Final_Draft_REAC_Ins_Sources_Sought_2.docx

RFI REAC INSPECTIONS SOURCES SOUGHT AND CAPABILITY STATEMENTS

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a request for offers, quotes or proposals. This notice does not represent a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. This is a market research tool only to determine the capability of potential sources.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is contemplating establishing a multiple award IDIQ contract under NAICS Code(s) 541350 Building Inspection Services, and the Small Business Standard is $7 Million, for Housing Inspection Services and is issuing this Request For Information (RFI) in order to solicit responses from capable sources and capability statements to ensure sufficient competition exists to meet the government’s requirements.

Teaming arrangements and joint ventures will be considered for any subsequent procurement based on the Government's market research.

Please review the draft solicitation and associated documents and provide your feedback to Joel Bartholomew at Joel.J.Bartholomew@HUD.Gov .

BACKGROUND

HUD management determined that REAC would lead a number of efforts toward the Department’s commitment that HUD assisted and insured housing is decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair, to include (1) initiating up to 50,000 quality control inspections of Section 8 housing stock during Calendar Year 2014, collecting the inspection data, and providing results to the PHAs, field offices, and program offices; (2) implementing a single standardized inspection protocol for both Public Housing and HCV programs based on the FY2011 Delivering Together initiative to enhance customer service by reducing PHA burdens while improving HUD’s PHA oversight; and (3) eliminating duplicative physical inspections for property owners inspected by more than one Federal program under the auspices of the White House Domestic Policy Council’s Rental Policy Working Group (an interagency team of Treasury, HUD, and USDA staff).

In FY2013, it was determined that contract services would be required to schedule and complete hundreds of different types of inspections simultaneously at numerous properties in wide-ranging locations in the United States and U.S. territories to support REAC’s Physical Assessment Subsystem (PASS). The PASS collects data and reports the actual state of repair and habitability of real property and key PASS business functions include: (1) the collection of profile data for all public housing and multifamily (MF) properties for which HUD has a statutory obligation or a financial interest, (2) the inspection of these properties which provides the capability to assess their physical condition, and (3) quality assurance that Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS) certified inspectors conduct accurate, reliable, and repeatable inspections in full compliance with established UPCS inspection protocol.

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS/MANUALS/DOCUMENTS/PUBLICATIONS:

The Contractor shall abide by all applicable regulations, publications, manuals, and policies and procedures in the performance of this contract including, but not limited to the following:

Training:

The Contractor shall be responsible to train and ensure satisfactory completion of physical inspection training in accordance with HUD standards.

Scheduling:

The contractor shall be responsible for scheduling of Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS), Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspections in accordance with the requirements of the PWS.

Inspections:

The contractor shall be responsible for performing HQS, UPCS-V, UPCS/UPCS-type/Other Federal Agency and HQS Quality Assurance (QA) Inspections in accordance with the requirements of the PWS.

Computer System/Information Technology Capability:

The Contractor shall possess and sustain the capacity to interface with HUD’s Computer Systems using standard industry protocols and formats described in the PWS.

Quality Control:

The Contractor shall establish and maintain a complete Quality Control Program that shall ensure services are performed in accordance with the PWS.

Quality Control Plan:

The Contractor shall develop, maintain, enforce and document a Quality Control Plan (QCP).

Special Qualifications:

The Contractor(s) shall ensure all contractor(s) (including any subcontractor) personnel that will be conducting inspections, shall meet the special qualification requirements contained in the PWS.

CONTEMPLATED REPORT REQUIREMENTS:

Weekly Scheduling Report HQS Inspection Reporting UPCS-type Inspection Reporting Project Plan Monthly Performance Report Performance Metrics Performance Report:

CONTEMPLATED MAGNITUDE OF THE PROJECT

HUD is contemplating a multiple award IDIQ with a minimum of Three (3) firms and a maximum of Seven (7) firms. HUD anticipates utilizing these contracts for a minimum of 9,000 inspections and maximum of 50,000 inspections annually.

CONTEMPLATED PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Place of Performance: The physical inspection and inspection review services to be performed during this contract shall be performed at a select number of HUD and other Federal agency funded/ assisted housing/properties located in the United States (U.S.) and U.S. Territories to include the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and Guam.

