHS, and the successful applicant remains responsible for sub-recipient performance and monitoring. Pre-award costs are described as subject to IDHS Budget Committee discretion, review, and prior approval and must be identified in the Uniform Grant Budget Narrative, although the source also contains unresolved wording stating that pre-award costs "are/are not allowable." The formal period-of-performance section states that the grant will begin no sooner than July 1, 2026 and continue through June 30, 2027. A separate funding statement inconsistently describes approximately 850,000 dollars during a "12-month period" from July 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, education and training organizations, research, evaluation, and policy organizations, and technical assistance and consulting firms. Applicants must satisfy Illinois registration and prequalification requirements by the application deadline, including annual Grantee Portal registration information, an active SAM.gov registration, a valid UEI, applicable good-standing status with the Illinois Secretary of State, and absence from the Illinois Stop Payment List, SAM.gov Exclusion List, and Medicaid Sanctions List. Applicants must also submit three professional references from state agencies with which they have worked and provide a detailed example of prior TANF and/or SNAP E&T capacity-building work for a state agency that produced meaningful and sustained improvements. The project director and project team must demonstrate substantial expertise in TANF and SNAP E&T policy and operations, workforce development, fiscal compliance, data and performance management, monitoring, participant-centered and trauma-informed practices, provider network development, and large-scale system modernization. Applications must be submitted electronically to sheena.panoor@illinois.gov with the NOFO number and agency name in the email subject line. The required submission includes the Uniform Application for State Grant Assistance, the Program Narrative and attachments, the Grantee Conflict of Interest Disclosure, and a budget entered, electronically signed, and submitted through the IDHS CSA Tracking System. Another application-format section also identifies a W-9 as a required attachment, although the primary submission list and the later mandatory-forms list do not repeat it. The Program Narrative must include an Executive Summary, Need, Capacity, and Quality responses and address organizational experience, demonstrated past performance, specialized expertise, staffing and project management, technical assistance methodology, participant-centered design, data and continuous improvement, fiscal management, monitoring, quality assurance, and risk management. Applications are limited to 20 pages and must use 12-point Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, black font, and PDF format. Letters of intent are encouraged but are not required for application advancement; applicants seeking GATA prequalification assistance through a letter of intent were instructed to submit it at least two weeks before the application deadline. Applications are scored on Need for up to 4 points, Capacity or Agency Qualifications for up to 40 points, Quality or Program Design and Implementation for up to 40 points, and Budget and Cost Justification for up to 16 points; the Executive Summary is not scored. Applications first undergo an eligibility review, and eligible applications may be reviewed by a panel of up to three individuals who independently score submissions before scores are provided to agency leadership. IDHS retains final funding authority and may also consider factors such as geographic distribution, demonstrated need, and past performance as an Illinois grantee. Experience providing SNAP E&T technical assistance in compliance with 7 CFR 273.7 and TANF E&T technical assistance in compliance with 45 CFR Part 261 is identified as a statutory, regulatory, or other preference. Risk assessments are completed before award and may result in specific conditions, additional monitoring, or corrective action requirements. The opportunity was posted June 4, 2026, and full applications were due July 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Questions submitted up to five business days before the end of the posting period were to be posted on the DHS website. The anticipated award date and award announcement date are listed as TBD. Successful applicants may be eligible for two subsequent one-year renewals, but renewals are discretionary and depend on sufficient appropriations, satisfactory performance, timely reporting, continued prequalification, and the absence of outstanding compliance or corrective-action issues. The source explicitly states that this is not a renewal year and does not establish a recurring competitive application schedule. Questions about the NOFO and technical submission problems are directed to Sheena Panoor at sheena.panoor@illinois.gov.

Prioritize Capacity and Quality because they account for 80 of 100 scored points; document concrete and sustained results from prior state-agency TANF and/or SNAP E&T capacity-building work; directly demonstrate required TANF and SNAP policy, workforce, fiscal, data, monitoring, and participant-centered expertise; make recommendations actionable, feasible, scalable, and aligned with federal requirements; ensure every required document is included because IDHS states it will not contact applicants for missing items; verify the CSA budget is electronically signed and has the required submitted-for-program-review status; submit only to the designated email address and retain proof of timely receipt