draftCOIrequirements.pdf

DRAFT COI REQUIREMENTS SOL-CI-16-00013

LIMITATION OF FUTURE CONTRACTING (HEADQUARTERS SUPPORT), (EPAAR

1552.209-74) (APR 2004) (ALTERNATE V) (APR 2004), DEVIATION,

Paragraph (c) which states, “The contractor, during the life of this contract, will be ineligible to enter into business or financial relationships which would support or affect any efforts to contest, oppose, or influence the contents of regulations, policies, limitations, standards or criteria relating to the Clean Water Act, the adoption of water quality standards, fish consumption advisories, and bathing beach monitoring without prior written authorization from the EPA cognizant Contracting Officer.”

DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF

INTEREST (EPA-L-09-102) (Section L)

(a) The proposed contract requires that the contractor provide technical support to the EPA, Office of Water’s (OW) Office of Science and Technology (OST), Standards and Health Protection Division (SHPD). The contract will provide technical support for developing and approving water quality standards and criteria. An offeror shall specifically disclose whether it or any of its parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or sister companies is one of the following entities or has any significant business or financial relationships with such entities:

· Entities that are subject to EPA regulations or guidelines that may be impacted by efforts under this contract, and firms that have significant business or financial relationships with such firms.

· Entities that have an interest in furthering the harvest or consumption of freshwater or marine fish and seafood, and firms that have significant business or financial relationships with such firms.

· Entities that discharge toxic bioaccumulative contaminants into water bodies and firms that have significant business or financial relationships with such entities.

· Entities that manufacture/sell/import water treatment chemicals and/or equipment (including point-of-use/point-of-entry treatment devices).

· Entities that are chemical producers/importers, pesticides and agriculture product producers/importers, and waste management/waste disposal entities which could potentially contaminate water bodies.

· Entities that have a financial interest in either the issues or the outcomes of EPA decisions that may be supported by work under the contract, and firms that have significant business or financial relationships with such firms.

· Entities which are National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit holders or discharges to NPDES dischargers, including water utilities and suppliers.

Offerors are required to disclose the extent of those business or financial relationships in their proposals, and they shall describe how any actual or potential organizational conflicts of interest associated with such entities can be mitigated, neutralized, or avoided.

(b) Provision K., ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST CERTIFICATION (EPAAR 1552.209-72), requires the offeror to certify whether it is or is not aware of any potential organizational conflict of interest (COI). If the offeror is aware of a conflict, then Provision L., ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST NOTIFICATION (EPAAR 1552.209-70), requires the offeror to provide a disclosure statement in its proposal describing all relevant information concerning any past, present, or planned interests bearing on whether it (including its chief executives and any directors, or any proposed consultant or subcontractors) may have a potential organizational conflict of interest. Offerors responding to this solicitation are required to disclose any such business or financial relationships. The disclosure statement must address and identify any actual or potential organizational COI within the offeror's entire corporate organization, including parent company, sister companies, affiliates, and subsidiaries.

In addition to identifying potential organizational COI, the disclosure statement shall describe how any such conflict can be avoided, neutralized, or mitigated. Also, the contractor’s COI Plan shall describe the process by which the contractor will ascertain whether any actual or potential COI exist within its own company and all identified organizational relationships. The EPA Contracting Officer will determine an offeror's eligibility for award based on the information provided in the disclosure statement.

(c) The Agency has determined that offerors that are entities identified in paragraph (a), or that have significant business or financial relationships with such entities, may have a significant actual or potential organizational conflict of interest in relation to the requirements of this solicitation. In addition, the Agency has determined that offerors that provide consulting and/or technical services to the types of entities listed in paragraph (a) may present significant actual or potential COI concerns.

