SSN_19-ACF-OFA-0001_Discretionary-Grant-Reviews.pdf

Sources Sought Notice No. 19-ACF-OFA-0001 Page 1 of 6 “Logistical Support for ACF/OFA Discretionary Grant Reviews”

This is an 8(a) Small Businesses Sources Sought Notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified 8(a) small business sources that have an accounting system adequate to perform/administer a federal cost-reimbursement-type contract; (2) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition (see below); and (3) the existing strategic sourcing contract vehicles available for/accessible to HHS (i.e., federal supply schedule(s), GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs, etc.) on which the 8(a) small business is currently participating/included. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered an 8(a) small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.

The NAICS Code for this Acquisition is 541611 (Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services) with a small business size standard of [$15.0M].

Background

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA), an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF), administers several key federal programs, including competitive demonstration grant programs. OFA’s programs foster economically secure households and communities for the well-being and long-term success of children and families.

In accordance with the authorizing legislation and federal regulations, OFA will publish approximately five Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) to announce the availability of federal funds for grants within the program areas that it administers. These FOAs are expected to relate to the Healthy Marriage program, the Responsible Fatherhood program, and the Tribal TANF-Child Welfare coordination program, though they may not include these programs and/or may include others.

OFA expects to require assistance in providing logistical and administrative support throughout the competitive grant process from publication of the FOAs through receipt and review of applications, to the funding decision made by an authorized official of OFA.

Applications for the FOAs will be evaluated on a competitive basis by panels of peer reviewers, who are selected by OFA and have demonstrated relevant knowledge. Panels generally consist of four (4) individuals: three Reviewers and one Panel Chair. In a typical review, panels are assigned eight to 12 applications to evaluate. Through the participation of each individual reviewer, each panel develops a Summary of Comments and rates each assigned application against the Evaluation Criteria put forth in the FOA. The Summary of Comments justifies the scores for each application. These comments and the numerical rating form the basis of the funding decision-making process. Meanwhile, federal and non-federal Panel Managers (PMs) will review Summaries of Comments and ratings for accuracy, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/healthy-marriage/healthy-marriage https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/healthy-marriage/healthy-marriage https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/healthy-marriage/responsible-fatherhood https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/tribal/cwcg https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/tribal/cwcg

Sources Sought Notice No. 19-ACF-OFA-0001 Page 2 of 6 completeness, and comprehensibility; and copy editors will review Summary of Comment documents for completeness, coherence of comments, and general editing.

For this grant review process, OFA is expected to require assistance in recruiting panel chairs, reviewers, non-federal PMs, and copy editors for one-to-two week intervals to panel the grant applications. We are anticipating approximately 1,000 applications for FY2020.

It is anticipated that the reviews will be conducted on-site in a hotel or other venue within the local Washington DC area.

A panel review is a highly integrated endeavor, formed through the performance of closely associated activities of review, training, technical assistance, and discussions. For the review cycle to succeed, each activity must occur in its proper sequence and on-schedule. Each review cycle requires several planning discussions and trainings in advance. Subsequently, during performance of the review, several integrated activities are performed through a series of discussions. Due to the diversity of OFA programs and the individual requirements of each review, the exact set of discussions will be adjusted according to the direction of OFA.

Panel chairs, reviewers, PMs, and copy editors will be paid for their work performed as part of the grant review cycle: payment for each panel is pending each panel’s completion of their reviews.

This Project: Logistical Support for ACF/OFA Discretionary Grant Reviews

The performance under the proposed project will support the competition of the FOAs, including:

preparing for on-site reviews; conducting on-site peer reviews; compiling, analyzing, and reporting the results to federal staff and supporting the decision process; providing information to unsuccessful applicants; and conducting preliminary evaluation of review processes.

Project Requirements

• Management and Overarching Tasks. The contractor must:

o Provide adequate management and communication, including weekly or more frequent video conference calls and monthly progress reports;

o Maintain adequate office facilities, including sufficient secure electronic and paper storage capacity for completing work through the contract, and fully functioning word processing equipment, telephone, and fax; voice and e-mail; and o Develop and execute a website containing relevant information for use by PMs, panel chairs, reviewers, and federal staff.

• Preparation for the Review. The contractor must:

o Create a plan for the review;

Sources Sought Notice No. 19-ACF-OFA-0001 Page 3 of 6 o Recruit, retain, and track qualified reviewers and non-federal PMs;

o Provide pre-competition technical assistance to potential application organizations;

o Receive, track, and provide clerical support related to applications;

o Screen applications;

o Facilitate discussions preparing for the reviews, such as an orientation for PMs, an orientation for panel chairs, and an orientation for panelists;

o Recommend panels, and assure objectivity/no conflict of interest;

o Train reviewers, chairs, and PMs; and o Assess the adequacy of reviewers, chairs, and PMs.

• Logistical and Administrative Support during Reviews. The contractor must:

o Identify, secure, and pay for lodging and review space(s), and prepare for exigencies;

o Arrange and pay for all travel;

o Facilitate discussions during reviews, such as individual panel discussions and/or joint panel discussions; and o Pay reviewers, panel chairs, and non-federal PMs.

