Case Coordination Program
Added: Nov 22, 2016 1:05 pm
PROJECT TITLE: Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Case Coordination ProgramThis is a Sources Sought Notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified business sources; (2) whether they are large businesses and small businesses to include; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 624230 for the proposed acquisition. Your response to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.This is strictly market research. The Office of Refugee Resettlement will not entertain questions regarding this market research.Background:On March 1, 2003, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, section 462, transferred the functions under U.S. immigration laws regarding the care and placement of unaccompanied children (UC) from the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). ORR has responsibility for the care and custody of UC who are in Federal custody by reason of their immigration status. The Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services was created within ORR in March 2003 to serve this purpose (later the UC program would fall under the authority of the Division of Children's Services under the ORR reorganization in November 2011). A UC is defined as a child who: (1) has no lawful immigration status in the United-States; (2) has not attained 18 years of age; and (3) with respect to whom - (i) there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or (ii) no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody.One of ORR's main functions is to provide temporary residential care, in the least restrictive setting possible, and other related services to UC in ORR custody. Under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, "UAC shall be promptly placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child, taking into consideration risk of harm to the child and/or others and risk of flight."ORR is also responsible for the safe and timely release of UC to appropriate sponsors. Under the Homeland Security Act, ORR, in making placement decisions, shall make such determinations to ensure that UC "are likely to appear for all hearings or proceedings in which they are involved; are protected from smugglers, traffickers, or others who might seek to victimize or otherwise engage them in criminal, harmful, or exploitative activity; and are placed in a setting in which they are not likely to pose a danger to themselves or others." Under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, "A UAC may not be placed with a person or entity unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services makes a determination that the proposed custodian is capable of providing for the child's physical and mental well-being."In addition, ORR is responsible for identifying, funding, overseeing, and monitoring state-licensed facilities that serve UC; maintaining statistical information and data on each child; and compiling and updating an annual list of professionals or entities qualified to provide legal services.As of March 2016, ORR oversees a national network of over 100 licensed care providers, including shelters, group homes, staff-secure/secure facilities, foster care programs and residential treatment centers through contracts and cooperative agreements. ORR care providers are required to be licensed by the state in which they reside and are encouraged to pursue additional accreditation through the Council on Accreditation. They must also comply with ORR policies, protocols and procedures, as detailed in their individual Cooperative Agreement/Statement of Work and ORR policies and procedures. The majority of care providers are located in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. The majority of ORR shelter care providers serve UC exclusively while others serve both UC and domestic youth. ORR identifies placement options for UC according to their individual needs through this national network of care providers. Most programs who serve both UC and domestic youth maintain the two populations separately, but some smaller programs providing specialized care may serve the two populations together.ORR ensures that the interests of the child are considered in all decisions related to the care and custody of UC. ORR is guided by the principles that all UC should be treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability; all UC must be placed in the least restrictive setting appropriate to their age and special needs; and each UC shall be provided care and services free from discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or political belief.Many UC have faced traumatic situations in their home countries, such as dire poverty, war, persecution, forced military recruitment, domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, gang violence, and government neglect. Some are also very young, most have little or no formal education, and most are primarily non-English speaking. Many also fall victim to violent crimes (rape, assault, robbery, human trafficking) during their dangerous journey to the United States. A number of UC may owe large debts to smugglers who facilitated their travel to the United States. While the majority of UC are adolescent males from Central America, ORR serves a significant number of females, younger children, and youth from other countries, such as China, India, Haiti, and Somalia. Other special sub-populations include pregnant and parenting teens, children who require intensive mental health or medical services, children with criminal histories, and victims of human trafficking or other crimes.UC come to the United States in pursuit of a better life with hopes of fleeing poor socioeconomic conditions, escaping violence, reunifying with family and seeking educational and employment opportunities. After apprehension by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or another Federal agency, and placement in ORR custody with a ORR funded care provider, these children face a complicated legal system, which offers limited relief options to remain in the United States permanently and legally. ORR provides UC access to legal service providers who can provide assistance in determining whether they qualify for immigration relief that may allow them to remain in the United States. While a UC's immigration case is pending, UC may be released to relatives or other sponsors in the United States. While the average length of stay for UC is approximately 34 days, a small number of children who pursue potential immigration relief but have no viable family sponsors remain in ORR custody for extended periods of time, while their immigration case is pending. To the greatest extent possible, UC should be released to a sponsor promptly once it is determined that the sponsor is able to provide for the child's safety and well-being.While in ORR custody, UC receive an array of services, including residential care and supervision, clothing, food, individual and group counseling, medical/mental health care, case management, education/English as a Second Language, recreation, vocational education, acculturation, and access to religious services. UC also have access to legal services. While the majority of services are available on site, referrals to community-based providers are made as needed. Services are provided by multilingual staff in a manner that is sensitive to the language and culture of the populations served. Service provision is tailored to each UC in order to maximize the UC's opportunities for success both while in care, and upon discharge from the program.In addition to the ORR funded care provider staff, ORR has Washington, DC Headquarters and Federal Field Specialist staff who administer the