RFI_CBPHolisticHealthSupportCenters_09Apr2024.docx

RFI2024-CBP-HOLLISTIC-WELLNESS-SUPPORT-CENTERS

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (CBP Workforce Care-Holistic Wellness Support Centers)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Release Date: 09Apr2024 Response Date: 23Apr2024

Purpose:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is conducting market research to gain a greater understanding of the full range of available options to support the execution of multiple Holistic Wellness Support Centers supporting CBP employees and their families. CBP is seeking two or more centers to provide CBP personnel and their families in the center’s area/region holistic wellness activities and services to promote a positive work environment for all CBP employees and deliver employee services which facilitate workforce effectiveness. This is an RFI released pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 – Research and Part 15.201(e). This RFI’s purpose is to obtain market information on viable sources, industry practices, and industry comments.

Background:

As a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for protecting our Nation’s borders in order to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States, while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel. CBP is also responsible for apprehending individuals attempting to enter the U.S. illegally; stemming the flow of drugs and other contraband; protecting our agricultural and economic interests from harmful pests and diseases; protecting American business from theft of their intellectual property; and regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. trade laws. CBP is committed to workforce health, wellness, and resilience. The agency has established the CBP Workforce Care (WCD) as a new organization in the Enterprise Services (ES) office to establish and oversee an enterprise-wide wellness and resilience program for over 64,000 employees and their families. CBP currently manages many programs and initiatives with varying levels of support to employees. CBP has a WCD requirement to address a growing demand for accessible workforce/family access to holistic mental health, wellness, and resilience resources via Holistic Wellness Support Centers. A CBP Holistic Wellness Support Center will provide CBP personnel and their families in the center’s area/region holistic wellness activities and services to promote a positive work environment for all CBP employees and deliver employee services which facilitate workforce effectiveness. In addition, CBP seeks to support employee’s families in holistic wellness areas, such as to better manage stress, to understand and support each other during times of heightened stress, and to provide tools, resources, and training to foster discussions of challenges experienced at work and at home.

According to the National Institutes of Health, law enforcement professionals, "experience high levels of job-related stress, frequently attributed to shift work, the potential for witnessing or experiencing violent events, and organizational pressure." The effects of increased stress can lead to cardiovascular issues, sleep disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and more. More than ever before, CBP employees seek employer-supported programs and resources to help alleviate workplace and personal issues. Currently, CBP has a pilot regional center in El Paso, Texas. Potential requirements identified include:

· A Holistic Wellness Support Center to service CBP employees and their eligible family members in and around the identified location’s area

· The Center should be a “brick and mortar” type facility as its primary location and with a capability to provide services to remote locations within a given CBP footprint associated with that center (e.g., potentially having a mobile unit to service outlier ports or stations within a several hours drive of the primary location; virtual services, etc.).

· The ability to connect with CBP units to enroll staff and their families in Wellness Services.

· This should include many different marketing and outreach events to raise awareness and understanding of the Holistic Wellness Support Centers intent, features, and services offered.

· Requires frequent and consistent engagement with the CBP workforce as a community.

· A focus should be to continue to reduce the stigma associated with asking for help/assistance.

· The Holistic Wellness Support Center team will identify and prioritize connection and Wellness Services delivery to CBP staff and families who have experienced the death of a CBP Employee or other tragic event in the past 12 months (Note: The vendor would learn about these situations during intake interviews and prioritize accordingly).

· The Holistic Wellness Support Center team will provide CBP Leadership with a detailed Communication Plan, to include outreach events, overall program features, and messaging strategy for CBP supervisors to employees and family. Plan should emphasize the availability of former CBP law enforcement members as part of the outreach team.

· The Holistic Wellness Support Center team will lead outreach events to provide education and information on the Wellness Approach and to maximize use of the services offered by CBP personnel and their families.

· The Holistic Wellness Support Center team will develop and present measurable metrics for the program. Monitor and continually report on the quantifiable impacts of the wellness services for CBP staff and families.

· The Holistic Wellness Support Center Team will demonstrate cultural competency specific to CBP, other large law enforcement organizations, and/or the United States military (please be specific where the cultural competency references derive from).

· They will develop strategies for support based on the CBP culture.

· Specifically, they need to demonstrate an understanding of CBP personnel’s attitudes, beliefs, values, and daily challenges. This is essential for CBP and this requirement, especially in the areas of mental health and suicide prevention (e.g., CBP personnel who are reluctant to seek mental health services will be more likely to successfully engage with others who understand CBP’s mission, stressors, challenges, and operating environment).

· Requested wellness services may include, but are not limited to, any of the following (Note: In response, indicate if a given service is offered in-person, virtual, or both):

· Mental Health Services (including assessment and potentially treatment of mental health disorders).

· Wellness Assessment (including developing goals and planning to meet deficits identified by assessment).

· A dedicated space for wellness education and skills practice within the facility.

· Life Skills Class (teach/develop a given life skill in a group of individuals).

· Meditation Services (e.g., guided meditation, mindfulness practice, breathwork, etc.).

· Nutrition Guidance (e.g., Personalized Nutrition and Meal Planning, Nutrition Education classes).

· Fitness Planning with a qualified fitness trainer.

· Access to alternative forms of wellness services (e.g., Canine Therapy, Equine Therapy, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, etc.).

· Wellness services not intended as treatment for identified medical illness requiring specified medical intervention (e.g., massage, chiropractic, yoga, etc.).

