Exercise Consulting Services - Chemical Emergency Simulations

Added: February 12, 2008 This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number is HSFE01-08-Q-0001 and is issued as a Request for Quotations. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-23. This acquisition is a total Small Business Set-Aside, utilizing NAICS Code 541620, Environmental Consulting Services, with a Size Standard of $6.5 million. This requirement is also subject to the Service Contract Act, Department of Labor Wage Determination 2005-2255 Revision 6 dated July 5, 2007. The description of requirements for the services acquired is as follows: The Vendor shall provide exercise consulting services related to Chemical Emergency Simulations as follows: INTRODUCTION - EPA is the federal agency responsible for the protection of the environment including protecting against an accidental or deliberate chemical release from a fixed chemical facility. EPA partners with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies under the National Contingency Plan to provide technical assistance and training related to chemical emergency preparedness and response. This training and assistance is frequently delivered to state and local government organizations.One primary method used to deliver assistance is through the conduct of FEMA/EPA lead chemical emergency simulations including tabletop, functional and full-scale field exercises. Our goal is to conduct several exercise simulations within the next 18 months. The objective of the assistance program is to simulate a medium scale chemical accident and measure the capabilities of multiple agencies.

Under this program, the details of the exercise scenario are unknown to the participants until the day of the exercise, but EPA reveals the date, time, and location of the exercises to ensure that all of the key participants will be able to attend. The purpose of a tabletop exercise is to test the participants' ability to implement their contingency plans and procedures and thus demonstrate that their capabilities are adequate to prevent or respond to a chemical or terrorist attack. EPA lead exercises focus on management of the incident and the ability to deal with preparedness related issues. The government, with assistance from the contractor, chooses the key participants in the exercise, develops the scenario, and evaluates the exercise. The exercises are meant to test the response to a chemical or terrorist incident by government, industry, and community players as detailed in the National Response Framework (NRF).

The desired outcome of the exercises is to enhance unified preparedness and response capabilities in New England. The exercise process will provide a venue for industries to interact with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and responders, and to learn about one another's security and response plans and organizations. The exercise evaluation provides recommendations to improve preparedness and response capabilities and the evaluations should identify strengths and weaknesses in the players' security and response plans so they can be corrected.

The exercise facilitator should be professional, poised, and have demonstrated expertise in the field of emergency response operations. Another outcome of the exercises is to test the ability of the industry and the federal, state, and local law enforcement and responders to manage a major emergency response operation, ensure the safety and health of individuals, rapidly restore service, and manage the security and preparedness related issues associated with the incident. The Exercise and evaluations should be structured to identify strengths and weaknesses in both the industry's contingency plans and the various agencies' plans. The federal government has an interest in exploring the preparedness, security and policy issues that may arise during the exercises.

The following contractor support is required to assist FEMA/EPA in meeting their responsibilities: 1) attend and participate in meetings to discuss and design tabletop, functional and field exercises with fixed industrial facilities and local emergency planning committees (LEPC?s), 2) technical support for the conduct of the exercises, 3) simulation support for the exercises and 4) prepare the exercise after-action-report (AAR). Specific task requirements, provide technical support for conducting chemical emergency simulations at a facility and location within FEMA/EPA Region I. The contractor will conduct several exercise simulations within the next 18 months.

This task requires scheduling, designing, conducting, controlling and evaluating the exercise. The exercise will test the preparedness and security of the facility management team, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement and emergency responders. The contractor will work with government and industry representatives who can give detailed information about the selected industrial facility and procedures and the surrounding area to make the scenario more realistic. The contractor will assist in the design of the scenario and recommend the degree of other players' involvement. The contractor may use field props, audio visual and computer simulation technology and any other equipment the contractor deems will enhance the realism of the exercise.

The exercises will be held at locations selected by FEMA/EPA and will last approximately 6 hours, not counting breaks. The contractor will lead participants in responding to the exercise's scenario. The contractor will give each participant a player's manual (i.e., the notebook for each participant, the contents of which includes information such as the exercise scenario, ground rules, feedback forms, and lessons learned) containing the scenario and other relevant information. At a minimum, the contractor will have an administrative and technical support person at each exercise to take notes on the discussions. The contractor will summarize the exercise for FEMA/EPA soon after it is completed. The contractor will work with FEMA/EPA and the designated facility representatives, to complete the exercise summary and after-action-report.

