National Council for Mental Wellbeing Mental Health First Aid Training

I. Item/Service Description The Office of Health and Hospital Affairs requires an institutional agreement to secure proprietary educational materials, automated testing portals, participant processing credentials, and mandatory Instructor Certification training slots. These items are required to execute our current system-wide behavioral health training mandates and satisfy the explicit operational goals of our active Mental Health First Aid grant program, previously announced through SUNY’s Chancellor’s Office[1]. II. Statement of Need & Public Purpose A competitive procurement process is legally and practically impossible for this transaction. Under state procurement guidelines monitored by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), a single source designation is justified when a single vendor holds exclusive, un-duplicated legal authority over the required services. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing[2] is the only entity that can satisfy this contract due to the following proprietary restrictions: Exclusive Trademark and Copyright Ownership: The National Council for Mental Wellbeing holds the absolute, exclusive U.S. distribution rights, copyright, and trademark protection for the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) curriculum. No other non-profit organization, commercial vendor, or educational broker is legally authorized to distribute MHFA course materials, issue official participant certifications, or license the copyrighted curriculum. Sole Credentialing Authority: The National Council for Mental Wellbeing is the only body in the United States empowered to certify, registry-track, and maintain the legal credentials of MHFA Instructors. To train our designated personnel to deliver these courses across our campuses, certifications must be purchased and processed directly through the National Council's proprietary instructor pipeline. [1] https://www.suny.edu/suny-news/press-releases/1-26/1-8-26/mentalhealth.html [2] https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/ https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/our-work/mental-health-first-aid/