The Contractor(s) must at all times maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within the Contract when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons. When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the workforce is essential.

RESPONSE REQUESTED

Small Businesses are encouraged to respond.

HUD is interested in the capabilities of perspective contractors in the following areas and comments and questions on the draft documents:

· Scheduling and inspection of state and federally subsidized or regulated housing

· Performing HQS, UPCS and similar inspections using state and federal inspections standards and protocols

· Training of inspectors

· Development & implementation of quality control programs for a property inspection process

· The use of computer based system(s) to perform onsite inspections

· Ability to interface with HUD’s Computer Systems using standard industry protocols and formats

· Ability to download and upload inspection information electronically per HUD’s guidelines

· If the IT requirements contemplated in this requirement can be met through the use of a commercial off the shelf (COTS) or slightly modified COTS system.

· If the contemplated line item structure of the base IDIQ would accurately reflect the costs of conducting the different types of inspections.

This synopsis is a market research tool being used to determine the availability and capability of potential sources prior to determining the method of acquisition and whether the government will proceed with this acquisition. The Government will not pay for any information solicited. If a contract is ultimately pursued, responses to this RFI will be used to aid in determining whether the acquisition is set-aside for small business or in establishing small business subcontracting goals. All qualified firms are encouraged to respond.

The capability statement shall address, at a minimum, the following for the past three years:

1. Name and address of company and or companies (if there is a teaming arrangement or joint venture);

2. Technical expertise relevant to the requirement and corporate experience relevant to the requirement;

3. Technical approach relevant of the requirement and management approach relevant to the requirement;

4. Indicate if you are a small business or any other socio-economic categories that apply to your firm under the designated NAICS code;

5. Relevant past performance. Your capability statement needs to include a list of three customers (Government/non-Government) within the past three (3) years highlighting similar work in nature, scope, complexity, and difficulty and a brief description of the scope of work. Your submission for relevant past performance must include for each customer:

· Contract name;

· Contracting Agency or Department, POC and contact information;

· Yearly contract value (in $$);

· Whether your firm was the prime or a subcontractor;

· Period of performance;

· Description of work and how it relates to the requirements.

In addition Contractors are being given the opportunity to review the draft solicitation and provide and comments, questions or concerns regarding the document and its attachments.

Also please provide any relevant information and responses to the capabilities HUD is interested in above.

Submission requirements:

1. Page limit capabilities- eight (8) 8 ½ x 11 pages

2. Page limit draft document comments- two (2) 8 ½ x 11 pages

3. 1 inch margins (top, bottom and sides)

4. Times New Roman font - 12 point

5. Page limitation does not include (1 cover page or 1 letter of introduction page)

6. Do not include promotional materials

Interested firms responding to this market survey must provide a capability statement demonstrating their experience, skills and capability to fulfill the Governments requirements for the above. The capability statement shall be in sufficient enough detail, but not exceed eight (8) page limit and the response shall not exceed the ten (10) page TOTAL, so that the Government can determine the experience and capability of your firm to provide the requirements above. The Government technical team will then assess the experience & capabilities based on: 1) technical expertise relevant to the requirement and corporate experience relevant to the requirement 2) technical approach relevant to the requirement and management approach relevant to the requirement and 3) relevant past performance. HUD will also use any comments and questions regarding the draft solicitation to shape the final solicitation documents that will be published if this requirement moves forward. Please specify one primary and one alternate Point of Contact (POC) within your firm, including telephone numbers and email addresses.

Only electronic copies of capability statements will be accepted and should be emailed to: Joel.J.Bartholomew@Hud.Gov. The e-mail shall contain the following subject line: Response to Sources Sought Notice – REAC Inspections Requirement. The Government may use the responses received to determine whether to proceed with the acquisition as a set-aside, or in the absence of a least two small business responses to this notice, may determine to proceed with a full and open competition. This decision and whether to proceed with the acquisition is at the sole discretion of the Government.

All interested contractors should submit their capability statements by TIME 3:30 EST on 26 Feb 2014 attention Joel Bartholomew. Late responses will not be considered.