SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGULATIONS
- Notice Date
- 4/19/2005
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Administration, Division of Contracts, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852-2738
- ZIP Code
- 20852-2738
- Solicitation Number
- RS-NMS-05-002
- Response Due
- 5/5/2005
- Archive Date
- 5/6/2005
- Description
- This is is combined synopsis/solicitation whereby the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting proposals (Request for Proposal (RFP)) under RS-NMS-05-002, on a competitive basis, to allow for technical assistance to the NRC in the development and documentation of rules, evaluation of petitions for rulemaking, backfit analyses, and regulatory guides, and to assist in the preparation of supporting analyses, on a task ordering basis. A copy of the solicitation and any amendments thereto will only be available through the FedBizOpps website, http://www.fedbizopps.gov. The closing date for proposals is May 05, 2005. All future information about this acquisition, including solicitation amendments will also be distributed solely through the FedBizOpps website. Hard copies of the solicitation document and its related documents, as appropriate, will not be available. The NRC requires the prospective awardee to be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of the resulting contract in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation, 52.204-7, Central Contractor Registration. Processing time, which normally takes 48 hours, should be taken into consideration when registering. Potential Offerors who are not registered should consider applying for registration immediately if interested in responding to this solicitation. Potential offerors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the Internet by copying and pasting the following Internet address into their Internet Browser: http://www.ccr.gov (note: there is no direct link to the CCR website from this FedBizOpps notice) or by calling 1-888-227-2423 or 269-961-5757. Because this solicitation and its related documents, as appropriate, will be posted at this website, interested parties are instructed NOT to send letters or e-mails or faxes requesting the RFP. Telephoned, e-mailed, or faxed requests for the RFP will not be accepted. Interested parties are responsible for monitoring the FedBizOpps website to assure that they have the most up-to-date information about this acquisition. The Government will not reimburse interested parties for any cost associated with responding to this business opportunity. Telephone inquiries or responses are not acceptable. This is a contract for a two (2) year base period and three one-year option periods. The NAICS for this effort is 541990. Proposals for this requirement may be submitted by all concerns, i.e., large businesses, small businesses, and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Notice to large businesses: The subcontracting plan requirements of P.L. 95-507 are applicable to this effort. Thus all large businesses determined to be in the competitive range must be prepared to submit a detailed subcontracting plan. The current incumbent providing the aforementioned services to the NRC for the required services is ICF Consulting under Contract No. NRC-02-00-003 which expires on June 29, 2005. It is brought to the attention of all potential offerors that the NRC is providing the Statement of Work, Period of Performance, Level of Effort, and Evaluation Criteria under this notice. The solicitation in its entirety, to include the associated Attachments, will be uploaded on the FedBizOpps website by the NRC on or about April 18, 2005. STATEMENT OF WORK C.3 - Scope of Work The contractor shall supply the personnel, materials, and facilities necessary to provide services ordered by the NRC under individual task order assignments. Work to be performed shall be described in task orders which shall specify the scope of work, deliverables, period of performance, and performance requirements and standards. The contractor shall be responsible for providing technical assistance to NRC staff for the development and documentation of rules, evaluation of petitions for rulemaking, backfit analyses, and regulatory guides, and assistance in the preparation of supporting analyses. The following are typical types of tasks that may be assigned which may require contractor support to NRC staff under this contract: -- Providing input to the NRC staff for technical support documents for rulemakings, development of responses to petitions for rulemaking, and regulatory guides; -- Supporting the staff's analyses of public comments on proposed rules, advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and petitions for rulemaking; -- Providing input to NRC staff on preliminary rulemaking planning documents whose objective is to reach early consensus on regulatory products; -- Reviewing current technical literature on specific issues preparatory to providing recommendations to the NRC staff for support of rulemaking activities; -- Reviewing provided information on risk to assist the NRC staff in determining the risk-informed nature of a rulemaking; -- Assisting the NRC staff in reviewing draft contractor research and technical assistance reports for accuracy and relevance, and recommending appropriate staff utilization of research results in the rulemaking development process; -- Providing input to NRC staff on environmental assessments or environmental impact statements by developing analyses as specified in the task order; -- Developing regulatory analyses for NRC staff, which could include information needed for backfit analyses, information collection burden submissions, and regulatory flexibility analyses; and -- Developing generic databases and methodological tools for NRC staff which can be used in the analyses required for specific rulemakings. C.3.1 Support for Rulemaking Planning The initial step in the NRC rulemaking process is preparation of a rulemaking plan. The contractor may be tasked to provide information which the NRC staff can use in preparing the rulemaking plan. The contractor may be tasked to develop the following information: - An assessment of whether the rule is likely to be cost-effective; - An evaluation of whether the rule is risk-informed; - An assessment of whether the rule would meet backfit analysis criteria and safety goal criteria, where these are applicable; - An assessment of potential implementation problems, such as with Agreement State implementation; and - A preliminary assessment