2026-2027 Inclement Weather Funding Request for Proposals

CITY OF ST. LOUIS
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
CODE BLUE
EMERGENCY SHELTER AND SERVICES FOR INCLEMENT WEATHER
OPERATIONS
2026 - 2027
Release Date: July 13, 2026
Proposal Due Date: August 10 2026, 4:00 pm

CITY OF ST. LOUIS
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
The City of St. Louis, Department of Human Services (DHS) is issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP) for the City's 2026 -
2027 Code Blue Activities to address the need for Emergency Shelter and services during the upcoming Inclement
Weather season.
Beginning July 13, 2026, RFP packets will be available for pick-up at the Department of Human Services, Homeless
Services Division, or via the City's website: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/procurement/
CODE BLUE INFORMATIONAL BIDDER'S CONFERENCE
Tuesday, July 21 * 3:00 - 4:00pm
Time zone: America/Chicago
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/nuz-rsis-gyi
Or dial: (US) +1 234-203-1983 PIN: 437 226 988#
QUESTIONS REGARDING THE RFP
* Must reference the RFP page number and section to which it applies.
* DHS will document questions and provide written responses posted on the City's website.
* There shall be NO contact with any selection committee member.
* All questions must be submitted before July 28, 2026.
* Questions must be submitted in writing to the following:
Amy Bickford, Chief Program Manager
Department of Human Services - Homeless Services Division
1520 Market Street, Room 4065, St. Louis, MO 63103
hsd-proposals@stlouis-mo.gov
Proposals are due by 4:00 p.m. August 10, 2026. Proposals shall be submitted via email to hsd-proposals@stlouis-
mo.gov. Incomplete or late proposals may be rejected or may receive a reduction in points scored.
2 / FY2025 Inclement Weather Emergency Shelter RFP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Timeline of Events 4
Code Blue Goals 5
Code Blue Framework 5
Funds Available 6
Method of Compensation 6
Cash Advance Option 6
Project Budget 6
Assistance for Inexperienced Applicants 7
Location & Coverage 7
Health & Safety 8
Provider Variety & Equity 8
Communication 8
Transportation 9
Eligible Projects 10
Emergency Shelter - Overnight 10
Emergency Shelter - Daytime 10
Transportation Provider 12
Data Solutions 13
DHS Supplies Support 14
Important Requirements 14
Review & Selection Process 15
Selection Considerations 16
RFP Terms & Conditions 16
Contract Obligations Subject to Appropriation 17
Earnings Tax Requirements 17
Prohibited Contract Clauses 17
Minority & Women-Owned Business Enterprises 18
Public Records Law 18
Missouri Unauthorized Aliens Law 18
Living Wage & Service Contract Prevailing Wage 18
Missouri Statute - Israel Engagement Activity 18
Termination Rights 19
Exhibit A - Cover Sheet 21 - 22
Exhibit B - Scope of Work - Emergency Shelters 23 - 26
Exhibit C - Scope of Work - Transportation Providers 27 - 28
Exhibit D - Scope of Work - Data Solutions 29 - 30
Exhibit E - Proposal & Attachments Instructions 31
Exhibit F - Project Evaluation Rubric 32 - 33
Exhibit G - Financial Capacity Rubric 34
3 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

CODE BLUE FUNDING FOR 2026 - 2027
The City of St. Louis, Board of Aldermen, have allocated in the City's General Budget, $2,000,000 to be made
available to the Department of Human Services, Homeless Services Division (HSD), for emergency shelter and
services for the 2026 - 2027 CODE BLUE INITIATIVE. Code Blue was an initiative launched in the previous
inclement weather season, where there would most certainly be an influx of unhoused seeking shelter during
the winter because of the thousands of families without proper housing due to the aftereffects of the 2026
May tornado. The City's ability to drastically increase funding to this initiative safely sheltered hundreds of
families and households during the coldest winter nights.
While there will be less funding available this year, $2 million dollars is a considerable investment and the City
hopes to continue upon and improve last year's Code Blue strategy. The goal of this funding is to secure
services for the sheltering of individuals and families from multiple shelter and services providers to begin in
Late-November 2026 and end mid-March 2027 based upon temperature thresholds.
The following priorities will be utilized in proposal selection and funding decisions.
* INCREASE CAPACITY - Proposals will be selected in terms of providing the highest number possible of
additional shelter beds.
* THRESHOLD ALIGNMENT - Proposals will be selected in terms of ensuring the City is able to meet
each temperature-based threshold of the Code Blue Framework, as outlined below.
* COST EFFECTIVENESS - A rate has been established by Code Blue Leadership in negotiation with
community partners, which will be utilized to establish fairness and consistency across all shelter
providers, which the City is rolling out for the first time this year.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
*
Date Activity/Time
7/13/2026 Release of CODE BLUE Request for Proposals
7/17/26, 1PM Code Blue Informational Bidder's Conference
8/10/2026, 4PM Proposals are due by 4:00pm
Week of 8/17 - 8/20 Holding Selection Committee Meeting, Sending Award Letters
8/24/26 - 10-24-26 Working to execute contracts
11/1/2026 Goal date to have contracts executed.
11/15/2026 Project Start Date.
3/31/2026 Project End Date (likely end by 3/15, contract will be through 3/31).
4 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

