Sources Sought - CJEP RFI.docx

Request for Information: 19INLE22I0001 Criminal Justice Expertise Program (CJEP)

The Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) is conducting market research to determine the degree of interest, expertise, and capability to provide Criminal Justice Expertise Program (CJEP). The primary mission is to minimize the impact of international crime and illegal drugs on the United States, its citizens and partner nations by providing effective foreign assistance and fostering global cooperation. The mission, which centers on helping partner nations establish a capable and accountable criminal justice sector, was expended during the past decade to include stabilizing post-conflict societies through criminal justice sector development an deform. This mission supports peace and security by stabilizing and strengthen security institutions and by combating narco-trafficking and other transnational crimes, such as money laundering and criminal gangs. It promotes just and democratic governments by strengthening justice sector institutions, good governance, and respect for human rights. The NAICS code for Technical Advisory Support, Training, Assessments, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Administration, Program Design, Conferences, Logistics Support services is 922190 - Other Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities..

Responses must clearly demonstrate capabilities through examples of previous and/or current Criminal Justice Expertise Program (CJEP) closely related thereto. In support of INL’s Functional Bureau Strategy highlights four inter-related goals:

· Disrupt or deter illicit drug markets and transnational crime to protect American lives and U.S. national security.

· Combat corruption and illicit financing to strengthen democratic institutions, advance rule of law, and reduce transnational crime and its enablers.

· Strengthen criminal justice systems to support stable, rights-respecting partners.

· Leverage learning, data, and resources – including people and funding – to advance INL’s mission and thought leadership on civilian security and justice on behalf of the United States.

In 2019, INL established the Office of Knowledge Management (KM) to lead the Bureau’s efforts to improve the quality of U.S. foreign assistance by helping INL learn from its prior work and integrate evidence, best practices, and lessons learned into new global tools, resources, and platforms. KM’s mission to develop INL as a “learning organization” are rooted in three primary lines of effort:

1) Uniform program management approaches, including formal written guidance, standards, and tools for program design, monitoring, and evaluation;

2) Consolidated, adult-centric approaches to internal and external training; and

3) Thought leadership in criminal justice reform through more effective integration of both in-house and external subject-matter expert advisors.

Vendors must specifically address the following capabilities:

Strategic Goals CJEP will assist INL in its mission to develop the capabilities of foreign criminal justice and law enforcement institutions along internationally recognized evidence-based best practices and standards by identifying and deploying current and former officials and experts with specific, contemporary, and relevant experience to mentor, advise, train, and deliver technical assistance to foreign criminal justice and law enforcement agencies through overseas deployments and domestic activities. Additionally, CJEP will provide outside expertise needed to meet INL’s management goal to become a data driven, learning organization. The desired expertise will assist and advise INL domestic and overseas personnel on program development, delivery, measures of effectiveness, and best practices in international criminal justice reform.

Type of Activity Technical Advisory Support, Training, Assessments, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Administration, Program Design, Conferences, Logistics Support.

Target Sector Law Enforcement Corrections Criminal Justice Program Management

Background Information In order to meet an increasing demand for a wide range of criminal justice expertise in support of INL’s bilateral and regional programs, the Office of Knowledge Management (KM) requires a mechanism to augment its advisory services, external training, and knowledge management products when the expertise may not reside in KM or when the KM staff workload inhibits employing its in-house subject-matter experts (SMEs) for specific INL country, regional, or global program requirements.

From its start as a cooperative agreement in 2018, the current INL-funded Law Enforcement Expertise Program (LEEP) implemented by the Strategic Capacity Group (SCG) has served as a responsive and flexible tool to provide short-term technical support for requested assistance in the areas of law enforcement, criminal justice, and INL-specific programs and administration. Activities conducted under LEEP included conducting assessments, mentoring partners, developing and delivering training, supporting expert deployments, organizing expert conferences, embedding advisors within INL partner agencies, program administration requirements, and development of program design guidance for INL staff. However, INL now seeks to expand this initiative to reflect KM’s mission as a new office responsible for helping INL become a learning organization. This will include an expanded technical focus beyond LEEP’s current expertise on the police and corrections to the full range of disciplines that are relevant to INL’s criminal justice reform mission, to include law enforcement, criminal defense, prosecutorial, judicial, and corrections reform, and technical expertise on foreign assistance program design and administration.

