SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLES AND EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
- Notice Date
- 5/11/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541720
— Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Contract Management Branch, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 228, Alexandria, Virginia, 22302
- ZIP Code
- 22302
- Solicitation Number
- AG-3198-S-11-0017
- Archive Date
- 6/9/2011
- Point of Contact
- Ty Sar, Phone: 7036054422, Belal Hammad, Phone: 7033052262
- E-Mail Address
-
ty.sar@fns.usda.gov, belal.hammad@fns.usda.gov
(ty.sar@fns.usda.gov, belal.hammad@fns.usda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- Solicitation Number: AG-3198-S-11-0017 Notice Type: Sources Sought AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLES AND EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM This is a Sources Sought Notice for market research purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). A solicitation is not being issued at this time and this notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service intends to issue a competitive small business set-aside procurement for advisory and assistance services to conduct an assessment of the roles and effectiveness of community-based organizations in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Preference will be given to small businesses. SNAP is a federal nutrition assistance program that serves low- and no-income households. The program provides a nutrition safety net that helps alleviate food insecurity and increase access to healthy foods. Although the program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, individual states have operational responsibility for eligibility determinations, benefit issuance and case management. SNAP serves more than one in seven Americans. In December 2010, nearly 44.1 million people received SNAP benefits, an increase of nearly 487,000 people from November. December is the twenty-sixth consecutive month that more people received SNAP benefits than at any time previously in the history of the program. Concurrent with this steady increase in SNAP participation, states are also experiencing declining resources and daunting fiscal challenges. The worst recession since the 1930s has caused the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record at the same time the need for services has increased dramatically. As a result, even after making very deep spending cuts over the last several years, states continue to face large budget gaps. States will continue to struggle to find the revenue needed to support critical public services for a number of years, threatening the well-being of many low-income families. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has taken several steps to facilitate efficient eligibility determination and case management through policy simplifications and providing waivers to states. States have also taken several measures to improve customer service and to deliver benefits more efficiently. These administrative and programmatic changes have included, but are not limited to, the postponement and/or waiver of the face-to-face interview at certification and recertification, shorter interviews, online eligibility screening and application completion, longer certification periods, reduction in required documentation, shortened application forms, electronic case files, and call centers. In addition to these policy, organization and technological changes, states have also developed a variety of partnerships with CBOs to improve the delivery of services to clients. CBOs are non-governmental non-profit organizations that operate within a local community. Many are staffed by a combination of paid and unpaid personnel, while smaller organizations are fully staffed by volunteers. These organizations vary in size and offer a full range of community service programs. Over the past few years, CBOs have become increasingly involved with assisting SNAP applicants with the application process. Their roles vary widely, from making informational materials about SNAP available to their clients to providing direct assistance to SNAP applicants. Some also provide computers where applicants can access the application online. Others provide telephone and fax machines so that SNAP applicants can copy and fax documents, as needed. Many CBOs provide application assistance to SNAP applicants which includes assistance completing the application and gathering the necessary documentation. To date, six states - Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada - have received waivers to allow CBOs to conduct interviews with SNAP applicants. None of these waivers are statewide. Some waivers apply to all SNAP applicants in designated parts of the state and others pertain to specific subgroups. This procurement will compare program outcomes when CBOs conduct applicant interviews with program outcomes when SNAP staff conduct interviews in selected states. Key outcomes on which comparisons will be made include frequency of application denials for procedural reasons, application processing timeliness, payment accuracy, customer satisfaction, and customer experiences with the CBOs and the SNAP offices. FNS expects that between three and six states will participate in this study. All six states with waivers to partner with CBOs to conduct interviews with SNAP applicants will be invited to participate in the study. The study objectives are: 1. Describe the CBOs conducting SNAP interviews and the nature of their partnerships with state and local SNAP agencies. 2. Describe the response of State SNAP staff to the involvement of CBOs in conducting applicant interviews. 