Draft SOO 1-18-2024.docx

Technical Support Services Transportable Temporary Housing Quality Assurance and Forensic Analysis Statement of Objectives

BACKGROUND: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking the Technical Support Services of a contractor(s) to support its Transportable Temporary Housing Unit (TTHU) Program through quality monitoring and investigations of Transportable Temporary Housing Units (TTHUs). FEMA’s TTHU inventory is comprised of Manufactured Housing Units (MHUs) and Travel Trailers (TT). The FEMA TTHU program oversees the entire TTHU lifecycle, which includes development of requirements, purchase, storage, transportation, installation, training, maintenance, deactivation, and disposal. FEMA provides TTHUs under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended (Stafford Act) and related authorities as well as through the Economy Act and other legal authorities. The Stafford Act authorizes FEMA to provide direct temporary housing, acquired by purchase or lease, to individuals or households who would be unable to make use of financial assistance due to a lack of available housing. FEMA uses TTHUs to provide for this need. FEMA defines a TTHU as a dwelling, acquired by purchase or lease, that are designed to be transported in addition to being able to be used for housing for a limited period of time.

FEMA primarily uses manufactured homes and travel trailers. FEMA may also use other TTHUs, including but not limited to modular homes, recreation vehicles (RVs), collapsible, soft-sided structures, tiny homes, park models, and hard-sided container homes. TTHUs must be in compliance with established industry standards—e.g., Manufactured Homes with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standards, set forth in 24 CFR 3280 the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards; Recreational Vehicles must be constructed under the consensus standards promulgated by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA); etc. In addition, FEMA has developed performance requirements for MHUs that enhance the HUD standards and describe the types of MHUs that FEMA requires. As FEMA is provided with technical or production questions from the HUD Code or RV manufacturers, the Agency provides Technical Bulletins and revisions to production or acquisition contracts for TTHUs. FEME will provide the TSS vendor(s) with updated documentation as appropriate to allow the TSS vendor(s) to perform required monitoring and investigations. Inspection Primary Inspection Agencies (IPIAs); the Design-Approval Primary Inspection Agencies (DAPIAs); other entities who are permitted under HUD Regulations to monitor the manufacturing of MHUs; and the manufacturer’s quality process. For other types of TTHUs similar restrictions shall apply when applicable.

PURPOSE: FEMA is seeking technical support from contractors to ensure the Agency’s effectiveness in executing its mission to provide transportable temporary housing. Contractors will observe and provide recommendations for design and production processes to ensure that FEMA receives high quality TTHUs that are ready for deployment when an incident occurs. Throughout the TTHU lifecycle (from design through disposal), the contractor will investigate, analyze, train and recommend changes when issues are discovered in the program. The Agency understands that the results of these services will lead to better TTHUs.

SCOPE: This contract shall encompass the following phases of the TTHU lifecycle: Design, Production, Transportation, Storage, Use, and Deactivation/Disposal. During any of these phases, the contractor may be called upon to review designs, production facilities, or individual TTHUs to determine if there are any design, health/safety, or product issues related to construction, transportation, operational, or environmental issues. The contractor shall conduct forensic analysis and investigations, as required, to determine the root cause of defects, damages, or failures. The contractor may also be tasked with other projects related to the goals of this requirement.

The contractor shall ensure that the TTHUs adhere to established industry standards, FEMA contract requirements, the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, NFPA 13 D, and other applicable regulations and standards.

The contractor shall have expertise in the manufactured home industry and shall be familiar with various types of TTHUs. The contractor shall provide all labor, materials, tools, and equipment (unless specified as government-provided property).

The contractor may have to work with or interact with state, local, tribal, territorial governments, and their regulatory agencies, including but not limited to the following:

· Building Inspection

· Planning

· Zoning

· Law Enforcement

· Fire Departments of Public Safety FEMA meets the needs of individuals with access and functional needs by requiring that the MHUs are built to meet the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) standards, which are the Federal Government’s implementation of the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), as amended (42 U.S.C. §4151 et seq.) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Rehab Act), as amended (29 U.S.C. §701). The ABA requires facilities to be accessible to people with disabilities when they are designed, built, altered, or leased with funds supplied by the Federal Government. Because it is a key requirement for certain units to be built to UFAS standards, the contractor must understand UFAS requirements and their implementation in FEMA MHUs.