CODE BLUE GOALS
SHELTER LOCATIONS & CITY-
PROVIDER VARIETY & EQUITY
WIDE COVERAGE
WARM SHELTER
FOR ALL
COMMUNICATION &
HEALTH & SAFETY
TRANSPORTATION
1. The City of St. Louis will provide emergency shelter beds throughout the winter season,
to accommodate any unhoused person searching for shelter.
2. The City of St. Louis will have multiple shelter locations dispersed throughout the City's
full geography, allowing for wide coverage, and access for the unhoused.
3. The City of St. Louis's emergency shelters will have policies and procedures to ensure
the health and safety for the unhoused and shelter staff.
4. The City of St. Louis will seek variety and equity among shelter providers by accepting
proposals for funding, from a variety of organizations, and shelter providers will be
funded in a streamlined equitable format.
5. The City of St. Louis will utilize a Unified Command Structure, allowing for widespread
communication of Code Blue Level activations, to include transportation access and
shelters maintaining bed counts in Get Help.
CODE BLUE FRAMEWORK
LEVEL AMBIENT WINDCHILL NUMBER TOTAL TOTAL EST. TOTAL EST.
TEMPERATURE TEMPERATURE OF BEDS NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NIGHTS OF
THRESHOLD THRESHOLD ADDED OF BEDS OF BEDS OF OPERATION
PER ADDED AVAILABLE NIGHTS
LEVEL ACTIVE
PER
LEVEL
1 Greater than 32 degrees N/A - Baseline N/A N/A 400 N/A N/A
2 32 degrees 25 degrees 250 250 650 20 56
3 25 degrees 15 degrees 100 350 750 29 36
4 20 degrees 10 degrees 150 500 900 4 7
5 10 degrees 5 degrees 100 600 1,000 3 3
*Additionally, at Levels 3 - 5, Shuttles will be activated and providing transportation to shelters.
5 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

FUNDS AVAILABLE
There are two sources of funds available for projects awarded under this RFP. $200,000 has been allocated
from City Public Safety Proposition P funds. $2,000,000 has been allocated from City General Use Tax funds.
The total amount available for 2026 - 2027 CODE BLUE projects is roughly around $2,200,000.
* Grant Term will be 5 months.
* Anticipated project start time will be November 16, 2026.
* Projects that can provide a minimum of 7% match to the project will receive bonus points.
* Administrative funds are no more than 7% of total budget request.
METHOD OF COMPENSATION
Selected subrecipients will work with a Homeless Services Division Contract Compliance Officer for training
and understanding of how the contract must align with City requirements, where applicable. This will include
instruction, both verbal and written, on the Homeless Services requirements for an accurate program budget,
completing the requirements to execute the contract, and for complete, accurate and timely billing
reimbursement packet submissions, so reimbursements can be processed quickly.
Compensation for services is via monthly reimbursement for the prior month's incurred expenses. All
expenditures must be well documented, eligible and accurate. Payments happen after the Contract
Compliance Officer approves the billing packet and sends payment request to the City Comptroller's Office.
Selected subrecipients will have to incur expenses prior to receiving funds for expenses incurred and be able
to cover up to one-month expenses at the start of the contract.
CASH ADVANCE OPTION
In limited circumstances, the Homeless Services Division may approve of a subrecipient receiving a cash
advance at the start of a contract. Cash advances to a subrecipient must be limited to the minimum amount
needed and in accordance with the actual, immediate cash requirements of the organization in carrying out
the approved activities of the project. Cash advances will only be allowed at the beginning of a contract, and
only one time during a contract timeframe. Cash advances cannot be a portion of the "contracted award
amount" to be disbursed each month. After an award letter is granted, if an organization would like to seek a
cash advance, it should be requested from a Homeless Services Division manager or Contract Compliance
Officer.
PROJECT BUDGET
This year upon requests from the provider community, the Department of Human Services will implement a
new method for how organizations will determine their budget and the amount of their funding request. The
provider request stems from wanting to see fairness and equity across the full system. While a cost per bed,
6 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

