Contract Subject: Project SEARCH
The contractor and contractor staff that provide services described in this chapter also must comply with Chapters 1–3 of the VR Standards for Providers manual.
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Project SEARCH is an international initiative that supports partnerships among businesses (employers), local school districts, vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, and other entities that serve individuals with disabilities, including intellectual and developmental disabilities. Project SEARCH promotes the successful long-term employment of VR customers in jobs that are stable, meaningful, integrated, and competitively compensated.
The program takes place in business settings where total immersion in the workplace facilitates teaching and learning. The program enables participating VR customers to develop marketable work skills and increase their employability. Each customer has the opportunity to participate in three internships in order to explore a variety of career paths. The customer works with a team that includes the customer's family and partnering agencies. The team helps the customer create an employment goal and supports the customer during the transition from school to work.
The Employment Service Provider director must approve the VR3455, Provider Staff Information form completed by each staff member, before providing any services to customers and must submit the approved form to the provider's assigned TWC contract manager and regional program specialist. The VR3455, Provider Staff Information form, must document qualifications and provide evidence, such as transcripts, diplomas, reference letters, credentials, or licenses, of meeting all qualifications. The form and supporting documents must be retained and provided to TWC staff upon request.
Provider staff qualifications for each service are described below. If a qualification requires a University of North Texas Workplace Inclusion and Sustainable Employment (UNTWISE) credential, additional information can be obtained at Texas Credential Training | Workplace Inclusion & Sustainable Employment.
Non-credentialed provider staff may provide services to a VR customer only when the Temporary Waiver of Employment Services Credential Standards are followed. For more information, refer to Chapter 3: Basic Standards, 3.4.5 Temporary Waiver of Staff Qualifications.
The following are the qualifications for skills trainers:
The following are the qualifications for skills trainers:
The process used to collect information from a customer who is selected as an intern in the Project SEARCH program is called "asset discovery." The skills trainer meets with the customer to collect information about the customer's skills, interests, abilities, learning styles, and support needs. The trainer also gathers information on the internship opportunities and needs of the participating host business. The skills trainer provides the collected information to the Project SEARCH team to help determine appropriate internships.
The provider receives VR3360, Referral for Project SEARCH, and a service authorization (SA) for asset discovery as soon as the customer is selected by the team to be an intern for the upcoming school year.
The assigned skills trainer:
Any request to change a Service Definition, Process and Procedure, or Outcomes Required for Payment must be documented and approved by the VR director, using the VR3472, Contracted Service Modification Request, before the change is implemented. The approved VR3472 must be maintained in the provider’s customer case file. For more information, refer to VR-SFP 3.4.11 Contracted Services Modification Request.
Any meeting among the customer, provider, customer's circle of supports, or VR staff may be conducted remotely.
The skills trainer must include the following information in descriptive terms on the VR3361, Project SEARCH Asset Discovery Report:
For information on signatures refer to VR-SFP sections 3.2.14 Documentation and 3.2.16 Signatures.
Payment for Project SEARCH Asset Discovery is made when the VR counselor approves a complete, accurate, signed, and dated VR3361, Project SEARCH Asset Discovery Report, and an invoice.
For more information, refer to 16.6 Project SEARCH Services Fees.
Project SEARCH services are based on experiential learning at a host business with support from the business and Project SEARCH team and are most effective when provided in person. When a host business does not allow interns or staff on-site for safety or other reasons, the Project SEARCH team may develop an alternate training method that must be noted by the VR counselor on VR3360, Referral for Project SEARCH. If the change in service delivery happens after the referral form was submitted, then an updated referral form should be completed and provided to the Employment Service provider. Remote services must follow guidance in VR-SFP 3.4.8 Remote Service Delivery.
Skills Training Services include training and establishing accommodations and/or compensatory techniques as needed to increase a customer's independence and improve the customer's ability to demonstrate soft and hard skills to meet the expectations and production standards of a host business.
Examples of Skills Training Services include:
The skills trainer must provide services in coordination with:
Skills trainers must provide goal-directed services and support as outlined in VR3362, Project SEARCH Progress Report.
For more information, refer to VR-SFP 3.4.11 Contracted Services Modification Request.
Any request to change a Service Definition, Process and Procedure, or Outcomes Required for Payment must be documented and approved by the VR director, using the VR3472, Contracted Service Modification Request, before the change is implemented. The approved VR3472 must be maintained in the provider’s customer case file. For more information, refer to VR-SFP 3.4.11 Contracted Services Modification Request.
The customer, customer's legal guardian or representative (if applicable), VR counselor, and Project SEARCH team must meet to develop goals for the customer and document these goals on the VR3362, Project SEARCH Progress Report.
The skills trainer must:
No invoice may be paid until the VR counselor receives and approves a complete and accurate VR3362, Project SEARCH Progress Report, with an invoice.
Any meeting among the customer, provider, customer's circle of supports, or VR staff may be conducted remotely.
VR3362, Project SEARCH Progress Report, is submitted:
For payment, the skills trainer must:
For information on signatures refer to VR-SFP sections 3.2.14 Documentation and 3.2.16 Signatures.
No invoice may be paid until the VR counselor receives and approves a complete, accurate, signed, and dated VR3362, Project SEARCH Progress Report, and an invoice.
16.4.4 Fees
For more information, refer to 16.6 Project SEARCH Services Fees.
When the customer has participated in at least one internship rotation or, at any time during the rotations, the team determines job placement opportunities are available to the customer, the job placement specialist and Project SEARCH team help the customer find employment.
