SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Tax Gap Analysis & Econometric Analysis for both Alcohol & Tobacco
- Notice Date
- 6/12/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541720
— Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), Division of Procurement, Avery 5F, 200 Third Street, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-5312, United States
- ZIP Code
- 26106-5312
- Solicitation Number
- RFI-TTB-09-0025
- Archive Date
- 6/13/2010
- Point of Contact
- Bernadette Kern, Phone: 304-480-7003, Debra Stephenson, Phone: 304-480-7113
- E-Mail Address
-
psb3@bpd.treas.gov, psb3@bdp.treas.gov
(psb3@bpd.treas.gov, psb3@bdp.treas.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Department of Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), on behalf of the Department of Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is conducting market research in accordance with the Federal Acquisition regulation (FAR) Part 10. This request for information (RFI) is being posted to obtain information from vendors with the interest, proven expertise and experience in the application of tax gap and econometric analyses of federal excise tax losses due to tobacco and alcohol diversion/smuggling. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation and is not to be considered as a commitment by the Government. This is not a request for a proposal. This notice does not restrict the Government to an ultimate acquisition approach. all firms responding to this sources sought notice are advised that the response is not a request that will be considered for contract award. All interested parties will be required to respond to any resultant solicitation separately fromtheir response to this sources sought notice. The information being requested is for planning purposes only. The Government does not intend to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information requested. TTB will assess the ability of the market to meet the needs as stated above based on the information received. Upon receipt of the requested information, the Government may request additional information to confirm the respondents' capability. The vendor must identify their business size classification (ex. SDVOSB or HUBZone), as well as, provide any available contract vehicles, such as a GSA Schedule. Dependent upon the results of this market survey and other information obtained by the Government, BPD on behalf of TTB may subsequently issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire the DNA analyses as mentioned above. Background: TTB regulates the alcohol beverage and tobacco products and their industries in the USA. TTB has developed methodologies to estimate the amount of Federal excise tax loss for alcohol and tobacco products due to illicit trade. Prior to completion of the methodologies, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 ("CHIPRA", Public Law 111-3), was enacted and requires that a study be conducted concerning the magnitude of tobacco smuggling in the United States, to include the loss of Federal tax receipts and the role of imported tobacco products involved in illicit trade. This study must be submitted to Congress by February 4, 2010. In an effort to meet the statutory deadline, TTB will first conduct a gap analysis study to determine the extent of the diversion problem/excise tax loss for tobacco. We will also follow with an econometric model analysis on tobacco tax loss from the diversion of cigarettes; so that we can compare results of the two methodologies and fine tune our estimates. Scope of Work The contractor shall conduct four reviews on separate TTB studies, using: (1) gap analysis to estimate tobacco excise tax loss, (2) econometric analysis to estimate tobacco excise tax loss, (3) gap analysis to estimate alcohol excise tax loss, and (4) econometric analysis to analyze alcohol excise tax loss. In conducting these reviews, the contractor shall also analyze and comment upon the proposed methodology, data sets and findings for each study. Due to the CHIPRA requirements, the tobacco tax gap analysis study will be completed in its entirety first. The Government would like to conduct a similar study for alcohol excise tax losses. The Government recognizes that the study of tobacco tax loss, when applied to a different commodity (alcohol) will be different due to social and economic factors. The Objective The objective of this task is for the Contractor to evaluate the methodologies for the tobacco and alcohol studies, calculation and analysis to determine if they are sufficiently designed to estimate the amount of excise tax lost due to illicit trade. This will include three phases for the tobacco methodology and alcohol methodology. Phase 1: A review of the planned methodology to evaluate the validity of the design, quality of data sources, robustness of the methods planned, and appropriateness of the models to estimate Federal excise tax loss due to illicit trade and the strengths and limitations of the overall product. Phase 2: A review at an interim period to determine if based on the data collected, modifications are needed to ensure there are no oversights, omissions or inconsistencies to estimate the amount of Federal excise tax loss due to illicit trade. Phase 3: A review of the final draft report to determine that the analysis was sufficient, strengths and limitations are identified and adequately documented, and is fully supported to publish. Requirements The contractor must be capable of performing all of the following types of support: a. Methodology for TTB Tax Gap Estimation - The contractor must be familiar with methods used to estimate tax gaps or to have established expertise and performed research on such topics as tobacco and alcohol. b. Econometric Analysis - The contractor must have prior experience identifying and using alcohol and tobacco data for econometric and statistical analysis using commercially available data analysis tools, preferably SAS. c. Familiarity with Center for Disease (CDC) Control Data - The contractor should be familiar with datasets available from the CDC and the scope of activities they contain. Vendors are requested to submit the following information for assessment: • The capability of the vendor to provide the services described above, their business size based on a NAICS code of 541720 which has a size standard of $7M, and whether or not the vendor has a GSA schedule or other contractual vehicle that can be used to obtain these types of services. • A short description of experience in dealing with a Tax Gap Analysis and Econometric Analysis. • A written summary of vendor's past performance as it relates to similar analysis, including the names of three references • Pricing (ex: labor categories and hourly rates) for these types of services Dependent upon the results of this market research, Public Debt anticipates issuing a solicitation to acquire these services. Any such solicitation would be based on a performance-based work statement. Please note that no solicitation document is available at this time. Any questions related to the request for information shall be directed to the Contract Specialist or Contracting Officer. No contact shall be made with the TTB staff. Electronic submissions shall be sent to psb3@bpd.treas.gov no later than June 19, 2009 at 2:00pm EDT. The subject line must contain RFI-TTB-09-0025 BKERN. The following file extensions are not allowable and application materials/data submitted with these extensions cannot be considered:.bat,.cmd,.com,.exe,.pif,.rar,.scr,.vbs,.hta,.cpl, and.zip files. Microsoft Office compatible documents are acceptable. Interested offerors may register at http://www.fedbizopps.gov to receive notification when the solicitation and any amendments are issued and available for downloading. Please note that the General Services Administration provides the notification service as a convenience and does not guarantee that notifications will be received by all persons on the mailing list. Therefore, we recommend that you monitor the FedBizOpps site for all information relevant to desired acquisitions. If the Internet option is not available to you, you may receive a hard copy of the solicitation and any amendments (via U.S. Mail) by faxing your request to (304) 480-7203 7204 or e-mailing your request to pbs3@bpd.treas.gov.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/TREAS/BPD/DP/RFI-TTB-09-0025/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: At Contractor's Facility, United States
- Record
- SN01843647-W 20090614/090612235625-3c3ca80c56ac3887c27d74be49539e79 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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