CBP is looking to collaborate with the vendor to provide best practice recommendations on services to be provided and locations to be considered to maximize service availability to as many CBP personnel as possible, regardless of type of employee (i.e., law enforcement officers/agents, professional staff, etc.). CPB’s limited availability of resources and CBP’s broad geographic footprint needs to be considered in examining resource allocation. Employee privacy should be maintained while enabling CBP to understand usage of services by employees and their families at an aggregate level (i.e., enabling privacy and confidentiality while demonstrating efficiency and efficacy of services offered by vendor).

· Specific to locations to be considered, provide the top 5 recommended locations to place a center and the methodology used to derive it. Also indicate other elements not publicly available that would improve the methodology and how each would benefit it.

· Specific to services, provide initial best practice recommendations on services to be provided which may or may not include the examples provided plus others not listed.

As part of CBP’s market research, a select group of CBP employees, led by the WCD team, may visit one or more existing vendor locations. Their purpose is to observe the services offered and potentially experience them firsthand. The data collected during these visits will help inform desired requirements for the agency that may be incorporated into the final request for proposal.

CBP is interested in obtaining responses to this RFI from prospective vendors that could provide multiple Holistic Wellness Support Centers primarily on the southern border (e.g., Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Florida), northern border (e.g., Washington across to Maine), and potentially Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, DC. CBP requests that potential vendors provide specific details on their approach to establishing a Holistic Wellness Support Center in an identified location (e.g., initiate with a temporary center facility and transition to a permanent center facility). Additionally, CBP requests vendors to provide a specific detailed plan for growth to additional areas of responsibility.

Initial estimates are a desire to expand to one or two additional locations, contingent on costs and funding availability. The Government encourages the responders to this RFI and prospective vendors to describe their most innovative, cost-effective method in achieving the desired objectives and results. If the prospective vendor’s centers and services meet some, but not all, of CBP’s requirements, prospective vendors should describe a path to meeting most, if not all, of CBP’s requirements including the proposed process, implementation schedule and rough cost to achieve the requirements.

Objective:

CBP is seeking industry feedback on any and all existing Holistic Wellness Support Center-type concepts to address a growing demand for easy workforce/family access to mental health, wellness, and resiliency resources via Holistic Wellness Support Centers. Context and details of CBP’s requirements related to the Holistic Wellness Support Centers are included in the “Background” section which begins on the previous page.

Opportunity:

CBP wishes to identify industry specific information provided by suitable industry business partners to help better define the requirements to execute one or more regional Holistic Wellness Support Centers for CBP employees and their families.

Schedule:

CBP anticipates soliciting a Request For Proposal in Q4 of FY2024, awarding a contract by the end of Q4 of FY2024.

Responses Requested:

CBP understands that some responses may be conceptual, while others are limited to the Holistic Wellness Support Center-type concepts being considered. Responses should also include experience with similar concepts as well as pricing to support the initial center and subsequent centers by location. Please also advise if your company provides services through any multiple award schedule or large contract vehicles such as DHS Strategic Sourcing Vehicles (SSV), the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) Program, or any other Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC).

To assist CBP in further refining our requirements, please provide responses to the following:

· Does your company have any Holistic Wellness Support Centers (or similar concepts) located in the United States of America? If so, please list location (address), size (square footage and capacity), services offered, date established, whether facility is leased or owned by the company, and companies/customers served at each location. If the facility is leased, what is the term of the lease and when does it expire?

· What relationships, if any, does your company have with non-profit entities, with local providers in each Holistic Wellness Support Center location, and with the community as a whole for each Holistic Wellness Support Center location?

· Describe the company’s experience in working with law enforcement entities or organizations similar to CBP?

· Describe the specific wellness services do you offer, and how many days per week?

· What is your focus and specialization? Describe your company’s expertise and areas of specialization.

· If your company cannot provide all of the services CBP is interested in, how would you go about obtaining the additional services in order to meet CBP’s requirements?

· As new services are developed for the wellness space, how would you go about evaluating these new services and if appropriate/worthwhile, obtaining these new services in order to meet CBP’s requirements?

· Can you provide references from previous clients or partners?

· What is your business size? If you are a small business, what is your socio-economic classification (i.e., small disadvantaged, woman-owned, etc.)?

· Which NAICS codes do you operate under?

· What is your SAM.gov Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)?

· What pricing methodology would you recommend to help CBP balance cost with services and not waste money on services that are not being used? What pricing model is typically used in the wellness industry for these types of services?

· How receptive are you to allowing CBP representatives to visit and experience your facilities at no cost to the Government as part of market research?

Instructions and Response Guidelines:

RFI responses are due by 3:00 pm on Tuesday, 23 April 2024 and shall be limited to a total of 20 pages not including foldouts and full-size page charts. Page size is limited to 8.5 x 11 inches, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins in Microsoft Word format.

Please provide the information you deem relevant to respond to the specific inquiries of the RFI. To support budget and planning purposes you may also include rough cost estimates by proposed location based upon the objectives outlined in the RFI. Information provided will be used solely by CBP as market research and will not be released outside of the CBP WCD Program requirements team. This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid, or Request for Quotation, and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. All information contained in this RFI is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government. Responses shall be submitted electronically via email to the Contacting Officer no later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday, 23 April 2024. The subject line shall read: CBP WORKFORCE CARE-HOLISTIC WELLNESS SUPPORT CENTERS. NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Contact Information:

Contracting Officer Shaun Saad Phone number: 202-425-1732 Email address: SHAUNGALEN.SAAD@cbp.dhs.gov

The Government is not required to respond to any information provided in response to this RFI. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor SAM.gov for additional information pertaining to this RFI.