(d) The purpose of requiring the information covered by Paragraph (b) above is to provide the Agency with an opportunity to assess its vulnerabilities relative to organizational COI with respect to individual offerors prior to award. The Agency recognizes that there exists a need for offerors to gain the requisite experience necessary to fulfill the requirements of the proposed contract and that such experience is often gained through provision of consulting or related technical services to the types of entities listed in paragraph (a). Accordingly, the fact that an offeror has worked, is working or plans to work for the types of entities listed in paragraph (a) will not necessarily disqualify the offeror from consideration for award on the basis of actual or potential conflicts of interest (COI). There is no precise formula for determining whether an offeror’s business or financial relationships or its past, present, or future effort performing work for entities in the above referenced industries would result in a determination by the Contracting Officer that award to a particular offeror would not be in the best interest of the Government due to organizational COI concerns. Each offeror will be evaluated individually on the basis of the information disclosed pursuant to the requirements of this provision and upon the adequacy of the offeror's plan for avoiding, neutralizing, or mitigating such conflicts. In summary, the Agency is seeking a technically qualified offeror which can demonstrate that its activities and relationships will not impact its ability to provide unbiased work products to the Agency under the proposed contract.

SUBMISSION OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST PLAN (EPA-L-09-

101) (Section L)

As part of their proposals, offerors shall submit an Organizational Conflict of Interest Plan which outlines the procedures in place to detect and report conflicts of interest (COI), whether actual or potential, throughout the period of contract performance. The plan shall address step-by-step, the checks and balances in place to detect and report potential or actual COI at the organizational level and at the personal level that could result from activities associated with the Statement of Work. Offerors should refer to the L provision entitled "Minimum Standards for EPA Contractors' Conflict of Interest Plans," which sets forth the criteria which offerors' COI plans must meet in order to be considered acceptable by the Agency.

The plan will be evaluated in accordance with the criteria set forth in the Section M provision entitled "Evaluation of Conflict of Interest Plan."

MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR EPA CONTRACTORS’ CONFLICT OF INTEREST

PLANS (EPA-L-09-103) (Section L)

1. PURPOSE

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified a need to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate actual and potential contractor conflicts of interest (COI). To accomplish this, contractors are required to have a COI plan for identifying and reporting actual and potential COI. The purpose of this document is to set forth the minimum standards for a contractor's COI plan.

2. COI PLAN

The contractor's COI Plan is a document which describes the procedures a company uses to identify and report COI. Generally, a contractor's corporate COI plan will describe how a company, in its entirety, addresses conflicts, and will not be contract or program specific. The plan may also describe the options a company will consider proposing to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate a COI whenever a conflict is identified. The plan will be evaluated and approved by the applicable EPA Contracting Officer (CO) if the COI Plan meets the EPA's minimum requirements for detecting and reporting conflicts of interest. Contractors’ COI Plans should be identified by a version number, date, and applicable CO for any previously approved COI Plan.

3. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR CONTRACTORS' COI PLANS

A. Corporate Structure

The COI Plan shall describe any parent relationship and list all affiliates, subsidiaries, and sister companies, etc. Generally this need not exceed three corporate tiers, unless a relationship exists beyond three tiers that would potentially create a conflict. In such a case, relationships beyond three tiers should also be included in the COI Plan. Contractors should report changes in their corporate structure to the Agency throughout contract performance.

Contractors are invited to include under this section a company profile. The profile should discuss all pertinent information relevant to COI including a summary of a contractor's primary and/or environmental business functions and activities. This background information will be very useful to COs when evaluating whether or not a contractor has a COI.

B. Searching and Identifying COI

The COI Plan shall include a requirement describing when a COI search must be performed by company personnel and clearly identify the procedures to be followed. The searching requirement shall encompass all work related to all clients for whom work was performed over the last three years, all current work, all sites (if applicable), and any future work reflected in marketing proposals. Contractors must search their records over the past 36 months or through all available records for a new company until 36 months of records are accumulated, from the time of receipt of the work from EPA. However, contractors are encouraged to search back as far as a company's records cover.

C. Data Base

The COI Plan shall require a data base that includes all necessary information for a contractor to review its past work (at a minimum over the past 36 months or through all available records for a new company until 36 months of records are accumulated), work in progress, and work the company may be pursuing under any marketing proposals. This requirement does not establish any particular type or kind of retrieval system; however, the data base shall contain, at a minimum, the following information and capabilities.