FEMA also has an internal policy that requires MHUs to be built with Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems. FEMA requires the Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in FEMA MHUs to comply with the following National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, as of 2021 or more recent:

· NFPA 501—Standard on Manufactured Housing

· NFPA 501A—Standard for Fire Safety Criteria for Manufactured Home Installations, Sites, and Communities

· NFPA 13D—Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in One- and Two-Family Dwellings and Manufactured Homes FEMA installs TTHUs for disaster survivors at the following locations:

· Private sites—sites located on private land that either the disaster survivor or someone known by the survivor owns.

· Commercial sites—existing manufactured home parks operating as a commercial business.

· Group sites—FEMA-built manufactured home/travel trailer parks for disaster survivors.

For MHUs, the contractor may be required to consult with MHU vendors; HUD; HUD-approved Production Inspection Primary Inspection Agencies (IPIAs) and Design-Approval Primary Inspection Agencies (DAPIAs); State agencies and private third-party agencies that inspect manufactured homes at various stages of production; FEMA storage sites; and FEMA installation contractors. Information regarding the IPIAs can be found at 24 CFR 3282.362, and information regarding the DAPIAs can be found at 24 CFR 3282.361. Some of the third-party agencies also approve the manufacturer’s designs to ensure that plans are consistent with HUD standards. There will be additional stakeholders that are included for other types of TTHUs.

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The place of performance will be at one or more of the following locations:

· The Contractor’s facility

· TTHU manufacturing facilities

· FEMA Headquarters – 500 C Street SW Washington, DC 20024

· FEMA’s Transportable Temporary Housing Units Storage Sites (TTHUs) – Cumberland, MD and Selma, AL

· FEMA’s Manufactured Housing Staging Areas (MHSAs) – In Disaster-Affected Areas

· Other locations within the contiguous United States "The Contractor shall be required to perform at some or all of the required tasks simultaneously at multiple locations.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The Period of Performance is one (1) twelve (12) month base period from the date of contract award with four (4) one (1) year option periods.

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES, GOALS AND OUTCOMES

I. Overall Objectives

· Personnel: The contractor shall provide qualified personnel with the proper skill sets and experience and the required number of personnel to accomplish the performance objectives.

· Materials: The contractor shall provide all necessary supplies, spare materials, tools, test equipment, consumables, hardware, software, automatic data processing equipment, documentation, and other applicable properties (Unless otherwise directed by FEMA).

· Facilities: No facilities are required in this solicitation.

· Organizational processes: The contractor shall provide internal controls, management oversight, and supply support.

· Reporting: The contractor shall provide applicable reports in formats agreed to by FEMA.

II. Contract Objectives This contract will support the TTHU Program by providing the following services through each phase of the TTHU lifecycle:

Design Phase

· Review current and future TTHU designs to provide expert opinion as to the design’s compliance with FEMA’s requirements in direct support of a FEMA TTHU mission or at other times as required.

· Review FEMA’s TTHU requirements and provide suggestions that could enhance the requirements and/or make the TTHUs easier to manufacture to help improve current and future solicitations.

Production Phase

1. Provide adequate personnel to Perform in-plant inspections and monitoring of the quality assurance program and manufacturing process

2. Conduct forensic analysis and investigations of potential defects to determine the root cause

3. Review vendor’s proposed repairs

Storage and Use Phases

· Analyze issues that have developed in TTHU program items and provide corresponding description and methodology for repairs.

· Conduct environmental, health and safety reviews and/or investigations of TTHUs to determine if there are any issues that could impact health or safety.

· Conduct post-damage environmental, health and safety reviews of TTHUs.

· Conduct post-event analysis in the case of a fire in a TTHU to determine cause.

· Conduct post-event analysis of the effectiveness of the residential fire sprinkler system.

· Conduct post-event analysis of the residential fire sprinkler systems and/or fire detection systems for compliance with relevant FEMA’s contract requirements, HUD Standards, FEMA NextGen MHU Additional Requirements, FEMA NextGen Design, UFAS, NFPA 501, NFPA 501A, and NFPA 13D.

· Provide recommendations if there are issues resulting from manufacturing, storage, transportation, installation, or maintenance.

· Investigate root causes of issues within TTHUs, such as fires, leaks, and all other potential failures within TTHUs.

· Conduct failure mode analysis (FMA); failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA); and/or failure mode, effect, and criticality analysis (FMECA) on commercial or other program items.

· Review TTHU and associated systems performance.