Project Description To achieve the strategic goals, CJEP will provide expertise and assistance on topics to include, but not limited to:

· Law enforcement reform, to include:

· Law enforcement operations and training (i.e., crime prevention, crime analysis, investigations, special weapons and tactics, internal affairs, curriculum development, officer training, etc.);

· Law enforcement administration (i.e., finance, personnel, procurement, logistics, case management, etc.);

· Law Enforcement leadership (i.e., management, supervision, accountability, community relations, diversity and inclusion, and organizational development);

· Technology in law enforcement (i.e. forensics, biometrics, communications, information management, etc.);

· Gender-based violence;

· Combating transnational organized crime;

· Combating illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals;

· Human trafficking and smuggling;

· Border security – air, land, and maritime;

· Complex cases especially cybercrime, financial crimes, asset forfeiture and recovery, corruption, intellectual property rights, and environmental crimes.

· Criminal Justice Reform, to include:

· Comparative legal systems and institutions;

· Criminology;

· Legislative drafting;

· Legal education;

· Access to justice and legal awareness;

· Victim and witness services;

· Human rights and anticorruption monitoring;

· Criminal defense, legal aid, and public defender;

· Operations of prosecutorial organizations (i.e., institutional procedures and processes, case management, training and professional development, international legal cooperation, and specialized prosecutorial units, etc.);

· Operations of judicial organizations (i.e., institutional procedures and processes, training and professional development, court facilities management, case management and administration, jury administration, specialized courts, etc.);

· Ethical codes and disciplinary systems;

· Probation, parole, and pre-trial services; and

· Alternative dispute resolution.

· Corrections reform, to include:

· Probation, parole, and pre-trial services;

· Corrections administration (i.e., case management, classification of prisoners, offender security and supervision, accountability and oversight, training, construction and facilities management, administrative and support services);

· Special corrections units (i.e., prison intelligence, emergency response, prisoner transportation);

· Educational and health services in correctional environments;

· Reducing recidivism, including prisoner education, community-based programs, and reintegration, discharge, and social work;

· Special populations in correctional environments (women, juveniles, minorities, LGBTQI+ individuals, and persons with disabilities); and

· Accreditation.

· Foreign assistance program design and implementation, including:

· Project design;

· Monitoring and evaluation;

· Data management and visualization;

· Graphic design

· Conflict prevention and stabilization;

· Gender considerations in law enforcement and criminal justice;

· Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in law enforcement and criminal justice reform;

· Adult education and instructional system design

· External outreach and engagements; and

· Foreign language skills.

Objectives The contractor must be able to meet the following objectives:

Objective 1: Develop and sustain a cadre of suitable, well-qualified current and former criminal justice and foreign assistance experts ranging from technical experts to senior officers, executives, and training professionals, available to work with INL, primarily overseas, as advisors, mentors, assessors, and trainers, in line with internationally recognized practices in a particular field.

· Activity 1: Develop a network of current and former U.S. law enforcement, criminal justice, corrections, and foreign assistance experts with first-hand knowledge and experience in the topical areas outlined in the Project Description above. Individuals must have worked in U.S. federal, state, or local levels with a successful track-record, retiring or departing from their organization in good standing. Experience working in support of international development and/or foreign assistance programs overseas is strongly preferred and may be required for a specific area of assistance. A bachelor’s degree and verifiable experience in the area of expertise is required.

· Activity 2: Review the qualifications required by INL for an assignment and/or deployment and identify and vet well-qualified candidates to ensure that they are suitable for working on behalf of the U.S. Government in diplomatic engagements, including, but not limited to, background checks and verification of valid travel documents.

· Activity 3: Verify SME availability for assignments, including travel to dangerous and harsh environments. Preferred candidates would have international development or assistance experience and would be available to deploy on short notice (within two weeks of INL contacting the recipient). As specified in individual contract line items and dependent on sub-awards, subject matter experts may need to have foreign language fluency, security clearances, specified years of qualifying expertise, and country or regional experience.

· Activity 4: Develop and maintain a searchable database of qualified individuals to be shared quarterly with INL that includes, for example, candidates’ contact information, a synopsis of their experience, areas of expertise, foreign language capabilities, and security clearance eligibility.