(1) a list of the company's past and public clients;

(2) a description of the type(s) of work that was performed and other pertinent information;

(3) a list of the past sites (when applicable) a contractor has worked on;

(4) a list of site name(s) (when applicable) related to any work performed;

(5) the ability to search and retrieve the information in the data base; and

(6) the dollar value of work performed.

If applicable, the COI Plan shall include provisions for supplemental searches of parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or sister company records. The COI Plan shall also describe any cross-checks used by the company when searching COI issues.

D. Personal Certification

At a minimum, the COI Plan shall require ALL employees of the company performing work under an EPA Superfund and/or Non-Superfund contract, including work on a site, work relating to a site, work pertaining to a CERCLA/RCRA action, or work that may endanger a CERCLA enforcement action, to sign a personal certification. EPA recommends a policy whereby all company employees are required to sign such a certification rather than only those employees working under an EPA contract. The certification shall require at a minimum that the individual agrees to report to the proper company authority any personal COI and that the individual has read and understands the company's COI Plan and procedures. Employee certifications shall be retained by the company.

E. Work Assignment (WA), Technical Direction Document (TDD), Task Order (TO), or Delivery Order (DO) Notification and Certification

The COI Plan shall describe the process the company requires for notifying the Agency prior to beginning work, and for submission of its WA/TDD/TO/DO certification within 20 days of receipt of the work from EPA.

NOTE: WA/TDD/TO/DO certifications are NOT required if the contract contains an annual certification requirement. Nevertheless, the contractor's COI Plan should address the procedures to be followed for WA/TDD/TO/DO certifications.

F. Annual Certification

The COI Plan shall describe the process the company requires for submission of its annual certification.

NOTE: Annual certification is NOT required if the contract contains a WA/TDD/TO/DO certification requirement. Nevertheless, the contractor's COI Plan should address the procedures to be followed for annual certifications.

G. Notification and Documentation

The COI Plan shall clearly delineate the official within the company responsible for making COI determinations. Generally, this would be someone at middle to upper level of management. The responsible official shall be free of any personal conflicts for the purpose of making COI determination; e.g., a program manager who receives bonuses based on the total amount of sales may not be free of conflicts.

The plan shall clearly identify the process that is required when notifying the EPA of any actual or potential COI and the actions that the company has taken or will take to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate the conflict. In addition, the contractor shall document all COI searches related to EPA work, whether or not an actual or potential COI has been identified.

H. Training

The COI Plan shall require all employees of the company to receive basic COI training and that each employee receive COI awareness training at least annually. The company's COI Plan shall be available for all employees to review. Annual awareness training shall include, at a minimum, a review of the certification language and any changes that may have occurred in the company's COI Plan. In addition, companies are encouraged to routinely disseminate to their employees current COI information.

I. Subcontractors’ COI Plans

The COI Plan shall describe the process and mechanism by which the company will monitor its subcontractors to ensure all subcontractors are complying with the COI provisions in their contracts. It is important that subcontractors identify and report COI, as well as submit Limitation of Future Contracting (LOFC) requests for approval.

EVALUATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST PLAN (EPA-M-09-101) (Section M)

The plan described in the Section L provision entitled “SUBMISSION OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST PLAN” will be evaluated as acceptable or not acceptable.

Notwithstanding the evaluation of an offeror with respect to the technical evaluation criteria or the evaluation of an offeror’s cost, an offeror that submits a plan that is unacceptable at the time of award will not be eligible for a contract award.

EVALUATION OF ORGANZIATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTERST DISCLOSURE

STATEMENT (EPA-M-09-102) (Section M)

The disclosure statement described in the Section L provision entitled, "Disclosure Requirements for Organizational Conflict of Interest" will be evaluated as acceptable or not acceptable.

Notwithstanding the evaluation of an offer with respect to the technical evaluation criteria or the evaluation of an offeror's cost, an offeror who submits a disclosure statement that ultimately is unacceptable at time of award will not be eligible for a contract award.