BRIC DTA Request for Information Final 23 May 2023.pdf

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Non-Financial Direct Technical Assistance (DTA)

Request for Information (RFI) 70FA6023I00000002 May 23, 2023

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires contractor support services to enable the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program to enhance the foundation of its non-financial Direct Technical Assistance initiative and to deliver non-financial direct technical assistance to communities and tribal nations. The purpose of this RFI is to 1) solicit industry feedback on the attached draft Statement of Objectives, 2) understand industry capabilities to meet FEMA’s requirements as outlined in the Statement of Objectives, in whole or in part, and 3) collect information to enable the development of a future acquisition strategy.

GENERAL INFORMATION: This RFI is issued solely for information gathering purposes to identify sources that can provide support for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program’s non-financial Direct Technical Assistance (DTA) initiative. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), RFIs may be used when the Government wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information, and capabilities for planning purposes.

Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary and FEMA will NOT pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will NOT be returned and respondents will NOT be notified of the result of the review. If a Solicitation is issued, it will be announced on the SAM website: https://sam.gov/content/opportunities at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that Solicitation announcement separately from any response to this announcement. Responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to or preclude any organization in any subsequent competition. This RFI does NOT restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future Solicitation.

Small businesses and organizations are encouraged to reply. Consortia of organizations may be formed to respond to this RFI, and do not limit the ability of groups of respondents to change to respond to any subsequent Solicitation. Reponses may be from legally registered organizations or consortia of organizations. Responses from individuals will not be reviewed.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS: Respondents shall identify any proprietary information in its RFI response. Information submitted in response to this RFI will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

FEMA reserves the right to utilize any non-proprietary technical information in the anticipated solicitation.

Although it is not necessary to address in their response, respondents shall be aware of any potential, actual, or perceived organizational conflicts of interests. Any real or potential conflicts must be sufficiently mitigated prior to a contract award. For further guidance, refer to the FAR Part 9.5.

NAICS CODE: 541690 – Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE (PSC): R499 - SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL: OTHER

ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: First Quarter of FY2025

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Non-Financial Direct Technical Assistance (DTA)

ATTACHMENT 1: Draft Statement of Objectives

RFI RESPONSE SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS:

Interested organizations shall submit their RFI responses electronically to Glen Seipp, Contracting Officer, at Glen.Seipp@fema.dhs.gov and Kimberly Sprenkle, Contract Specialist, at kimberly.sprenkle@fema.dhs.gov no later than 3:00PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), Tuesday, June 13, 2023, 3:00PM EST. Questions regarding this RFI are due no later than Thursday, June 1, 2023, 12:00PM EST.

“RFI 70FA6023I00000002 BRIC DTA Response” shall be in the subject line of your e-mail.

Responses should be submitted as a single email attachment, in either Microsoft Word or PDF format. All responses shall be unclassified, with proprietary information clearly marked. Do not include promotional materials. All pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with Page 1, be single-spaced, and use one-inch margins on 8.5 x 11 inch. Responses must use 11‐ point font; the only exception is for charts, graphs, or tables which must use a minimum of 10-point font. When responding to RFI Questions, it is not necessary to repeat, rephrase, or reiterate the RFI Questions; simply refer to Question 1, Question 2, and so on.

Responses to this RFI must not exceed 20 pages in length including the following sections:

cover page, organization’s capability statement, organization’s responses to FEMA’s RFI questions, and organization’s questions to FEMA regarding this requirement. Submissions exceeding this length will not be read. Respondents may choose how much of the 20-page limit they devote to any particular section of their RFI responses, but RFI responses shall include the following information and be presented in the below order:

A. Cover Page with the following information:

1. Organization(s) Name

2. Organization(s) Address

3. Organization(s) Point of Contact - Name, Title, Phone, and Email address

4. Sector, e.g., public, private, academic, non-profit organization, philanthropic foundation.

5. Primary field(s) of work, e.g., hazard mitigation, community development, climate sciences, research, strategic communication, or other

6. Business Size: Interested sources shall identify their business size based on the assigned North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code in this RFI.

Responses may be used to develop and/or determine if small business prime and subcontracting opportunities exist for this requirement. Please also include any small business and/or socioeconomic certifications you may hold (such as WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB or 8(a)). For more information, reference FAR Part 19 Small Business Programs and https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-guide/size-standards.

7. Unique Entity Identification (UEI) Number

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Non-Financial Direct Technical Assistance (DTA)

8. If applicable, General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule Number, Contract Number, and Period of Performance and/or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Strategic Sourcing Vehicle Category Name and Contract Number.