• Post Paneling Tasks. The contractor must:

o Take post paneling actions, such as collect and record all panel scores and documentation, and post-review actions, such as documenting all funding decisions;

o Provide post-paneling technical assistance to applicant organizations, such as preparing notification letters;

o Facilitate discussions after reviews, such as a review of the paneling process; and o Create final reports and assure the final disposition of all files.

Anticipated Period of Performance

We anticipate only one non-severable services component of approximately 15 months, approximately September 2019 to December 2020.

Other Important Consideration(s)

This project will involve entering data into a federal system: GrantSolutions and its Application Review Module.

Capability statement requirements

Please provide, as a part of your response, a capability statement that includes the following:

(1) Contact information.

• Company name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone and FAX numbers, website address (if available), and the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a point of

Sources Sought Notice No. 19-ACF-OFA-0001 Page 4 of 6 contact having the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with Government representatives.

• Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail addresses of individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses.

• DUNS number, CAGE Code, Tax Identification Number, and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.). Companies also must be registered in the System for Award Management (https://www.sam.gov/SAM/) to be considered as potential sources.

• If the company has a Government approved accounting system, please identify the agency that approved the system.

(2) Evidence of current certified 8(a) small business for NAICS 541611 (size standard $15.0M). Must be certified by the SBA.

(3) Strategic sourcing schedules. Please list the existing strategic sourcing contract vehicles that are available for/accessible to HHS, on which your organization is included: please list all relevant information for existing contract vehicles, including the federal office implementing the schedule, the website (if applicable), and any other contact information for the contract vehicle.

(4) Capability. Please describe your organization’s sufficient and substantial capacity, and sufficient and substantial relevant past successful experience, to successfully design and execute all of the Project Requirements. You must demonstrate the following:

(a) Subject matter expertise. The contractor must demonstrate sufficient and substantial relevant understanding of and experience with:

a. OFA or other federal government human services programs;

b. the intricacies of providing logistical and administrative support for grant reviews of the magnitude of that discussed in the Background;

(b) Staff experience. The contractor must list relevant staff, must demonstrate sufficient and substantial education/training, and must demonstrate sufficient and substantial relevant past successful experience, in designing and executing work similar in complexity, size, and scope to the work described in the Project Requirements. Staff listed must have formal employment agreements with the organization: respondents must not include personnel for whom a formal employment agreement would only be made upon award of a contract. Past successful work must include:

a. Recruiting, retaining, and tracking qualified reviewers;

b. Receiving, tracking, providing clerical support, and screening applications;

c. Facilitating discussions, such as orientations for reviewers, joint discussions with panelists, and reviews of the paneling process;

d. Training and assessing the adequacy of reviewers;

e. Identifying, securing, and paying for lodging and review space(s);

f. Arranging and paying for travel;

g. Paying reviewers;

https://www.sam.gov/SAM/

Sources Sought Notice No. 19-ACF-OFA-0001 Page 5 of 6

h. Taking post paneling actions, such as collecting and recording all panel scores and documentation, and post review actions, such as recording all funding decisions;

and

i. Providing post-paneling technical assistance to applicant organizations, such as preparing notification letters;

In an appendix, the contractor must include tables detailing staff qualifications. For each staff person listed, the contractor must include a separate table demonstrating the education/training, and the number of years and/or number of contracts of specific related experience: for each project, list specific role(s) for that staff person on that project, funding amounts, magnitude of grant review, references, and other related information.

(c) Capability and capacity. The contractor must demonstrate sufficient and substantial staff availability and current in-house capability and capacity to perform the Project Requirements, as well as corporate experience and management capability.

(d) Successfully completed projects. The contractor must provide sufficient description of successfully completed projects that are very similar in complexity, size, and scope to those in the Project Requirements, including projects funded under multiple Government contracts, with funding amounts, magnitude of grant review, references, and other related information.

(e) Work product as demonstrated in capability statement. The contractor must demonstrate a high-level of quality by providing a capability statement that is clear and organized, responsive to requirements, and free of errors, typos, and ambiguous statements.

(f) List all cost-reimbursement-type federal contracts awarded within the past five years. Include the contract number and total contract amount.

Information Submission Instructions

Capability Statements must be submitted in Adobe PDF format, and transmitted electronically to ryan.collins@psc.hhs.gov no later than 1:00 p.m. (EDT), May 30, 2019. Mailed, telephone, and/or facsimile responses will not be accepted. Capability statements are limited to a maximum of 5 pages (excluding the following two appendices for references and resumes):

• (Related to (4)(b) above) One appendix with tables for staff: one separate table per staff member listed, no more than 2-pages per staff member; and

• (Related to (4)(d) above) One appendix with project descriptions, with no more than three project descriptions, each limited to 3-pages.

Disclaimer and Important Notes

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to

Sources Sought Notice No. 19-ACF-OFA-0001 Page 6 of 6 determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities.

However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality

No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response.

The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).