This requires a brief one page summary (letter or email) to be received by FEMA/EPA within three business days after the end of the drill. After incorporating comments from FEMA, EPA, and all evaluators, the contractor will send the final exercise report to the FEMA Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative, (COTR), for approval before the contractor performs distribution to the exercise participants.

1: Meetings and Presentations

The contractor will conduct one introductory presentation, describing the exercise procedure and time line, overall scenario development process, and player identification. Representatives from key participating agencies and organizations will be present at this meeting. The contractor will conduct at least three planning meetings, depending upon the scope of the simulation, with stakeholders to: develop the scenario, finalize player involvement, and to gather visual aids, props and reference material that will add realism to the exercise. The contractor will provide one senior analyst and/or a technical specialist and at least one administrative support specialist to conduct the planning meetings and make the presentation.

2: Exercise Design.

The exercise design and delivery process will follow the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) (Available at www.fema.gov). The contractor will work with FEMA/EPA and other interested parties to research and design the exercise scenario and exercise type. The scenario will include exercise events based on exercise objectives that will be developed at the design meeting. The scenario and event script must be extensive enough to engage all participants. The contractor's research will rely on industry contingency plans, local emergency plans, State and local emergency operations plans, maps, atlases, piping and instrumentation diagrams and building schematics. As part of the research and scenario development process, the contractor will send a technical specialist to visit the site of the exercise. The contractor will write the player's manual and give a copy to each participant. The manual must include at a minimum: the exercise scenario, a visual representation of the site, ground rules for the participants, feedback forms, and pages to make notes for improvements and lessons learned.

3. Exercise Conduct.

The contractor will send, at a minimum, one facilitator and at a minimum three support specialists to the exercise as agreed upon at the planning meetings. The facilitator will be responsible for ensuring that the exercise play addresses all aspects of the release scenario and that all the players fully participate in the exercise. The facilitator will be responsible for keeping the activities focused on the scenario and insure that all agreed upon field props, audio-visual and computer simulation technologies are utilized properly during the exercise. The facilitator will demonstrate poise, professionalism, and a thorough understanding of the technical aspects of the chemical emergency and terrorism response.

4. Exercise Evaluation.

Within three business days after the exercise ends, the contractor will send a synopsis of the exercise to FEMA/EPA. The synopsis will summarize how the exercise went, who attended and what issues arose. Within 21 business days of the exercise, the contractor will write and submit to EPA/FEMA, an exercise after-action-report. EPA/FEMA will share the draft report with other interested parties and give comments to the contractor, who will incorporate them into the final exercise after-action-report. FEMA/EPA will distribute the final report to the participants. Deliverables: 1. Meeting Minutes. The contractor will draft meeting minutes for each of the meetings attended or conducted. Minutes will be submitted to FEMA/EPA within three business days after the meeting ends. 2. Exercise Players' Manuals. The contractor must write a player's manual for each exercise. The manuals must contain an agenda, the scenario, maps or diagrams, and other helpful information. The contractor will provide a player's manual for each participant in the exercise. The contractor must submit a copy of the player's manual to FEMA/EPA one week before the start of the exercise to enable a review and the incorporation of any necessary changes. The player's manual, after review and any necessary edits are completed, are to be issued to the participants on the day of the drill. 3. Exercise Synopsis. The contractor must submit to FEMA/EPA a written synopsis of the exercise within three business days of completing the exercise. The report will be in a format approved by FEMA/EPA (HSEEP). Deliverables shall be submitted to EPA in both electronic and paper format. 4. Exercise After-Action-Reports. The contractor must submit to EPA/FEMA a written report on the exercise within 21 business days of completing an exercise. The report will be in the format approved by EPA/FEMA and will include a list of participants, the scenario, an evaluation of the issues discussed, and identification of options for strengthening prevention and response. 5. Exercise Scenario. The scenario must include exercise events based on exercise objectives. The scenario and event script must be extensive enough to engage all participants. The scenario and event script is to be submitted to EPA/FEMA for approval no less than 10 business days before the area exercise begins. 6. Exercise Props. The contractor may be required to supply moulage, and other props such as a smoke generator or pyrotechnics.

