RFQ-DC-15-00024.docx

REQUEST FOR QUOTE # RFQ-DC-16-00024

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR STUDENT SERVICES CONTRACTS

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development National Exposure Research Laboratory Research Triangle Park, NC

SECTION I:

GENERAL INFORMATION

This solicitation is being issued pursuant to the personal services contracting authority granted by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriation Resolution for 2003 (P.L. 108-7). A firm-fixed-price purchase order will be issued to the successful student or recent graduate selected for the position. The base period of performance for this purchase order is of twelve months (1928 hours), with three additional option periods (Estimated not-to-exceed hours: Option 1: 1928 hours, Option 2: 1928 hours, Option 3: 1294 hours).

Please Note: The Government reserves the exclusive right not to exercise an option period.

This solicitation includes the following six attachments:

ATTACHMENT 1 - Statement of Work (SOW) and Associated Attachment ATTACHMENT 2 - Student Proposal Form Acknowledgment of Special Terms and Conditions ATTACHMENT 3 - Additional Terms and Conditions of the Order ATTACHMENT 4 - Student Services Clauses ATTACHMENT 5 - Acknowledgement of Special Terms and Conditions ATTACHMENT 6 - Evaluation Criteria

Definitions:

A student is an individual, at least 18 years of age, who is enrolled, in good standing, in a degree program (actively seeking a degree) at a recognized educational institution. A student is not required to carry a full course load, as long as the individual is a bona fide student, not merely someone who signed up for a class in order to work under these contract arrangements.

A recent graduate is an individual, at least 18 years of age, who has graduated with a degree from a college or university within the last two years.

A Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) - the COR is the primary representative of the contracting officer (CO). The COR may be either an EPA employee or, as appropriate, another Federal Agency employee, appointed by the CO, who possesses the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform pre-award and/or post-award functions. The COR is responsible for technical direction and certifying that services were received and accepted. CORs do not have the authority to issue any technical direction which changes or modifies the scope of work, or alters the period of performance of the contract. The COR must comply with the required acquisition training requirements listed in Section 42.1, of the Contracts Management Manual (CMM). The COR may also serve as a mentor and continue to perform their pre-award and post-award contract functions.

A Mentor - the Mentor is a Federal employee, proficient in the subject matter related to the student's field of study, which provides day-to-day direction, coaches, advises, counsels and provides guidance and support to the student or recent graduate in the performance of their work. Mentors review the student's or recent graduate's work and provide input to the COR on the quality and quantity of this work. Unless the mentor is also the COR, mentors will not perform acquisition functions, such as approval of invoices, and therefore, are not required to comply with the COR training requirements as stated in CMM Section 42.1. The Mentor should normally be collocated with the student so as to be readily available to the student contractor.

Field of Study – College or university course work related to requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW) that will provide a benefit to the student thru hands-on work experiences.

The Government will make contract award based on the Student Proposal Form. Please see attachment 2. Submissions in response to this solicitation must be submitted on or before 5:00 P.M. Monday, November 30, 2015 via e-mail to Contracting Officer, Tia Gatling at gatling.tia@epa.gov. All email submissions must have “RFQ-DC-16-00024” in the subject line. Late submissions will not be considered eligible for award and incomplete submissions may not be considered at the Contracting Officer’s discretion. No telephone inquiries will be accepted in response to this solicitation.

Prior to applying for this position, applicants are encouraged to visit the following web page to access information related to this announcement: https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/Default.htm. Please follow the link located in the middle of the page entitled “Search Public Opportunities Only”, click on the “Advanced Options” tab, type in the RFQ number in the “Reference Number” box and review all of the attached documents. You are encouraged to visit this webpage periodically to check the status of this announcement and to see whether or not any amendments (changes to the requirement of the posted position) have been issued. Foreign national students are required to fulfill all of the requirements outlined in the eligibility section of this announcement.

SPECIAL NOTE:

The individual(s) selected will be required to register with Dun & Bradstreet to obtain a Data Universal Number System (DUNS number) or DUNS +4 number. To obtain a DUNS number, students or recent graduate contractors can call Dun & Bradstreet 1-866-705-5711 or contact D&B at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

After receiving a DUNS +4 number, the individual selected must register with System for Award Management (SAM), at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Contractors can contact the SAM Help Desk @ 1-866-606-8220 for additional information. On the SAM homepage, the individual must first click on “Create User Account.” After successfully creating a user account, the individual must click on “Register / Updated Entity” and complete the registration process. Normally the student contractor will register as a “For-profit – sole proprietor” though your individual circumstances may affect your registration selection. There is no charge to register for DUNS or SAM. In addition, students or recent graduates who have been selected for this position will be required to sign an Acknowledgement of Special Terms before work can begin and are subject to these terms as outlined in Attachment 5 of this solicitation.