3. Describe the response of CBO interviewers to their involvement with SNAP. 4. Describe the response of SNAP applicants who are interviewed by CBO staff for SNAP benefits to the involvement of CBOs in SNAP. 5. Describe the services that the CBOs offer? 6. Document the impacts of CBOs conducting SNAP interviews on program outcomes. Information for this impact study should come from: • extant administrative data; • new administrative record keeping such as a tracking system for applications that are submitted by the CBOs; • site visits for CBO and SNAP office observations and to interview key SNAP and CBO staff, and SNAP applicants; and • survey data from SNAP applicants, SNAP staff and CBO staff. Evaluation samples of SNAP applicants and QC case records must be randomly selected and large enough to detect both, statistically significant and meaningful differences between both groups. FNS is seeking firms with the capability of: • designing and conducting multi-mode data collection, • manage and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data • conducting surveys, • managing and analyzing large data sets, • producing a high quality report, and • establishing successful relationships with state and local SNAP offices and with CBOs. The firm must demonstrate the availability of adequate staff who are experienced in disciplines critical to the successful completion of the study objectives, including project management, evaluation design, survey methods, data collection techniques (including recruitment and training of field staff), descriptive and inferential statistics, and database management. Finally, the firm must demonstrate an understanding of the special requirements of working with state and local SNAP offices and of the culture and environment of CBOs. Interested parties may submit capability statements that demonstrate its ability to perform all elements of the requirements as described in this notice. In addition, your response must include a description of your past experience on at least three (3) similar projects consistent in scope, size and complexity with this requirement which you performed in the past three years; and description of staff experience and skills. The Statement of Capabilities should also include: • Contractor Name • Address • Point of Contact (POC) • POC phone number and email address • DUNS number, and • Business status (i.e., large/small business, disadvantaged, Hub Zone, woman-owed, etc.) • GSA MOBIS schedule ( If your firm has GSA MOBIS schedule) Any information provided by industry to the Government as a result of this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. Responses will not be returned. No entitlements to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges to the Government will arise as a result of offeror submission of responses, or the Government's use of such information. The information obtained from responses to this notice may be used in the development of an acquisition strategy and future RFP. No questions will be entertained or comment responded to by the Government. Offerors capable of providing these services should submit the information requested above via e-mail to ty.sar@fns.usda.gov and no later than 2PM Eastern Standard Time, May 25, 2011. Please limit the length of the packages to 20 pages. Packages over 20 pages will not be evaluated.   Attachment Additional Information on Procurement Scope of Study FNS expects that between three and six states will participate in this study. All six states with waivers to partner with CBOs to conduct interviews with SNAP applicants will be invited to participate in the study. Every effort will be made to recruit at least three of the six states. This study will compare relevant program outcomes associated with CBO-conducted applicant interviews CBOs with outcomes observed when interviews are conducted by SNAP staff. Outcomes that will be examined include frequency of denials for procedural reasons, application timeliness, payment accuracy, customer satisfaction, and customer experience with the CBOs and the SNAP offices. Data shall be collected from different sources and through a variety of methods, including but not limited to: • extant administrative data; • new administrative record keeping such as a tracking system for applications that are submitted by the CBOs; • site visits for CBO and SNAP office observations and to interview key SNAP and CBO staff, and SNAP applicants; and • survey data from SNAP applicants, SNAP staff and CBO staff. Evaluation samples of SNAP applicants and QC case records must be randomly selected and large enough to detect both, statistically significant and meaningful differences between both groups. Project objectives and research questions are described below. Objective 1: Describe the CBOs conducting SNAP interviews and the nature of their partnerships with state and local SNAP agencies. 1. What key factors describe the CBOs? Provide details about size, type of CBO (community-based, part of regional or national network), range of services, t staffing, the population served, funding etc. Do the CBOs have funding from other sources that support their work in SNAP? 2. How many CBOs are involved in the demonstration project? Do the CBOs target specific subgroup? If so, which ones? 3. What process and criteria do the states employ to select the CBOs? 4. What is the nature of the agreements between the CBOs and the states? Are the CBOs being reimbursed for their service? If so, what is the range of reimbursements or average reimbursement? What, if any, in-kind materials, equipment or services are provided by the SNAP agency to CBOs? What is the length of the agreements? Are the agreements automatically renewed? 