Sources Sought FFY24 DIF Program TA.pdf

SOURCES SOUGHT

For

Federal Fiscal Year 2024 Disability Innovation Fund Program Technical Assistance

U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Rehabilitation Services Administration

Date: April 8, 2024

Purpose

This Contract will be competed through the General Services Administration Schedule. The Contractor will provide technical assistance to the federal fiscal year (FFY) FFY24 Disability Innovation Fund program for their entire program period, typically five years. The Contract structure is intended to provide technical assistance to the FFY24 DIF program and strategies to make information learned from the FFY24 DIF program more actionable for policymakers and practitioners and ensure the FFY24 DIF program may be duplicated by State agencies and partners. By strategically awarding task orders to a Contractor with appropriate content area, innovative strategies, and innovative methodological expertise, RSA expects the technical assistance to demonstrate the effectiveness, identify improvements, and ensure accountability of the FFY24 DIF program. RSA also expects the technical assistance to pave the way for the emergence of innovative systemic approaches to support innovative activities aimed at increasing competitive integrated employment as defined in section 7 of such Act for youth and other individuals with disabilities.

The period of performance shall be 60 months and will be Firm Fixed Price in nature.

Background

The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED or Department) Rehabilitation Services administration (RSA) Training and Service Programs Division (TSPD) requires one Contractor to assist RSA to with providing technical assistance to the Federal Fiscal Year 2024 (FFY24) Disability Innovation Fund (DIF) program.

The DIF Program, a discretionary grant program administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) in the Department, as provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328), is to support innovative activities aimed at increasing competitive integrated employment (CIE) as defined in section 7 of such Act for youth and other individuals with disabilities.

The Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), defines CIE as full-time or part-time work: (1) in which the individual with a disability is paid at or above the Federal minimum wage; (2) at a location where the individual with a disability interacts with individuals without disabilities to the same extent that individuals without disabilities in comparable positions interact with others who are not disabled; and (3) that presents opportunities for advancement that are similar to those provided to individuals without disabilities. For purposes of this contract, the Department defines the integration criterion of CIE to be consistent with the definition of CIE for purposes of the vocational rehabilitation (VR) program, as work that is performed in a location: (1) that is typically found in the community; and (2) in which the individual with a disability interacts for the purpose of performing the duties of the position with other employees within the particular work unit and the entire work site, and, as appropriate to the work performed, other persons (e.g., customers and vendors), who are not individuals with disabilities (not including supervisory personnel or individuals who are providing services to such employee) to the same extent that employees who are not individuals with disabilities and who are in comparable positions interact with these persons.

CIE leads to economic security and is a key resource in furthering the full equality and integration of individuals with disabilities in American society. There are state programs that expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities to obtain high-quality CIE by examining potential employment opportunities, and by training and preparing individuals with disabilities for those opportunities that lead to an employment outcome.

In furthering its mission to obtain CIE for individuals with disabilities, there are state programs that work with employers of all types, including those offering non-traditional, flexible, and freelance opportunities. The program assists and encourages employers to fully include individuals with disabilities in their workforce by creating employment opportunities that meet all criteria in the definition of CIE, including the criterion for an integrated employment location.

Objective

The Department intends to secure contract services to provide technical assistance services to the FFY24 DIF program for their entire program period, which is typically five years.

Request for Capability Statements

Proposed NAICS Information: 611710 - Educational Support Services Proposed Product Service Code: R499 – Support Professional Other

The Department requests capability statements to evaluate what, if any, set aside determinations are appropriate. The Department will make a small business set aside determination for the requirement. We reserve the right to use other resources and information to develop an informed acquisition strategy. The Department will not review generic capability statements because generic capability statements fail to communicate the vendor’s specific abilities to perform the work being considered under this requirement. The Department will only review capability statements that conform to the specifications provided below.

Format and Instructions for Capability Statements

The Department requests capability statements in order to evaluate what, if any, set aside determinations are appropriate. We reserve the right to use other resources and information to inform our acquisition strategy.

The capability statements should contain enough sufficient detail; however, statements are limited to 8 pages (not including the cover page) and must be submitted in PDF format. Font size should be 12-point, minimum 10-point for any tables or figures. The Department may not consider material more than 8 pages.

Cover Page containing the following information:

o Name of Company o Primary Point of Contact (phone and email) o System for Award Management (SAM) Unique Entity ID o Socio-economic Status for NAICS

Substantive Content: Substantive Content: The capability statement must describe the collective expertise and experience of your company’s personnel, in each of the following areas. Clearly indicate if the expertise is not possessed by the prime contractor, but instead by a potential subcontractor. Provide detailed descriptions of the following:

o Demonstrated experience and expertise in planning and delivering multi-tier technical assistance program to grantees participating in Federally funded grants.

Demonstrated experience and expertise in planning and implementing Communities of Practice (COP) as an effective tool for technical assistance.

Demonstrated experience and expertise in planning and implementing customized technical assistance, onsite and virtual, to meet the needs of individual grantees.

Demonstrated experience and expertise in planning and implementing Annual Directors Meetings that address grantees’ needs and support the activities and progress of the grants.

Demonstrated experience and expertise in providing technical assistance to grantees to support their efforts in completing evaluation of their projects as required for annual and final performance review reports.

Demonstrated experience and expertise in securing and engaging qualified subject matter experts (SME) in competitive integrated employment (CIE). The specific topic areas will be identified in the FFY24 DIF Program Notice Inviting Applications.

Vendor Questions:

o What would be a rough order of magnitude in terms of cost for these services over a five-year period of performance based on the types of experience being sought and kind of work identified within the SOURCES

SOUGHT?

o Can you identify any barriers to competition? If so, please identify and describe how the Department could reduce or eliminate those barriers.

o Is there any other information that you wish to convey to the Department?

Submission Instructions

Offerors shall submit, via email, the requested documentation to Devonne.Collins@ed.gov with a cc to Matthew.Lucas@ed.gov no later than Thursday April, 18, 2024 at 4:00 PM EST.

The e-mail subject line shall read: “Vendor Name” FFY24 Disability Innovation Fund Program Technical Assistance SOURCES SOUGHT Response

One PDF document that contains your Capability Statement to include the requested substantive content described above. (8 page maximum).

Offerors should submit via email. Please note that the Department imposes a 15 MB file size limitation. This limitation accounts for potential file size increases associated with Microsoft Cloud services and may be different from earlier Department file size restrictions.

Participation in this vendor outreach effort is entirely voluntary. A response to this SOURCES SOUGHT is not required in order to respond to any solicitation that the Department issues. This SOURCES SOUGHT does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid, or Request for Quotation, and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. All information contained in this SOURCES SOUGHT is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government. The Department will not evaluate the responses received nor will the Department evaluate the information or debrief respondents on the Department’s impression of the received information. Failure to respond to this SOURCES SOUGHT will not preclude an interested party in participating in a future related or unrelated solicitation. NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Depending on the quality of the received responses and if the Department determines that additional information would be beneficial, one-on-one meetings may be held with certain SOURCES SOUGHT respondents and the Department. The decision to hold such meetings are reserved strictly to the Department and there is no assurance that the Department will hold one-on-one meetings with any of the SOURCES SOUGHT respondents. The Government will not be associated with any travel related cost for the follow-up meeting if an invitation is extended.

Contact Information:

Please note that only the individuals listed below are the only authorized points of contact for this request:

DeVonne Collins Devonne.Collins@ed.gov Contract Specialist

Matthew Lucas Matthew.lucas@ed.gov Contracting Officer

The Government is not required to respond to any information provided in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor information from the Contract Specialist for additional information pertaining to this SOURCES SOUGHT.