Attachment_J.6__Attachment_C__Training_and_Technical_Assistance_Service_Area_SOW.pdf

Shelter Care for Unaccompanied Children Draft Solicitation Language Attachment J.6 – Attachment C – Training and Technical Assistance Service Area

Section C – Description/Specification/Work Statement

Statement of Work Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Office of Refugee Resettlement – Division of Children’s Services Training and Technical Assistance

General Information

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Division of Children's Services/Unaccompanied Children's program provides unaccompanied children with a safe and appropriate environment until they are released to an appropriate sponsor while their immigration cases proceed. ORR is an office within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) which is a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The ORR- Unaccompanied Children’s program seeks training services to support the operations of shelters for unaccompanied children in HHS custody.

Purpose

The purpose of this performance work statement is to secure options for a training and technical assistance provider to train staff. The training will primarily include ORR policies and procedures; the Prison Rape Elimination Act Interim Final Rule procedures; completing sponsor packets; use of the ORR web-based database; and implementing best child welfare practices to provide high quality services to the children. While this contract is primarily targeted towards temporary facilities, in fiscal year 2014, ORR awarded nearly 22 new grants to shelter providers and added new field staff, hence ORR may request the training and technical assistance provider to train new grantees staff and new ORR field staff. The place of performance will primarily be within ACF Regions 2, 6, and 9 however the Government reserves the right to assign the Contractor to a location outside of those regions.

Background

In 2014, the Administration responded to a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied children who were apprehended on the southwest border, with an aggressive, coordinated Federal response focused on providing humanitarian care for the children as well as heightened deterrence, enhanced enforcement, stronger foreign cooperation, and greater capacity for Federal agencies to ensure that our border remains secure. As a result of these efforts, the number of unaccompanied children attempting to cross the southwest border has declined precipitously, and the Administration continues to focus its resources to prevent a similar situation from developing in the future.

ACF is continuing to develop efficient, cost-effective strategies to address the historical variations in border crossings by unaccompanied children. Every effort is being made to avoid a future increase in border crossings by children. At the same time, it is important for the Federal government to be prepared to provide humanitarian care when necessary.

During FY 2014, ACF operated temporary facilities at camps and on Department of Defense military bases. ACF worked with existing grantees that were able to expand their capacity to operate the temporary shelters while continuing to maintain services at the standard shelters they operated. Contracting for services related to temporary shelters would allow ACF, where appropriate, to use a competitive process to identify temporary facility providers, instead of expanding existing grant agreements, to provide care to children. The competitive contracting process could also provide more cost effective options for temporary sheltering. ACF is exploring contract vehicles that could provide flexible options for services on a regional basis throughout the United States.

Cadre and Infrastructure Task:

The contractor shall provide all labor, supervision, and materials to support all recruiting, screening, credentialing, training, and data tracking systems to establish and maintain a cadre of assets to ensure the rapid availability of scalable staff assets based on local capacity and need for temporary shelter services. Based on the size and nature of the increase of UC crossings the U.S.

border, the ORR will surge to meet the needs of the children. The contractor is responsible for obtaining the resources and a cadre of trained personnel that includes, but is not limited to a Program Director, Contract Administrator, Recruitment Coordinator, a Procurement Specialist and two IT Specialists. The contractor is expected to maintain the level of effort required to establish the necessary service infrastructure to implement and maintain the required services if/when needed by ORR. The contractor is expected to ensure collaborative measures within other Services Areas described in Section C.4 of the IDIQ contract. The contract will specify the minimum quantities that ORR may order under each task or delivery order and the maximum that it may order during a specific period of time. Accordingly the contractor will be assessed penalties every month in which the contractor fails to identify the five cadre of trained personnel and other minimum quantities specified on the contract available for deployment during that month. The qualified personnel identified shall provide the initial triage, and follow the initial task order to hire additional staff, and provide required.

Asset Deployment Tasks:

Training

The Contractor shall provide experts in case management, family reunification, safety planning, and ORR sponsor verification specific to Unaccompanied Children (UC) in ORR care. These experts must have a bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, sociology, or other relevant behavioral science. They must be proficient in the use of the computer and web-based programs.

In addition, these staff must have the following: experience coordinating case management and family reunification services for children; experience coordinating family reunification and making placement determinations; experience conducting and documenting ORR UC assessments and provision of services in accordance with laws and regulations; experience planning, organizing, instructing, and monitoring the training functions of a care provider;

experience screening for human trafficking concerns and creating safety plans; and experience developing trainings based on federal policies and procedures.