· Complete other technical support services for TTHU quality assurance and forensic analysis, as needed.

III. Technical objectives The contractor’s PWS shall propose services to accomplish the technical objectives of the project, which include the following:

· Reduce the initial procurement and lifecycle costs of the units.

· Improve the quality of TTHUs.

· Enhance FEMA requirements.

· Propose new requirements for future FEMA procurements.

· Recommend areas of improvement

· Perform inspections.

· Determine causes for any defects in TTHUs.

· Ensure work is performed without impacting FEMA milestones.

· Develop and document procedures for managing the contract, including a Quality Control Plan

· Recommend process improvements.

· Ensure manufacturers meet or exceed all FEMA, HUD, NFPA and RV industry requirements.

· Achieve improved performance, reliability, and reduced cost of the delivered service throughout the life of this effort. FEMA anticipates a potential cost reduction after the base year.

IV. Training Objectives The contractor’s PWS shall propose technical support services to accomplish the program objectives of the project which include:

· Develop training for FEMA and USACE employees and, in some cases, contractor employees who support the TTHU mission under other contracts.

· Develop training to train-the-trainer programs for each training provided.

· Develop a purpose and opening for each training.

· Develop clear key topics, related concepts and course/module timing.

· Develop clear presentation techniques and materials.

· Provide evaluation, assessment, and reflection for each training.

· Develop a Survey or Quiz that will be given at both the beginning and end of the training.

V. Program objectives The objective of Transportable Temporary Housing Unit (TTHU) Program is to design, test, manufacture [end item(s)] to satisfy the user's need/performance requirements.

The contractor’s PWS shall propose technical support services to accomplish the program objectives of the project, which include the following:

· Assist FEMA’s goal of providing high quality TTHUs to disaster survivors.

· Assist FEMA’s goal of ensuring that manufacturers meet the contract requirements.

· Assist FEMA with monitoring contract quality.

· Determine the root causes of TTHU and related system deficiencies.

· Reduce manufacturing and production cost.

· Improve performance.

· Assist FEMA’s goal of providing training courses and materials to FEMA personnel and contractors as needed.

VI. Performance Work Statement Requirements

The contractor shall provide a Performance Work Statement (PWS), which shall propose how the contractor will perform the monitoring, inspections, reviews, analyses, and investigations for review of TTHU designs; in-plant inspection and monitoring of TTHU manufacturing; forensic analysis (root cause analysis); TTHU safety, health, and environmental reviews; and review of FEMA’s TTHU requirements.

a) Review TTHU designs The contractor’s PWS shall propose services to ensure that current and future TTHU designs meet FEMA’s requirements, applicable regulations, and all required certifications. Review of current designs shall include the review of specific elements of existing TTHU designs and may include up to a full design review of existing TTHU designs. Review of future designs shall include a full design review of future TTHU designs and may include a full design review of other future TTHU designs.

At a minimum, the contractor shall:

· Verify the TTHU designs’ compliance with established industry standards and other applicable regulations and identify instances of non-compliance.

· Verify that each vendor’s written quality assurance programs reflect best practices and contain bona-fide methods for assuring homes can be built in compliance with FEMA’s requirements and identify areas that require improvement.

· Identify areas of potential improvement for the TTHU designs.

· Evaluate future changes proposed by the manufacturers for the FEMA NextGen Designs and identify how the proposed changes will impact the quality, cost, schedule, and risk for TTHUs.

· Provide technical support (SMEs, etc.), as needed.

b) In-Plant Inspections and Monitoring of TTHU manufacturing The contractor’s PWS shall propose services to ensure that the TTHU production plant/facility and quality assurance and manufacturing processes are adequate, meet applicable regulations, and have obtained all required certifications. Also, the contractor shall provide services during production to ensure that the TTHU meets all applicable FEMA requirements.

At a minimum, the contractor shall perform the following actions in the planning, production, or post-production stages, as applicable:

Planning

· Develop uniform monitoring/auditing procedures.

· Develop quality monitoring checklists.

· Schedule audits

· Recommend audit frequency based on quality data.

During Production

· Conduct audits at each active TTHU plant.

· Conduct audits of TTHUs while they are in production.

· Prepare and analyze in-plant audit reports.

· Ensure that manufacturer and other in-plant inspections are occurring in accordance with FEMA’s quality procedures and the manufacturer’s Quality Control Plan

· Review and evaluate the TTHU factory processes.