B. Organization’s Capability Statement

1. Summary of relevant projects showing capabilities, including list of customers and contracts covering the past three years for work considered most relevant to FEMA’s description of need.

2. Past performance in applicable areas

C. Organization’s Responses to FEMA’s RFI Questions

D. Organization’s Questions for FEMA regarding this requirement

Constructive feedback of all sorts on any one or more of the questions is welcomed and will not prejudice the organization in any way for any future award. The responses received will assist FEMA with identifying the number and nature of the entities that consider themselves potential technical solution providers.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) QUESTIONS

Question 1: Is there anything that needs to be more clearly defined by FEMA in the attached draft Statement of Objectives (SOO)?

Question 2: Describe any customary commercial contract terms or conditions you feel would make any resulting contract more effective and why.

Question 3: Please provide input regarding the type of contract(s) and contract structure(s), including pricing structure(s). For example, do you recommend procuring the architecture and engineering services separately from the rest of the requirements?

Question 4: Please provide relevant labor categories, rates, and levels of effort that are likely to be utilized for this work. Respondent’s information is non-committal and will be handled by FEMA as source-selection information in accordance with FAR Parts 3.104 and 2.101.

Question 5: Describe your organization’s experience (positive and negative) providing nationwide support under a contract or other arrangement during the past five years.

Question 6: Describe your organization’s proposed strategy to provide nationwide support under this contract, including how you would mirror FEMA’s decentralized structure and effectively deliver services to an annual average of 300 communities and tribal nations across the country.

Question 7: FEMA is seeking to advance equity or remove barriers for members of underserved communities related to this requirement. As defined in Executive Order (E.O.)

13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities, Underserved Communities refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Non-Financial Direct Technical Assistance (DTA) communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, as defined in EO 13985 and EO 14020. EO 13985 defines equity as the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities;

lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and other (LGBTQI+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

FEMA seeks input in the following areas:

1. To support the requirements identified in this RFl:

a. What opportunities exist to leverage local expertise to address the requirements, particularly expertise from within underserved communities?

b. What opportunities or barriers exist to partner with organizations that employ members of underserved communities, as defined above?

c. What opportunities exist to engage subject matter experts from industry and academia who have expertise in working with underserved communities broadly, and tribal nations specifically? What barriers exist to engaging them and how can those barriers be overcome?

2. What other recommendations would you make to enhance diversity and inclusion in the implementation of FEMA’s requirements as outlined in the SOO?

Question 8: What should be considered to encourage full participation and contribution of organizations and individuals from diverse backgrounds (e.g., outreach efforts and innovative partnerships) in performance of this requirement?

a) What novel/innovative contracting strategies should FEMA consider to better enable small businesses to participate in this procurement, including approaches to streamline the pre-award competitive process (e.g., industry conferences, proposal instructions) and post-award activities/requirements (e.g., reporting)?

b) What approaches can FEMA take to foster and advance reaching underserved or underrepresented communities for this procurement opportunity?

c) What strategies should FEMA consider to foster a more diverse and inclusive contractor/subcontractor workforce?

d) Considering the cumulative scope of the BRIC DTA requirements as outlined in the SOO, what challenges and opportunities should be considered by FEMA to maximize opportunities for small business concerns?

e) What are potential barriers to equity and approaches/input that will contribute to the success of the FEMA initiative in an equitable environment in the performance of this contract?

Question 9: Describe your organization’s experience (positive and negative) facilitating or otherwise engaging in community-led initiatives designed to improve the development of a community’s local infrastructure, economy and/or otherwise strengthen community resilience to natural hazards and climate change.

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Non-Financial Direct Technical Assistance (DTA)

Question 10: Describe your organization’s experience working alongside other actors, including other contractors, subcontractors, and other organizations, to achieve shared goals.

Question 11: Describe your organization’s experience (positive and negative) advancing climate resilience initiatives led by US State, local, Tribal, or territorial governments during the past five years. Examples of experience working with underserved communities, as defined in Question 7 above, would be especially welcome.

Question 12: BRIC non-financial direct technical assistance is intended to serve as a force multiplier that enables an otherwise underserved community to implement holistic, equitable climate adaptation solutions that advance community-defined goals and objectives. As a result, heavy emphasis is placed on developing and strengthening current and potential future partnerships with organizations that are well positioned to help a community advance its community resilience goals. Describe your organization’s experience (positive and negative) working with communities to build partnerships and strengthen the community’s capability to access financial and other resources to achieve community goals and objectives.

Question 13: Describe your organization’s proposed strategy to leverage technology to fulfill the requirement.