These staff, unless otherwise specified by the Government, shall provide three (3) weeks of on-site training to temporary shelter locations, new standard shelter locations and new ORR Field Staff at the direction of the Government.

The Contractor shall develop training material on the following topics: ORR policies and procedures as well as ORR interim guidance and operations manual; the Prison Rape Elimination Act Interim Final Rules procedures; the sponsor reunification packets; ORR database; behavioral management and non-violent restraint techniques; cultural competence training; and child-welfare best practices. The Contractor shall request the COR’s approval for all training material developed before its use. All training material developed for the purpose of this contract will be the property of ORR. Training material should be available in hard and electronic copy.

The Contractor shall provide staff that, prior to commencing work at the assigned duty station, has the requisite certification(s)/licensure and expertise, skills, abilities and training required to perform the task(s) to which they have been assigned.

The Contractor shall have the capability to meet changing operational requirements, including mission scale-ups, scale-downs and/or support to multiple simultaneous operational requirements.

The Contractor shall comply with all Federal Privacy Act and record retention regulations for the collection, storage and disposition of personally identifiable information throughout the duration of the Task Order(s).

The Contractor shall be prepared to provide staff who are bilingual in a language other than Spanish/English (e.g., Indian/English, Chinese/English), if directed by the COR.

Program Management

The Contactor shall provide a Program Coordinator (or alternative), responsible for all work performed under this contract. The Program Coordinator will be the primary point of contact for the Contracting Officer and designated Contracting Officer Representative (COR). The Program Coordinator will have resources and authority to ensure efficient and timely program execution and shall be the Contractor’s focal point for all required program tasks. The Contractor’s Program Coordinator will be prepared at all times to present and discuss the status of contract activities, requirements, and issues. The name of this person and the name of any alternate who shall act for the Contractor when the Program Coordinator is absent shall be submitted in writing to the Contracting Officer five (5) working days prior to the contract start date. During any absence of the Program Coordinator, only one (1) alternate shall serve as the Government contact point. The Program Coordinator, and any designated alternates(s), shall have full authority to act for the Contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The Program Coordinator shall keep the Contracting Officer (CO) and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) informed of any performance issues, cost or financial concerns and potential problems that, if unresolved, will adversely affect the Contractor’s performance, schedule or costs. The Program Coordinator shall take all appropriate measures to mitigate adverse impact to the contract and subsequently to the ACF.

Program Management Plan

The Contractor shall provide a Program Management Plan (PMP) during task order proposal submission that fully documents its management approach for this contract.

The Contractor shall update its PMP when changes to the required information change.

At a minimum, the PMP shall:

a. Provide information on the Contractor’s management organization, internal management policies and procedures;

b. Summarize how the Contractor will maintain relationships and conduct regular meetings and reviews with Government personnel related to the activities and deliverables of the Contract;

c. Provide an organization chart of the contractor’s organization to be used in performance of the contract and narrative describing how the Contractor will fully integrate the management of the elements of this contract and if the plan includes subcontractors, other than individual subcontractors, provide organizational information about the subcontractor and include subcontractor organizational elements in the project organizational chart;

d. Describe how activities of subcontracts will be managed and organizational relationship will be maintained between the prime and subcontractors and methods of requirement flow-down and activity progress reporting back to the prime Contractor;

e. Describe the: Contractor’s approach to selecting subcontractor(s) and maintaining the quality of products produced by subcontractors(s); subcontractor’s role under the contract, its relationship to the contractor, and its experience (over the past three

(3) years at a minimum); and any subcontractor independent verification and validation process;

f. Identify key technical and management personnel who will be assigned to the contract;

g. Describe internal policies and procedures to be used in managing the contract and resources associated with the contract;

h. Describe management and process for addressing work increases (spikes) and lulls as work priorities and schedules shift;

i. Describe the approach and method for the identification, assessment, and mitigation of program risks including provisions for identifying risk areas, assessing risk factors, assigning appropriate resources to reduce risk factors, identifying and analyzing alternative actions available, identifying the most promising alternatives, and planning for implementation of risk reduction.

Project Management and Project Schedules

The Contractor shall establish and maintain a “project management System” using its own tools and methodologies subject to review by the ACF/ORR COR team. This project management tool should employ a highly successful set of program control, tools, techniques, and procedures, to include risk management, quality assurance, work breakdown structuring, contractor cadre database, and security management.