5. Do the CBOs have an internal monitoring system? Are the evaluations done independently or with State's assistance? What is the frequency of the data collection and reporting? 6. What performance indicators are tracked and how is CBO performance monitored? 7. How is the CBO staff trained for conducting applicant interviews? Does the state agency provide ongoing technical support? If so, what is the nature of this support? Objective 2: Describe the response of State SNAP staff to the involvement of CBOs in conducting applicant interviews. 1. What do SNAP staff view as successes and challenges associated with CBOs conducting applicant interviews? 2. How does SNAP staff describe their working relationship with the CBOs? Has the relationship changed over time? 3. What are the SNAP staff's perceptions of the quality, accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of application submission by the CBOs? 4. Do SNAP workers believe that CBO-conducted interviews have affected their workloads? Do the SNAP workers believe that the CBO-conducted application assistance and outreach have affected their workloads? If so, how? 5. Do SNAP workers believe that CBO-conducted interviews have affected the nature of their work? Do the SNAP workers believe that the CBO-conducted application assistance and outreach have affected the nature of their work? If so, how? 6. Do SNAP workers believe that CBO-conducted interviews have affected client satisfaction? Do the SNAP workers believe that the CBO-conducted application assistance and outreach have affected client satisfaction? If so, how? Objective 3: Describe the response of CBO interviewers to their involvement with SNAP. 1. What do CBO interviewers view as successes and challenges associated with conducting SNAP interviews? 2. How do CBO interviewers describe their working relationship with the state agency? Has the relationship changed over time? 3. Do the CBO interviewers feel competent to conduct SNAP interviews? Is there a need for additional training or technical/ongoing support? If so, in what areas? 4. Do CBO interviewers believe their services to SNAP applicants have impacted client experience with SNAP? If so, how? Objective 4: Describe the response of SNAP applicants who are interviewed by CBO staff for SNAP benefits to the involvement of CBOs in SNAP. 1. What levels of satisfaction do SNAP applicants report about the quality services (i.e. staff knowledge about SNAP application processes, customer service, staff availability, etc.) they receive from CBOs? 2. What factors contribute to SNAP applicants' choice or decision to apply for benefits at a CBO instead of a SNAP office? 3. How do SNAP applicants describe their experience with the CBOs? Of the applicants who have also had an experience with SNAP offices, how do they compare both experiences? 4. Do the experiences and opinions of applicants who complete interviews with CBOs differ from those who complete interviews with SNAP offices? Objective 5: Describe the services that the CBOs offer? 1. Describe the procedure that the SNAP applicant would experience when receiving an interview at the CBO. What other SNAP application assistance does the CBO provide? 2. What other services, if any, do the CBO's provide at their site? For services provided off their site, indicate the type of services and site? If offsite services are offered, how is SNAP involved in the arrangement to secure and/or staff the offsite location(s)? 3. What amenities - such as copier, scanner, and computers with online application - do the CBOs have at their sites to facilitate the SNAP application process? 4. For the CBOs that conduct applicant interviews, is there a wait time or scheduling period for an interview? If so, what is the average wait time? What is the average length of the interviews? Where are the interviews conducted? How does this compare to interviews conducted by SNAP agency staff? 5. How are the CBOs staffed to provide SNAP interviews and other SNAP-related services to clients? Are the interviewers staff members or volunteers? Do they have staff members who are fully dedicated to assist SNAP applicants? Do they have staff members available to offer individual assistance to SNAP applicants? Do they have interviewers who speak languages other than English? If not, how do they meet the language needs of the applicants? 6. Do the CBOs offer assistance with other benefit programs, such as SCHIP, TANF, SSI, or Medicaid also? Objective 6: Document the impacts of CBOs conducting SNAP interviews on program outcomes. 1. What, if any, is the effect on payment error? What is the overall payment error rate for cases that received an interview conducted by a CBO and how does it compare with the error rate for the rest of the State's caseload? Does the rate of completed applications vary with who conducts applicant interviews? If yes, how? 2. Does application processing timeliness vary with who conducts applicant interviews? If yes, how and for which types of clients? 3. Does the rate of application approvals and denials vary with who conducts applicant interviews? If yes, how? Does the rate of application denials due to procedural reasons differ significantly by who conducts applicant interviews? If yes, how? 4. What are the most likely explanations for similarities and differences in outcomes associated with CBO and SNAP agency interviews?
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USDA/FNS/CMB/AG-3198-S-11-0017 /listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD, United States
- Record
- SN02445372-W 20110513/110511234623-42a1647d6ed4251e56a07edff790655e (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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