RFI - Head Start National Customer Service Improvement Project (CSIP).pdf

Request for Information (RFI) ONLY

Title: Head Start National Customer Service Improvement Project (CSIP) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children & Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS)

Response Due: Monday, April 27 at 5:00 PM ET

DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for marketing information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation.

This posting is not a Request for Proposals or a Request for Quotations, and it is not considered to be a commitment by the Government to award a contract nor is the Government responsible for any costs incurred in furnishing information provided under this RFI. No basis for claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this RFI or Government use of any information provided. Nonetheless, submitters should clearly mark their responses if the information is “CONFIDENTIAL” or “PROPRIETARY” on every sheet containing such information and segregate the proprietary information to the maximum extent practical from other portions of your response (e.g., use an attachment or exhibit). No classified or sensitive information should be included in vendor responses to this RFI. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback with regards to its submission other than acknowledgment of receipt, should the submitter request an acknowledgement. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned.

Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this request.

Industry is encouraged to include their questions with responses. Questions will be considered when drafting the impending solicitation; however, the Government will not be responding to questions about the solicitation at this time.

This RFI will be posted on SAM.gov and via GSA MRAS (Market Research as a Service).

Please submit RFI responses using one platform, not both.

ISSUED BY: This RFI is being issued by the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Mission Acquisition Solutions (OMAS), on behalf of the Administration for Children & Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (ACF OHS).

PURPOSE: The Government is seeking information for a new, planned competition for an OHS nationwide customer service contract. OHS requests feedback from industry on the draft Performance Work Statement (PWS).

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: All potential sources with the capability to provide the requirements referenced in this RFI and draft PWS are invited to submit in writing. sufficient information within the page limitation (see section Submission Contents). This information shall demonstrate the vendor’s ability to fulfill the requirements and be responsive to the technical and acquisition-related questions in this RFI, as indicated below. Include vendor’s business size designation (e.g., small business, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc. or large business).

ANTICIPATED NAICS: 541611 – Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services

ATTACHMENTS:

• Draft Performance Work Statement

RESPONSES DUE:

All responses must be submitted electronically and emailed to the Contracting Officer at jan.welsh@hhs.gov. Ensure that your e-mail response has “Head Start National CSIP” in the subject line. All responses must be received no later than Monday, April 27 at 5:00 PAM

ET.

SUBMISSION FORMAT:

Responses shall be single spaced, Times New Roman or Arial font, no smaller than 11 pt. and formatted as a PDF or Word document. Page limits included in Submission Contents below.

SUBMISSION CONTENTS:

Your submission must contain:

• Cover Sheet (max. 1 page)

• Section A - Feedback on Draft PWS to include Position Qualifications (Section 2.4)

(max. 5 pages)

• Section B - Vendor Response to Questions (max. 10 pages)

• Section C – Capability Statement (max. 10 pages)

A cover sheet which includes:

a. RFI Title

b. Vendor Name

c. Address

d. Name of Point of Contact

e. Email Address

f. Phone Number

g. SAM UEI Number

h. Your socio-economic status based on the applicable North American Industry

Classification System (NAICS) codes (listed above)

SECTION A - FEEDBACK ON DRAFT Performance Work Statement (PWS)

Please answer the following questions. Industry responses to the following questions will be taken into consideration to better define the requirement.

mailto:jan.welsh@hhs.gov

1. Please provide feedback on the PWS, considering whether there are areas that need to be better clarified, potential challenges, and whether there are requirements that are unreasonable. Please explain.

2. What recommendations do you have to better structure this requirement?

SECTION B – VENDOR RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

Questions:

1. In the past 3 years, what is the largest number of concurrent personnel that you have provided on a single project/contract for professional services?

2. What are industry’s best practices to address retention challenges? Please address recruiting, compensating, and retaining personnel, considering that this industry tends to experience significant turnover.

3. Site visits to grant recipients or other travel may be required of certain staff. Does this pose any challenges to your hiring strategies?

Acquisition Questions:

1. What existing contract vehicles does your firm utilize for similar projects (i.e., GSA Schedule, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACS) such as GSA Alliant)? Are any of these applicable to this requirement?

SECTION C – CAPABILITY STATEMENT

Interested qualified organizations (including small businesses) should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement.

The purpose of this notice is also to obtain information regarding small business participation including:

(1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources;

(2) whether they are small business; (e.g., HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses;

woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses); and

(3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition.

Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a small business set-aside is possible.

The contractor’s capabilities shall demonstrate current and past experience, and analytic capacity, including but not limited to:

• Experience in project management and managing complex multi-million-dollar projects with multiple tasks and tight timelines, including experience operating across geographically dispersed or multi-regional environments.

• Experience with varying leadership structures, standard operating procedures, and customer/stakeholder expectations.

• Experience with data management, analytics, and reporting in support of federal programs.

• Knowledge and experience of programs that serve underserved communities.

• Current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work in the PWS, including the ability to allocate resources strategically across multiple concurrent activities and adjust staffing based on evolving program needs and priorities.

• Corporate experience and information on prior projects of similar size and complexity.

• Strong record and ability to identify and address anticipated and unanticipated potential challenges to a project’s success, creativity, efficiency, flexibility, and feasibility of solutions to problems.

• Strong understanding and track record of compliance with the Paper Reduction Act, Section 508, and other requirements associated with collection of information, accessibility, confidentiality, and privacy.