The Contractor’s project management system shall include, but not limited to the following areas:

1. Financial database to include invoicing, budgets, timesheets, cost control and procedures.

2. Contractors Task Management, to include deployments, schedules, locations, etc.

For work performed under the contract, the Contractor shall be required to develop and maintain a schedule. The Contractor shall provide sufficient detail to demonstrate that all sections of the work are appropriately resourced, thoroughly planned, and proceeding according to requirements. Schedule(s) shall identify subordinate-tier activities, dependencies between activities, and milestones required to demonstrate successful completion of projects. The schedule(s) shall identify the exit criteria required to satisfy milestone requirements that enable the Contractor to proceed with follow-on activities. The schedule(s) shall be base-lined. Schedule updates shall be made frequently, or as designated by the COR. Changes to scheduled baseline milestones must be documented by the Contractor and formally authorized by HHS or its designee.

Personnel

The Contractor shall provide deployed staff with one (1) unpaid day off during the first 14 days of deployment, provided that the period of performance for the Task Order(s) is a minimum of 14 days. The Contractor shall stagger time off to ensure that all operational requirements are met.

The Contractor shall base subsequent unpaid time-off schedules on operational requirements.

The Contractor shall issue photo identification to all staff mobilized under the Task Order(s).

The Contractor shall ensure that all deployed Contractor staff clearly display a Contractor issued photo identification badge on the front of their outer garment, between the neck and waist, at all times while on duty.

The Contractor shall require all staff mobilized under the Task Order to provide the following documentation: Child Protective Services background investigations, Criminal background checks, and any other security check required by the host State for staff in a children residential care setting.

Travel

The Contractor shall provide local staff to fill the requirements of the Task Order(s). If there is insufficient local staff to satisfy the Task Order(s), the Contractor shall deploy qualified staff from other locations. The Contractor shall make every effort to replace staff on travel status with local hires within three (3) weeks of the beginning of the period of performance.

The Contractor shall provide all logistical support for staff on travel status, including but not limited to:

Travel

Transportation Lodging Meals and incidentals Equipment needed to fulfill the requirements of the Task Order(s) Supplies needed to fulfill the requirements of the Task Order(s) An organization chart clearly delineating their chain of command, reflecting integration with HHS management facility structure Additional information, tools, and resources to ensure that staff are appropriately prepared to successfully complete their assigned duties

The Contractor shall provide all required travel arrangements and maintenance for staff on travel status, in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations, including but not limited to:

Transportation from/to point of origin to/from assigned location(s) Lodging near staging area(s), training site(s), duty station(s) and/or other assigned location(s) Transportation, including but not limited to, from/to:

• Lodging and/or staging area(s)

• Training site(s)

• Duty station(s)

• Meal site(s)

Provision of meals and incidental expenses

Standards of Conduct

The Contractor shall ensure that all its personnel conduct their work in a professional and responsible manner. All Contractor personnel working on the Government’s site shall abide by the rules and regulations as set forth by HHS.

Government Liability

The Government shall not be liable for any injury to the Contractor’s personnel or damage to the Contractor’s property unless such injury or damage is due to negligence on the part of the Government and is recoverable under the Federal Torts Claims Act, or pursuant to other Federal statutory authority.

MEETINGS AND REPORTS

The Contractor shall prepare agendas for all meetings concerning the project unless otherwise stated by the individual support task order COR/business owner. Agendas shall be submitted to the COR/business owner (unless otherwise directed) at least one business day prior to the meeting. When meeting with the COR, the Contractor is responsible for recording meeting minutes and submitting those minutes to the COR within two (2) business days after the meeting for review and approval.

POST AWARD CONFERENCE

A post-award conference shall be conducted within (7) seven business days after contract awarded with representatives of the Contractor, Contracting Officer and COR. The Contracting Officer, or designated representative, initiating the conference will designate, or act as the chairperson. The requirement for a post-award conference shall in no event constitute grounds for excusable delay by the Contractor in performance of any provisions in the contract.

BI-WEEKLY MEETINGS

The Contractor shall attend bi-weekly meetings with the COR to discuss project status and other technical items that support the performance of work. The COR may cancel the meetings if not needed.

MONTHLY STATUS REPORT

The Contractor shall submit to the COR a Monthly Status Report that includes the following:

a. Activities completed

b. Activities in process

c. Activities planned for the next period

d. Status report of all reviewed deliverables

e. Issues and concerns

Reports will consist of charts, a brief written document plus discussions for elaboration, explanations, and to ensure a common understanding of efforts. All activities, as identified within the individual support task order performance work statement, shall be reported by tasks, hours, and show start and stop dates. The Contractor shall provide a status of each project in regard to original baseline. At the activity level, the contractor shall provide both current reporting period and cumulative figures for the hours worked by labor category and individuals within that category. The contractor shall schedule and conduct a face-to-face with the COR on at least a bi-weekly basis to discuss project status. The COR may determine that a meeting is not necessary and cancel a meeting when it is determined unnecessary. In addition, the Contractor shall brief and discuss progress to each individual task order. All tasks shall be included in the monthly report. The monthly report shall be used to validate invoices. The monthly invoice and the monthly report should be reflective of one another. The Contractor shall develop a format and submit for review by the Government. Once approved, the Contractor shall submit in the approved format. If there is a need to change the format, the contractor shall use the same submittal and approval process.

