Guardianship Case Processing:

The Office of Court Research (OCR) seeks the services of a consultant with expertise in the processing of guardianship cases and the capacity to conduct a limited time study to determine the amount of time required by court staff to meet standards of performance established by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The time study will be required in only one court in the San Francisco Bay Area and will need to be conducted in a manner that is consistent with a more comprehensive time study already completed by the OCR.

With guidance from OCR staff, the consultant will adapt the methodology used in the previous time-study - including the tools to be used by court staff to capture the amount of time spent on case processing. These tools will allow for staff to record the time they spend on processing guardianship cases, other types of cases that they work on, and the functional areas in which they are working during case processing (e.g., case-file preparation, court-room activities, records management). The consultant will create a data-collection plan that allows for the capture of a minimum of two-weeks of data on the time staff spend processing guardianship cases.

In addition to reporting on the processing of guardianship cases in the court where the time study is conducted, a final report will provide estimates of the percentages of guardianship filings that are contained within the probate caseload of the other 57 superior courts in the state. Based on these estimates, the report will provide estimates of the amount of resources that would be required if the GAO standards of case processing were applied to all 58 superior courts. Finally, the report will include recommendations for meeting these standards in small courts that lack the numbers of guardianship filings necessary to justify dedicating full-time staff to the case-processing functions.

Consultants are asked to submit proposals by 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 18, 2005.

For further information regarding this RFP, please contact Dag MacLeod, Project Manager, Administrative Office of the Courts, Office of Court Research, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102. Telephone: 415-865-7660, Email:dag.macleod@jud.ca.gov.