of likely impacts on licensees. C.3.2 Summary and Analysis of Public Comments During the rulemaking process, the NRC solicits public comments on proposed rules, and when applicable, advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and notices of receipt of petitions for rulemaking. NRC also solicits public comments on draft Regulatory Guides, draft Regulatory Analyses, Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Statements, and on occasion certain other documents, such as policy statements. If requested, public comments must be summarized and analyzed for use in the regulatory process. A summary of public comments must be completed, usually within 30 days of the close of the public comment period. This summary is a relatively brief document which allows the NRC staff to have a concise picture of issues raised by commenters. The analysis of public comments must be done in accordance with guidance in the most recent version of NUREG/BR-0053, NRC Regulations Handbook. Each issue raised by commenters must be analyzed for impact on the development of the regulation. As required, the contractor will assist the NRC in comment resolution. This may include assistance in: - Identifying any substantive changes made as a result of public comments and the reasons for accepting the suggestions; - Identifying any new material or information relevant to the rulemaking received as a result of public comment; and - Assisting NRC staff in discussing any substantive comments that were not accepted and the reasons for rejecting them. As appropriate, the contractor shall summarize information from databases on public comments. C.3.3 Development of Regulatory Analysis/Value-Impact Analysis The regulatory analysis/value-impact portion of the rulemaking or other regulatory package provides the technical support for NRC's decision concerning resolution of a regulatory issue. As a result, these tasks require strong analytical, technical, and engineering capabilities in the quantification of costs and benefits. The rules and other regulatory actions to be supported under this contract often concern proposed requirements in which modifications to facilities are present. Consequently, strong expertise in engineering disciplines, and an ability to translate performance specifications into technical design specifications are of major importance. However, many rules and other regulatory issues involve administrative and procedural changes. Support for these latter activities may involve primarily non-engineering disciplines. Regulatory analyses must be developed in accordance with the guidance in the most recent versions of NUREG/BR-0058, Regulatory Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and NUREG/BR-0184, Regulatory Analysis Technical Evaluation Handbook. Specific guidelines and relevant documentation will be provided to the contractor by the NRC upon issuance of a task order. a. Development of Cost Analyses Rulemakings and other regulatory actions are subject to cost analyses. Those cost analyses shall encompass all impacts of a regulatory change, covering individual as well as classes of licensees or other regulated activities. The contractor shall assist the staff by providing input into cost analyses and providing cost estimates on the type, extent, and duration of the impacts of: i) Capital or implementation costs to applicants and licensees; ii) Operational or reoccurring costs to applicants and licensees; iii) Costs to government entities; and iv) Costs to state and local agencies. Costs shall be expressed in monetary terms, using present value with a real discount rate provided by NRC, and using constant dollars. Estimates shall be subjected to sensitivity analysis to capture the uncertainties inherent in the quantification of attributes. Annual costs shall be established per current or future regulated activity, and then determined for the remaining lifetimes for all affected activities. The costs to be estimated shall be limited to those that would be incurred by the regulatory change. The contractor shall document the sources of cost data and the methods used for deriving cost estimates. b. Estimation of Benefits Health and safety benefits arise due to reductions either in the probability of accidents or consequences of accidents attributable to the proposed requirement. Depending on the nature of the regulatory action, other benefits may include, for example, regulatory efficiency, improvements in knowledge, savings on paperwork and operating requirements, and improvements in facility availability. Analyses shall cover all benefits of a regulatory change. After the type, extent, and duration of the benefits have been determined by the contractor, estimates of benefits shall be made, when applicable, of: i) Public dose reduction expressed in person-rem averted and dollars; ii) Averted property damage (onsite and offsite); iii) Occupational exposure reduction; and iv) Other benefits (e.g., regulatory efficiency, improvements in knowledge, etc.). Benefits shall be expressed on a present worth basis with a real discount rate provided by the NRC, and using constant dollars. Estimates of benefits may require sensitivity analysis of real discount rates. Annual benefits shall be established per current or future regulated activity, and then determined for the remaining lifetimes for all affected activities. The benefit to be estimated shall be limited to those that would be incurred by the regulatory change. The contractor shall document the sources of data and the methods used for deriving benefit estimates. The costs and benefits to be considered in a given value-impact analysis cannot be determined until a specific task has been identified. By the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (the Act), NRC must consider the economic effect of its regulations on small entities. The Act requires that NRC prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for a rulemaking, or certify that a rule will have no significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. The regulatory flexibility analysis may be combined with the regulatory analysis of which specific guidance is in the regulatory analysis guidelines. C.3.4. Environmental Analyses For many of its rulemakings, NRC must prepare environmental analyses; draft and final environmental assessments and/or environmental impact statements. The contractor may be tasked to develop supporting information for these analyses. Environmental analyses shall be prepared according to the guidance in NEPA as implemented in the agency's regulations at 10 CFR Part 51. Much of the information developed for the regulatory analysis may also be used in an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement. Individual task orders will specify the type of assistance the contractor shall provide in conforming to the guidance in NUREG-1748. C.3.5 Paperwork Reduction Act Information NRC rulemakings which require changes in information collection burdens on the public must be accompanied by a submission to OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. This submission must contain : - a description of the information collection; - justification for the information collection; - a description of agency use of the information; - how the agency will use information technology to reduce the information collection burden; - the agency's efforts to identify duplication; - the agency's efforts to use similar information; - efforts to reduce the burden on small businesses; - consequences of less frequent collection of the information; - quantitative estimates of the cost to the public of the information collection; and - quantitative estimates of the cost to NRC of the information collection. Much of this information is typically developed as part of the regulatory analysis. The contractor shall provide information sufficient for NRC to prepare all needed documentation. C.3.6 Backfit Analyses Backfit analyses are required for some NMSS licensees whenever a new or amended rule would mandate modification or addition to systems, structures, components; or design of a facility; or the design approval or manufacturing license for a facility; or the procedures or organization required to design, construct, or operate a facility. The backfit analysis may be developed as part of the regulatory analysis, depending on specific task order statements of work. The analysis shall address: (1) The objectives of the backfit; (2) The activities required for the backfit; (3) Risk to the public from off-site releases; (4) Occupational exposure; (5) Costs; (6) Potential safety impact of changes in facility or operational complexity; (7) Resource burden on the NRC; and (8) Potential impact of differences in facility type, design, or age on the relevancy and practicality of the proposed backfit. C.4 DELINEATION OF CONTRACTOR TASKS The contractor shall supply the personnel, materials, and facilities necessary to provide services ordered by NRC under individual task order assignment. Work to be performed will be described in task orders which shall specify the scope of work, deliverables, period of performance, and performance requirements and standards. Task orders may be issued for rulemaking support in a wide variety of areas. Types of rulemakings for materials regulation that are now underway or planned are listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions published December 13, 2004. The work under this contract is estimated to be issued through approximately 5 task orders per year over a 5-year period. Several task orders could be assigned simultaneously. The average task order may have a period of performance of approximately 24 chronological months and may average approximately 7.5 staff months of effort, although this estimate could vary substantially from task order to task order. C.5 USE OF EVALUATIONS FOR ASSESSING PERFORMANCE UNDER INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS Each task order issued under this contract will contain performance requirements and standards. The method of assessing performance will be the survey contained in Attachment J.7. The survey will be completed by the NRC Project Officer within sixty days of completion of each task order. In addition, each task order statement of work will contain a deduction schedule. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The period of performance of this effort is two-years with an additional three (1) year option periods. LEVEL OF EFFORT The NRC's estimate of the total level of effort for the duration of this project is approximately: 75.0 staff months for the two (2) year base period; 37.5 staff months for Option Year 1; 37.5 staff months for Option Year 2; 37.5 staff months for Option Year 3 The total estimated level of effort for the duration of the resultant contract, should the Government exercise all option periods is 15.625 staff years. This information is advisory and is not to be considered as the sole basis for the development of the staffing plan. For the purposes of the Government estimate, 2000 hours constitute a staff year. EVALUATION CRITERIA The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be moste advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Price will not be point scored. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offerors: CRITERIA 1: CORPORATE EXPERIENCE/PAST PERFORMANCE (40 POINTS) The extent to which the offeror's proposal demonstrates corporate experience and successful past performance on contracts performed within the past five (5) years, similar in size and scope to the effort described in this requirement (Refer to the Statement of Work) for technical assistance for the support of the development of regulations. CRITERIA 2: UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH (15 POINTS) The extent to which the offeror's proposal demonstrates an understanding and knowledge of the NRC's regulatory program, rulemaking practices, licensees, and issues involving rulemaking support such as knowledge of estimating costs and benefits of regulatory actions. CRITERIA 3: PERSONNEL (30 POINTS) Extent to which the offeror's proposal demonstrates that the personnel proposed have qualifications including related education, experience, and training which is reflected in the offeror's resume submissions, as it relates to the development of regulations as described in this requirement (Refer to the Statement of Work). In addition, the offeror shall address the availability of key and support personnel proposed, including any subcontractors that may be used to perform under the contract. CRITERIA 4: PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT (15 POINTS) The extent to which the offeror's proposed management plan demonstrates that the offeror can effectively oversee the contract; effectively manage the project tasks; and meet schedules.
- Place of Performance
- Address: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD
- Zip Code: 20852
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20852
- Record
- SN00791432-W 20050421/050419212719 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |