RFI_Hiring Request for Information_Open Market 10252023.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Department of Education Grants Management Policy Division (GMPD)

October 16, 2023

1.0 Request for Information

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal/Request for Quote (RFP/RFQ) or a promise to issue an RFP or RFQ in the future. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract, nor do they affect a potential offeror's ability to respond to any future synopsis/solicitation, which may or may not follow or restrict the U.S. Government's eventual acquisition approach. Additionally, the U.S. Government will not provide reimbursement for any information that may be submitted in response to this notice. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding. It is the responsibility of any Interested Party to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

2.0 Background

OPM Human Resources Solution (HRS) provides exceptional human resource and training solutions to meet the dynamic needs of the Federal Government. Consisting of a nationwide cadre of consultants, psychologists, data specialists, faculty, and program managers we assist Federal agencies in achieving their missions by partnering with them to develop leaders, attract and build a high-quality public-sector workforce, and transform the agencies into high performing organization.

Human Capital Industry Solutions (HCIS), a practice area in HRS, provides assisted acquisition and project management services throughout the lifecycle of human capital and employee development projects. HCIS partners with our customer agencies and vetted private-sector companies to contract experts to help federal agencies address their challenges.

For this RFI, HCIS is meeting an OPM need to support The Department of Education, Grants Management Policy Division (GMPD) in seeking a contractor to deliver a Grants Management Training Certificate Program for the Department’s Grants Management personnel. The Department does not own Grants Management courses for this Program. To align with the Department’s mission, processes, and grants’ cycle, the awarded contractor will be responsible for: (a) providing commercially available courses and (b) customizing those courses to meet the unique Department needs. To customize the courses, the awarded contractor must collaborate with the Department and analyze, design, and develop the content to match the unique needs of the Department. The contractor shall deliver, assess, and evaluate the customized courses delivered to the Department’s Grants Management employees throughout the project.

The Program will consist of a series of 8 customized commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) instructor-led, classroom-training courses (120 hours (plus or minus 5 hours) of training). The purpose of this program is to develop broad-based expertise in the Department’s grant management that covers all key components of the grants administration process as applied to the Department’s competitive (discretionary) and formula grant programs, including planning, application/ plan review, pre-award, performance period, and post-award activities. The courses shall be scheduled by the contractor and delivered throughout the 12-month period of performance (approximately every 4 to 8 weeks). The customized course content will include government common rules affecting the Department’s grant management process and the unique rules, processes, procedures, practices, tools, and technology. As such, the content, examples, exercises, tools, and templates shall be customized based on the Department’s grant programs.

3.0 Requested Information

Interested businesses are encouraged to respond to this notice with capability to provide services in attached DRAFT PWS.

Instructions for Responding to the RFI:

Responses to this notice shall include a cover letter and your response to the RFI. The cover letter shall, at a minimum, include the following information:

1. Vendor’s Company Name, Address, Contact Person (2 POCs) Information.

2. Vendor’s DUNS Number.

3. Business Size and Size Standard / Classification relative to North American Industry

Classification System (NAICS) code of 611430.

4. Specify small business profile, i.e., Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) Program, HUBZone, women owned, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned.

Your response, not including the cover letter, should not exceed five (5) single-spaced pages in length with the following parameters:

• Font size – Body - 10 points or larger; Diagrams/Graphics – 8 pts or larger

• Margins - Top, Bottom, Left, Right - 1"

• Header/Footer - At a minimum, your organization's name, HCaTS contract number and a page number should appear in the header or footer of all pages that constitute the body of your response.

• All responses shall be in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

Submission Instructions

Responses shall be submitted via e-mail only to bonnie.boston@opm.gov 2:00 PM EDT on November 1, 2023. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information.

Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

mailto:bonnie.boston@opm.gov

4.0 Industry Discussions

OPM may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks.

5.0 Summary

The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.

OPM has not made a commitment to procure any of the items or services discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

Thank you for your partnership.