Q&A and Revised Deadline for Increasing Training Capacity in Statewide Healthcare Facilities RFA

(Oct. 7, 2025) As LeadingAge NY previously reported, the Department of Health (DOH) released Request for Applications (RFA) # 20591 to address the growing demand for health care professionals across the state. This initiative supports Article 28 not-for-profit health care facilities in expanding their capacity to train current and future health care workers.

DOH has just updated the RFA page with the Questions and Answers (Q&A) document, some RFA amendments, and a new deadline of Oct. 24, 2025 by 4 p.m.

DOH posted a Q&A document with 92 questions, including questions regarding eligibility, consortia applications, allowable expenses, and license or certification that the trainee must receive under the program. Members applying are encouraged to review the document carefully.

There are also amendments to the RFA posted on the website, which include the following:

Clarification that an applicant can only apply to serve the region in which it is located.
Only one application per facility will be accepted. The RFA changes DOH's stance, indicating that if multiple applications are received, the last (rather than first) application received will be accepted and scored. Additional applications from the facility will be disqualified and not scored.
In Section VI. Attachments, it is noted that the attachments to the RFA can be accessed under the “Attachments Section” of the Statewide Financial System (SFS) online Application/Bid Event and are not included in the RFA document.
It adds that: ALL Applicants are instructed to verify each required attachment that has been uploaded to the application. To check attachments, Applicants are instructed to click "View" in the SFS application for each uploaded attachment to ensure that the attachment and all of its applicable information/data is viewable in its final format.
It notes the limitation with PDF attachments: due to system constraints, PDF attachments cannot be uploaded with annotations, editable fields, or JAVA/active controls. Please submit PDFs that are read-only.
It notes a correction regarding the RFA number being incorrectly published on the SFS grant opportunity. The correct RFA number is 20591. It is correctly published everywhere else.
An inconsistency with scoring was addressed in Section V. Completing the Application, Subsection A. Application Format/Content, Program Specific Questions (PSQ)/Bid Factors, 1. Mission Fit Maximum Score – now 20 Points (initially 15 Points).

Award and non-award letters are anticipated to be sent out by spring 2026, and Oct. 1, 2026 is the anticipated contract start date. All of this information is available on the DOH RFA page.

Contact: Diane Darbyshire, ddarbyshire@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8828