· Review and evaluate the TTHU production line.

· Perform inspections of the factory to ensure the manufacturers have adequate quality control.

· Identify any issues that could impact the manufacturer capacity of production.

· Identify any issues that could lead to quality or performance issues.

· Evaluate and analyze if the manufacturer is continuously following all provisions and aspects of its approved quality assurance manual.

· Evaluate and ensure any and all parts of the TTHU conform with the FEMA requirements.

· Evaluate TTHUs in production that fail to conform with the design or standard; ensure that the failure to conform is corrected before the TTHU leaves the manufacturing plant.

· Ensure the manufacturer’s inspections are effective.

Post-Production

· Conduct post-production audits.

· Conduct post-production follow up audits/consumer sites.

· Evaluate and ensure any and all parts of the TTHU conform with the FEMA requirements.

All Stages

· Provide recommendations for changes and enhancements.

· Monitor compliance with regulations and the FEMA requirements.

· Reporting all findings and results to the COR and other designated government officials

· Monitor compliance with regulations and the FEMA requirements.

· Refer all issues of non-compliance to the government representative.

· Perform inspections in accordance with the offeror’s written procedures.

c) Forensic analysis (Root Cause Analysis), investigations and Technical Assistance.

The contractor’s PWS shall propose technical support services to perform forensic analysis (root cause analysis) and investigations during the period of performance.

At a minimum, the contractor shall

· Perform root cause problem analysis for issues that may arise before, during, and post-production.

· Find and propose a solution/alternative to issues/problems.

· Maintain records of issues, including but not limited to the cause, manufacturer, resolution, and mitigation strategy for use in future contracts.

· Perform inspections in support of forensic analysis of the factory to ensure the manufacturers have adequate quality control.

· Maintain records of important conversations/meetings.

· Provide technical expertise to assist the government when non-compliance occurs.

· Propose recommendations for solutions to non-compliance or other issues by the manufacturer and provide feedback to the government representative.

· Work with the government representative to carry out inspections and other investigations.

· Analyze new technical issues.

· Coordinate with the IPIA, DAPIA, the government representative, and manufacturers to facilitate satisfactory resolution of any issues that may occur.

· Conduct design and instruction review to evaluate and make recommendations on each special request.

· Coordinate and assist the review of special alternative construction proposals that may be needed to build manufactured homes that are not in conformance with one or more HUD Standards.

· Assist with all follow-up monitoring and assessment activities, including site investigation, records reviews, and telephone discussions

· Perform environmental analysis.

d) TTHU Safety, Health, and Environmental Reviews The contractor’s PWS shall propose technical support services to execute and deliver comprehensive industrial hygiene, safety, and environmental health to ensure TTHUs do not adversely affect the well-being of disasters survivors.

At a minimum, the contractor shall:

· Be a subject matter expert (SME) and possess experience with conducting occupational safety, safety engineering, industrial hygiene, or environmental health evaluations.

· Develop applicable sampling strategies for performing area, personal, baseline, and ambient air monitoring for chemicals and other hazards as identified in sampling strategies, hazard assessments, or historical background.

· Perform third party quality assurance and quality control development, including oversight and review of occupational safety; safety engineering; industrial hygiene and environmental health issues; and projects or concerns.

· Develop applicable sampling strategies for collecting and analyzing air and surface samples for contaminants not commonly associated with baseline indoor air quality or environmental evaluations, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, carbonyl sulfide, and others as requested.

· Conduct indoor air quality assessments, hygiene assessments, and mold/microbial growth assessments of the FEMA TTHUs

· Have industry recognized certifications and capability to perform applicable studies.

· Possess adequate equipment to perform industrial hygiene, safety, and environmental health evaluations of TTHUs.

· Maintain, store, and share data gathered during assessments and evaluations, including written reports, environmental readings, facility/building characteristics, and other applicable parameters.

· Analyze data and provide written technical reports with data interpretation and recommended courses of action.

· Evaluate TTHUs for recognized hazards, including but not limited to, asbestos-containing materials, lead-based paint, or radon.

· Conduct fire protection assessments, including but not limited to life safety assessments, fire suppression system evaluations, and compliance evaluations with other fire protection standards.

· Conduct other safety and environmental health related activities, as assigned.

· Perform inspections on TTHUs to ensure they meet safety, health, and environmental applicable standards.

· Provide final results and recommendations of the studies performed.