per person will be established, the Homeless Services Division will still require reimbursing for actual
expenditures.
Here's how this will be accomplished. The cost per bed per night has been set at $50. This means that the City
will award shelter providers based on the number of nights they operate and the number of beds provided at
a rate of $50 per bed. For example, if a shelter will operate 50 beds, and estimates 20 nights of activation,
their proposal should come in at (50 x 20 x 50) $50,000. This formula will be used to calculate provider equity,
so all providers are offering similarly priced services across the full system. While this formula will give shelters
an estimated amount to apply for, an actual budget with a provider's actual expenses will be submitted, and
an actual budget will be utilized to determine reimbursements.
Once an organization determines their equitable award amount, such as in the example above, $50,000, they
will draft an actual budget based on what they expect their actual expenditures will be to operating their 50
emergency shelter beds for 20 nights. Budget should include all operational costs; such as staff costs, supplies,
maintenance, cleaning, security, food, etc. If when drafting the budget, an organization feels they need more
than the equitable estimate, they may submit that in their budget. So, in the example above, if the actual
budget came to $57,000, than the organization may request $57,000. The Selection Committee when
determining selection and awards, will take these overages into consideration accordingly and may choose to
only award $50,000 or they may award the full request, or the award may fall somewhere the middle of the
two amounts.
For the Transportation and Data Solutions category, the budget template is in the same Excel workbook as the
one used for Emergency shelter, but has separate tabs.
ASSISTANCE FOR INEXPERIENCED APPLICANTS
The City is encouraging experienced organizations familiar with the DHS reimbursement and documentation
process to mentor and fiscally sponsor newer, young or start-up organizations. Experienced organizations may
be able to meet DHS's criteria for a Cash Advancement, if approved, which can assist smaller, inexperienced
organizations in starting up their project. If an applicant would like more information or needs help seeking
and connecting to an experienced organization for assistance, please send a question, according to the
process outlined in this RFP.
LOCATION & COVERAGE
The City would like to provide multiple emergency shelter locations throughout the full geography of the City,
to ensure anyone unhoused in need of shelter can locate it and will not be turned away. Code Blue shelter
locations shall be made available across the City in each geographic area in the City; North, South, West, East,
Downtown and Central corridor. While having large-scale shelters can be economical, they are often stressful
to manage and for the unhoused, may not feel as welcoming or safe. For these reasons, the Location Goal
established encourages multiple sites, of differing size, and spread out across the City.
Shelter providers shall be selected for funding to ensure each Code Blue Level has adequate coverage of open
and available beds. To achieve this, providers will need to consider the ability to flex or scale by 5-10 beds in
emergency situations. Providers need to ensure they have an adequate staffing model on nights they will
activate for sheltering. Organizations that can provide operational protocols and structure which include
security, wide hours of operations, cleaning and set up procedures, coordination and supervision of facility
7 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

staff, operating protocols for floor supervision, access to food, nurses and other services providers are highly
recommended.
Each shelter will need to specify at what level they will operate at. If a shelter will open anytime Level 2 is
activated, for example, they would essentially be operating at all levels 2-5. If a shelter decides to be a Code 4
shelter, then they would operate only on Code 4 and 5, for an estimated 7 nights (per the chart above). When
the City activates Level 2 and above, it will be generally be operating starting at 5pm and dismissing people at
7am. Organizations that would like to submit a proposal for daytime hours may do so, and shelters that will
generally operate only night time hours, may suggest within their proposal a number of days that they
estimate needing to remain open during daytime hours. This is generally requested of shelters when they are
operating at Level 5. Therefore Level 5 will operate a few number of nights, it shall consider a daytime
operation as well.
HEALTH & SAFETY
All shelter sites awarded funding will agree to a site pre-inspection before contract execution. This inspection
will determine occupancy load, and determine that there are appropriate bathrooms, handwashing facilities,
feeding facilities, security, square footage based upon number of beds to be provided, egress and health and
safety considerations. The Health Department may do spot check-ups and inspections to ensure health and
safety precautions are taken.
PROVIDER VARIETY & EQUITY
The City in interested in procuring the assistance from multiple providers who can support the overall mission
of Code Blue, whether it's provision of shelter services, staffing, food commodities or other eligible uses.
Additionally, the City seeks a variety of shelter models and operational structures offering a variety of differing
total bed counts available. Any of these entities are eligible and should consider applying for funds:
o Nonprofits and faith communities with an interest in sheltering.
o Organizations with the fiscal capacity to execute programming.
o Organizations with the capacity to partner with more established organizations that can assume a fiscal
sponsorship arrangement.
o Organizations who can demonstrate the ability to scale operations and staffing if need be.
o Organizations who can provide drivers, or support operations via food commodities and security
services.
COMMUNICATION
The City will utilize an Incident Command Structure much like was performed last year for Code Blue. City
departments, interested providers, and relevant stakeholders will be meeting daily to make determinations
8 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