UC Program; develop and implement policies and procedures; provide technical assistance, monitoring and oversight to grantees; identify and develop specialized capacity; and coordinate and oversee the safe and timely release of UC. Central office staff is located in Washington, D.C. Federal Field Specialists (FFS) are located nationally in areas of high apprehension and placement activity, including Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Chicago, IL; El Paso, TX; Harlingen, TX; San Antonio, TX; Houston, TX; New York, New York; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC. As we expand the shelter network, providers may be located in other cities as well.ORR intends to acquire the services of bilingual Case Coordinators to provide child welfare based recommendations on individual UC cases, particularly in the areas of making recommendations for transfer and release, identifying children with special needs and developing subsequent recommendations, staffing cases, reviewing individual service planning, collaborating with care providers in providing community support and medical services, and troubleshooting special or unique cases. In order to maintain the integrity of their duties, organizations providing Case Coordinators may not have a conflict of interest with ORR and/or its UC service providers (i.e., organizations involved in the care and maintenance of children in federal custody, organizations that would receive financial benefit as a result of their recommendations, etc.).Case Coordinators will be assigned to locations near ORR-funded care providers. In most cases, Case Coordinators will be deployed in or around areas where Federal Field Specialists are present. The primary regions are Western (California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona); South Central (Texas); Midwest (Chicago, Illinois; Michigan); and Eastern (Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and New York).Case Coordinators will work closely with Federal Field Specialists, who act as the local ORR liaison with care providers and stakeholders, provide technical assistance and guidance to care providers on ORR policies and procedures, and make transfer and release decisions for UC in their designated regions.I. Purpose and Objectives:The purpose of this requirement is to secure services of a contractor to develop and maintain regional or national case coordination program(s) that provide child welfare based recommendations on individual UC cases, particularly in the areas of safe and timely release, identification of children with special needs and development of corresponding recommendations, and placement recommendations.Minimum Project Requirements:Due to the nature of UC arrivals, ORR seeks sources for a contract vehicle that is flexible, cost-efficient, and could provide the following services on a regional basis throughout the United States:• Providing timely review, assessment, and recommendation of release requests to ORR;• Assisting ORR in ensuring that children are placed in the least restrictive setting while receiving appropriate services;• Meeting with individual UC and care provider staff at designated ORR-funded care provider sites;• Providing targeted child welfare based assistance to care provider staff, as directed by ORR staff;• Providing written assessments, and when necessary reviewing or providing technical assistance to the written assessments of the care provider's case managers and clinicians.• Making recommendations for home study and post- release services for at-risk children, in collaboration with the care provider and ORR;• Making placement recommendations, including for children who require more specialized levels of care, such as long-term foster care, residential treatment centers, and secure care in collaboration with the care provider and ORR;• Collaborating and working on any other tasks specific to the case coordinator as per ORR/DCS policy and procedures;• Participating in collaborative meetings with local stakeholders; • Leading case staffing with care providers to discuss individual cases and progress; and;• Meet with designated ORR staff to provide updates of individual UC cases and elevate cases as needed. Anticipated period of performance: The period of performance will be a 36-month period, a base of 12 months and two twelve month option periods. Capability statement/information sought: Respondents must provide, as part of their responses, a capability statement, which addresses the following:1. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the mission of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Division of Children's Services.2. Demonstrate the ability to supervise a regional or national network of professionals with child welfare, immigration and multi-disciplinary expertise.3. Demonstrated ability to provide professional staff with extensive expertise and knowledge in a) program management; b) child welfare based recommendations; c) family reunification/child placement and d); release risk assessment sand safety planning.4. Demonstrate the ability to recruit qualified staff with an MSW bilingual in Spanish to serve a national network.5. Demonstrate the ability to screen, hire and train staff to meet State licensing and ORR requirements. Training should address elements specific to working with the UC population, prevention and intervention in child abuse and neglect, national reporting procedures, and staff code of conduct. 6. Demonstrate a clear description of overall program management and plan for provision of the services aforementioned (child welfare based recommendations on individual UC cases, coordinate and oversee the safe and timely release of UC, assess child behavioral issues, create safety plans, find and establish connections with community providers, staffing cases, reviewing individual service planning.Interested sources that are eligible business contractors are invited to submit a capability statement no more than ten pages. This capability statement should include:• A cover letter which includes the offeror's name, company address, a point of contact, phone number, email address, and DUNS number. If you have a government approved accounting system, please identify the agency that approved the system, and the type of company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). • A clear and concise statement of the offeror's capability and organizational capacity to perform the work as described above.• Bios or resumes for potential key staff members, including the project manager and lead technical staff. • The offeror's most pertinent previous experience with similar government contracts within the last four years.The capability statement does not need to describe how the contractor would carry out the proposed tasks, does not need to include any budget proposals, and does not need to provide resumes or other information for non-key staff. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s) and for any other purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response.Qualifying small businesses which have the organizational capacity to provide the services are encouraged to respond to this request. All teaming arrangements (if any) should also include the above-cited information with certifications for each entity on the proposed team.All offerors must register or be registered on SAM located at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/.Responses must be received by 3:00 pm EST on December 6, 2016. All submissions should be sent to Linda O'Neil, via email at Linda.Jules-ONeil@psc.hhs.gov.Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
17-233-SOL-00074 Department of Health and Human Services Program Support Center
11/22/16, 1:05 PM