· Provide recommendations for corrective actions to ensure TTHUs are in compliance with applicable environmental, safety, and health standard.

· Conduct environmental assessments of units if there is damage (e.g., from water intrusion).

e) Review FEMA’s TTHU requirements The contractor’s PWS shall propose technical support services to enhance current requirements to obtain high quality, cost-effective units.

At a minimum, the contractor shall

· Review FEMA requirements

· Develop new requirements to be provided to FEMA for consideration for future use based on findings of monitoring and inspection activities.

· Document lessons learned and proposed new requirements.

· Develop recommendations for new requirements based on new technology.

· Find areas of improvement in the requirements and develop new requirements that will lead to a better, cost- effective solution.

· Research issues, using existing information to the greatest extent possible, regarding acceptance or new technologies, products, components, and designs to determine conformance to existing standards.

· Prepare and provide recommendations, draft correspondence, and position papers to improve performance requirements.

PERFORMANCE METRICS

The contractor’s PWS shall propose metrics or standards to determine if the contract, technical and program objectives, and outcomes are met.

CONSTRAINTS

The services identified in this Statement of Objectives (SOO) shall adhere to the rules, regulations, laws, standards, and conventions identified by FEMA as well as those within the Federal Government. Constraints may include but are not limited to the following:

· HUD generally implements the monitoring portion of its program through two sets of regulations:

(1) 24 CFR 3280—Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards (the Standards), which is a nationally preemptive set of standards for the design and construction of these homes (commonly known as HUD Code)

(2) 24 CFR 3282, Manufactured Housing Procedural and Enforcement Regulations (the Regulations), which generally govern the enforcement of the HUD Code.

· The National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (the Act), implemented in June 1976—located on HUD’s website.

· Established industry standards for other TTHUs, including the consensus standards promulgated by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA)

· Due to the nature of the requirement, the contractor shall expect changes in the industry that may occur during the course of performance, including but not limited to:

· The quality, number of plants, and production totals of TTHUs

· The number of design packages and drawings generated.

· The type of TTHUs and applicable standards required.

· The frequency and extent of natural disasters

· The type and numbers of post-design or post-production problems experienced in the field.

· Problems with the quality control operations, which could require increased or shifted monitoring and audits.

· Special factory, retailer, transport, installation, or site inspection issues

· New regulations or statutory requirements.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

1. Certifications All employees conducting system analysis and compliance assurance shall possess and maintain current professional certifications in accordance with ASTM E-541 during the execution of this contract.

All compliance assurance auditors are to be certified as quality auditors by the American Society of Quality (ASQ) or have demonstrated experience.

QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLANS

Offerors shall include their Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) as part of their proposal. These plans shall focus specifically on the following two areas:

· How the contractor will ensure the quality of forensic investigations of TTHUs post-delivery of units

· How the contractor will ensure quality in the level of services they are providing

ORGANIZATIONAL AND PERSONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (OCI/PCI) PLAN

Contractors shall provide a written code of business ethics and conduct applicable to contractor personnel working on this technical support services contract to

· Prohibit contractor personnel from participating in a government contract in which they have a personal conflict of interest.

· Require contractor personnel to avoid the appearance of loss of impartiality in performing contracted duties for FEMA.

· Require contractor personnel to disclose personal conflicts of interest to their employer prior to beginning work on this contract.

· Require the contractor to review and address any personal conflicts of interest its employees might have before assigning them to deliver contracted services.

· Prohibit contractor personnel from using non-public government information obtained while performing work under the contract for personal gain.

· Prohibit contractor employees providing procurement support services from having future employment contact involving a bidder in an ongoing procurement.

· Impose limits on the ability of the contractor organization and its employees to accept gifts (defined as almost anything of monetary value, such as cash, meals, trips, or services) in connection with contracted duties.

· Prohibit misuse of FEMA contract duties to provide preferential treatment to a private interest.

· Report any contractor personal conflict of interest violations to the applicable contracting officer or contracting officer’s representative as soon they are identified.

· Maintain effective oversight to verify compliance with personal conflict of interest safeguards; have procedures in place to screen for potential conflicts of interest for all employees in a position to make or influence findings, recommendations, and decisions, regarding FEMA contracts and other quality control and assurance functions. This screening can be done on a task-by-task basis or on an annual basis, such as a financial disclosure statement.

Technical Support Services Draft SOO- 1