DOL Applied Research and Development

The Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration National Office awarded this Master IDIQ for applied research and development on July 1, 2008, with the last date to place orders on December 29, 2013; the vehicle is now closed to new ordering and should not be pursued.

This vehicle is past its useful life. Ordering closed over twelve years ago, and the most recent task order was awarded on September 30, 2013. All 28 task orders under the vehicle have completed or long since concluded, with final completion dates ranging from 2009 through 2015. The vehicle obligated $11.7 million against a combined potential value of $12.8 million, or 91% of the ceiling.

The three primes split activity and value nearly evenly. The Rand Corporation held ten orders worth $5.6 million in combined potential value, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP held ten orders worth $5 million, and Actuarial Research Corporation held eight orders worth $2.2 million. No other contractors were awarded work. Roughly 82% of the combined potential value ($10.4 million) funded the Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration National Office, with the remainder distributed across two other DOL subordinate offices.

Task orders covered applied research across employee benefits, retirement security, health insurance markets, and wellness programs. Scope included market analysis of self-insured and fully-insured group health plans, studies of fiduciary definitions, retirement savings behavior in minority populations, and regulatory impact analyses. Pricing was predominantly firm fixed price, with some labor-hour and time-and-materials arrangements. Task-order ceilings ranged from approximately $39 thousand to $1.5 million, with most orders in the $150 thousand to $750 thousand band.

The vehicle saw highest ordering activity in 2009 and 2010, with eight orders placed each year, declining to two orders annually in 2012 and 2013. Three-quarters of task orders carried no set-aside designation; the remainder were designated partial small business. All work was performed for DOL's employee benefits research function.

DOL Applied Research and Development IDIQ