about when Code Blue will be activated and at what level. This team will determine days activated at least 48
hours in advance but will strive for 72-hour advanced notice.
Communication is very important and the City has established several communication structures to aid in the
best possible communication about Code Blue Activations.
* Activations at Level 2 and above will be advertised on the City's website in a banner at the top of the
page, that will allow readers to click for more information, taking them to the Code Blue webpage;
where all updates will be posted in detail. At this Level, communication will also be posted on the CoC's
communication platform, Basecamp.
* Activations at Level 3 and above will include a Press Release.
* The City will make available Code Blue flyers that anyone can request and pick up for distribution.
* Activation at Level 3 and above will include operating shuttles to pick people up and drop them off at
open emergency shelters (some of the specific details are still being discussed).
The City will require of all shelter providers funded via this RFP, to designate staff members to be charged with
maintaining an active bed occupancy count in the platform called Get Help. Part of this requirement will
include updating Get Help throughout the evening of any open beds, to enable street outreach teams, the
transport shuttles and United Way call takers to know exactly where to refer people and reserve a bed for
them. This step, as a requirement will aide in clear bed count communication across the system. Each
morning, a member will also need to be designated to send a text to an appointed City Leadership team
member their total bed count for the night, which will be checked against the data entered into Get Help.
TRANSPORTATION
The City is maintaining three Metro 10-passenger vans, that will be utilized to provide shuttle services to
unhoused people seeking shelter. These shuttles were able to operate three routes last year, one covering
south St. Louis, one covering north St. Louis and one that covered the central corridor to downtown. The City
would like to expand this coverage, to include areas that were missed last year, such as the far North Baden
area, and potentially more area within the south region of the city. Shuttle routes will be established with
awarded transportation providers, which will operate on Level 3 - 5 Activation Days.
The City is interested in partnering and/or funding an organization(s) that can provide any level of support this
this operation. Organizations that have insured drivers, that would be dedicated to operating the City
maintained shuttles are encouraged to apply. Organizations that have their own vehicles or busses that could
also provide drivers to pick up previously missed routes and are interested in serving the unhoused via
transportation should apply for this project.
9 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027

ELIGIBLE PROJECTS
1. Emergency Shelter - Overnight
This category is for organizations that would like to operate emergency shelter projects in an overnight
capacity, based on one or more of the Code Blue levels.
2. Emergency Shelter - Daytime
This category is for those organizations that would like to assist in providing daytime sheltering support to the
unhoused. On occasion overnight shelters are asked to operate during the day due to the temperature, but
sometimes cannot due to other operations within their facilities. For this reason, we will fund organizations
that can utilize their facilities for day time sheltering/cooling.
Requirements of all Emergency Shelter Projects
Inclement Weather emergency shelters are low-barrier facilities that provide a safe, trauma-informed, secure,
and clean place for the unhoused to evade the elements. Shelter programs should be a short-term solution for
accessing housing resources in the community as quickly as possible.
Shelters and Organizations that can expand capacity and provide warm, safe places for people during the
winter are urged to apply. Proposals seeking funding for overflow beds on an "as needed" basis, or as a "pop-
up" provider will be considered.
Organizations that are partnering to provide the services of adding shelter space, are welcomed to apply, and
advised to coordinate those activities into one scope of work, where possible, and submit just one proposal.
Applicants submitting proposals can add the following activities to their project budget:
* Essential services: Case management, Life Skills Training, Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse
Treatment Services.
* Shelter operations: Maintenance, Rent, Security, Fuel, Equipment, Insurance, Utilities, Food,
Furnishings and supplies necessary for shelter operation. Eligible costs may also include hotel or motel
vouchers for families or individuals.
* Staff costs: reimbursement for salary/benefits, and/or hourly rate employees. Salaries/benefits, or
hourly wage payments would be allocated as either "Essential Services" expenses or "Shelter
Operations" expenses.
* Volunteer Incentives: stipend payments, travel reimbursement, or other incentive program costs will
be considered.
* People with Lived Experience Incentives: Projects may include creative ways to incentivize people with
lived experience in the operations of shelter projects.
10 | CODE BLUE RFP | 2026 - 2027