The goal is to place the customer in a competitive and integrated work setting either with the host business or a business in the community that:
Job placement specialists are responsible for:
Project SEARCH Job Placement Services may not be purchased with on-the-job training services, Job Skills Training, Non-bundled Job Placement Services, Bundled Job Placement Services, Work Experience Services and/or Supported Employment.
There are times when participation in Work Experience or Supported Employment Services may benefits a customer after participation in Project SEARCH skills training. If this service is needed for a customer to help increase his or her employment opportunities, then an approved VR3472, Contracted Service Modification Request, is required. Job placement specialists are paid only once for each benchmark completed by a Project SEARCH customer, even if the customer loses a job after the completion of a benchmark.
The customer must work 90 days in the same position. If a customer loses a job before the 90-day benchmark, the customer's progression towards completion of the benchmark ends. When the customer becomes employed again, the day count will start at day 1 for the new position.
Each benchmark is paid only once for each customer between Active Status (customer has an Individualized Plan of Employment (IPE)) and Closure Status of a VR case. On a case-by-case basis, when the VR counselor determines the provider should be paid for making a second placement a VR3472 must be approved by the VR Director prior to the service authorization being issued.
The job placement specialist:
If the employer has classified the customer as an employee during an orientation period, the orientation period counts as part of the customer's 90 days of cumulative employment. The time spent in a Project SEARCH internship rotation cannot be included in the job placement's 90-day count.
The customer, VR counselor, job placement specialist, and any other Project SEARCH team members, meet to develop and complete VR3363, Project SEARCH Job Placement Services Plan:
VR3363 must only be completed one time and updated as needed.
The purposes of this meeting are to:
Any meeting among the customer, provider, customer’s circle of supports, or VR staff may be conducted remotely.
VR3363, Project SEARCH Job Placement Services Plan, explains how services may be provided either in person, remotely, or a combination of both.
Remote services must follow guidance in VR-SFP 3.4.8 Remote Service Delivery.
All parties attending the meeting must sign VR3363 at the end of the meeting. Signatures on the VR3363, Project SEARCH Job Placement Plan, may be obtained by following the steps in VR-SFP sections 3.2.14 Documentation and 3.2.16 Signatures.
After the Project SEARCH job placement plan meeting, VR staff:
The SAs for Benchmarks B and C are issued after the customer achieves Benchmark A.
The job placement specialist uses resources and tools necessary to help the customer find a job that meets the criteria outlined in the VR3363, Project SEARCH Job Placement Services Plan.
Once the customer is employed, the job placement specialist monitors the customer's progress on the job by:
If Job Skills Training is necessary to supplement the training provided by the employer, the Project SEARCH provider includes it as part of Job Placement Services and may not bill it separately.
The customer must work 90 days in the same position. When a customer is placed in a new position with the same or new employer, a new 90-day count of employment is required to complete Project SEARCH Job Placement Services.
If a customer loses a job before the 90-day benchmark, the customer's progression towards completion of the benchmark ends. When the customer becomes employed again, the day count will start at day 1 for the new position.
The 90-day count for successful closure will start over anytime a customer:
Each benchmark is paid only once for each customer between Active Status (customer has an IPE) and Closure Status of a VR case. On a case-by-case basis, when the VR counselor determines the provider should be paid for making a second placement a VR3472 must be approved by the VR Director prior to the service authorization being issued.
If the customer loses the job, the customer's progression toward completion of the benchmark ends and the job placement specialist must meet with the customer and VR counselor to:
When a job is lost, the customer begins with Benchmark A to secure another position. The count begins over at day one and continues through the benchmarks until the customer reaches 90 days of employment in the new position. The provider must resubmit an updated VR3364 for each benchmark. Each Benchmark is paid only once for each customer.
Additionally, any extended support or long-term support services that the customer needs to maintain successful long-term employment must be established by the job placement specialist and Project SEARCH team before the customer achieves Benchmark C.
Any request to change a Service Definition, Process and Procedure, or Outcomes Required for Payment must be documented and approved by the VR director, using the VR3472, Contracted Service Modification Request, before the change is implemented. The approved VR3472 must be maintained in the provider's customer case file. For more information, refer to VR-SFP 3.4.11 Contracted Services Modification Request.
For a provider to be paid for services, the job placement specialist must:
For information on acceptable signatures refer to VR-SFP sections 3.2.14 Documentation and 3.2.16 Signatures.
No payment may be made for the achievement of a benchmark until the VR counselor receives and approves a complete, accurate, signed, and dated:
Each benchmark is paid only once for each customer between Active Status (customer has an IPE) and Closure Status of a VR case.
For more information, refer to SFP 16.6 Project SEARCH Services Fees.
A provider cannot collect money from a VR customer or the customer's family for any service charged in excess of VR fees. If VR and another resource are paying for a service for a customer, the total payment must not exceed the fee specified in the VR Standards for Providers manual.
Project SEARCH Services |
Unit Rate |
Comments |
---|---|---|
Asset Discovery |
$613.00 |
|
Skills Training |
Must not exceed $1,684.00 per customer for an eight–12 week internship rotation |
|
Job Placement and Arrangement of Retention Services (Benchmark A) |
$919.00 |
|
Job Placement and Arrangement of Retention Services (Benchmark B) |
$919.00 |
|
Job Placement and Arrangement of Extended Services (Benchmark C) |
$1,225.00 |
|