SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Interim Support for Head Start Knowledge and Information Management Services
- Notice Date
- 10/5/2011
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- 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
- 12-233-SOL-00025
- Archive Date
- 10/21/2011
- Point of Contact
- Camille M. Timmerman, Phone: 3014436851
- E-Mail Address
-
camille.timmerman@psc.hhs.gov
(camille.timmerman@psc.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Department of Health and Human Services intends to negotiate a contract with Trans Management Systems Corporation located in Washington, DC on a sole source basis for the Administration of Children and Families (ACF)/Office of Head Start (OHS) for Head Start knowledge, information and publications management services, herein referred to as HSKIMS. The acquisition is for an interim contract for a 6 month period, with an option to extend services for up to an additional 6 months, if necessary. This interim contract is crucial to give the Government time to complete a competitive procurement. Purpose - The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) requires the continuity of the Head Start Knowledge and Information Management Services (HSKIMS) while a new competitive procurement is underway. The Head Start program is authorized under Public Law 110-134 "Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007." The purpose of Head Start is to promote the school readiness of low-income children by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development in a learning environment that supports children's growth in language, literacy, mathematics, science, social and emotional functioning, creative arts, physical skills, and approaches to learning; and through the provision to low-income children and their families of health, educational, nutrition, social, and other services that are determined, based on family needs assessments, to be necessary. Background - This project is an interim follow-on of contract #HHSP23320062910YC which was awarded to Trans Management Systems Corporation. HSKIMS supports the OHS by managing information services relevant to the program linked to maintaining and maturing a large public/private website (www.eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov) that provides critical policy, guidance and technical assistance information to Head Start programs, prospective parents, the early childhood community, and the general public. Services include public inquiries numbering in the thousands per month, communication and materials dissemination, and conference management for ACF and OHS. It is vital to the OHS and to the Head Start community that serves over one million children and their families each year that there is no disruption of these critical services and that there is a smooth transition into a new contract. Summary of Approach - The HSKIMS currently supports the OHS through provision of the following services: Content Management -Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) (http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov) -Nearly 5,000 pages and 2 million visits per year -Numerous file formats including streaming video -508 compliant -Private communities, web service-based directories, online lessons -Hosting of production, development and failover systems, trends and analytics -OHS website (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs) -All ACF program websites are being redesigned and the contractor would be responsible to implement and maintain the site as necessary Customer Service Help Desk -1500-4000 unique inquiries per month; primarily from prospective parents and the public, including at least 1/3 from Spanish speakers -Management of knowledge base Publications Management -Warehousing and dissemination of hard copy publications - average 50,000 pieces of varying sizes with differing amounts throughout the year -Management of Office of Public Affairs clearance for all OHS materials -Electronic archive -Publications layout and development Conference Outreach and Display -Booth staffing and materials management at 25-50 conferences/training events and over 120,000 pieces disseminated per year News Search -Conduct daily web-based search of online news media and report to OHS on issues of note regarding Head Start and early childhood in local, state, and regional news Mass Communications and Social Media -High-volume (over 10,000) eblast services and RSS feeds; lists maintenance as required by OHS -Manage and/or link to social media such as Facebook, Twitter as determined by OHS The contractor proposed is currently providing OHS the services described above. The contractor has managed this large operation for more than five years and has the necessary staffing and capacity currently in place to continue necessary services while the follow-on contract is compete. OHS carefully analyzed the current services to determine whether the current work could be accomplished through another method. The analysis indicated that the current contractor is uniquely knowledgeable and staffed to provide interim services in the specific areas identified. Transitioning to a new contractor for interim support will result in a lapse in service and unacceptable risk to the Head Start program for the following services: Websites: The ECLKC is OHS' primary vehicle for sharing resources and information with the early childhood community. Being a federal to local effort, OHS is a complex organization with many divisions and branches. There are daily postings of all types of media from numerous contributors, including six large collaborative national centers, to the websites. HSKIMS has the staff, technical background in the use of the Hyperwave platform, taxonomy knowledge of the website that hosts well over 5,000 pages, and communication structures with numerous content and technical contractors and contributors to accommodate this while meeting HHS requirements such as 508 compliance. The ACF OHS website is in the process of being redesigned. The new design relies heavily on content within the ECLKC and requires feeds and webservices from the site. This is scheduled for Phase I launch in December 2011 and no other contractor could accomplish this in the necessary timeframe. As part of the family of ACF sites our role in this launch is critical. In addition, OHS anticipates a new regulation on designation renewal will be published in the near future. At that time certain portions of the website will become dedicated to advertising competitions, providing information for potential offerors, etc. and this will need to happen quickly to meet Congress' intent for the process. Dissemination Services: HSKIMS manages numerous large email dissemination lists that have, over time, been customized to reach audiences in the tens of thousands with different types of firewalls, etc. The content of the emails and social media dissemination is generally also posted to the websites so can be accomplished simultaneously. Any contractor other than the contractor proposed could not scale up in time and critical communications with grantees and others would be disrupted. Customer Service Help Desk and News Search: HSKIMS has built up internal staff knowledge about Head Start regulations and requirements to quickly respond on a factual way to numerous and varied inquiries. Most of these inquiries are specialized in nature and cannot be answered by simply quoting a regulation. While some answers are contained in a knowledge base, the ability of the staff to respond in a timely way is an important service to the public. In response to a recent GAO report, a complaint hotline was set up that HSKIMS also staffs, and disruptions to this service would not be acceptable. OHS recognized a need to increase awareness of serious risks to federal funds and health and safety risks as reported to the local media. After scouring numerous sources for an effective search tool and coming up short, HSKIMS offers specialized daily news media searches for OHS. The results are communicated directly to OHS for follow up. Disruption to this service would mean a higher risk that OHS would be unaware of serious issues in programs. A service of this type will be included in the next competition but could not be in place in the interim without this contractor's specialized knowledge. A contractor other than Trans Management Systems Corporation would not be able to meet the objectives of this interim contract or adequately and effectively provide the required services in an expedited time-frame. If there is a lapse in services it will affect OHS's ability to conduct a competitive re-compete of the requirement. The statutory authority for other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), in accordance with FAR Part 6.302-3, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Vendors who are interested in this acquisition must demonstrate in writing that they can meet the Government's requirement. Responses must include a written narrative statement of capability, including detailed technical information and other technical literature demonstrating the ability to satisfy the stated requirements. The written statements of capability should be emailed to the Contract Specialist, Camille Timmerman, at Camille.Timmerman@psc.hhs.gov and are due no later than 5:00PM EST October 20, 2011. Failure to submit adequate documentation will result in the Government proceeding with a sole source award to Trans Management Systems Corporation. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. No solicitation document is available. The purpose of this announcement is to determine whether there may be other sources with the requisite qualifications to perform the work described above.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/PSC/DAM/12-233-SOL-00025/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02602551-W 20111007/111005234218-acc7c749861272205ee4bc1ac0b977b2 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |