SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Cross-Site Evaluation of Children's Bureau's Child Welfare Technical Assistance Implementation Centers and National Child Welfare Resource Centers
- Notice Date
- 5/9/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Parklawn Building Room 5-101, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland, 20857
- ZIP Code
- 20857
- Solicitation Number
- CB20080509
- Point of Contact
- Allison C Ford,, Phone: 301-443-0101, Janet Miller,, Phone: 301-443-2478
- E-Mail Address
-
aford@psc.gov, janet.miller@psc.hhs.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is to determine the availability of potential small businesses (e.g., 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, and women-owned small business) that can develop, support, and execute a cross-site evaluation of two groups of discretionary grantees: The Child Welfare Technical Assistance Implementation Centers (T/TA Network) and the National Child Welfare Resource Centers (NCWRCs), including the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. These grantees are members of Child Bureau’s Child Welfare Training and Technical Assistance Network. The cross-site evaluation will employ a participatory and utilization-focused approach, will build on the work and evaluation findings of the existing T/TA Network and other evaluation contracts, and will include qualitative and quantitative methods. The Contractor shall address some evaluation questions that examine the role of all T/TA Network members in the performance of the larger network, but the majority of the cross-site will focus on the performance and effectiveness of the Implementation Centers and the NCWRCs. By October of 2008, CB anticipates that the T/TA Network will consist of approximately 25 members. The NCWRCs, the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids(AdoptUsKids), and the Child Welfare Technical Assistance Implementation Centers (Implementation Centers) will account for 13 of these members. The evaluation of the T/TA Network will require the management and administration of multi-phase programmatic technical assistance, data collection, analysis efforts, and written reports. CB plans to award this contract for a base period of five years, and two twelve-month option years (totaling seven years if all options are exercised). The contract will be incrementally funded over the contract period of performance consistent with the Contractor’s responsibilities. The information from this market research will help the Children’s Bureau (CB) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) plan their acquisition strategy. Please be sure to indicate if you have a GSA schedule contract, a contract on GSA 8(a) STARS, or a contract on GSA VETS GWAC. THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH. The Children’s Bureau WILL NOT ENTERTAIN QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS MARKET RESEARCH. BACKGROUND Children’s Bureau The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. Within HHS, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is the agency that is responsible for Federal programs that promote the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities. The Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) administers national programs for children and youth; works with States and local communities to develop services that support and strengthen family life; seeks joint ventures with the private sector to enhance the lives of children and their families; and provides information and other assistance to parents. Many of the programs administered by ACYF focus on the needs and resources of children from low-income families; abused and neglected children; children and youth in need of foster care, permanency planning, independent living, adoption or other child welfare services; preschool children; children with disabilities; runaway and homeless youth; and children from Native American and migrant families. Within ACYF, the Children’s Bureau (CB) plans, manages, coordinates, and supports child abuse and neglect prevention and child welfare services programs. CB programs are designed to prevent the neglect, abuse, and exploitation of children and to promote the safety, permanency, and well-being of all children, including those in foster care, available for adoption, recently adopted, abused, neglected, dependent, disabled, or homeless. CB programs also promote strengthening the family unit to help prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families and encourage reunifying families, when possible, if separation has occurred. State child welfare systems are designed to deliver or arrange for direct services that protect children who have suffered maltreatment, who are at risk for maltreatment, or who are under the care and placement responsibility of the State because their families are unable to care for them. These systems also focus on securing temporary living arrangements through foster care and ultimately, permanent families through reunification, relative placement, or adoption for children who are unable to return home. CB is the agency within the Federal Government that is responsible for assisting State child welfare systems by promoting continuous improvement in the delivery of child welfare services. (For more information about CB's programs, visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb.) RESPONSE INFORMATION In order to respond to this notice, a contractor must be able to clearly convey its experience and/or ability to perform the following tasks. Qualified contractors must provide evidence of: 1. Demonstrated expertise in child welfare systems and related child welfare issues and topical areas, such as those covered by members of the Children’s Bureau’s Training and Technical Assistance Network (T/TA Network), and the role of related State, Tribal, local, and community based agencies, courts, and organizations in serving families and children involved with child welfare systems; 2. Demonstrated knowledge of the Children’s Bureau’s T/TA Network, its structure, and their respective roles and responsibilities; 3. Demonstrated knowledge of Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and other child welfare monitoring reviews and how they relate to child welfare outcomes and the work of the T/TA Network; 4. Demonstrated, in-depth knowledge of and experience with models and theories of organizational and systems change as well as expertise in strategies for implementing principles, policies, and practices, particularly as they relate to change in child welfare systems and improved child welfare outcomes; 5. Demonstrated, extensive institutional experience managing national evaluations of comparable size and scope, with a specific emphasis in participatory and utilization-focused evaluation, in such areas as child welfare, systems and organizational change, interagency collaboration, and program evaluation; 6. Demonstrated institutional experience and capability to conduct evaluation activities across the country at multiple sites and to evaluate outcomes across a network of providers with diverse functions, approaches, and areas of expertise, whose members may experience turnover during the project, and that will be at varying stages of project maturity throughout the evaluation period; 7. Demonstrated institutional experience in efficiently managing the range of tasks related to the development of valid and reliable data collection instruments and systems and successfully obtaining OMB approval for evaluation methods and tools within designated timeframes; 8. Demonstrated institutional success providing training and technical assistance to users in evaluation methodologies and data collection that has resulted in the collection of high quality data and customer satisfaction at multiple sites; 9. Demonstrated institutional experience with collecting, analyzing, and reporting evaluation findings through publications and presentations to a variety of audiences for purposes of program accountability and program improvement; 10. Demonstrated institutional experience working collaboratively with a number of public and private national, Tribal, and local organizations; 11. Demonstrated institutional experience and technological resources (i.e., qualified personnel and appropriate equipment) necessary to efficiently and successfully transition, operate, maintain, and modify an existing data collection system (SQL Server with a.net application, using C#) that supports the evaluation design, including demonstrated experience in programming and web-based interfaces that are capable of defining user roles with predetermined passwords and demonstrated systems capacity to create predefined and on demand reports. 12. Demonstrated personnel and institutional experience processing and analyzing data, including the capacity to input data, clean data and conduct quality control checks, and perform complex data analyses; and 13. Demonstrated ability to engage in numerous “start-up” evaluation activities that are immediately required upon award of the contract, including mandatory travel, convening of groups, national meeting participation, background research in the first weeks of the contract and financial capacity. Each response should include the following Business Information: a. DUNS. b. Company Name. c. Company Address. d. Current GSA Schedules appropriate to this Sources Sought. e. Do you have a Government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system. f. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). All offerors must register on the CCR located at http://www.ccr.gov/index.asp g. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address Teaming Arrangements: All teaming arrangements should also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Teaming arrangements are encouraged. Responses must be submitted not later than 4:00 p.m. E.S.T. on May 26, 2008. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. The maximum number of pages for submission is as follows: 15 pages to describe the organization’s capability and no more than 5 pages with short bios (half page bios) of key personnel. GENERAL INFORMATION This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a commitment by the Government. This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and no contract will be awarded from this Notice. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. As previously stated, the Government will not entertain questions regarding this Market Research; however, general questions may be forwarded to the following: Contracts Specialist: Allison Ford Email Address: aford@psc.gov Contracting Officer: Janet Miller Email Address:jmiller@psc.gov
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- Record
- SN01569821-W 20080511/080509215048-3359aa833cf1514b406b272de5635a31 (fbodaily.com)
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