Objective 2: Draft “project packages” and other knowledge products, guidance materials, and internal and external briefing materials on the designated topics listed in the Project Description paragraph. A project package distills evidence and programmatic guidance for INL staff on: when to consider certain types of program activities; what information to gather in the assessment stage; illustrative project designs, including recommended indicators; and implementation tools to make project delivery more efficient for INL staff (see the attached annotated table of contents for additional detail on what project packages cover). INL anticipates requiring drafting of six to 12 project packages/year.

· Activity 1: Gather relevant source material for the project package. This will include open-source research on the topic, common approaches to it, and evidence about effective approaches to the topic, where available. It will also include reviewing INL implementation documents from past projects relevant to the topic and, potentially, speaking with INL staff about past related projects. Finally, it will include speaking with non-INL subject matter experts about the topic.

· Activity 2: Using the INL-provided project package template, draft project packages. This requires clearly conveying information in writing (on, for example, the topic overview), design and monitoring expertise (to develop a change map, i.e., a summary of a project’s goal, objectives, activities, indicators, and data sources), and graphics/layout skills (for overall professional look to the project package and use of graphics when that is the best way to convey information, such as to depict timelines for project implementation). Any software used in the creation of project package drafts must already be authorized for use with Sensitive But Unclassified material.

· Activity 3: Update project package draft based on INL input. Input will include subject matter experts, program officers, embassy staff, and KM/DDL staff.

Objective 3: Continually cultivate a cadre of criminal justice and experts with international, civil society, and/or academic experience interested in and available to support the experts identified in Objective 1 to ensure that field expertise is in line with internationally recognized practices in law enforcement and criminal justice. This may be done in various manners, including participation in recognized and reputable law enforcement and criminal justice justice conferences and meetings.

· Activity 1: Develop and maintain a network of experts with knowledge of international and innovative practices in law enforcement and criminal justice topics including, but not limited to the topic areas outlined in the Project Description. While beneficial, experts do not have to be active serving or former officers but would have academic, research, civil society, or other relevant experience in their field’s best practices, with expert-level knowledge of trends in international law enforcement and criminal justice reform.

· Activity 2: Conduct outreach to ensure these individuals are generally available for assignments. Ensuring availability is particularly important and applicants are encouraged to be creative in how to work with employers to permit this flexibility.

· Activity 3: Review the qualifications required by INL for an assignment and/or deployment and identify and vet well-qualified candidates to ensure that they are suitable for working on behalf of the U.S. Government in diplomatic engagements, including, but not limited to, background checks and valid travel documents.

· Activity 4: Develop and maintain a searchable database of qualified individuals to be shared with INL that includes, for example, candidates’ contact information, a synopsis of their experience, areas of expertise, and foreign language capabilities.

Objective 4: The awardee must be able to coordinate and manage logistics and travel requirements for deployments and be able to sustain overseas deployments from 1 week to 6 months in duration. This may include assignments to work virtually on projects that do not require domestic or international travel.

· Activity 1: Identify the most appropriate individual(s) from the group of pre-selected officers and/or experts who will mentor, advise, train, and deliver technical assistance to foreign partners, or who will otherwise support INL in performing activities described in Objectives 1 to 3. The final selection of personnel for each assignment will be approved by INL and the requesting U.S. Embassy, if applicable.

· Activity 2: Work with the U.S. Embassy and other stakeholders in INL, working through an INL/KM, to prepare for the assignment.

· Activity 3: Provide selected individuals with all travel arrangements, including medical requirements and insurance and catastrophic event evacuation insurance, obtaining relevant vaccinations, collecting receipts for reimbursement, and, as appropriate, facilitating the payment of honoraria and/or per diem.

· Activity 4: Prepare selected candidates by liaising with INL to schedule INL pre-deployment training where required and facilitate briefings to familiarize the candidate with the country context.

· Activity 5: Follow up with selected candidates during travel and troubleshoot and resolve any logistical or performance issues.

Objective 5: The awardee must provide thorough and timely reports in accordance with a project’s statement of work. At a minimum, reports will typically include financial management, and regular program narrative reports on activities, indicators, and outcomes.

· Activity 1: Produce substantive after-action reports that capture her/his analysis of the studies or assisted systems or specific capabilities, and recommendations for current and potential INL foreign assistance programming, as needed.

· Activity 2: Ensure that reports are well-written and provide substantive achievable recommendations tailored to the context of the INL program or requirement being reviewed. Any assessments should be conducted consistent with the INL Assessment Guide and aligned with the Foundations of Criminal Justice framework. INL will provide examples of acceptable reports and may edit submitted written products for revisions.

· Activity 3: Submit reports to INL no later than 30 calendar days from the end of the activity, make revisions as necessary from INL feedback, and facilitate a meeting or teleconference with the relevant stakeholders, such as INL/KM, the INL program officer, and Embassy personnel, to discuss assignment outcomes.

Program Expansion Optional INL may consider using centrally-managed or overseas program funds to support this contract in order to meet INL program requirements. Applicants may include in their proposal a brief section outlining how additional funds could potentially be used to expand work into further activities or additional countries in future years. Applicants are strongly encouraged to demonstrate how their project might leverage funding through other organizations, as well as partnerships with sub-contracted organizations to expand the applicants’ ability to deliver the full range of technical expertise sought in the Project Description.

Reporting The contractor will submit reports required by the specific contract line item. In general, reports will be in accordance with INL reporting standards and are due to INL within four (4) weeks following the conclusion of the project activity. Interim reports will also be required as often as monthly and quarterly. Reports and materials developed under the project become the property of INL. The report should meet the Objectives listed above; and when conducting an assessment, include the substantive content and analytical framework detailed in the INL Assessment Guide (available upon request).

Responsibilities of INL INL will:

· Assist with contextual background information and participate in conference calls as needed to inform the project.

· Provide, as appropriate, reproduction of applicable policies, procedures, INL or [host partner] documentation in English as requested by the awardee.

· Assist with lodging suggestions, as needed.

· INL will coordinate all aspects of the trip with contractor and keep INL/KM and the COR advised.

Responsibilities of Contractors Authorities if Deployed

· The travelers will have no police/corrections/judicial powers in foreign countries or at any time while working on INL-funded projects.

Contractor will oversee traveler logistics, ensuring that:

· Travelers have a valid passport (blue cover) that are valid for at least six months following departure date and that they have at least one unused page.

· Travelers secure necessary Visas.

· Travelers are up to date on routine vaccinations while traveling to any destination.

· Travelers agree they will not travel outside of the country to which they are deployed without the knowledge and written agreement of INL.

· Travelers refer to http://travel.state.gov for updated travel information regarding the subject country. Upon arrival, travelers will receive information regarding points of contact and guidelines in the event of an emergency.

· Travelers register dates and location of travel with the State Department through Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety updates about travelers’ destination and be sure the State Department can find travelers in case of an emergency.

Responsibilities when working domestically

· Contract employees must be able to work virtually and on site, at INL offices in Washington, DC if required for the performance of the statement of work.

· They must be eligible for a security clearance if required for a specific line item.

It is requested that all interested parties submit their capabilities by e-mail to Renee Alexander.at alexanderrk@state.gov or Jamie Goewey at Goeweyja@state.gov addressing each of the above requirements by 5:00 pm EST, June 3rd, 2022.

Interested parties should submit the following materials to INL by June 3rd 2022:

· Project Narrative. State whether your company is positioned to execute all of the objectives or specific enumerated ones;

· Detailed Budget;

· Budget Narrative;

· Any other required documents as identified by INL (see below); and

· Questions to INL to inform a subsequent Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Additional RFI Questions

· Describe your company’s depth of expertise in the desired areas and the company’s experience in deploying advisors abroad in support of foreign assistance objectives.

· Provide an example of guidance your company has developed. The example should highlight your ability to distill large amounts of information from various sources into clear, concise guidance for a generalist’s use.

· Describe some of the open-source resources you would consult if asked to develop a project package on police academy development overseas.

· Identify any suggested improvements that INL may wish to consider to this proposal, based on previous successful examples of similar contracts or programs implemented by U.S. government foreign assistance agencies.

If you have any questions or comments, you may contact. please reference this Sources Sought Notice 19INLE22I0001 emailing.

At this time, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) does not guarantee that any future contracts may be awarded covering the aforementioned duties and responses to this Sources Sought notice do not bind the U.S. Department of State to any agreement with the responder, be it explicit or implied.