Travel, (Site of FEMA/EPA?s choosing for each simulation in New England)

The estimated travel for each simulation will be approximately:

a. 1 Site Visit/Presentation

b. At least 3 planning meetings

c. 1 Exercise delivery

EXERCISE DOCUMENTS (Estimated Quantity)

a. Exercise player manuals (50) hard copies/1 CD ROM

b. Meeting Minutes 1 hard copy/1 CD ROM

c. Exercise Synopsis 1 hard copy/1 CD ROM

d. Exercise Report 1 hard copy/1 CD ROM

REQUIRED AREAS OF CONSULTING EXPERTISE

The contractor personnel must have specific expertise in:

a. Designing, conducting, and evaluating hazardous material tabletop, functional and field exercises in accordance with the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), see www.fema.gov.

b. Responding to incidents using the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command System (ICS), see www.fema.gov.

c. National Response Framework (NRF), see www.fema.gov.

d. Industrial security, physical security, cyber security, critical infrastructure protection, and protecting key facilities from terrorism.

e. Applying a rigorous quality control process to ensure that all work products are free of factual and grammatical errors.

Staffing Qualifications:

Personnel assigned by the contractor to perform work under this task must possess requisite technical qualifications, as described below, to perform the required tasks. The contractor shall obtain the approval from the FEMA Contracting Officer, (CO), for any replacement personnel.

The contractor's key personnel must have the following technical qualifications:

1. Senior Analysts: A senior analyst must have skills appropriate for the role to which he or she will be assigned. A senior analyst is required to possess skills in all of the following areas, and the contractor's team must include senior analysts who, as a team, have all the skills listed below. The senior analyst must have an undergraduate degree and a minimum of 6 years of specialized work experience in all of the following areas:

a. hazardous material emergency planning

b. emergency incident response;

c. compliance with federal and state law enforcement laws and regulations;

d. facilitation and evaluation of tabletop, functional and field exercises;

e. industrial security, law enforcement, or critical infrastructure protection;

f. facility operations;

g. document editing and quality control processes, and

h. ability to write clear and concise reports.

2. Technical Specialists: A technical specialist must have skills appropriate for the role to which he or she will be assigned. A technical specialist is not required to possess skills in all of the following areas, but the contractor's team must include technical specialists who, as a team, have all the skills listed below. Technical specialists must have a minimum of 3 years working experience in all of the following areas:

a. hazardous material emergency planning

b. emergency incident response;

c. compliance with Federal and State law enforcement laws and regulations;

d. facilitation and evaluation of tabletop and field exercises; and

e. industrial security, law enforcement, or critical infrastructure protection;

f. ability to communicate clearly in writing and speaking.

3. Support Specialists: Support specialists must have skills in the following areas:

a. taking notes during exercises and meetings;

b. writing reports and editing for spelling and grammar;

c. word processing

d. creating spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel software.

e. assisting in related technical and administrative duties

The offeror shall submit both a business and technical proposal. The business proposal package shall include the following line items in a written quotation: CLIN 0001 Base Line Item, offeror shall provide one complete TABLETOP Exercise as outlined in the above Statement of Work, 1 JOB; CLIN 0002 Option Line Item, offeror shall provide one complete TABLETOP Exercise as outlined in the above Statement of Work, 1 JOB; CLIN 0003 Option Line Item, offeror shall provide one complete TABLETOP Exercise as outlined in the above Statement of Work, 1 JOB; CLIN 0004 Option Line Item, offeror shall provide one FUNCTIONAL Exercise as outlined in the above Statement of Work, 1 JOB. The technical proposal shall contain sufficient information, resumes of key personnel supporting the technical qualifications outlined above under Staffing Qualifications, resumes shall be limited to five (5) pages for each key personnel, total page limit for the technical proposal shall not exceed twenty-five (25) pages. Indicate applicable CLIN numbers above on resume. The following clauses and provisions are applicable to this requirement and can be viewed at http://www.arnet.gov/far/index/html: FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors, 52.212-2 Evaluation Commercial Items, (a) the Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers, and are in descending order of importance: (i) technical qualifications and (ii) price. Evaluation of technical qualifications will be significantly more important then price. (b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). 52.212-5, Executive Orders ? Commercial Items, 52.228-5, Insurance Work on a government Installation, 52.232-25, Prompt Payment, Evaluation of Options, 52.217-5, HSAR 3052.242-72, Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative, 52.204-7 Central Contractor Registration, Offerors are to include with their quote a complete copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications Commercial Items or indicate that their vendor information is available in ORCA (www.bpn.gov). Proposals are due by 12:00 noon EST, February 22, 2008 at DHS/FEMA, Region I, 99 High St., Boston, Massachusetts 02110. Facsimile proposals may be sent to 617-832-4781 or by email to diane.mckenzie@dhs.gov. All questions regarding this announcement must be directed to the Contracting Officer, Ms. McKenzie, at 617-956-7529 or email diane.mckenzie@dhs.gov.