DAILY REPORT

Once a Task Order is activated, the Contractor will provide a daily report of activities related to that TO, including schedule and deliverables tracking and any new or pressing issues.

AD HOC REPORT

The Contractor shall submit an ad hoc report with activities performed as requested by, and at the direction of the COR. The ad hoc report shall be an abbreviated version of the monthly status report. The ad hoc report is required only as requested by the COR.

AFTER ACTION REPORT

The Contractor shall submit to the Government, electronically, a final, after-action report summarizing all of the above information for the entire period of performance. The report shall be submitted within two (2) weeks before the period of performance expire. The Contractor’s report shall include observations of best practices and recommendations for overall operational improvement.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

All written documents for this project shall be delivered via a single hard copy plus an electronic version via E-mail attachment. The COR may request additional hard copies as necessary. All electronic files shall be submitted in a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2007. This requirement is subject to change and the Contractor shall be prepared to submit deliverables in any new HHS/ACF standard format.

The Contractor shall participate in daily conference calls with the COR at a time that will be decided by the COR.

The IDCM Contractor shall document and provide a final progress and expense (invoice) report sixty (60) business days after each deployment has ended outlining a full recording of all expenses incurred in the process of carrying out the mission assignment and relating the costs against the total budget. The final progress and expense report shall also include the participant roster.

The Contractor shall monitor and track their expenditures to not exceed obligated amount for this task order. Weekly financial reports, including cumulative expenditures, shall be provided by the data and time specified by the COR. Once obligations reach 75% of awarded funds, the Contractor shall immediately notify the COR. Regular updates to the COR may be requested.

Government Furnished Equipment, Information, Property The Contractor shall provide all required equipment, services, supplies, materials, logistics support, training, staffing, and/or other resources, unless otherwise specified in the Task Order(s).

The Contractor shall not rely on the Government to provide Government Furnished Information, unless otherwise specified in the Task Order(s).

The Contractor shall not rely on the Government to provide any Government Furnished Property, such as land, buildings or facilities, unless otherwise specified in the Task Order(s).

The Contractor shall not deem any Contractor-developed system, software, designs, plans, products, and/or other materials, analyses or reports paid for in full or in part under this contract to be property of the Contractor. Ownership and use of the system(s) and data shall be vested in the Government. The Contractor shall develop and provide user manuals for the system to the Program Management Office or designee and Contracting Officer (or designated representative). The Contractor system(s) shall operate independent of Government systems. The Contractor shall be responsible for informational accuracy and for updating their system information with, and for, all systems.

Delivery Schedule The Contractor shall deploy resources, including staff, to any location(s) in the Continental United States, as specified in the Task Order(s). The type(s), location(s) and period(s) of performance will be specified in the Task Order(s).

Mobilization Order: Upon receipt and acknowledgement of a Notice to Proceed (NTP), the Contractor shall:

o See phases under task and deliverable section of this Statement of Work.

Demobilization Order: Upon receipt and acknowledgement of a Demobilization Order, the Contractor shall cease all operations under the Task Order(s) demobilize local personnel within 24 hours and out of state personnel within 72 hours.

Hours of Operation:

Shelter operations are 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Insurance, Bonding, and Licensing (Company):

The Contractor(s) shall be fully licensed, insured, and bonded per the terms of the base contract.

No additional costs or indemnities will be borne by the government.

RESTRICTIONS ON DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION AND RIGHTS IN DATA

ADVANCE REVIEW FOR DISSEMINATION OF PROJECT INFORMATION PRIOR TO

CONTRACT COMPLETION

The Contractor agrees not to release or disclose, verbally or in writing, information pertaining to the results or findings of work (including data collection, analyses, draft or final papers and reports) for the period of this contract without prior review by the COR. The Contractor must notify the COR in advance (minimum 21 days prior to release) and in writing, specifying: who or what is generating the request for advance information; when and how project results/information would be released; and what information would be released.

The Government reserves the right to transfer copyright of the any data, analysis, or product developed under this contract to the entity best equipped to ensure the sustainability of the program to include intellectual property. In transferring copyright, the Government requires that the entity that acquires the copyright will provide the measure to Government agencies and programs at cost (i.e., for the cost of reproduction of the materials and cost of training).

QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP)

The Government intends to utilize a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) to monitor the quality of the Contractor’s performance for the life of the contract. The oversight provided for in the task order and in the QASP will help to ensure that service levels reach and maintain the required levels throughout the contract term. Further, the QASP provides the TO with a proactive way to avoid unacceptable or deficient performance, and provides verifiable input for the required Past Performance Information Assessments. The QASP will be developed by the Government in conjunction with the performance work statement. It will be finalized upon award and a copy provided to the Contractor after award. The QASP is a living document and may be updated by the Government as necessary for the life of the contract or until all funds are disbursed.

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

To be determined.

Upon Issuance of a Task Order - Schedule of Deliverables:

ITEM DELIVERABLE / EVENT DUE BY:

1. Deploy staff to staging and/or other location identified by the COR

As described in Delivery Schedule, above.

2. Status Reports Once daily while shelter is operating and Contractor personnel are on site.

3. After Action Reports Provided within two weeks after the Task Order period of performance.

4. Additional deliverables may be specified at the task order level.

TBD

SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

PRIVACY PROVISIONS

SAFEGUARDING THE PRIVACY OF INFORMATION COLLECTION

The Contractor shall have established procedures prior to beginning an assessment or evaluation to ensure that persons who collect or have access to raw data are trained on privacy act and confidentiality issues and shall provide assurances of nondisclosure of confidential information through any means including the publication of tabulated data in such a way that confidential information will not accidentally be revealed. The Contractor must ensure that respondent information obtained in the course of this contract either by primary data collection or from other sources that would permit identification of any individual or establishment will be held in strict confidence and will be used only for the purposes stated in this study, and will not be disclosed or released to anyone without prior approval from both the respondent and the PO, except as required by law. Confidential information in the possession of the contractor shall be safeguarded by maintaining this information in locked locations not accessible to those without a need to know and limiting access to only those contractor or subcontractor staff with a need to know. The Contractor shall take appropriate steps to ensure the confidentiality and security of electronic materials as well. The disposition of the data files created during the course of the study will be determined by ACF prior to the end of the contract.

COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL STATUTES CONCERNING THE COLLECTION OF

INFORMATION CONTAINING PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS, SYSTEMS OF RECORDS

REQUIREMENT

The Contractor shall comply with all requirements imposed by federal statutes concerning the collection and maintenance of data that includes personal identifiers, in order to satisfy the privacy and confidentiality provisions of the Privacy Act, Social Security Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

MAINTENANCE OF DATA FILES CONCERNING PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS

In preparing and providing data files and documentation, the contractor shall ensure compliance with all requirements imposed by federal statutes concerning the collection and maintenance of data which includes personal identifiers, in order to satisfy the privacy and confidentiality provisions of the Privacy Act, Social Security Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Notwithstanding any other clause concerning data, data rights and computer software and hardware under this contract, all data and source code produced, recorded, transferred or manipulated under this contract shall remain the exclusive property of the Government irrespective of the manner or method of recording or storage no matter what form of computer mechanism is used in the processing of said information or data. The Government shall retain exclusive right and domain over any by-product produced under this contract, or any other use of the data produced under this contract by either plan or accident.

METHODS OF SURVEILLANCE

The Government may use a variety of surveillance methods to evaluate the contractor’s performance. These include, but are not limited to, random sampling of recurring services, periodic surveillance of the contractor’s quality control program, test calls, and validated customer complaints.

CONTRACT FINANCIAL REPORT

1. The Financial Report of Individual Project/Contract shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer by the Contractor in accordance with the instructions which accompany the form, in an original and two copies, not later than thirty (30) working days after the close of the reporting period. The line entries for subdivisions of work and elements of cost (expenditure categories) to be reported within the total contract shall be as stated in paragraph 4 below. Subsequent changes and/or additions in the line entries shall be in writing.

2. The first financial report shall cover the period consisting of the first quarter following the date of the contract, in addition to any fractional part of the initial month.

3. If the final payment of this contract is to be made on the basis of desk audit, the Contracting Officer may require the Contractor to submit detailed support for costs contained in one or more interim financial reports.

4. The Contractor shall furnish the following minimum information in support of the costs submitted, in total cost by category only:

a. Period of performance for which costs are claimed;

b. Labor segregated by category;

d. Material costs ((to include travel, other direct costs, direct materials, subcontracts);

f. Material indirect rate(s) and costs as applicable;

h. Any other supporting data that will clarify unusual expenditures.

5. The Contractor shall include the costs for the current period and the cumulative costs for the total contract according to the categories shown above.