FBCI now accepting bids for NGO conversion

Recently, I decided to contact the Governor’s faith-based office to check on the potential spin-off process required by Gov. Strickland’s budget. Essentially, the Ohio FBCI has been instructed to look into detaching itself from the Governor’s office and becoming an NGO. Since its report and recommendations are due in less than two months, it seemed like a good time to look into it. Here’s the email I sent to the FBCI requesting information:

From: Len
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 7:06 PM
Subject: Information request

I have two inquiries for your office, the first is a matter of policy. What is the status of your office’s study regarding FBCI’s separation from the Governor’s office, as specified in Governor Strickland’s budget:

SECTION 703.10. The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, with the assistance of the Advisory Board of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, shall conduct a study of the feasibility and advisability of the Office becoming a private nonprofit entity rather than a part of the Governor’s office. The study and any resulting recommendations shall be submitted, not later than July 1, 2008, to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the Minority Leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Is there any possibility that this study will be ready for submission earlier than July 1, 2008? Upon its submission to the officials indicated, will it then be made freely available on the FBCI website for both online reading and PDF download?

The second matter concerns your website. The sign-up page for your electronic newsletter (https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:21002) requires a remarkable amount of personally-identifying information. By contrast, the Governor’s main website implements the RSS (syndication) feature, which can be freely used at will by the public without the disclosure of any personally-identifying information at all. There is simply no good reason for such extensive and mandatory information disclosure, simply for the purpose of joining an e-mail list. Bearing in mind both the questionable record of the FBCI and the Strickland administration’s data loss scandal, please address the following:

1. Why has such extensive information disclosure been made mandatory, and by whose decision?
2. To what uses does the FBCI put this mandatory, personally-identifying information?
3. To resolve these privacy concerns, please have your IT/Web personnel remove the “required” flag on all data fields except e-mail address.

Thank you for your attention,

Len
Blogesque.com

The director of the FBCI himself promptly responded to this message, and his reply points out my accidentally impeccable timing, as the bid request was sent out on Tuesday.

From Landsman, Greg
date Thu, May 8, 2008 at 5:37 PM
subject FW: Information request

Thanks for your note, Len.

I wanted to collect additional information so as to communicate with those who signed up on our Web site in a variety of ways. For example, we often host regional events and would like to be in a position to send notices to folks in that region that might be in a position to attend. It was my decision. Although we have not received any notice of concern until your message, I decided to remove the “required” flag on all fields except e-mail.

As for your initial question, we are required by statute to submit this study, and released a Request for Letterhead Bid (http://jfs.ohio.gov/rfp/R89010973/R89010973.stm) on Tuesday. We do not know at this point when it will be turned in as the process of competitively bidding the work can be a lengthy one. We intend to post the study on our Web site once it is completed.

I hope this helps, Len.

Be well,
Greg Landsman
Director, Ohio Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
77 South High Street, 30th Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215
614.466.3398
513.646.0186 (c)
http://gofbci.ohio.gov

This message and any response to it may constitute a public record and thus may be publicly available to anyone who requests it.

The e-mail signup thing might seem like a minor issue, but as a secular citizen, I’m wholly uninterested in my name being associated with any form of religious organization — particularly a pseudo-state-run one. I’m even less interested in getting on some kind of targeted contact list by any group (religious, marketing or otherwise) which cares to ask for the FBCI’s public information (see the last sentence of Mr. Landsman’s message). I’m glad that he was receptive to this privacy concern and took steps to address it; kudos to Mr. Landsman for his ethic of responsive government.

In any event, there you have it. The Ohio FBCI is now accepting bids to be spun off into the private sector. I’ll be keeping an eye on the process as much as possible — after all, we don’t want an organization like Rod Parsley’s World Harvest Church being the successful bidder, now do we?

 
UPDATE 9:54pm: I’ve had a look over the bid request and found the pertinent dates to watch.

• May 09, 2008: ODJFS Releases RLB to Potential Vendors on the DAS and ODJFS Websites; Q&A Period Opens - Vendors may submit inquiries for RLB clarification
• May 19, 2008: Vendor Q&A Period closes, 8 a.m. for inquiries for RLB clarification - No further inquiries for RLB clarification will be accepted
• May 21, 2008: ODJFS posts Final Vendor Question & Answer Document on ODJFS website
• May 29, 2008: Deadline for Vendors to Submit Proposals to ODJFS (3:00 P.M., local time)
• June 9, 2008: ODJFS Issues Vendor Selection Notification Letter(s) (estimated)
• June 20, 2008: Purchase Order approval – work may not begin until a state Purchase Order has been fully approved by OBM. (ESTIMATED DATE)
• August 15, 2008: All project work must be completed.