After registration in D&B and SAM, a contract will be issued. Upon receipt of the contract, the student contractor must go immediately to https://cdx.epa.gov/ and register with the Central Data Exchange (CDX) and complete the iBoard application (the contract award number is required to complete the CDX registration). The student contractor must enter the COR as the point on their iBoard application. The student contractor should notify the COR when they have completed their iBoard application. The student must complete iBoard before beginning work. The contract may be terminated if the background check reveals a risk to the interest of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and national security.

Application Package Checklist for Applicants

Submissions in response to this announcement MUST include the following:

1. Resume or Statement of Qualification (not to exceed 2 pages)

1. Completed Student Proposal Form (refer to Attachment 2)

1. Copy of college/university transcripts (unofficial copies are acceptable, if it is apparent from the transcript copy that is a copy of an official document and that the school is identified)

1. Two letters of Recommendation (not to exceed 2 pages)

1. Signature Page of Attachment 5 – Acknowledgment of Special Terms

Failure to submit the required documents may be determined nonresponsive and eliminated from consideration.

SECTION II: ANNOUNCEMENT

DETAILS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT

The Landscape Ecology Branch (LEB) of the Environmental Sciences Division (ESD), National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL), Office of Research and Development (ORD) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking individuals, at least 18 years of age who have completed a Master’s Degree or be currently enrolled in a Master’s program in: geographic information science, urban planning, geography, environmental sciences, natural resource management, or a related field from an accredited college/university

Students or recent graduates, who are EPA ORD employees, or the spouse or child of an EPA ORD employee, are not eligible to participate.

This contract is expected to begin approximately (January 2016). The hourly rate is commensurate with the minimum required level of education and experience, as follows: is $29.80 per hour for a student who has completed a Graduate degree. The student contractor must be currently enrolled in a degree program at an accredited University/College or a recent graduate within the last 24 months. The student contractor will be paid the basic hourly rate only for the number of hours worked and will not receive overtime pay for any hours worked beyond the 40-hour work week. The student contractor does not accrue leave or holiday benefits and are not paid for any non-work days, regardless of the reason. The student contractor is considered an independent contractor; therefore, Federal, State, Local, Social Security, and Medicare taxes will not be withheld. The student contractor is responsible for reporting income to authorities and paying all taxes.

The student contractor is responsible for all costs of transportation to and from the principal duty station location. EPA does not provide housing, meals or other living expenses while working at the principal duty station. Non-U.S. citizens may be eligible to participate, depending on their immigration status and the applicable regulations of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). All non-US citizens must submit, as part of their proposal package, evidence of their immigration status that allows them to work in the United States. Students should possess a current US Visa and be able to obtain US work authorization in a timely manner if offered a contract. Students without a US Visa are not eligible.

Academic degrees fulfilled outside of the United States must be judged to be equivalent to that achieved in accredited U.S. education programs in order to be acceptable for this contract. More information about the evaluation of foreign education can be found at the U.S. Department of Education's web site at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

If applicable, applicants shall submit all necessary documents to a recognized private U.S. organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials, usually named a credential evaluation service. To be suitable, the foreign credential evaluation must include and describe (i) type of education received by the applicant (i.e., conventional, by mail, or online), (ii) degree of education relative to the U.S. education system, and testify that its comparability recommendations follow the general guidelines of the U.S. National Council for the Evaluation of Foreign Educational Credentials, (iii) the content of the applicant's educational program earned abroad and the standard obtained, (iv) the ranking of the awarding foreign schools’ credit and authenticity in its own country's education system, (v) what the evaluation service did to obtain this information, (vi) the qualifications of the evaluator, and (vii) any indications as to other concerns such as falsification. Foreign credential evaluations that do not include all the above information or indicate there is not enough information on which to make a sound evaluation will not be accepted.

INTERESTED PARTIES MUST COMPLETE ATTACHMENT 2, “STUDENT PROPOSAL FORM FOR RFQ-DC-16-00024”. Please provide a one or two page resume or statement of qualifications, this proposal form and attach a copy of all your college/university transcripts (unofficial copies are acceptable, if it is apparent from the transcript copy that is a copy of an official document and that the school is identified), and submit to Tia Gatling, Contracting Officer, via email at gatling.tia@epa.gov. The submission deadline will be listed at the website shown below.

Prior to applying for this position, you should visit the EPA solicitation web page at http://www.epa.gov/oam/ to learn the full details of the proposed contract. Please follow the link to under the solicitation “Student Services RFQ-DC-16-00024” and read all of the attached documents. This website should be visited periodically to check the status of this procurement and to see whether or not any amendments (changes to the requirement of the posted position) have been issued.

The Government will make contract award based on all evaluation factors (student's knowledge and skills, course work, work or volunteer experience, research laboratory experience, research publications and grade point average as it relates to the services described in this Announcement and the Statement of Work). Evaluation factors will be listed in the website mentioned above, please check the evaluation factors document on the website given above. Personal or telephone interviews may be conducted with the most promising candidates. The Government may elect to award contracts to multiple students under this Announcement.

Questions regarding this student contract should be directed to the contracting officer Tia Gatling, at gatling.tia@epa.gov.